This analysis, another basic but very important reporting feature, will rank the top 25 and bottom 25 articles in terms ofunits sold, retail dollars, and gross profit for the company and the higher levels in the organizational hierarchy (e.g., regionand district). The analysis can be created dynamically, for example, on demand for a specific week, if the product of stores andarticles (the number of stores times the number of articles) is relatively small. The other organizational levels (such as theregion) will need to be produced weekly. Of course, another way to look at the top 25 articles is via the merchandising hierarchy.This means the 25 top-selling articles for each department in terms of units sold, retail dollars, and gross profit for the companyand the next organizational level (e.g., region). This data should be produced weekly.

Certainly, there are many different ways to rank the top and bottom 25. Many retailers will want more restrictions on thisanalysis, such as ranking the articles that have a profit margin of more than 40%. This is an important part of the flexibility ofthe data warehouse. Care should be taken in the design to ensure that there is sufficient flexibility to create many top and bottom25 analyses.