DecisionPoint For Excel Getting Started Guide 2015 Antivia Group Ltd
Notation used in this workbook Indicates where you need to click with your mouse Indicates a drag and drop path State >= N Indicates text you need to type in Draws your attention to an area of interest 2
Connecting to your data Firstly we are going to go through how to connect your data in DecisionPoint. The Excel spreadsheet that we are using can be downloaded from our website. The spreadsheet itself contains laptop sales data and has a number of different tabs and views of data defined. You need to make sure your fields are in columns and that data in rows when uploading data to DecisionPoint. 3
Connecting to your data To enable the capability of drilling down through your data you need to make sure you have the columns defining the different drill levels set-up with the data in your spreadsheet. As an example, if you look at the brand column you see that the model column is located next to it which will allow you to drill from brand to model. The spreadsheet we are working with has around 5000 rows. Note: DecisionPoint is comfortable with coping with much larger data volumes than this should you need it. 4
Connecting to your data To start creating your dashboard you need to start DecisionPoint and select CREATE NEW DASHBOARD. This will then prompt a wizard to pop up. This is here where you select the spreadsheet you want to work with in DecisionPoint. 5
Connecting to your data As previously stated this guide will be working with the Laptop_Sales.xlsx dataset. DecisionPoint is compatible with both xls and xslx formats/extensions. We now are presented with a number of options for telling DecisionPoint where the data is. We can tell it to use the default range in which it will look in the first worksheet for the first block of data it can find. Alternatively we can also make DecisionPoint work with an aimed range in which it will look for ranges within the spreadsheet that we have already defined. We can also specify a custom range in which case we choose the worksheet where the data is located and then key in a cell range. In this guide we will be using the default range so select this and then click next. 6
Connecting to your data Now we can start to define the measures, which is what DecisionPoint uses to summarize, average and count for example revenue, employees and sales. We can also define the dimensions which define the way we want to break our measures down, e.g. product, year or month. If we look at the Prices Column DecisionPoint has identified that this is a numeric object so it s treating it as a measure. Instead of Price rename it as Revenue by clicking on the Price column, selecting the text box and typing in Revenue. We can also specify a format for Revenue, so type in $0,000;($0,000). This is just like defining a format within Excel. Next we ll do a similar thing with Product ID, only this time we want to rename it Sales, format it with 0,000 and finally set the aggregation to COUNT. You can alter the Column Definitions the way you want to view your dashboard. When you have finished editing the column definitions to your liking, click next. v1.0 7
Connecting to your data Here you can review your column summary and check that all your data will be displayed correctly. If you spot a mistake you can edit this by selecting the text box in question and editing it as you wish. When you are happy select the next button. The final step is defining the hierarchies your users will use to drill down through the data. DecisionPoint has already set up a default hierarchy. You can remove the default by clicking on the red cross next to the hierarchies. Here, we re going to create our own hierarchy by first clicking the green circle. v1.0 8
Connecting to your data Then we are going to write time into the text box and then select ok. Then, to choose what you want in your hierarchy, simply drag year, month and date/time into the selected objects box on the right. v1.0 9
Connecting to your data Next we are going to create a geography hierarchy. Start by selecting the green circle and give your new hierarchy the name geography. Drag-and-drop region, district and state into the objects box on the right. Lastly, we re going to create a product hierarchy. Again, select the green circle and give your new hierarchy the name product. Drag-and-drop in brand and model. Then click finish and you have successfully set up your dataset. v1.0 10
Connecting to your data To start visualizing the data in your dataset, drag-and-drop a table onto the canvas. DecisionPoint automatically populates this component with data from the spreadsheet. If you were to take brand out of the objects panel and replace it with region, DecisionPoint will automatically show you how the sales are broken down by region. The measures in DecisionPoint are aggregated aware so they are always calculated for you at the correct level of detail. 11
Connecting to your data Believe it or not you have just created your first though simple dashboard! You can preview the dashboard by clicking on the green play button at the top of the canvas. The hierarchies you set up in the previous step lets you easily drill into your data, from region to state, when previewing the dashboard. 12
Building your first dashboard Using the dataset that you have just created we are now going to show you a variety of components that will bring your dashboard to life. The large range of components are found on the top left of your dashboard canvas. 13
Building your first dashboard In the middle of the Designer you have the canvas, which is where your dashboard takes shape. Running along the bottom you have your objects panel which is where you define which data you would like to display in each of your components. 14
Building your first dashboard Let s continue to use the table component you have already added to the canvas. You can move components by holding left mouse button and dragging them around the canvas and change size by using the handles around the border. Note: For full descriptions of and information about components, see the Designer Guide. From your table you can see it is currently displaying Region and Sales, and you can also see this reflected in the object panel. 15
Building your first dashboard Blue cubes represent dimensions They define how you want to see numerical data broken down. They can be time-based, geographical, product-based, etc. They often form a hierarchy, e.g. Year, Quarter, Month. Hierarchies, as we have mentioned before, are used in drill-paths Pink spheres represent measures They define numeric value or quantity that a business wants to track They also include calculations that define key performance indicators (KPIs), e.g. Conversion Rate or Gross Margin Percentage. 16
Building your first dashboard You can display different dimensions and measures within the components. As well as seeing regions and sales you may also want to see revenue. To do this, simply drag revenue from the available columns into the results column. You will notice that the revenue column has been nicely formatted again due to the hierarchies that you set up earlier. 17
Building your first dashboard As well as displaying information in a table DecisionPoint, has a variety of charts and graphs available to you. We are now going to drag in a pie chart and place this alongside our table. You can move this around and resize it to make it fit perfectly. With charts, the first object you define is always a dimension. Note: For full descriptions of and information about components, see the Designer Guide. 18
Building your first dashboard You want to give your users the opportunity to easily navigate around the dashboard and there are a number of different ways of doing this. Bringing in tab bars, combo boxes or filter controls allows users to drill up and down through the data. You can add more than one dimension to drill on. DecisionPoint is currently displaying brand, which is what we want, but you can bring in other dimensions as well. 19
Building your first dashboard We don t always have all the dimensions we want to show available, so DecisionPoint lets you define calculated columns. This can be done either against a single component, or on a dataset level to be available to all components. To create a custom column for the dataset, click on the dataset and then click the plus sign on the righthand side of object. Type in Average Revenue in the pop-up custom column creator and click OK. On the right in the object panel, specify some default properties, like format: $0.00 and an expression, which tells DecisionPoint how to calculate just like an Excel formula: revenue (pick from drop-down list) / sales. 20
Building your first dashboard Click in the table and average revenue will appear in the available columns box. Drag the newly created column into the result column to display it in the table. 21
Building your first dashboard There are plenty of options for changing the look and feel of your dashboard. Click the dashboard properties icon on the tool bar and choose themes. From the drop-down list, choose the bright theme as default. If you want, you can use specific themes for specific devices. All you have to do is select the theme you want for the specific device from the drop-down menu next to the devices name. Click apply to finish setting themes. 22
Building your first dashboard You can preview the dashboard by pressing the play button on the toolbar. This will open what we call LivePreview. From here you can see that the dashboard is fully interactive and stays in sync as you drill through hierarchies. 23
Building your first dashboard If your end-users decide they don t want a pie chart to display their sales data, simply dragand-drop another type or chart, in this case a bar chart, onto the pie chart. When the cross in the middle of the chart lights up, drop it, and the pie chart will automatically be transformed into a bar chart. To display sales orders ordered by supplier, add a sort into the sorts tab and reorganise by clicking the green arrow. 24
Enhance your first dashboard You can add totals to your dashboard by adding a big number component. However, before this we need to make some more space. Click in one of the top corners of the canvas, hold the left mouse button and drag the selector out until all elements have been selected. Then drag down so that they fit at the bottom of the canvas. Grab a big number component from the components, drop it at the top right of the screen and resize to fit. By default this displays sales, so drag in revenue and average revenue from the available columns. 25
Enhance your first dashboard You can also add images, like your company logo, to your dashboard. To do this, select the image component and drag it onto the canvas. Switch on advance mode by toggling the advance mode button in the control column. This opens up a number of different options left is the object browser which allows you to work with multiple pages and views, on the right is the properties panel which gives us more control over the components. Click the button that says click here to select the image you want to display from anywhere on your computer. v1.0 26
Enhance your first dashboard You can also add a label to add a name to this particular dashboard. Drag a label component onto the canvas, resize to fit and double click to edit the text. Call it sales performance dashboard and press enter. 27
Enhance your first dashboard For colour-coded alerting, replace the table in your dashboard with a scorecard by dragging the scorecard onto the table and dropping when the cross lights up. Scorecards are much like tables but they additionally support color-coded alerts. Make sure the scorecard is selected, then go to the properties panel. You can create alert against any column, but for now select average revenue. Click the green cross and you have created a new alert. To edit how the alter looks, click visualize and select the circle. Choose the color red and click OK. 28
Enhance your first dashboard On the right-hand side of the alert field, click the small rectangle to bring up the expressions editor. Select or type Average Revenue and then type in <400. To exit the expression editor select the small button on the bottom right of the editor. You should now have some red traffic lights showing in your scorecard table. Add another alert by clicking the green cross, choosing a circle and then the color green. Bring up the expressions editor again, select or type Average Revenue and then type >=400. You should now have some green traffic lights showing in you scorecard. 29
Enhance your first dashboard If users want to see a view of their data broken down geographically you can implement a custom workflow to support this. Start by adding a new view by clicking the arrow next to the plus button in the object browser. The view needs to lay over parts of the initial page of the dashboard. To do this, hold the control key down and click on page. This will show the view on top of the page. Resize the view by grabbing the handles and overlaying the table and chart, leaving the title, big number component and drill bar uncovered. v1.0 30
Enhance your first dashboard Go to the properties panel on the right and click the style section. Click in the value section, which brings up a color selector. Choose grey as the background color for the view. Scroll up and type in 100 in the background opacity field. 100 v1.0 31
Enhance your first dashboard You re going to add a table and chart to the new view. The easiest way to do this is to go to page 1, select the table and chart you have already created by holding the CTRL button and clicking the table and chart, right-clicking and selecting copy. Then go back to your new view and paste the table and chart onto the view. Resize both to fit the height of view. 32
Enhance your first dashboard Click in the table. Drag brand out and drop state in and move it across to be first in the result column. Do the same with the bar chart take out brand and replace it with state, making sure state is the first result shown in the result column. 33
Enhance your first dashboard You re going to add a tab bar to the top of the view for the users to use to drill down through states. By default it s showing brand. Replace this with districts and move the components around so it all fits nicely. 34
Enhance your first dashboard To switch this view on and off in your dashboard, select page 1 and drag a toggle button onto the canvas and next to the logo. Go to the properties panel and change the values to both say BY AREA. BY AREA v1.0 35
Enhance your first dashboard To define what happens when this button is toggled, go to the behaviour section of the properties panel. Click something and select toggled, then click do nothing and select toggle, then click something and select view 2. v1.0 36
Enhance your dashboard Press the small play button on the control panel to open a preview of your dashboard in your browser. Your dashboard is now fully interactive and you can easily drill down, through and across your data, both in the overview on page 1 and by area in view 2. 37
Share your dashboard You can share you dashboard with an unlimited amount of people via email. Click the share dashboard icon in the control panel which opens up a share box. You can then save the dashboard to your machine as an htm file and attach it to your email. 38
Share your dashboard To view a shared dashboard on the desktop: Open the email attachment with the.htm extension. You can chose to save or open your dashboard. For now, click open and the dashboard opens in your default browser. It is fully interactive, just like when you previewed it. If you want to view it on a tablet device you need to have the DecisionPoint Viewer app installed on your device. You can download the app via the Apple App Store here. When you have it installed, long-press the.dpview attachment and the device should give you an option of how to open the attachment. Choose to open in the DecisionPoint app and enjoy your fully interactive dashboard when you re out and about. 39
Share your dashboard Through this guide you have successfully built and shared your first interactive dashboard. 40
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