When to count DET’s for Report Headings
Report headings are counted when they are dynamic. That is, if report headings are being read from an internal logical file they should be counted as DETs.
Can an External Output have an input side?
Since the input side is not stand-alone (independent or an elementary process) it should be considered as part of the entire external output. The FTRs and DETs used to search should be combined with unique outside DETs and FTRs for at grand total FTRs and DETs for the entire EO. In short, an external output can have an input side.
Can an External Output Update an Internal Logical File?
An external output can update an internal logical file, but it is incorrect to say that an external output can maintain an internal logical file. The update is part of the elementary process of the external output. An external input maintains data on and ILF file. The maintain process is an elementary process alone. The definition for maintaining is discussed in the internal logical file and external input sections of this book.
Graphs
Graphs are counted the same way as the textual EOs. That is, the graph is rated and scored based on the number of DETs and the number of FTRs. In fact, recursive information is easily seen in a graph, but can be more difficult to visualize in a text report.
- Days
- Hits
- % of Total Hits
- User Sessions
- Total Hits (weekday)
- Total % (weekday)
- Total User Sessions (weekday)
- Total Hits (weekend)
- Total % (weekend)
- Total User Sessions (weekend)
Days, Hits, % of Total Hits and User Sessions all have recursive data.
The same data could be processed and presented as bar graph. But on the following bar graph there are only two data elements (user session and day of week). The bar graph is a separate external output and is unique from the above table. In short, it provides different business slightly different information than the table.
