Information
is easier to understand when it appears in an expected order. Applying
a sort order to one or more data items enables you to arrange rows
and columns in tables and axis labels on charts in some order, such
as alphabetically or highest to lowest numerically. Interactively
changing the order of data can provide you with a different perspective
that often facilitates valuable insight. For example, in a report,
sales employees who are initially arranged alphabetically can be resorted
by geography or by sales amount. Seeing the most recent year first
in a table can help you find the most relevant information faster.
However, you can spot trends more quickly in a line plot if you order
the years ascending chronologically. You can also sort data by multiple
data items to show sales employees who generated the most to the least
revenue, within an alphabetical list of the region. SAS Web Report
Studio enables report authors to easily set or change the sort order
of the dates, the text, and the numbers that are presented in tables
and graphs to facilitate understanding.