Indicator Displays :: SAS(R) BI Dashboard 4.3: User's Guide

Bar Chart with Bullet Display

Here is an example of a bar chart with bullet display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example bar chart with bullet display

Bar Chart with Reference Lines Display

The bar chart with reference lines display applies a range to a standard graph display such as bar chart or line graph. Here is an example of a bar chart with reference lines display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example bar chart with reference lines display

For the best results, the indicator data should return only one value for each unique value in the Category Label data column. If the indicator data returns only one value, the bar chart with reference lines display does not need to aggregate the data. The category variable is specified by the data column selected for the Category Label field when the data source is defined.

If the bar chart with reference lines display does aggregate data, the bar chart with reference lines 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.

If the bar chart with reference lines display does aggregate data, the bar chart with reference lines does two things:

It displays data points at the average interval for each data series.
It averages the indexes of the aggregated intervals to determine the interval to display and the color of the bar.

Here are some guidelines for using the bar chart with reference lines display:

To display the average interval in a graph, the bar chart with reference lines 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 bar chart with reference lines display, aggregate the data at the indicator data level.

Bubble Plot Display

Here is an example of a bubble plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example bubble plot display

Chart with Slider Prompt Display

Here is an example of a chart with slider prompt display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example chart with slider prompt display

Clustered Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a clustered bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example clustered bar chart display

Custom Graph Display

Overview

The custom graph display presents information from a variety of sources. The visual representation is an image. The output of the graph display is specified by an external URL.

When you specify an image in the URL, you have the choice of using a proxy.

If you do not choose to use a proxy, the image file must be in the same network domain as the SAS BI Dashboard server.
Note: You can allow Adobe Flash to load images from other domains by creating a cross-domain policy file in the root of the Web server. For more information, search the Adobe Web site for “cross-domain policy file specification.”
If you do choose to use a proxy, the image file must be accessible to the SAS middle tier. Ensure that the SAS middle tier has the proper user credentials to access the URL.

For more information, see Use proxy.

Here is an example of a custom graph display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Stored Processes

You can use a stored process with a custom 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 in 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 Stored Process Web application.

Choose to use a proxy so that the proxy server detects from the URL that the target is a stored process request. The proxy server then adds authentication for the current user to the middle tier.

Dual Line Chart Display

Here is an example of a dual line chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example dual line chart display

Dynamic Prompt Display

Here is an example of a dynamic prompt display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example dynamic prompt display

CAUTION:

Ensure that each menu value is unique.

Duplicate menu values cause unexpected behavior.

If you select Combo box with gauge for the prompt type, then you must select a range. If you select Combo box for the prompt type, then you cannot select a range.

Dynamic Text Display

Here is an example of a dynamic text display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example dynamic text display

With the dynamic text display, a range is optional. If you select a range, the range value's text is colored based on the range interval colors.

Forecast Chart Display

Here is an example of a forecast chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Interactive Displays

Overview

The interactive displays 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 and bar chart display
the interactive summary and scatter plot display
the interactive summary and targeted bar chart display

Setting up an interactive display is nearly identical to setting up a bar chart with reference lines display. However, an interactive display has more options and uses data in a more sophisticated way than the bar chart with reference lines display.

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

The indicator data must be suitable for a bar chart with reference lines.
Indicator data that returns a single row and that is suitable for a KPI display is not suitable for an interactive display.
The indicator data 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 indicator data 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 setup of the interactive displays is essentially the same as for other bar chart with reference lines, 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.

Interactive Summary and Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of an interactive summary and bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example interactive summary and bar chart display

Interactive Summary and Scatter Plot Display

Here is an example of an interactive summary and scatter plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example interactive summary and scatter plot display

Interactive Summary and Targeted Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of an interactive summary and targeted bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

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 KPI display:

Here are the properties that created the 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 set of indicator data so that a single indicator configuration controls the display of all values.

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 (horizontal and vertical)
Dynamic dial
Dynamic slider (horizontal and vertical)
Dynamic speedometer
Dynamic traffic light (horizontal and vertical)
Dynamic thermometer (horizontal and vertical)
Radial thermometer

Line Chart with Reference Lines Display

Here is an example of a line chart with reference lines display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example line chart with reference lines display

Needle Plot Display

Here is an example of a needle plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example needle plot display

Pie Chart Display

Here is an example of a pie chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example pie chart display

Range Map Display

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

Here is an example of a range map display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example range map display

Scatter Histogram Display

Here is an example of a scatter histogram display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example scatter histogram display

Scatter Plot Display

Here is an example of a scatter plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example scatter plot display

Schedule Chart Display

Here is an example of a schedule chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example schedule chart display

Simple Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a simple bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example simple bar chart display

Spark Table Display

The spark 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.

SAS suggests that all non-numeric data columns are removed from the indicator data.

Here is an example of a spark table display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example spark table display

Note: To display the column properties, select a column in the data table.

If you have used SAS BI Dashboard in the past, the spark table display replaces the KPI table display and the bar and trend display.

Stacked Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a stacked bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example stacked bar chart display

Targeted Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a targeted bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example targeted bar chart display

Tile Chart Display

Here is an example of a tile chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example tile chart display

Vector Plot Display

Here is an example of a vector plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

properties of the example vector plot display

Waterfall Chart Display

Here is an example of a waterfall chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

example waterfall chart display properties

Select a Gauge for an Indicator

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

Note: A gauge is available only for certain types of displays.

To select a gauge for an indicator:

Select a gauge and, if available, a gauge style.
If you selected a dynamic gauge, follow these steps:
1. Click at the top of the Properties pane.
  
  The Gauge Properties dialog box appears.
2. 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.
3. To specify the dimensions of the gauge, in the Gauge Size area, do one of the following:
  
  Select the Dynamically scale gauges check box, and then specify the number of columns
  
  Clear the Dynamically scale gauges check box, and then type values for the height and width.
4. Specify how to orient the gauge: Flip horizontal (around the vertical axis) or Flip vertical (around the horizontal axis).
5. To change the colors in the image to create a ghost effect, select Enabled and a method.
  
  These are the methods:
  
  Gray scale
  
  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
  
  Automatic 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.