KB10380: Metrics display two dashes (--) when removing attributes from the Grid view in MicroStrategy Web.

SYMPTOM:
In certain occasions, users attempt to remove an attribute from the Grid View of Strategy Web, as shown below:

 
However, one or more metrics on the report are displayed as double dashes (--), as illustrated below:

 
CAUSE:
This issue occurs because of Dynamic Aggregation. Dynamic Aggregation is a function within OLAP Services that dictates the behavior of reports that are aggregated within the Intelligent Cube. In the example above, when Quarter was removed from the report, the Metric Average Revenue had to be calculated at the Year level. Such an action would require new SQL to be generated, and results to be calculated with data from the Data Warehouse.
 
However, when users remove an object from the Grid View in Strategy Web, new SQL is not generated, which forces the engine to try to calculate the metric inside of the report's Objects Cube. In this instance, values for most metrics will simply be summed. However, in the example report above, the engine is aware that simply summing the values will produce erroneous results, since the metric calculates average. Therefore, the engine produces temporary null values for this metric. These null values are then replaced by dashes on the report.
 
ACTION:
To resolve this issue, perform the following steps:
 

• With the report open in Strategy Web, click on the View Menu of the Report and choose to Display the Object Browser, as shown below:
  

• With the Object Browser open, click on the Report Objects Tab (this tab will only be visible for users that have Web Professional privileges):
  

• Note that all of the Report Objects are presented in the window.
  
• Inside the Object Browser Window, find the object to be deleted and either right-click on it and remove it from report or drag the object out of the Object Browser window:
  

Users will notice that by deleting Quarter from the Object Browser, new SQL was generated against the warehouse and therefore, the values for the metric were correctly calculated for the Year level. The dashes no longer appear:

 
Note:
In the case of some metrics, such as Average, Count, Mean and others, there is an additional resolution for the dynamic aggregation issue. This solution is presented in the following Strategy Knowledge Base document:

• KB5200-072-0147 - Metrics display two dashes (--) when removing attributes from the report view in Strategy SQL Generation Engine 7i - 7.2.0 - 8.0.x

However, this solution does not apply for all types of metrics, i.e., metrics of text type.
 
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