Standard Specifications for Report Tasks :: SAS(R) IT Resource Management 3.5: Reporting Guide

Line Plots

To imitate the standards for SAS IT Resource Management line plots, implement the following specifications:

Use line width of 3.
Break the plot line at missing values.
Use the symbol dot with size 8 when plotting a small number of points.

2XY Plots

To imitate the standards for SAS IT Resource Management 2XY plots, implement the following specifications:

Use a standard line plot, not an overlay.
Plot the most important variable on the left. If both variables are important, plot percent variables on the left.
Specify a corresponding color in the task for the labels of axis variables, if appropriate.

Needle Plots

To imitate the standards for SAS IT Resource Management needle plots, implement the following specifications:

Use needle plots when you want to plot two or three statistics of a single metric.
Do not use needle plots if you expect a small number of points, such as in a current week report that can have as few as one point on the first day of the week.

Needle plots are used in the following two formats: One that shows two statistics and one that shows three:

needle plots that show two statistics.

For the reports that show two statistics, use the following guidelines:
- Both statistics should be needle lines with a size of 12 to 16.
- The size should be as large as possible without bleeding onto the axis line.
- The variable with the larger number should always be first. The variable with the smaller number should be second. For example, Maximum is always larger than or equal to Mean, which is equal to or larger than Minimum.
needle plots that show three statistics.

For reports that show three statistics, use the following guidelines:
- The two most important statistics should be needle lines with a size of 12 to 16.
- The size should be as large as possible without bleeding onto the axis line.
- The statistic with the larger number should be first. The smaller statistics should be second. The third statistic, such as the standard deviation, should have an interpolation of scatter. For example, Maximum is always larger than or equal to Mean, which is equal to or larger than Minimum.
- Use the dot symbol when plotting a standard deviation. The dot should be black and size 9 to 12. The dot symbol should be narrower than the needle width.

Box Plots

To imitate the standards for SAS IT Resource Management box plots, implement the following specifications:

Use extreme high and low for the whisker length percentile.
Specify the color in the task to be light orange.

Bar Lines

To imitate the standards for SAS IT Resource Management bar lines, implement the following specifications:

Use bar lines when you want to plot two statistics of a single metric or of two different metrics, where the bar is the most important statistic or metric.
Specify complementary colors in the task for the variable labels because a legend is not available.
Chart the most important statistic or the percent statistic on the left hand side, if possible.
Verify the statistic that is used in the advanced window.
Use line width of 3.
Use the symbol dot with a size of 8.

Bar Charts

To imitate the standards for SAS IT Resource Management bar charts, implement the following specifications:

Chart one bar for each discrete variable.
When the bar chart has a subgroup or is an interleave bar chart, you can add code to the task to include a legend. Use the insert code feature to add the code.

List Data

To imitate the standards for a SAS IT Resource Management data list, modify the labels to add spaces between capitalized words. This ensures that the header row of the HTML page can wrap and that the columns can resize as you enlarge and shrink the HTML page.