Indicator Displays :: SAS(R) BI Dashboard 4.2: User's Guide

KPI Display

Overview

The KPI display shows a single KPI or multiple KPIs. For a single KPI, the display shows the KPI associated with a single data value.

Here is an example of a single KPI display:

For multiple KPIs, the display shows one KPI for each data point that is in scope. For the best results, aggregate related KPIs through a single data model so that a single indicator configuration controls the display of all values.

Here is an example of a multiple KPI display:

Define a KPI Display

You define a KPI display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select KPI.

The controls to define a KPI display appear.
To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.

For more information, see Define the Range.
From the Gauge type drop-down list, select a type of gauge.

You can also click Select to view the gauges graphically. For more information, see Select a Gauge for an Indicator.
Select the primary range data source property.
(Optional) Select the secondary range data source property, if the gauge supports it.

Gauged Graph Display

Overview

The gauged graph display applies a range to a standard graph display such as bar graph or line graph. For the best results, the data model should return only one value for each unique value in the Category label data column, thereby avoiding aggregation of the data. The category variable is specified by the data column selected for the Category label field when the data source was defined.

Here is an example of a gauged graph display:

If the gauged graph display does aggregate data, the gauged graph displays data points at the average interval for each data series. The indexes of the aggregated intervals are averaged to determine the interval to display and the color of the bar.

Here are some guidelines for using the gauged graph display:

To display the average interval in a graph, the gauged graph is the easiest method to use.
The tooltip for each data series indicates that the displayed value is the average interval.
To prevent aggregation by the gauged graph display, aggregate the data at the data model level.

Define a Gauged Graph Display

You define a gauged graph display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select Gauged Graph.

The controls to define a gauged graph display appear.
Type the height and width of the graph area.
From the Graph type drop-down list, select a type of graph, and then select values to be represented by the graph.

The types of values depend on the type of graph.
Specify how to display each axis.

The number of axes depends on the type of graph.
Select values for the grouping of the columns and rows.
To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.

For more information, see Define the Range.
Select the primary range data source property.

Bar and Trend Display

Overview

The bar and trend display shows two sets of gauges and their corresponding values. The first column displays the name of the data field. The second column displays the first gauge (which is based on the primary and secondary values) and its corresponding value. The third column displays the second gauge (which is based on the primary trend) and its corresponding value.

Here is an example of a bar and trend display:

Although you could choose any two data series to represent the value and trend, this display is designed to display a value and a precalculated trend value. To produce the best visual representation possible, follow these guidelines:

The gauge in the second column is best displayed as a bullet or slider. A bullet or a slider gauge also enables you to specify a secondary value.
The gauge in the third column is best displayed as a static indicator that does not occupy much space, such as an arrow.
By default, the range intervals are displayed for a dynamic gauge. If the gauge is too narrow, the text of the range intervals can overlap and become illegible. Clear the option Display range intervals when you select the gauge. For more information, see Select a Gauge for an Indicator.
Displaying the range interval also displays a common scale above the bar column. For large numbers, this text can also become illegible. Here is an example:
By default, gray scale ghosting is selected for a dynamic gauge. Gray scale ghosting displays only the color that the primary pointer is pointing to (the active color). Inactive colors appear as shades of gray. To display all colors, clear the option Ghost when you select the gauge.
By default, the height for both of the gauges is 30 pixels. The width of the bar value is equal to the width of the gauge (the default width is 120 pixels and the height is 30 pixels). The trend gauge and value are both set to 40 pixels wide and 30 pixels high, neither of which can be changed.

Define a Bar and Trend Display

You define a bar and trend display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select Bar and Trend.

The controls to define a bar and trend display appear.
Repeat these steps for each definition:
1. To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
2. To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.
  
  For more information, see Define the Range.
3. From the Gauge type drop-down list, select a type of gauge.
4. Select the primary range data source property.
5. (Optional) Select the secondary range data source property, if the gauge supports it.

Graph Display

Overview

The graph display presents information from a variety of sources. The visual representation can be presented in a variety of ways such as images and HTML pages. The output of the graph display is specified by an external URL. The visual representation is not derived from the data in the data model.

Stored Processes

You can use a stored process with a graph display to produce a graphical display that is not possible with the SAS BI Dashboard itself. To use a stored process, you must create a stored process that is appropriate for inclusion in a dashboard and then derive the URL that renders the stored process output.

Use these guidelines to create a stored process:

The output for the stored process must be set to streaming.
The output should be small in size, perhaps no more than 300 X 300 pixels.
Conserving space is a dashboard is important so that dashboard users can get a broad overview of disparate metrics. Although a stored process that renders a graph might look good when it uses most of the window, the graph will displace all other information in the dashboard. If you cannot communicate the data in a small amount of space and users need to see other data in the same dashboard, consider using aggregation or another technique to reduce the amount of data that the stored process renders. Consider modifying the stored process in SAS Enterprise Guide to suppress the title and footnotes, and use the minimal template for output.

To determine the URL for a stored process, use the SAS Stored Process Web Application.

Define a Graph Display

You define a graph display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select Graph.

The controls to define a graph display appear.
Type the height and width of the graph area.
From the Output type drop-down list, specify how to represent the indicator.
Type the external URL to associate with the indicator.

This URL can be a Web site (with HTML selected for the Output type), an image on a Web page (with Image selected for the Output type), or a stored process (with HTML selected for the Output type).

Note: If you are familiar with HTML elements, when the Output type is set to HTML, the URL can be any value that is valid for the src attribute of the <iframe> HTML element. When the Output type is set to Image, the URL can be any value that is valid for the src attribute of the <img> HTML element.
Repeat these steps for each definition:
1. To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
2. To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.
  
  For more information, see Define the Range.
3. From the Gauge type drop-down list, select a type of gauge.
4. Select the primary range data source property.
5. Select the secondary range data source property, if the gauge supports it.

Range Map Display

Overview

The range map display shows graphs with results plotted on color-coded backgrounds that are based on range definitions.

The display on the left is grouped by row. The display on the right is grouped by column.

Define a Range Map Display

You define a range map display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select Range Map.

The controls to define a range map display appear.
Type the height and width of the graph area.
From the Graph type drop-down list, select a type of graph, and then select values to be represented by the graph.

The types of values depend on the type of graph.
Specify how to display each axis.

The number of axes depend on the type of graph.
Select values for the grouping of the columns and rows.
Repeat these steps for each definition:
1. To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
2. To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.
  
  For more information, see Define the Range.
3. Select the primary range data source property.

KPI Table Display

Overview

The KPI table display shows data points in a table form, with one gauge per table row. The table column headings are the names of the data fields. Here is an example of a KPI table display:

Define a KPI Table Display

You define a KPI table display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select KPI Table.

The controls to define a KPI table display appear.
To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.

For more information, see Define the Range.
From the Gauge type drop-down list, select a type of gauge.

You can also click Select to view the gauges graphically. For more information, see Select a Gauge for an Indicator.
Select the primary range data source property.
(Optional) Select the secondary range data source property, if the gauge supports it.

Interactive (Adobe Flash-based) Displays

Overview

The interactive displays use Adobe Flash to enable dashboard users to interactively traverse large amounts of detail data by sliding along a summary chart. Detail data can be easily compared using two methods. In the first method, a column by which to group data is selected when the display is defined. In the second method, the user selects different detail slices to compare while viewing the display.

The interactive displays are as follows:

the interactive summary chart and detail chart display
the interactive summary chart and detail plot display

Setting up an interactive display is nearly identical to setting up a gauged graph display. However, an interactive display has more options and uses data in a more sophisticated way than the gauged graph display.

For the best results using the interactive displays, the data model must meet these requirements:

The data model must be suitable for a gauged graph.
A data model that returns a single row and that is suitable for a KPI display is not suitable for an interactive display.
The data model must contain one low-cardinality grouping column that is used to summarize the data.
A low-cardinality grouping column is a column that has a small number of unique values to group by.
(Optional) To enable an interactive display to express forecasting data to business users, the data model must contain a column for forecasted values, for lower confidence values, and for upper confidence values.
An interactive bar chart display can summarize either the detail data expressed in the detail charts or can summarize a different field of data.

At the indicator level, the set up of the interactive displays is essentially the same as for other gauged graphs, except that the use of data for the interactive displays is more sophisticated. The only significant difference is that the interactive displays support the concept of dependent ranges. A dependent range takes the value of another range for the range definition. This scheme enables a data set generated by the SAS Forecast Server to be useful to the SAS BI Dashboard and the interactive displays without the need for complicated intermediary data transformations.

Define an Interactive Summary Chart And Detail Chart Display

You define an interactive summary chart and detail chart display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select Interactive Summary Chart and Detail Chart.

The controls to define an interactive display appear.
From the Summarization function drop-down list, specify how to summarize the data.
From the Summarization graph type drop-down list, select a type of graph.
From the Custom label for summary graph field, type the custom label.
Click to select the default color for the data.
If you want the graph to display a legend, select the Show legend check box.
From the Graph type drop-down list, select a type of graph.
From the Bar value drop-down list, select a data column for the bar value.
(Optional) Select data columns for the forecasted value, target value (available only when you are creating an interactive targeted bar chart), confidence values, and alternative values to summarize.
(Optional) Specify how to display the detail axis and summary axis.
(Optional) Select the data columns by which to summarize and group the data.
Repeat these steps for each definition:
1. To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
2. To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.
  
  For more information, see Define the Range.
3. Select the primary range data source property.

Define an Interactive Summary Chart And Detail Plot Display

You define an interactive summary chart and detail plot display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator.

From the Display drop-down list on the New Indicator page or the Indicator Properties page, select Interactive Summary Chart and Detail Plot.

The controls to define an interactive summary chart and detail plot display appear.
From the Summarization function drop-down list, specify how to summarize the data.
From the Summarization graph type drop-down list, select a type of graph.
From the Custom label for summary graph field, type the custom label.
Click to select the default color for the data.
If you want the graph to display a legend, select the Show legend check box.
From the Graph type drop-down list, select a type of graph.
From the X value drop-down list, select a data column for the X value.
(Optional) Select data columns for the forecasted value and confidence values.
From the Y value drop-down list, select a data column for the Y value.
(Optional) Select data columns for the Y forecasted value and Y confidence values.
(Optional) Select data columns for the alternative values to summarize.
(Optional) Specify how to display the detail axes and summary axis.
(Optional) Select the data columns by which to summarize and group the data.
Repeat these steps for each definition:
1. To use an existing range, select a range from the Range drop-down list.
2. To create or edit a range, click New or Edit.
  
  For more information, see Define the Range.
3. Select the primary range data source property.

Dynamic Gauges

In addition to the static gauges that are displayed in the software, you can choose a gauge that is dynamic. A dynamic gauge is drawn by the software based on the type of gauge and the data values in the gauge.

Here are examples of the dynamic gauges:

Dynamic bullet bar
Dynamic dial meter
Dynamic slider
Dynamic speedometer
Dynamic stoplight

Select a Gauge for an Indicator

You select a gauge for an indicator when you create or edit an indicator, or personalize an indicator. For more information, see Create or Edit an Indicator or Personalize an Indicator.

To select a gauge for an indicator:

On the Select Gauge page, select a category.
If you selected Dynamic Gauges, follow these steps:
1. From the Type drop-down list, select a type of dynamic gauge.
2. To create a three-dimensional effect, select Enhanced (3D).
3. To display range intervals (tick marks) on the gauge, select Display range intervals, and then select the format from the Format range intervals drop-down list.
4. To specify the dimensions of the gauge, type values for the height and width.
5. Specify how to orient the gauge: Flip horizontal (around the vertical axis) or Flip vertical (around the horizontal axis).
6. To change the colors in the image to create a ghost effect, select Ghost and a method.
  
  These are the methods:
  
  Grayscale
  
  The selected interval is a darker gray than the other intervals.
  
  Inactive color
  
  The areas that are not pointed to are a specific color. To select the color, click
  
  Auto ghost
  
  The software determines how to best create the ghost colors for the intervals.
  
  To limit how far away from gray or a neutral color of equal intensity the image varies, type a value in the Decrease saturation by (%) field.
  
  To brighten the image, type a value in the Brighten by (%) field.
If you selected something other than Dynamic Gauges, click the name of the image that you want to use for the gauge from the Gauge table.