Basics of the Element Viewers

This is a very basic overview of the buttons and data displayed on most Metric and Report Viewers.

1. Basics

Basics
  1. Alternative View Buttons allow you to change the format of data display or to link to elements with data related to this Chart
  2. Buttons that allow you to add the chart to Favorites folder, Share information, check Alerts and Edit this Chart
  3. Data Point displays explicit information on the current value of the data point, its previous changes and drill-path to linked elements that might be helpful in further data analysis
  4. Metric Summary provides an outline of current value, trends, min and max values and links to the elements necessary for further analysis
  5. Range Selector allows quickly determine a time period for the alternative view
  6. Legend for the lines on the Chart
  7. Add Expert Analysis allows adding a permanent note to help users understand the the data provided on the Chart
  8. Overlays can be added to the current Chart to compare it with other different metrics, analyse the current metric with data at some point in past or define which Event Calendars should be shown at the Chart
  9. Annotations or Events related to data points or data ranges; explanation of these is included in section below the Chart

To learn more about these Viewer options, refer to the respective sections of the article.

1.1. Alternative View Buttons

Alternative View Buttons

The following buttons offer various alternative options allowing to focus attention on specific metric aspects.

  1. Measurement Interval Options: Switch among elements with the same Measure but with different Measurement Interval from this drop-down list: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly.
  2. For dimensioned elements only. Dimension values: Use this drop down list to switch among different Charts of the pre-filterted data. For details, refer to: Creating Dimensions
  3. See Related: button drop-down list is populated with elements with the same Measure of and Measurement Interval For more detail, see this FAQ
  4. Tags (In Version prior to 5.1: Topics): Starting from Version 5.1 all tags assigned to the element are displayed at the top panel of the Viewer. Upon clicking a specific Tag label, you are redirected to a Homepage with content filtered down to only those elements which are tagged with the sama label. For details, refer to: Create a Topic / Tag
  5. Date Range: These buttons help to filter the data over a specific time span; i.e., 4 weeks, 2 months, 12 weeks, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 30 years. You may also create Custom Date Ranges to display only those periods which are of interest to you - see Creating Custom Date Ranges
  6. Views that have been activated and to which the user has been granted the Privilege to access, including:  
    • Standard view: default clean view which allows to focus on independent analysis.
    • Stoplight view: A Stoplight is a visual indicator of how well a Metric is doing. A Metric can have a underperforming, performing, or outperforming Stoplight result that is denoted by different background shading in the various Metric views over time. For more details refer to: Define a Metric's Stoplight
    • Statistical view: The chart is designated with the area of acceptable standard deviation. Those data points that fall outside of this deviation are considered to be anomalies or what we call statistically significant data.
    • Target view (not shown at the image above): shows whether data point meet the expected results. For more details refer to: Targets Overview
    • Projection view (not shown at the image above): Projections provide a view of how results experienced to-date can be used to predict future results based on optional settings established by the Metric's creator. For more details refer to: Understanding Projections

1.2. Additional Options

Additional Options
  1. Favorites button is used to to add or remove the element from a Favorites folder. One element can belong to multiple Favorites folders
  2. Share button provides a user with two options: Share right now (as email) or Share via Burst
  3. Download data button allows to download a file in one of the offered formats
  4. Alert subscription icon provides access to configure your alerts for this element
  5. The Quick Edit button allows you to change some of the Chart display options. Only Power and Admin users have access to Edit option allowing to configure the Chart

1.3. Data Points

Data Points

Clicking on a data point reveals its context menu, providing details on the given time period, linking to elements necessary for drill-down and further data analysis and options for creating an Annotations or Events (if the Event Calendar is applied to the Metric).

1.4. Statistics summary information

Statistics summary information

Metric summary information is added to new Metrics by default.

To enable it for previously created elements or hide it from the Viewer, go either to the Quick Edit or to the Metric Editor:

  1. Metric Editor > Charting tab > Show Summary
  2. Quick Edit > Show Summary

1.5. Range selector

Range selector

Range selector allows you to quickly define the required time period to display on the Chart Viewer

1.6. Legend for Chart lines or bars

Legend for Chart lines or bars

Legends help users to decode the data displayed on the Chart. Legends often include overlaid Metrics, Compare Lines, Events and Annotations. Each overlaid Metric or Compare line may have different color and style which is specified in the Legend

Upon single-clicking the Legend item, a user can hide or display the corresponding Metric, Compare Line, or all Events / Annotations shown at the Chart.

NOTE: If the Legend is dimmed, the overlaid item is hidden from the Chart.

1.7. Events and Annotations

Events and Annotations

Events and Annotation can be added to any Data Point of the element

  1. Event is one or more individual occurrences associated with the Event Calendar. To add an Event, click Add Event below the Chart Legend. Added Events are displayed at the Chart and below the Chart in the comments section. NOTE: You can only add Events if element is already associated with at least one Event Calendar.
  2. Annotation allows sharing your insights with other users. To add annotation, click Add Annotation below the Chart Legend. Added Annotations are displayed at the Chart and below the Chart in the comments section.

2. Element Details

Element Details

At the very bottom of the Viewer Page the element details are displayed

  • Last time period when the element has been updated
  • People responsible for this element (Business owner, optional Data steward, and Technical owner)
  • Current value, Max and Min values, etc.