Björn Vrooman Jun 24, 2016:

@Julia Afraid I may not be helping you that much, but just consider a slight change in the overall structure:
"Wenn wir unsere Zukunft überhaupt noch selbst (mit-)gestalten können wollen, dann kommt es darauf an, Daten für gesellschaftliche, ökonomische und individuelle Zwecke in Wert setzen zu können."
https://okfn.de/blog/2016/04/gastbeitrag-snv-open-data/

That would mean "einen Wert für etwas festlegen," but I believe it can also be used to say "etwas in Relation setzen."

Gesamtwert = total value/amount/number
auf den... = in relation to...

Claudia Hoffmann Jun 24, 2016:

Julia, I think we are getting there. What about: The presentation of these figures represents the total value. If you still have doubts I suggest you simply ask the client what he means by that.

Julia Burgess (asker) Jun 24, 2016:

Context There's not much more I can add, really. The title of the table that the footnote refers to is: Krankheitsbedingte Abwesenheit (the footnote reference is against the title, rather than any other specific element of the table's contents). There are four columns: Krankheitsbedingte Abwesenheit; 2014/15; 2015/16; Abweichung zum Vorjahr in %. Rows are: in Stunden (which appears to be the overall total), then there are rows of figures, each relating to the regions of Europe in which the company operates. The figures in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 columns are in 100,000s. In the Abweichung column, the figures have 2 decimal places (percentages): some are positive, some are negative.

In the footnote, it also goes on to explain that figures from 2014/15 have been adjusted compared to the previous report to reflect a change in data collection methods.

Is it possible that they simply want to point out that the regional figures add up to the overall total (the "in Stunden" row)? I would have thought that was a given, although naming the row differently would have been advisable!

Claudia Hoffmann Jun 24, 2016:

Julia, a bit more context would be helpful.

Julia Burgess (asker) Jun 24, 2016:

Thanks Claudia Your suggestion already reads better than mine - although I still don't know what they mean!

Claudia Hoffmann Jun 24, 2016:

Hi Julia,
My suggestion is: The presentation of these figures is based on the total value.