Drill down

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For other uses, see data drilling.

In information technology, to drill down means to move from summary information to detailed data by focusing in on something.

To drill down through a series of folders, for example, on a desktop means to go through the hierarchy of folders to find a specific file or to click through drop-down menus in a GUI. Clicking on an item moves you to a level of greater detail. When an online user accesses more and more pages of the Web site, he or she goes deeper into the content of the site. As a surfer goes further into a website, he or she goes deeper into the back pages and thus deeper into data. (Of course, he or she could also begin—e.g. via an external search engine—at a detailed view, and drill up to the front page of the site.)

To drill down through a database is to access information by starting with a general category and moving through the hierarchy of field to file to record. When you drill down, you perform data analysis on a child attribute. It is a method of exploring multidimensional data by moving from one level of detail to the next. Drill-down levels depend on the granularity of the data.

In the field of Managerial Economics, the term "Drill Down" is used to explain exciting, but technical aspects of operations research, regression analysis and name-dropping.

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