Filtering data in Dashboard

Question

Hi,
I have a dashboard with two sections. Each section is pointed to a separate report (one is regarding actuals from Oracle eBiz) and another sections for report from planning application (Budget values). I am using same RPD for both the reports.
Now I have a scenario in which I need to pass a value to both the sections so that both the reports filder data based on the same value.?
Can I create a prompt which will pass value to both the sections (i.e to both the reports) so that reports display data for the same filter condition (lets say actual data in report 1 for 2012) and budget data in second report for the same year? How to do this? Can it me done using presentation variable so that value from the variable is passed to both the sections?
Is there better way to display actual vs budget data in one place ,lets say in the same section?
Thanks and Regards
Santosh

Answer 1

You can use a presentation variable in your Dashboard prompt and pass this to the relevant field filters in both reports, or if you are earlier in your project, the correct way I would go about this would be to use a common presentation_table.column name syntax (like Time.Year) in both subject areas , then you can simply build the dashboard prompt using one of the subject area and the values will still be passed to the 2nd report / subject area so long as you have 'is prompted' where appropriate.
The second approach only works if you have a common syntax across both subject areas, for something like the time dimension I dont see a reason why there shouldnt be anyway - Note Aliases in the Presentation Layer dont count!