Dataset Reports Overview

This article gives a brief overview of the range of expanded Reporting options available in Metric Insights.

  1. Ways to Create a New Dataset Report
  2. Report Editor: Info Tab
  3. Report Editor: Data Tab
  4. Report Editor: Content Tab
    1. Select Object to Display on Report Tile
    2. Apply Filters at Report or Element Level
    3. Table Structural Formatting
    4. Table Conditional Formatting
    5. Creating Pivot Tables
    6. Creating Various Charting Displays
    7. Creating Rich Text Blocks
    8. Adding External Report
  5. Aggregation of Numeric Values
  6. Adding Hyperlinks
  7. Report Editor: Distribution Tab
  8. Report Notifications

 

PREREQUISITES:

You need an existing Dataset or you can Create a Dataset.

1. Ways to Create a New Dataset Report

1.1. From the Dataset Editor

[Build Report] to open the Report Editor. This option will use the All Data View by default.

1.2. From the Dataset Viewer

Viewer opens after clicking [View].

Go to Actions > Build Report.

1.3. From the Menu

Access + New > Report

2. Report Editor: Info Tab

  1. Activate this checkbox to flag elements and then Migrate Content using our Export/Import Migration Scripts. Check for details in Scripted Migration via Category and Element Editors article
  2. Dimension it by: Optional. Choose a Dimension to be applied to the Report
  3. Visible: Select where the Report will be visible by activating the corresponding checkbox
  4. Name: Give the Report a descriptive name
  5. Description: Optional. By default, the Name is repeated here, but if this is not sufficiently descriptive, you may change it
  6. Category: Select from dropdown; all reports much exist in one and only one Category 
  7. Certified: Certification is a means for Admin and Power Users to identify elements that have been approved as being valid and accurate. For details refer to Certifying an Element
  8. Tags: Tags are used to relate elements to each other for purposes of identifying similar Charts when the See Related drop-down list in the Metric Viewer is populated, allowing a more in-depth analysis of trends. For details refer to Create a Tag

3. Report Editor: Data Tab

  1. Dataset & View: Select the Dataset from the drop-down menu
  2. [Show Data] to validate the report.
  3. [Save & View] or just [Save]

Your Report is now ready to view, but you will probably want to apply some of the Report Formatting options available in the Report Content tab.

4. Report Editor: Content Tab

  1. A full Report Table will be set up with the formatting applied to your Dataset (if any). Selecting Edit for any object will produce a slide-out Editor
  2. Additional Objects are created using drag-and-drop to move the icons into the 'Drop Components Here' area
    • Tables or Pivot Tables product separate Editors
    • Text allows free-form 'banner' sections to be displayed / External Visualizations are easily added to the Report
    • A variety of pre-formatted Charts are also available
  3. The "up-down" icon allows you to move the various items within the Report

4.1. Select Object to Display on Report Tile

Specify which Chart or Table will appear on the Homepage tile by activating the Show on Tile option. Only one object will be allowed, any other checkbox will be de-selected.

4.2. Apply Filters at Report or Element Level

  1. Report Filters work much like Dimension filters but allow greater diversity. These drop-downs apply to all elements of the report and can be adjusted by anyone viewing the Report.
  2. Table (or Chart) Filters are defined by the Report creator, apply only to one object, and cannot be manipulated by Users.

For more details see Applying Filters in Dataset Reports article.

4.3. Table Structural Formatting

4.3.1. Basic Formatting via Table Editor

Click Edit to open the Table Editor.

  1. Give the Table a descriptive title
  2. Select a font for this Table
  3. Header Format: Select the color of font and background and the styling of the header
  4. Limit Rows: Activate this checkbox to display another field where you can limit the number of rows (see highlighted example)
  5. By drag-and-dropping the rows you can define the order in the Table and activate the checkboxes to show/hide the columns. The Edit icon allows setting options for individual fields
  6. Hide Unused Columns: Activate this checkbox to hide all unused columns in the Editor
  7. Sort Order: [+ Sort] to add a sorting rule
  8. Conditional Formatting: Apply Rules for Formatting based on specified conditions
  9. Grand Totals: Activate this checkbox to add totals to every column and optionally relabel this field
  10. Show on Tile: Select either the table itself or the rows count will be shown on the tile
  11. These checkboxes define whether the table is shown in the Viewer and Email or not
  12. Include as Attachment: Activate this checkbox to add the table to the email as an attachment
  13. Display banded rows: Activate this checkbox if you want every uneven row to be shown with a gray background color
  14. Click </> Get embed code to obtain table's embed code

[Apply] to confirm changes in the Table.

4.3.2. Applying Sections and Groupings in Table Editor

Sections and Grouping provide an easy way to customize your Table for easy viewing.

Sections provide the ability to divide the table into separate sections according to the unique values of one of the columns.

Grouping allows specifying one or several columns and grouping all other columns according to their values. When set, the repeated column values are instead shown as blank.

  1. Activate the Sections and Grouping checkboxes
  2. Select the column according to which you would like to divide the table and drag it from the Columns section into Sections area
  3. Drag columns from the Columns section into the Grouping area
  4. Open the column editing window and apply some formatting

The resulting Table will look like:

A full description of this process is available in Using Sections and Groups in Dataset Report Tables article.

4.3.3. Applying Formatting Via the Column Drop-down Menu

To edit individual Columns, open the drop-down next to the Column name. You can easily Sort or Hide the column, apply Text and Fill color, etc. Or you can click Edit Column to open the full Column Editor.

Report Editor - Google Chrome

Full Column Editor allows you to also:

  1. Display Name: Allows you to modify how the Column Name displays
  2. Display Mask: allows you to select a Display Mask for column values
  3. Aggregation:  Allows you to aggregate column values
  4. Hyperlinking: Allows you to drill down to more detail (see Creating Manual Hyperlinks in a Dataset Report (Drill Path) )
  5. Column Format: Allows you to see any options already set or apply new options
  6. Override Header Colors: Will use the same colors for the Header that are set for the Column text/filler

4.4. Table Conditional Formatting

Conditional Formatting allows you to set Rules and Conditions that can highlight when specific conditions (aka Anomalies) occur in your data.

Select [+ Rule] in Conditional Formatting section to display the options available.

You can choose to compare and format any of your data fields; the options available will differ for text, date, and numeric fields. 

4.4.1. Example: Comparing a Field to a Value

  1. Select any of the data columns from the drop-down menu
  2. Choose both the condition, and either a value or another data column. List of options in the drop-down will vary based on both the Data and Condition chosen
  3. Select Format options: text or background color, bold or italic styling
  4. Choose whether you want to apply the formatting to a single value or "Entire Row" 

4.5. Creating Pivot Tables

Pivot Tables function much like other Tables in the Report Editor, but provide fewer options, especially when applying Conditional Formatting as this can only be done at the Column level.

For more details see Pivot Tables in Dataset Reports

  1. Give the Pivot Table a descriptive title
  2. Rows: Determine Row Values
  3. Columns: Determine Column Values
  4. Measure: Specify the Measure that will be used to calculate values
  5. Include Grand Totals for: Optionally, specify if you want to include Grand Totals for Columns and Rows and if so, determine their formatting
  6. [Apply]

4.6. Creating Various Charting Displays

There are numerous charting options available by simply dragging-and-dropping one of the Chart icons.

For details about various Charts and options available check Creating Charts in Dataset Reporting article.

4.7. Creating Rich Text Blocks

Users can add blocks of text to the Dataset Reports to make them even more informative and compelling. To use this option, drag the Text tile to the Report Canvas and add the desired information.

Some options are:

  1. Formatted Text
  2. Bullet and numbered lists
  3. Tables
  4. Hyperlinks
  5. Variables

The following formatting functionality is supported:

  • Undo/redo (change history)
  • Bold, Italic, text alignment (left, center, right)
  • Hyperlinking (drill-thru)
  • Font color, background-color
  • Font family
  • Font size
  • Tables
  • Ordered and Unordered lists
  • Source code (HTML) viewing and editing (Variables)

For more details on Text Blocks, see Working with Text Blocks article.

4.8. Adding External Report

  1. External Visualization: From the drop-down menu, choose the External Report with which your Dataset Report will interact
  2. Title: Give the External Visualization a descriptive name
  3. Activate the Link Visualization to Data Table radio button to link Column Values to a Visualization
    • In the Dataset Report Editor, when you click such a link, the Visualization will open on an external webpage
    • In the Dataset Report Viewer, when you click the table link, the Visualization will open in the Viewer
  4. Map Report Columns to Filters: Click [+Add] and map more Report columns to External Filter values
  5. If you activate Combine values for each filter checkbox, the same Visualization will be displayed for all Filter Values.
    • If this box is clear, you can select the number of instances to display in Viewer and in an email. Options for Maximum number of instances to display will appear in both Show in Viewer and Show in Email
  6. Optionally, select Show in Viewer. You can specify:
    • the Height of Visualization
    • the Maximum number of Instances
  7. Optionally, select Show in Email. You can define:
    • whether clicking the image in an email will open your Dataset Report or External web page
    • the Maximum number of instances
  8. [Apply]

5. Aggregation of Numeric Values

In earlier versions of Dataset Reports, if you wanted to Aggregate values in your Report, you needed to create a new Dataset View with required Field Aggregations and then create a new Report from this.

In 5.5 you can perform this in the Report Editor for multiple Tables simply by setting the Aggregation method at the Table column level. Check for details here: Aggregation of numeric values.

If you are not linking to an External Visual contained in your Report, you will need to link each field individually. Basically, you edit the field where the link is being located and manually enter the Hyperlink code to access it.

Find out more about Creating Hyperlinks in a Dataset Report.

  1. Open Column drop-down
  2. Select "Edit Column" to open the Column Editor
  3. In the Hyperlinkingfield
    1. Type "[" to open auto-suggest for a list of fields (see below)
    2. To create a Fixed text link use this format: [click here](http://url/value=[field_name])
    3. To create a Dynamic text link use this format: [[field_name]](http://url/value=[field_name])
  4. [Done]

7. Report Editor: Distribution Tab

  1. Specify whether Reports with no data will be distributed or not. For more details, see Generating Empty Dataset Reports (when there is No Data)
  2. If you have chosen to include any attachments to your Report, you must specify the format in the Report Distribution tab.  

Note: This setting will apply to all Charts and Tables electing to include attachments.

8. Report Notifications

Access the Report Viewer.

  1. Click notification icon
  2. Activate the check box to receive this Report daily
  3. Optionally, send this Report in a Burst

For more information, refer to Report Notifications Subscription Options, Settings available