The selections a user makes when using selectors with Report Services Documents in Strategy Web 9.x can either filter or slice the selector`s target:
Slicing
Slicing means that the data for each available item in the selector is calculated in advance when the document is first displayed. The selections are used to determine which slices of data are combined and shown in the Grid/Graph. Even if the source attribute is not included in the Grid/Graph, the data is still sliced at the level of the source attribute, and therefore the metric values from multiple selected items are not added together. Instead, the data for each selected element is shown separately in the Grid/Graph, the same as if the source attribute had been included in the Grid/Graph.
Filtering
Filtering means that the data for the current selection is calculated only when it is requested by the user. The selections are used to filter the underlying dataset before the metric values are aggregated at the level of the Grid/Graph that is displayed in the document. If the source attribute is not included in the Grid/Graph, the metric values from all the selected elements are aggregated and shown at the level specified in the Grid/Graph.
Effects on Dashboard/Document performance
Slicing is performed on Intelligence Server in View Mode in Strategy Web and on the client in Flash Mode in Strategy Web. Filtering is performed on the Intelligence Server in both modes. This means that when a user chooses different items in a selector, a call is made to the web server to update the document, except when a slicing selector is used in Flash Mode. In that case, the web server is not called, which can make the document run faster as users change selections. In contrast, a filtering selector can speed up the initial load time of a document in Flash Mode, since all the slices do not need to be initially downloaded to the client.
