Creating Line Chart Trends Charts Based on Report Data

Users can create charts to visually represent the data within Accolade. Line Chart Trends charts are created by connecting a series of data points together with a solid line, and layering multiple lines within one chart to display or analyze trends or patterns in several related sets of data. In line chart trends, the user can cycle through different views, that is, different categories of data to get a more comprehensive view of a portfolio's performance using the cycle icon .

Using Accolade online report data, users with All Reporting Rights can create charts on the Charts & Reports page. Administrators and Process Designers can set charts as available for sharing with other users, and can add a chart to a pod within a layout to display on a project page or as a global link.

Important! Select appropriate data types to render a meaningful chart. Numeric data types will chart lines successfully. The system will not prevent you from selecting different data types and will plot selected data as best as possible without error.

To create a line chart trends chart based on report data:

1. From the Workspace menu, select Charts & Reports.

To narrow the list, search by the chart name or category.

Note:  Process Designers can also create or edit charts, reports, and related configuration by navigating to the System menu and selecting Content Sources > Charts & Reports Manager.

2. Do one of the following:

• To add a new chart - Click Add New, select Chart from the drop-down list, and click the Line Chart Trends icon.
• To edit the details of an existing report - Click the name of the chart on the Charts & Reports page and click to edit the report details. Only users assigned as chart owners and Process Designers with All Reporting Rights can edit chart details.

3. Enter the following information to identify the chart:
   
   Required fields display with red text and an asterisk * if the field is empty.

Field	Description
Name	Enter a name, up to 64 characters long, which identifies the chart. To display this name as the chart's title, select the Display as title option.
System Name	Enter a unique, shorter name that identifies the chart in queries, reporting views, field codes, and other places in Accolade. The name must be unique among charts and can contain only letters (English alphabet), numbers, and the underscore.
Category	Enter or select the group to which this chart belongs. More... Use categories to organize like charts together. For example, you may choose to group all the charts used in global layouts into the same category, in order to separate them from charts that are used in process model layouts or other reporting. Leave this field blank to add to the Default category. To define a new category, select New Category and enter the category name. To delete a category, remove every item from the category. Empty categories are deleted automatically.
Description	Enter a description of the purpose or nature of the chart. This description helps other users identify the chart on the Charts & Reports page.
Owners	Click and select the additional users who can edit the chart details. To filter the list of users, enter one or more search criteria to filter by name, login name, email address, function, or extended field. More... Clicking Select current user will assign the role to the current user (if they have the appropriate rights). Selecting a Function in the drop-down will display available users that are assigned to the function. The current selection defaults to the function to which you are assigning a user, however depending on the project configuration, you can assign any user. Clicking the Show advanced filters check box displays or hides the additional filter options. Clicking Clear removes the current user assignment and displays [None] to indicate that no user is assigned. An assigned owner with All Reporting Rights can view, update, delete, or add additional owners to the chart. An assigned owner who has Refresh Workbook Data rights will only be able to view the chart. To make the chart available for all users or for configuration setup, you must have a Process Designer with All Reporting Rights as an assigned owner.

4. (All optional, available in configuration only) Enter the following information to make the chart publicly available. More...

    

   Field	Description
   Available to Charts & Reports	Select this check box to make the chart publicly available for users to access and view the chart. Users with one or more matching user roles and either Refresh Workbook Data or All Reporting Rights will be able to view the chart in the Shared Charts & Reports section on the Charts & Reports page.
   Available to Configuration	Select this check box to make the chart available for use in configuration.
   Specific Roles	Select the system user roles that have access to view the chart. Users with one or more matching user roles and either Refresh Workbook Data or All Reporting Rights will be able to view the chart on the Charts & Reports page.
   Configuration Access Groups	When either Available to check box is checked, access groups must be defined for the chart. The access groups displayed are based on the current user's access group permissions and the access groups the chart belongs to. Additionally, Process Designers with matching permissions will be able to edit and view the chart.
   Process Model Usage	(Available for existing charts) Click on the Process Model Usage button to see a list of process models that the online chart is associated with. The list displayed includes all process models the chart is included in, as well as links to the process model's component tree pages you have Edit access to.

   Note:  Clicking either Available to check box will place the chart in the Shared Charts & Reports section of the Charts & Reports page. If neither check box is selected, the chart will only be available to the assigned owners in their My Charts & Reports section.

5. In the Report Source field, select the report that contains the data to include in the chart. Only online reports created in Accolade are available for selection.

6. In the Horizontal Axis section, make the following selections:

• (Optional) Enter a description in the Label field to display a label for the horizontal axis.
• (Optional) Select the Rotate Horizontal Axis Text option to display the labels at an angle instead of horizontally to prevent overlapping.
• (Optional) Select the Show Grid Lines option to display grid lines for one or both axes.
• (Optional) Select the Start at Zero option to display the data range along the horizontal axis in relation to 0. More...

  When the Start at Zero check box is not selected, the data range for the horizontal axis will be determined by the lowest and highest available data values.

  For example, you have data points that are all between the values of 6 and 10 that are being graphed along the horizontal axis. Selecting the Start at Zero option will display a graph that displays the value range of 0 to 10 along the horizontal axis to show the relation of the data to the origin. If Start at Zero is not selected, the graph will display the value range of 6 to 10 along the horizontal axis.

• (Optional) In the Number Format drop-down, select an option to indicate how values on the axis are displayed.
• In the Column drop-down list, select the column from the report that represents the data and measurement values to plot on the horizontal axis of the chart.
• If a column within the report contains a selected Aggregate value, the aggregation displays automatically when the report column is selected to display in a chart.

7. In the Vertical Axis section, make the following selections:

• (Optional) Enter a description in the Label field to display a label for the vertical axis.
• (Optional) Select the Show Grid Lines option to display grid lines for one or both axes.
• (Optional) In the Number Format drop-down, select an option to indicate how values on the axis are displayed.
• Select the Lines columns from the report that represent the data and measurement values to plot on the vertical axis of the chart.
• If a column within the report contains a selected Aggregate value, the aggregation displays automatically when the report column is selected to display in a chart.

8. (Optional) In the Group By field, select columns from the report to apply line groupings to the data presented in the graph.

Adding additional Group By selections introduces more lines to your display which may impact chart use.

9. (Optional) Select the Display Point Marker check box to display the grid points.
10. In the Cycles field, select one or many cycles. Each cycle displays a different grouping of data that the lines represent. The Horizontal Axis selection is automatically selected and cannot be unselected.
11. Enter the following information to alter the chart display:

Field	Description
Style	Select whether to display lines only, or lines with fill below.
Legend	Select where in the chart to display the key that identifies what the colors in the chart represent. After the chart renders, toggle a key label in the legend to hide and show data without changing the underlying chart and report configuration.
Color Theme	Select the color palette to assign to the bars. If plotting 10 or more data points, consider a color theme to accommodate each value measurement. Themes 2-5 allow for up to 20 plotted values.

12. (Optional) If you edited an existing chart, click in the upper right corner to view the new chart.
13. Click Save to save your changes and create the chart.

Example - Creating Line Chart Trends Charts in Accolade

For example, a user wants to review and compare the revenue by region for a portfolio of products over the last several years. The user has created a Product Line Revenues Report for their report source, and selected the Product Lines, Region, Year, and Revenue metrics to be included in the report.

To create a line trends chart to display this information and cycle through the metrics for different chart views, the user has selected the Year for the Horizontal Axis Label, the Product Lines as the Column value, the Revenue for the Vertical Axis Label, the Revenue for the Lines, the Region for the Group By value, and Revenue, Region, and Year as the Cycles values. The Product Lines in the report represent the business units of Desktop, Tablets, Peripherals, Servers, and Mobile. The line segments represent the various products by category across region and revenue over several years. Select the cycle icon to view the different charts. Toggle a key label in the legend to hide and show data in the rendered chart.

Notes:    To delete a saved chart, display the chart from the Charts & Reports page, click to display the chart settings, and click Delete at the bottom of the page. Only the chart owner, users assigned as owners with All Reporting Rights, and Process Designers with All Reporting Rights can delete the chart. If the Replace Empty Value system parameter is set to 0, charts may render inconsistently due to empty or missing data returned by the report. Reporting Rights are not required to view the chart in a page layout; however a user must be an owner or have at least one matching user role for the chart to display in the layout. Use the Currency Symbol system parameter to specify the currency symbol that displays in the Number Format field when creating charts and reports.