Net-Bench Help Manual

Selecting the Database

• When building any report, you need to start by selecting a Database located in the the upper left hand corner.
• Click on the Database icon, open the appropriate folder and select the database that fits the data you are interested in by clicking on its name.
• When selected, the database name will be bolded and the dimension icons underneath will become active.
• Databases have been named with the following abbreviations for SPINS' services: SS for SPINSscan, NT for NaturalTrack, WO for Wild Oats Key Account & RT for Retailer Feedback.

The Four Dimensions (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• When building any report, it is necessary to make selections for all 4 dimensions in Net-Bench.
• You access each dimension by clicking on the appropriate icon directly below the Databases on the left hand side of your screen.
• After clicking on the icon, you will then need to make selections for each dimension.

The Four Dimensions are:

Products: This selects the Products dimension for your report. All databases are created with unique Product views based upon your Net-Bench subscription.

Making Selections (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Making selections in Net-Bench is accomplished by going to each individual dimension, highlighting the selections you want to make and then using the appropriate selection buttons.

The following buttons are used to make individual selections, aggregate selections and to correct or modify previous selections:

Select (Back to Top)

• YOU MUST CLICK THE BLUE SELECT ICON to make selections effective.
• This will move any bolded item from the selection tree on the left to the selections list on the right.
• Be aware that anything that is bold will be selected, so an item may double up on the selections list if you do not Clear or un-bold your previous selection before adding additional entries to the selections list.

Clear (Back to Top)

• This button will clear any items you have highlighted or bolded on the left hand selections tree.
• This enables you to make additional selections without re-selecting previous selections.
• It will not remove items from the selections list on the right. You need to use the Undo or Delete buttons to remove selections from the right.

Sum (Back to Top)

• Indenting this button enables you to sum or aggregate multiple items into a single item.
• All items highlighted on the selections tree on the left will be added to the right hand selections list as a single summed item when this button is indented BEFORE you press the select button.
• This is particularly useful for aggregating Time Periods or creating custom Product aggregations.

Undo (Back to Top)

• Clicking this button will undo your most recent selection to the selections list.
• Additional clicks remove each previous selection in turn

Delete (Back to Top)

• Clicking this button will remove any item in your right hand selection list that is highlighted.
• First click on the description of the item to highlight it, then hit the Delete button to remove it.

Lock (Back to Top)

• Clicking this button BEFORE hitting Select will lock your selection.
• This is only available for Period selections and enables you to fix a report in time. Otherwise, reports will automatically update with each new data period loaded.

Prompt (Back to Top)

• Prompt works the same way as the Select button, except when it's part of a saved report.
• Running a report saved with this function will prompt the user to make selections for whichever dimension the Prompt button was used for.

Regions (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Regions or Markets are the Geographical dimension of your report.
• The Regions or Markets available to be selected depend your company's subscription and the SPINS service of the Database selected.
• Begin your selection by highlighting the Regions or Markets icon on the left side of your screen.
• This will make the drop down list or selection tree visible

Products (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Each Database is created with a unique Product view based upon your Net-Bench subscription.
• Begin your selection by highlighting the Products icon on the left side of your screen.
• Product selections are organized in a heirarchy that drills down from top to bottom and from left to right.
• You can filter subsequent selections based upon your choices at higher levels in the Product heirarchy.

• Helpful tip: To select multiple items from a drop down list, highlight the first item in the list and hold down the shift key while you click on the last item. All items in between will also be highlighted.
• Undo or Delete unwanted selections by using the appropriate button.
• Follow the links for more advanced information on making Product Selections, including hierarchical selections and custom Product aggregations.

Periods (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Periods are the Time dimension for your report.
• Begin your selection by highlighting the Periods icon on the left side of your screen.
• Periods consists of a Year and Period heirarchy.
• You can filter data by Years by highlighting the Years you are interested in. Periods will then be limited to only the Years highlighted.
• YOU MUST make your actual selections from the Period level. Making selections only from the Year level will result in an error when you try to run your report.
• Each data period is for a 4-Week aggregate ending on the date in the description.
• Select individual periods by clicking on the description, which will become bolded or highlighted.
• Select multiple periods by clicking the first period and then holding down the shift key while clicking on the last period you want to select. All periods in between will also be highlighted.

• By making a hierarchical selection on "Period", rather than selecting individual Periods, a saved report or dictionary item will automatically update with new 2002 (or whatever Year you have selected) data periods as they are loaded.
• Re-name summed periods by clicking on the Description in the Selection list and then editing the text that will appear in the Edit box above.
• For information on creating saved Dictionary items for commonly used Period selections

Measures (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Measures are where you select the specific Metrics or Fact set for your report.
• Begin your selection by highlighting the Measures icon on the left side of your screen.
• The orange arrows function like folders. Click on an arrow to get a drop down list of measures.
• Select individual measures by clicking on the description, which bolds or highlights the text.
• YOU MUST CLICK the Select button to bring your selected measures over to the selection list on the right hand side

Running Reports (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• After making selections for all 4 Dimensions, you need to click the Data Viewer icon to run the report.
• When you place your mouse over the Data Viewer icon, an image will pop-up with the Pivot Table or Charts options.

Formatting Reports (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

The standard Pivot Table format enables you to format and manipulate your report data in a number of ways:

Scrolling

• When all the data in your report won't fit on a single screen, scroll arrows will appear alongside the appropriate area.
• A single click on the arrow will scroll one value in the area selected.
• Holding down the shift key while clicking on the arrow will scroll 10 rows or columns at a time.
• Clicking on the Data Viewer icon after scrolling will bring you back to the very beginning of the report.

Pivoting (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• The standard report output functions in the same way as an Excel pivot table. You can modify the layout of the report by holding down the mouse button on any one of the data cells and dragging it over to another position.
• For example, click on any product name and drag it over to where you see region or market name. The two areas will change positions or pivot.
• This is the standard layout of all pivot table reports:

Format Boxes (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Single clicking on any of the data areas will pull up a format box. The options available in the box depend upon which area you are clicking on.
• You must format each of the areas shown in the graphic above separately.

Saving Reports (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Clicking on the Save icon from the Options pop up menu will save your report.
• All reports save to the Private folder as a default. See Changing Report Properties to change report folders and permissions.
• Net-Bench saves the template of your report. The actual data that populates the report is re-calculated every time you run it and will update with each new data load unless you've locked your period selection.

Exporting to Excel (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Net-Bench enables Excel Exports in a standard Formatted Excel spreadsheet.
• Click on the Excel icon in the Options menu.
• A new window will open up and populate with data that function the same as a normal Excel spreadsheet.
• We recommend you save and re-open the spreadsheet in native Excel before manipulating the data.
• Column exports, suitable for populating a database, and pivot table exports are also available upon request. Contact SPINS if you are interested in having these options added to your Net-Bench account.

Printing Reports (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Click on the Print icon in the Options pop-up menu.
• The first time you print a report, Net-Bench will prompt you with a dialogue box with instructions to properly enable printing on your computer.
• Simply go into the "File" menu on your browser and select "Print." Net-Bench will print a test page.
• Thereafter, you will be able to print by simply selecting the icon in the Options pop-up menu.
• We highly recommend you format your report with borders around the different cells to make your printed reports easier to read.

Exporting to HTML (Back to Top) (Table of Contents)

• Clicking on the HTML icon in the Options pop-up menu will launch a second window with the HTML version of your report.
• Select "File" and then "Save As" from your browser options to save the report as a web page.
• Formatting your report before exporting will make your HTML document a lot easier to read.