OBIEE AVGDISTINCT in RPD

Question

Hi
I cannot find the AVGDISTINCT aggregate function in the drop down list in the RPD. I've looked in the properties of the physical database and it's not there either (things like 'COUNT_DISTINCT_SUPPORTED' etc.). The 11.1.1 docs include it, and I quote *"AVGDISTINCT*
*This function calculates the average (mean) of all distinct values of an expression. It must take a numeric expression as its argument."*
This is for 11.1.1.6.2.
I DO NOT want to do this in answers. I need it to be done in the RPD.
Any idea?
Thanks
Martin

Answer 1

What I really want to do is a calculation to work out a total by doing AVG(DISTINCT total)*COUNT(DISTINCT trnx)
It's a long story as to why it needs to be this way but I'll have a go at explaining. Our data is such that there are many many-to-many relationships - this is not a common industry. In a nutshell there can be multiple customers on a single transaction. Each of those customers can have multiple roles on that single transaction. It's way more complex than that but that's a start.
Eg.
CUSTOMER ROLE TRNX_NO TRNX_TOTAL
J. Smith xxxx 10 $100
P. Black yyyyy 10 $100
J. Smith xxxx 45 $100
J. Smith xxxx 145 $600
P. Black xxxx 55 $600
J. Smith zzzzz 10 $100
Now, they want to know how many transactions and the total a customer has been involved in.
CUSTOMER NUMBER_OF_TRNXS TOTAL
J. Smith 3 $800
P. Black 2 $700
Or roles
ROLE NUMBER_OF_TRNXS TOTAL
xxxx 4 $900
yyyyy 1 $100
zzzzz 1 $100
Or customers and roles
CUSTOMER ROLE NUMBER_OF_TRNXS TOTAL
J. Smith xxxx 3 $900
J. Smith zzzzz 1 $600
P. Black xxxx 1 $600
P. Black yyyyy 1 $100
Hopefully, I've got that all right. You can try any way you like but to not over state or under state the counts and totals, the only formula that works is AVG(DISTINCT trnx_total)*COUNT(DISTINCT trnx_no) . It works every time in SQL and would in the RPD if it was allowed.
If I use that formula in Answers it works fine, but I shouldn't have to. Should just be able to drag the pre-calculated column from the RPD!!