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Analyticsintermediate

Action Links & Navigation

Explain how Action Links enable navigation between analyses/dashboards and invocation of external processes directly from report values.

An action link makes a value clickable, so a report leads somewhere rather than ending.

It's like a hyperlink in a PDF report that doesn't just say "see appendix B" — it actually jumps you there instantly, or better yet, calls someone on your behalf to start the next step, instead of leaving you to go find it and act on it manually.

Key Concepts

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Two kinds.
    navigation   go to another analysis, dashboard page, or URL
    invoke       call a web service, run an agent, execute a
                 Java method or a BI Publisher report
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Navigation with context is the common case. Clicking a region in a summary opens the detail for that region:
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    summary:  revenue by region
    click "West"
    -> the detail analysis opens, filtered to West
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The context passes because the destination analysis has a filter set to "is prompted" on Region. The same mechanism as dashboard prompts, which is worth noticing — one wiring concept covers both.
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Which gives the standard design: summary to detail. A dashboard shows totals; clicking anything opens the rows behind it. Users stop asking for both, and the detail report is not loaded until somebody wants it.
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Conditional action links. A link can be shown only when a condition holds:
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    show "Escalate" only when days_overdue > 30
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So the action appears where it is relevant rather than on every row.
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Invoking a process is where this stops being reporting. A report of stock shortages with a link that calls a web service to raise a replenishment request means the person who noticed the problem fixes it without leaving the page.
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That is the argument for the feature: the gap between seeing something and doing something is where BI usually loses its value.
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The practical cautions.Action security. An action link invoking a service runs with whatever credentials are configured, so anyone who can see the report can trigger it. Whether that is acceptable is a decision, not a default.
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Context that does not pass. The most common complaint — "it opens the detail but shows everything" — is a destination analysis missing the "is prompted" filter.
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Too many links. Every clickable value invites a click. A table where six columns navigate somewhere is one users stop trusting, because they cannot predict what will happen.
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What the interviewer is probing.1. "What can an action link do?" Probing: the breadth. Stalls: "Open a report." Moves up: navigate to another analysis or dashboard page, open a URL, call a web service, or invoke a BI Publisher report with context passed.
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2. "How is context passed?" Probing: the mechanism. Stalls: "Manually." Moves up: as parameters mapped from the clicked row, so the target opens filtered to that member.
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3. "What is the design value of a navigation path?" Probing: the user angle. Stalls: "Nothing." Moves up: it turns a summary into an investigation trail, which is what stops people exporting everything to Excel.
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4. "What is the maintenance risk?" Probing: the practical angle. Stalls: "None." Moves up: links break silently when the target is renamed or moved, and nothing flags it until a user clicks.
Use cases:action-linksnavigationinteractivity