External Report Overview

This article provides an overview of External Reports within the Metric Insights system.

External Report in an object that allows to display a visualization from an external BI tool (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, etc.). The difference between an External Report and an Element populated by External Content:

  • External Content is an object used to display data located on a web page.
  • External Report allows not only to automatically gather and show data, stored in an external source, but also apply filters to that data and flexibly customize its display.

If there are multiple reports in that need to be added to Metric Insights, they can be bulk-added all at once. 

In this article:

  1. Creating an External Report
    1. Info Tab
    2. Configuration Tab
    3. Advanced Tab
  2. End Result
  3. Importing/Exporting of External Reports

NOTE: Metric Insights uses only https. If the web application that serves as the Data Source for your External Report uses ordinary http,  the report will not be displayed in the Metric Insights viewer. For more information refer to this issues fixing article.

1. Creating an External Report

Access + New > External Report > BI tool.

This example is using Qlik Sense as the BI tool. The configuration of External Reports is specific to each BI tool. Links to more specialized instructions based on a given BI tool can be found here:  Metric Insights' Plugins

  1. Name: Define a unique and descriptive name for the Report. It is impossible to proceed to next step if the Report Name is the same as an existing one.
  2. Report Type: It is set automatically, according to the selected BI tool.
  3. Dimension it by: Optional. Choose a Dimension to be applied to the Report.
  4. Category: Choose the Category to place the Report into.
  5. Tags: Optional. Tags are used to relate Elements to each other for purposes of identifying and searching for similar Elements. For details refer to the Create a Tag article.
  6. Image: Define how the images of the External Report will be collected.
    • Automatically Collected: It requires that a Report Image Trigger is set. It defines when the image is updated.
    • Manually Uploaded: This means the Admin uploads the image manually.
  7. Plugin Connect Profile: Select the Data Source from which the information is collected.
  8. Object: Choose the source data/report from the plugin.
  9. URL template: It is set by default but the User can change the template is necessary.

[Next: Define Details]

1.1. Info Tab

  1. Collecting is: New Elements will be "disabled" until you publish the Report.
  2. Visible: Define where the External Report will be visible. By default, Users can find newly created Elements via Search and on the Homepage.
    • Disabling these check boxes makes the Element visible to the Admin and creator only.
  3. Folders: The User can add the External Report to the Folder here.
  4. Certified: Certification allows Admins and Power Users to identify Elements that have been validated and deemed accurate. For details refer to Certification Levels for Elements article.

1.2. Configuration Tab

Its contents are based upon the specific BI Tool requirements. Below is an example using Qlik Sense.

1.2.1. External Report Type and Object Selection Sections

  1. Show Report in: Define where the Report will be shown, in the Metric Insights Viewer or on the External Webpage. After choosing "Viewer", define additional options:
    • Choose between the iframe, static image and PDF document.
  2. [Manage Filters] to apply Filters to this Report prior to collecting data, see Filtering in External Reports article.
  3. [Edit URL] to edit the URL and use the Popup to create a Custom URL and test your changes.

1.2.2. Image Collection & Display Sections

  1. Image: It can be "Automatically Collected", or "Manually Uploaded" by Admin .
    • If "Automatically Collected" is chosen also define:
      • Report Image: Either the data is collected automatically and according to the Report Image Trigger, or by demand.
      • Report Image Trigger: Determines when and how often the data is collected.
  2. [Save And Collect Image] to collect the data, set the image and save it.
  3. [Setup Image] to change the Homepage's preview image height and width. For more information, refer to Understanding Setup Image article.
  4. Crop Tall Images to Default Size: If the image is tall, it would look clumsy on the tile. Enable this check box to crop it.

1.3. Advanced Tab

  1. Show collaboration: Enable this check box to allow users leave Comments to the Report tile.
  2. Associate with App: If the user want to display external Report in the App instead of the Viewer, here it can be set. The App chosen in this field overrides default Viewer look.
  3. External Report Display: Define how the External Report should be shown in mobile.
  4. Hide Filters on Mobile: Activate this checkbox to hide the Filters in mobile version.
  5. Collect additional files: To generate a PDF or CSV file after collecting the data, enable corresponding check box.
  6. PDF page format: If the "PDF" check box is enabled, choose the page format for the file
  7. Expire if latest image is more than: Set when tile will display "Expired" marker based on the age of the image

2. End Result

Once External Reports are created, a User will be able to seamlessly link to a variety of relevant reports from their personal list of Favorites or Categories to which the User has access.

3. Importing/Exporting of External Reports

External Reports are Imported and Exported the same way as the other Elements, but there are some special features:

  • When the User migrates an External Report to another instance, the path to the Object from which the External Report was created can change. That's why the URL (to see it, click [Edit URL] in the Object Selection section of the Configuration tab of the External Report Editor) is re-generated after importing
  • The Manually Uploaded image is included in the migration with the External Report only since the 6.4.4 version. In previous versions, only the Automatically Collected pictures were migrated with the External Report