Azquo User Guide. data made simple

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1 Azquo User Guide

2 Draft 5 December 2016 Copyright This document is copyright of Azquo Ltd All rights reserved. It is supplied under the terms of an agreement with Azquo Ltd, and may not be used except as permitted by Azquo Ltd. Azquo is a trademark of Azquo Ltd. Other products and company names herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. 2

3 Contents 1. Welcome to Azquo... 4 Azquo s features... 4 About This User Guide Logging On Viewing and Editing Data... 7 Viewing the Sheet... 7 Data Definitions... 8 Editing Data Azquo Options Excel Unlock Save Data Restore Saved Values Log Off Options Sub-menu Download as XLSX (Excel) Download as PDF Inspect Database Upload File Freeze Unfreeze Right-Click Menu Audit Debug Region Definition Highlight

4 1. Welcome to Azquo Azquo is designed specifically to fill spreadsheets with audited data. From these sheets you can produce the reports you want, when you want them. You can import data from any internal or external source: for example, your complete sales data or your website analytics. This data can then be combined in many different ways to provide the reports you need. Most importantly, the data is fully auditable. Azquo remembers every change and will tell you who changed what, when and where. You can work on your data either online or offline, and when you have finished you can export the data for inclusion in an external report or presentation. Azquo s features Here is what you can do with Azquo: Load data from existing spreadsheets into a database, simply and quickly. View reports of multiple, different segments of data. Check any item of data to find out who entered it, when and where. Highlight any data that has been changed since you last looked. In short, Azquo regains control of the analytic data on which your business depends. About This User Guide This User Guide describes how to use the Azquo features. It details the processes involved in uploading existing data into an Azquo database, viewing reports, and changing and saving the data. The separate Azquo Developer Tutorial is designed for Azquo developers and uses a sample database to demonstrate how to create databases within Azquo and generate new reports. Detailed information on the Azquo developer tools is given in the Azquo Reference Guide. 4

5 2. Logging On Azquo is an online database. In order to use Azquo, you must have been set up as a user by an administrator, who will have given you a username and password. To log on: 1. Go to The Home page is displayed. Scroll to the bottom of the page. 2. Click on Login in the bottom left-hand corner. Enter your username and password. 5

6 3. Click on the icon. You are now logged on and the Azquo menu is displayed. This menu will have been set up for you to view a range of reports for your particular business. Clicking on any of the sheet names leads you to a report. The following sections describe what you can do with the sheets when they have been selected. 6

7 3. Viewing and Editing Data The menu that is displayed when you log on contains a list of all the sheets you have been given permission to view and edit. Clicking on any sheet name in the menu displays that sheet. Viewing the Sheet The sheet you have loaded behaves in much the same way as an Excel spreadsheet. You can move around the sheet using the arrow keys, mouse and scroll bars. You can mark any section of data and copy it to the clipboard. You can also perform calculations or enter temporary formulae in any sheet; however, you should be aware that these changes may not be saved when you leave the sheet. The sheet is laid out in the same way as a spreadsheet so there should be no surprises. 7

8 Data Definitions The difference between an Azquo worksheet and an Excel spreadsheet is in the way the data is stored. All the values in the sheet are held in a database, where they are defined by labels on the sheet: The column headings (there may be more than one set of headings on consecutive rows) The row headings (there may be more than one set of rows in consecutive columns) The context: one or more drop-down lists of labels For example, scrolling down a little way on the sample sheet shows a large data area, highlighted in blue. In this sheet, the data in the large blue rectangle is defined by: The column headings: Apr-08, May-08 etc. on row 24. The row headings: Client 01 etc. in column I, along with the additional row headings further up (Tube Sales Volumes) The context: the Scenario and Business Unit in the top left of the sheet (in this case, scenario1 and BU 1 England ) Therefore the value 35,980 in Q32 represents the Tube Sales Volume for Client 03 in September Further this is the value for scenario1 for the specified business unit. Each of the other values in the grid is similarly uniquely defined. If you change the context, for example by choosing scenario2 from the drop-down list, the sheet will be reloaded and this time the data will be the results for that scenario. 8

9 Similarly, changing the business unit produces a different set of data. Effectively, you have access to a large number of identical spreadsheets, one for each possible combination of scenario and spreadsheet. However, the advantages of using Azquo go beyond this. The data is stored in the database with these labels attached, independently of the sheet layout. If you load another sheet that has the same set of labels but in a different layout, the same data will fill the appropriate cells. If you change a value in one sheet, that change will be reflected in the other sheet the next time it is loaded. Editing Data You can change any of the values in the highlighted cells. Any formulae that depend on these values will be updated accordingly. After you have made changes you have two options, represented by buttons at the top of the sheet: Save Data Saves the changes to the database. Remember that this will change the same data on any other sheets that anyone else in the business loads. Restore Saved Values Discard the changes and reload the sheet with the original values. After the data has been saved, a confirmation message is displayed. Note that the Save Data and Restore Saved Values options will no longer be visible on the menu bar. However, when you make further changes to the data the options will become visible again. 9

10 4. Azquo Options The main menu bar along the top of the Azquo sheet contains a number of options. There are additional options available when you right-click on a data cell. This section describes each of these options. Excel The Excel option allows you to download a version of the template, which you can then use in Excel. To do this, tick the box in the menu bar. To gain the full value of the Excel option you need to install the Azquo Excel plugin. With the plugin, you can make selections, change and save data, obtain a data audit, all from within Excel itself. To install the plugin: Download the plugin from Run the setup.exe file. The plugin will automatically update to the latest version whenever we create a new one. Unlock Some sheets have a 'user lock' specified. This means that when you have loaded the sheet, nobody else can make changes to the data; it does not stop other people viewing the data. Other users cannot change the data, even if they are only viewing part of it on another template. However, you can release your lock by clicking on the Unlock option. Other users will now be able to make changes to the data and if you reload your sheet you will see their changes. If you unlock the sheet you can still save your changes, but you must be prepared for others to have changed the data in the meanwhile. If your changes have been superseded by someone else s changes, the system will force you to reload and make your changes again (which you can do by cut and paste, providing you copy your data to the clipboard in the usual way before reloading the sheet). 10

11 Save Data This option saves any changes you have made to the data in the Azquo database. After saving the data, a message is displayed confirming that the changes have been saved. If any other user loads a sheet that displays this data, they will see your version of the data. Note that this option does not save any changes you may have made to the structure or formatting of the sheet. When you save the data the original template is reloaded and any formatting changes will be lost. Restore Saved Values This option reloads the sheet, using the last saved values in the database. Any changes you have made to the data will be overwritten by the original values from the database. No warning is given before the sheet is reloaded. Log Off Clicking on this option logs you out of Azquo and returns you to the Azquo log-on screen. Any changes you have made to the data will be lost, unless you click on Save Data first. 11

12 Options Sub-menu The final option on the menu bar, represented by a block of three horizontal lines, leads to a sub-menu of additional options. Download as XLSX (Excel) This option downloads the current template, including the data that is currently displayed, as an Excel XLSX spreadsheet. You are then free to make any changes you like to both the data and the spreadsheet layout. However, any changes you make will not be reflected in the database and will not be seen by other users. If you do want your Excel changes to be included in the Azquo database you need to install the Excel plugin and click on the Excel option on the menu bar (as described above). Download as PDF This option creates a PDF based on the current template and the data that is being viewed and then downloads the PDF. Note that the PDF will show only the data relating to the currently selected context items. 12

13 Inspect Database This option allows you to inspect all the data (for which you have the necessary permissions) held in the Azquo database. The left-hand side of the screen contains a tree listing the main names associated with data held in the database. Each of these items is the name of a set that contains other names. Clicking on any of the small boxes to the left of a name shows all the names associated with that particular item. For example, Currency Values is a set consisting of Total Sales, Total Costs and Profit; Companies is a set containing Comp A and Comp B. In many cases, the names at this second level are set names themselves and contain other names. Any item of data associated with a particular name will also be associated with any set of which it is a member (including sets further up the tree). You can display all the data associated with a name by clicking on the Show Data button. The data is listed in a new tab. 13

14 You can also reduce the list of names by typing a name (or part of a name) in the Select Items box. The list is reloaded with only those names that include the search text. This reduced list is shown in a new tab. Each time you show the data for a name or search for a new piece of text in the names a new tab is added. These tabs can be closed individually. Upload File The Upload File options allows you to select an Excel spreadsheet and upload its data to the Azquo database. Click on Choose File and select an XLSX spreadsheet. The name of the file is shown to the right of the button. When you click on Upload the data is uploaded to the database. 14

15 Freeze The Freeze option acts in the same way as on an Excel spreadsheet. Position the cursor on any cell and then click on Freeze. The rows above the current cell and the columns to the left of it will remain in view, while everything else on the sheet can be scrolled. The cells in the top-left of the sheet (those both above and to the left of the current cell) are permanently displayed. This is usually the area where the context cells are displayed. If you move the cursor to another cell and press Freeze again, the frozen areas will be recalculated. Unfreeze The Unfreeze options frees the sheet again after Freeze has been used. You will now be able to scroll the whole sheet in the usual way. 15

16 Right-Click Menu Right-clicking on any data cell displays a floating menu, This menu contains four options that will help you understand the data. Audit Selecting the Audit option displays a list of information relating to the data in the current cell. The box contains the following information: The date and time at which the data was created or last changed, along with the name of the person who made that change. All the names that define the item of data. The value of the data. Clicking on Download Full Audit downloads all this information to an Excel spreadsheet. 16

17 Debug The Debug option lists the column headings, row headings and context for the current cell. This option is particularly useful if any of the values in the data region are the result of calculations. In such cases, the debug screen will show the calculations needed to create the value. Region Definition The Region Definition option lists the names of the sets that are expanded to form the column headings and row headings, and the context for the current cell. This is useful as a way of understanding how the template has been constructed and the whole area of the sheet defined. This option applies to an entire region of the sheet (defined by colum and row headings), rather than an individual cell. Highlight The Highlight option highlights all data that has changed within a specified time. A box is displayed showing the highlight options. For example, if you select 30 days any data that has changed in the last 30 days will be highlighted in a different colour. This option applies to the entire sheet, rather than a particular cell or region. 17