Reporting, Options: Differentiate between alerts and trends and the appropriate uses for ‘ach - Distinguish the appropriateness of self-service reports and their application in ‘common scenarios — Differentiate between best uses for BI techniques in order to ensure ‘dective reporting - What makes a good report compare layout options and identify | wppropriate presentation choices for maximum effectiveness _ Differentiate between good and bad report implementations and the potential impact of poor implementation. Constructing Reports: Distinguish between when to use reporting tools versus analysis tools - Use core tools to build report and dashboard layouts to achieve maximum | ectiveness. gee ee Introduction — Reporting Business intelligence reporting is the process of gathering and analyzing data with the help of mod ‘mteractive data visualizations, businesses can extract actionable len BI tools. Powered by : na a aeabee tights from the data and optimize their performance for continuous growth. e a mus of advantages an organization can gain if they can create correct and strategic reports in ¢ timely fashion. The main goal of BI reports is to deliver comprehensive data that can be easily accessed, interpreted, and provide actionable insights. pee es = . ‘ice for many > siness world keeps While reporting has been a common Practice decades evolving, and with raore competitive industries, 1De need to generate fast and accurate reports becomes critical, Thiy is @ problem for many modern organizations as building reports can take from hours to days. Several BI tools have been developed to assist businesses in the generation of interactive reports with just a few clicks. “These reports help companies in interacting with their data and improving their decision-making process- yee : Report: A report is a document that Presenis relevant business information in an organized eu eee ument this aimed ata specifie audience and business purpose and understandable format. Each report © &' based on goals and objectives. it summarizes the performance of differsreport formats used in businesses are discussed below: Reporting Types 1, Informational Reports 2. Analytical Reports 3. Operational Reports 4. Product Reports 5. Industry Reports 6. Department Reports 7. Progress Reports 8. Internal Reports 9. External Reports 0. Vertical and Lateral Reports 1, Informational Reports 2. Analytical Reports This report type contains a mix of useful information to facilitate the decision-0" process through a mix of qualitative and quantitative data as well as Teal-tite and histori! (a\ait poor ¢ informational reports that purely inform users about a topic, this report type also aims to ‘de recommendations about the next steps and help with problem-solving. With this jformation in hand, busir es can build strategi sed on analytical evidence. With the use of right BI reporting tool, businesses can generate analytical reports that include accurate feats win predictive analytics technologies. ‘The following image shows a sample analytical report, 189 mmol er erred Fig. 5.2: Analytical Report Sample _ The example above shows how analytical reports can boost a business’s performance. By ting detailed information such as sales opportunities, probability rates, and accurate forecasts a on historical data, sales teams can prepare their strategies in advance, tackle any iciencies, and make informed decisions for increased efficiency. 5-Operational Reports ne reports track all details of a company’s operational tasks, such as its production tis 88. They are typically short-term reports as they aim to report current data. Businesses use 'YPe Of report to spot any issues and define their solutions, or to identify improvement tutes to optimize their operational efficieney. Operational reports are commonly used in ‘turing, logistics, and retail as they help keep track of inventory, production, costs, among ‘Product Reports dye lt teport type is used to monitor several aspects related to produet pel glPMent, Businesses often use them to track which of their products or subscriptions are % the most within a given time period, calculate inventories, or see what kind of product is formance and ~~190 Advanced Data Vitae n most highly rated by consumers. Another common use case of these reports is to TESEaCh hy implementation of new products or develop the existing ones. Top 5 Products "of target group are [intrested In buying “| produet of the newest generation" ‘What! would expect, Good vatue for mongy » comsaeti iinet ig. 5.3: Product Report The image above is a product report that shows valuable insights regarding usage intention, Purchase intention, and willingness to pay. In this case, the report is based on the answers from 8 survey that tries to understand how the target customer would receive a new product. Getting this tevel of insights through this report type is very useful for businesses as it allows them to mkt smart investments when it comes to new products as well as set realistic pricing based on theit client’s willingness to pay, 5, Industry Reports pe Industry-specific reports provide an overview of a particular industry, market, or sector wth fal a key trends, leading companies, industry size, among others, They are patticultY usell’ Jor Businesses who want to enter a specific industry and want to lea how competitive it or for companies who are looking to set performance benchmarks based on average iteortins 6 Department Reports Seo SEE Era eee ee a Fig, 5.4: Department-specific Report (Customer Support Team) ‘The image above is a department report used to track the performance of a support team. This report displays relevant metrics such as the top-performing agents, net promoter scores, etc. Having this information helps each member of the team to keep track of their individual Rene iis infermigo allows managers to understand who needs more taining and who is Performing optimally. 7. Progress Reports : Progress reports provide critical information about the status of a project. These reports can be produced on 8 dail¥s weekly, or monthly basis by employees or managers to track performance and ie-tome tas for the beter developmen oF he Projet. Progress repots are often used as ada mecucrtals to BUPPOR CSN teAdvanced Data Visualization 192 8. Internal Reports Internal reports refer to any type of report th information between team members and depart goals and business objectives, at is used internally in a company. They cony ents to keep communication flowing regar; ding Fig. 5.5: Sample Internal Report Internal reports serve as useful communication tools to keep all employees in the organization informed and engaged. The healthcare report shown in the image above shows the Performance of different departments and areas of a hospital such as inpatients and outpatients, average waiting times and treatment costs, They assist healthcare managers in allocating resources and planning schedules as well as monitor any issues, 9. External Reports Extemal reports are created with the aim of sharing information with external stakeholders such as clients or investors for budget or progress accountabili yernmental bodies to stay compliant with the law requirements, oy feaiell es 0 Be omseein 193 Fig. 5.6: Sample External Report ‘The image above is an example of an external client report from an IT project. This report provides a visual overview of every relevant aspect regarding the development of the project like deadlines, budget usage, completion stage, and tasks breakdown. 10. Vertical and Lateral Reports This reporting type refers to the direction in which a report travels. A vertical report is meant to go upward or downward the hierarchy, e.g. a management report while a lateral report assists in organization and communication between groups that are at the same level of the hierarchy, such as the financial and marketing departments. L BENEFITS OF USING BI REPORTING TOOLS 1. Increasing the Workflow Speed Managers, employees, and important stakeholders may need to spend a lot of time waiting BI from integrated data across multiple data sources. Centralizing all the data sources into a single place, with data connectors that provides single point of access for all non-technical users in an organization, is a huge benefit. Automated BI reports can bring about a lot of benefits in a shorter Span of time.194 Advanced Data Visualization 2. Implementation in Any Industry or Department Creating a comprebiensive BI dashboard or tool is a difficult task. Successful, smart report help with cost reduction and improve efficiency. Business reports can be created depending on the specific needs of a network or department. 3. Utilization of Real-time and Historical Data With traditional means of reporting, it is difficult to utilize and understand the vast amount of gathered data. Creating a simple presentation out of voluminous information can be difficult even for highly experienced managers. Reporting in BI is a seamless process since historical data is also provided within an online reporting tool that can process and generate all the relevant information needed. Another important factor is the possibility of utilizing real-time data within BI Teports. BI Projects can be extremely sophisticated in comparison to traditional reports. A presentation written as a word document will not provide the same amount of information and benefit as real- time data analytics, with built-in alerts, These real-time Teports can increase operational efficiency | and decrease costs. 4, Customer Analysis and Behavioral Prediction | ctr Cre corres : 7 i i od of time. BI reports can gather information | ooo eae as Pais ike websites, chatbots, social media sites, etc. All of the information gathered can provide a holisti ove strategy worked or failed, connect the improve business operations. rview of the customer, evaluate why a certain “ause and effect of customer service reports, and thus,195 5, Operational Optimization and Forecasting All business use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to measure and evaluate success. Analysis and tracking of right KPIs can bring profitable results. Business intelligence and reporting include forecasting based on predictive analytics and AI. Reporting in BI can, therefore, provide insights from multiple angles and directions. 6, Cost Optimization 8 r Investing in a business reporting software can lead to a substantial decrease in costs and an increase in savings, and can be of use to both small companies as well as large enterprises. 7. Informed and Strategic Decision-making BI reporting dashboards are intuitive, visual, and provide a wealth of relevant data, allowing senior management to spot trends, identify potential strengths or weaknesses, and discover new. insights with ease. Bl-based Reports help in streamlining budgets, creating targeted marketing campaigns, and improving internal processes. Leveraging BI gives companies the ability to make swift, informed decisions and set actionable milestones or benchmarks based on solid information. The customizable nature of modern BI tools allows the creation of dashboards that suit a company’s needs, goals, and preferences thereby improving the senior decision-making process significantly. 8, Streamlined Procurement Processes One of the key benefits of Bl-based reports is that if they are arranged in an easily readable format, they offer access to logical patterns and insights that allow senior management to make the functioning of the business more efficient. Procurement processes are vital to the overall success and sustainability of businesses as its functionality impacts every core facet of the organization. Business intelligence reporting will help in streamlining procurement strategies by offering clear-cut visualizations based on all key functions within the department. 9. Enhanced Data Quality New digital data is being created at a rapid rate and understanding which insights and metrics are important for improving businesses is vital. With so much information and such little time, intelligent data analytics based enhanced data quality is a powerful benefit of modem BI Systems. 10. Human Resources and Employee Performance Management Bl-centric reports can assist in performance management also. By gaining centralized access to ability or results-based KPIs, it is easy to identify trends in productivity, compare relevant Metrics, and focus on individual outcomes. __ Employees are the lifeblood of any organization. Keeping staff engaged and motivated is Vital. By gaining access to dynamic visual data based on the individual as well as collective aabs Advanced Data Visuatization ini to staff wher employee consistency, it is possible to offer training as well as ae Baer ae while implementing leader boards to inspire everyone to work to te ett ses, BI Teporting tools will help in offering employees tailored support ané gr PPO! and thereby increase their motivation. I. REPORTS IN POWER BI Reports in Power BI provide a detailed view of any data stream with graphical visualizations, So, business organizations are increasingly utilizing Power BI to build interactive, live reports for evidence-based decision-making. : ; Power BI reporting services allow both technical and non-technical business people to visualize their data and perform analysis. Moreover, to cater to the varying needs of different industries and enterprises, various types of reports are available in Power BI. The Different Types of Reports in Power BI Power BI offers different types of reports. Depending on job roles, they can be classified into six major categories. 1. Digital Marketing Reports The digital marketing reports in Power BI present a clear overview of the KPIs related to digital marketing campaigns. It helps marketing managers to optimize marketing budgets and increase the company’s advertising revenue potential. The reports will help in identifying the problem areas and devise targeted interventions The digital marketing report showcases the following details: Comparison between Cost Per thousand Impression (CPM) and Cost Per Click (CPC) © Advertisement expenditure over different periods of time © Visuals of KPIs Click Through Ratio (CTR) and bounce rate ‘Comparison between Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) and the total number of conversions Spending meter, i., average money spent per click 2. Website Analytics Reports ‘The website analytics reports in Power BI help an enterprise’s SEO team measure the Website analytics. It enables them to gain valuable insights into the performance of their website. The report will provide the following website-related information: . Rome rte ‘metrics: It showcases the average time that a visitor stays on the websit. ro Shows average page views by visitors, the last viewed page, ete. @ Website conversions: It showcases information on sentiments of visitors, short-ter™ trends, sales conversion Tatio, keyword rankings, etc. © Website visits: It showcases visitor metric i i ies, 108) e 2 8, web: cs, t new visits by date, total visits by country/city, se, heaton eaereporting 197 4, Customer Profitability Reports The customer profitability report enables business unit managers to view the key metrics of the business, such as products, gross margins, etc. It showcases which factors impact profitability in what ways. The reports display the following high-level company mettics: e The company’s gross margin in different months Total number of customers the company has © The selling of top five products Year over revenue growth of various products Lowest and highest revenue variances in different periods of months Regions with the largest revenue generation 4, Sales Analysis Reports Power BI provides sales analysis reports to ease the task of the sales team. There are several preexisting samples of this kind of report in Power BI. The sales analysis reports in Power BI helps in analyzing different sales-related parameters such as: © Trends in the business over varying points in time © The company’s sales to total industry sales © Distribution of marketing shares © The list of competitors © Regions of most of the business operation © Percentage of total sales Year-to-Date (YTD) variance 5. HR Analytics Reports The HR analytics report in Power BI provides instrumental insights into HR KPIs to an organization's HR professionals. It enables high level managers to make strategic decisions, easily monitor workforce metrics and improve employee productivity. The report showcases the following details: © New hires and attrition across the organization © Distribution of employees and new hires by location © Active employee and new hire count © Years of experience, hiring costs and attrition trends 6. Financial Analysis Reports ‘The financial analysis report in Power BI enables a company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to carry out financial planning more efficiently. The financial analysis report showcases the following key financial metrics in a detailed fashion: © Gross profit © Assets ' : |™ Advanced Data Visuatizay tion 198 © Total expenses © Operating income © Liabilities © Assets vs. liabilities © Gross margin © Expense vs. revenue With the help of these parameters, companies can calculate profit and loss of the selected year, expense breakdown over months, revenue breakdown, etc. which can help reduce risks and expenses. If. ALERTS VERSUS TRENDS IN REPORTING Data-driven Alerts A data-driven alert is a notification triggered when a metric on a Power BI dashboard fluctuates above or below pre-set limits specified by a user. This type of alert requires a card, KPI, oard. Once the alert set-up is complete, the default is to enter in the Power BI service. An email can also be sent imple of how an alert can be created and used in Power BI. Setting.an Alert: Steps to be Followed Alerts are set to notify when data in the dashboards changes beyond limits that were set. Alerts can only be set on tiles pinned from r : port visuals, and only on gauges, KPIs, and cards. = can be set on visuals created from streaming datasets that you pin from a report to a oard, send a notification to the Notifications C based on a trigger. Let us look at an exai TobSoes Sime El tomatoe # eracweriten, | eee et pep 5.8: Sample — The following example uses a card tiie ae image contains screenshots of the steps to be follo I Alert Set up wn the Retail Analysis sample dashboard. The wed to Create an alert. | | |rgorting 199 . Start on a dashboard. From the Total stores tile, select the ellipses. 2. Select Manage alerts to add one or more alerts for Total Stores. 3. To start, select + Add alert rule, ensure the Active slider is set to On, and give your alert a title. Titles help you easily recognize your alerts. 4 Scroll down and enter the alert details. In this example, you will create an alert that notifies you once a day if the number of total stores goes above 100. 5. Alerts appear in your Notification center. Power BI also sends you an email about the alert, if you selecgtke check box. 6. Select Save and close. Receiving Alerts When the tracked data reaches one of the thresholds that have been set, an alert is generated. Power BI sends an alert to the Notification center and, optionally, an email. Each alert contains a direct link to the data. ‘Alerts are different from regular emails. They are set against a dashboard tile and fire when aset threshold is reached. Alerts are triggered when your Power BI data is refreshed. Alerts can also be used with Microsoft’s automation tool Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow). By using the built-in templates, the alerts can be connected to other functions, like emailing the alert toa broader audience. Uses for Alerts Alerts can be used to monitor Work-in-Progress, Unpaid Invoices and Incomplete Work that is pending for more than a specified period of time or work that has exceeded budget. Power BI gives users the flexibility to push timely information out, through emails and alerts. Trends in Power BI An important aspect of analyzing time-based data is finding trends. From a reporting Perspective, a trend may be just a smooth lasso curve on the data points or just a line chart connecting data points spread over time. From an analytics perspective, the trend can have different interpretations. Power BI provides options to draw a trend lines for visualizations using Scatterplot charts and line charts.Fig. 5.9: Visualizin ig Trends through Line Charts in Power BI Another feature that helps in generating trends in Power BI suite of analytics tools is DAX | Provides a wide range of functionalities for Trend Analysis (Data Analysis Expression). DAX such as YTD, MTD, QTD, ete, For example, if we need to create states of a country or comp: exclusive visualizations, and have new measures can be creat a visual to analyze growth percentage across different | are year-over-year growtb/sales, these data fields will not be readily | available in a data table. However, ited through DAX for creating unique insights into data. DAX makes data analysis using Power BI, a smart and intelligent approach, The example === below breaks down the Syntax of a DAX formula. Fig. quals sign (=) whi 5.10: Syntax of a DAX Formula new measure (Projected Sales 2019). ch is aie ‘a equating the two sides,” °PTtOr indicating the start of the DAX formula #! © C: SUM, the DAX fun ‘ froma able (Sle) "8019 ad the values ofa given fold (Total Sales 2018) © D: The parenthesis () is us, function must have at least ed to enclose a lent. id i ion. Every tie arpa ind define arguments in an expression. @ E: Name of the table from which a field or column is taken in the formula (Sales)- ee201 aes : oF; Name of the field from which the formula will use the values. For instance, the fonction SUM will apply itself on the values of the column or field [Total Sales 2018] of the table Sales. © G: The multiplication operator ‘*” used for multiplication purposes. ‘The above formula asks the system to calculate the product of sum of gules 2018 and 1.08 (8% increase) and store the value in a new field or Projected Sales 2019. DAX formulas can also be called as calculations as they calculate an input value and retum aresltant value. Two types of expressions or calculations can be ereated using DAX in Power BI: ‘aloulated columns and calculated measures. "=" Calculated Columns: The calculated columns create a new column in an existing table. The only difference between a regular column and a calculated column is that it is nevessary to have at least one function in the calculated column. These are used when you want to create a column with filtered or sorted information, « Calculated Measures: It is an alternate way of defining calculations in a DAX model. It is used when we want you want to aggregate values from many rows in a table instead of computing values for each row. For example, Rolling averages over time (or moving averages or running averages) are useful to smoothen chart lines and to make trends more evident. Rolling Avg 12M computes the rolling average of the Sales Amount measured over the last 12 months. When you project the rolling average on a chart, the resulting line is much smoother; it removes the spikes and drops that would make it difficult to recognize a trend in sales. the values in Total column known as Fig 5.11; Visualizing Trends through Rolling Averageseo 02 Advanced Data Visualization 2 i js ing average, requires a time | Rolling average, also known as a moving average or a running leet period larger than the ones available in reports. The DATESINPERIOD DAX function is a simple ‘Way to obtain the extended period needed for the moving average. Trends through Insights Feature i The Insights. feature of Power BI helps users easily explore and find insights such as anomalies and trends in their data as they interact and consume their reports. ‘It notifies a user if there are interesting insight ts in the reports and also provides explanations for the insights, It works out of the box on any report so that the consumers can automatically start getting insights from their reports without any set-up. It is possible to analyze data naa: trends and patterns are oe Be i it Presented in the for. available for visuals on dashboards, Visuals in nese are cal of insights available are summarized below: PS and entire tee in Power BI. These Insights, Insights are Pages. The various kindspeportis ae Trends can be captured over a variety of data for us purposes. 7 Trends can be viewed in multiple ways: through | Alerts are created on dashboard tiles and generate \Se of Line charts, through use of DAX measures | automatic notifications/emails whenever a condition & through the Insights features of Power BI. Differences between Trends and Alerts ¢ Category outliers (top/bottom): Highlights cases where one or two categories have much larger values than other categories. Change points in a time seri trends in a time series of data. Highlights when there are significant changes in Correlation: Detects cases where multiple measures show a similar pattern or trend when plotted against a category or value in the data set. Low Variance: Detects cases where data points for a dimension are not far from the mean. So, the “variance” is low. Let us say you have the measure “sales” and a dimension “region”. And looking across region, you see that there is very little difference between the data points and the mean (of the data points). The insight triggers when the variance of sales across all regions is below a threshold. In other ‘words, when sales are pretty similar across all regions. Majority (major factors): Finds cases where a majority of a total value can be attributed to a single factor when broken down by another dimension. Outliers: This insight type uses a clustering model to find outliers in non-time series data. Outliers detects when there are specific categories with values significantly different than the other categories. Overall trends in time series: Detects upward or downward trends in time series data. Seasonality in time series: Finds periodic patterns in time series data, such as weekly, monthly, or yearly seasonality. Steady share: Highlights cases where there is a parent-child correlation between the share of a child value in relation to the overall value of the parent across a continuous variable. The steady share insight applies to the context of a measure, a dimension, and another date/time dimension. This insight triggers when a particular dimension value, eg, “the east region”, has a steady percentage of overall sales across that date/time dimension. The steady share insight is similar to the low variance insight, because they both relate to the lack of variance of a value across time. However, the steady share insight measures the lack of variance of the percentage of overall across time, while the low variance insight measures the lack of variance of the absolute measure values across a dimension. ‘Time series outliers: For data across a time series, detects when there are specific dates or times with values significantly different than the other date/time values. . Sou Trends Alerts are based on numerical thresholds. is satisfied. a]Advanced Data Visualization 204 ‘A trend encompasses is based on a singular value and is used fo, ps ime | An alert is ings sses aggregated data over a tim ; i : period and provides insights for taking strategic | taking some form of urgent measures. = at ‘Trend: Examine sales over pas of an Alert: Send email when market share] _ 3 3 i past 12 | Example of an fin dee various regions = Z increases over some amount. ve 7 IV, SELF-SERVICE REPORTS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS Self-service Reports Self-service reporting tools enable business users direct access to ere to faster access, reduced workload for technical personnel, and alignment across “ ferent usiness units, as those units rely on a single source of truth. It is a component of self-service analytics that ' enables business users to generate reports and gain insights from data without relying on technical j skills. These tools support the creation of custom reports from any connected data source. i Business users can use these tools to conduct their analysis and generate real-time dashboards via _ easy-to-use graphical user interfaces (GUIs) so that executives can make data-driven decisions without involving the tech team. Different Types of Self-service Reports Reports can be divided into: © Regular reports: These drive high-level decision- frequently used. © Ad hoe reports: ‘making by the company and are Businesses need to answer specific questions and the results need to 5 be presented to management. Ad hoc Teports help answer these questions in an easy-to understand format. Self-reporting tools use the following basic Steps to generate reports: © Connect end-user tools such as Excel and Google sheets to any database © Collect data from an; ] ¥y data source including databases, cloud applications and other online data sources © Create reports and queries with a visual interface Benefits of Self-service Reporting * Businesses need to make data-driven decisions, and with the increasing volume of éa% they cannot rely on their technical teams all the time for these reports. Self-servic? seats Maks analytics easy and enables the whe organization to make data-crve™ decisions without the Support of the tech team. ae @ Self-service reporting is superior to the Teeny model of pulling reports from database | ng reports, ¢] After end-users interact with existi at ° that can be answered by creating queries pias generally have follow-up es R r new : construct a report for any query, it Would be much Teports. If a business : “aes 0 i €asier to identi yrtunities 2° © answer open questions. identify oppor jReporting 205 Timeliness of reports is an important issue determining the usability of reports. Reports delivered by IT have a high probability of being wrong as business users may not specify their requirements clearly. A business user who understands the database structure can be much more effective in answering questions and effectively. Self-service reporting frees up technical resources so that they can shift their focus on more important tasks rather than trying to meet the demand of report requests. Self-service reporting supports data-driven decision-making and reduces the time to insight. Increases business users’ understanding of the company’s data and therefore the business. Allows technical and analyst teams focus on more important tasks. And facilitates alignment across different business units as those units rely on a single source of truth. Common Reports Automated by Self-service Reporting 1. External Reports: Required reports that need to be prepared by publicly-held enterprises for their investors, creditors, and lenders. The purpose of external reports is, to state the financial condition of the company so that they can be transparent to investors, External reports include: (@ Income statement Balance sheet (iii) Statement of cash flow 2. Internal Reports: Every business function in any company needs to have easy-to- understand reports to align both internally and to align with management. These would ideally be dynamic documents where users can deep dive into different areas for root cause analysis or for more granular forecasts about business performance. These include: ()) Marketing: Free, off-the-shelf tools like Google Ads, Analytics and Search Console are sufficient for needs small, technically competent teams. However, marketing metrics become harder to follow as companies need to optimize across multiple paid channels (¢.g-, search engines, social media, offline, etc.) and owned channels (e.g., company’s blog, website, mobile app, etc.). This requires the need to create reports that show conversion cost per channel, conversions over time and user engagement metrics. (ii) Sales: Sales reports enable businesses to visualize their sales activity over a period of time. These records help executives to understand the progress of their sales team, If they are not, it helps optimize their sales process and growth strategy. Sales reports contain different metrics including:Advanced Data Visualization | 206 © Number of deals over a period of time © How long it takes to close a deal ‘© How many new leads are needed to close a single new deal © Average deal value (ii) Technology: Technology development is an exploratory process, and relies on | business and technical collaboration. Technical teams strive to measure important | metrics like units of completed features, critical bugs uncovered in the business acceptance process, quality assurance (QA) process, etc. (iv) HR: Key metrics such as employee engagement and hiring effectiveness (time to fill an open position) can be aggregated for a high-level view of HR performance, Necessary Features of Self-service Tools 1, Ease of use: The main purpose of self-service reporting is to make analytics easier for business users who lack technical knowledge. Therefore, the tools should be easy-to- use with simple interfaces. 2, Integration to data sources: There are four types of platforms to integrate: © Cloud SaaS used by the company © Company's internal systems based on op: software © Internally developed systems © External data sources In each category, self-service r data sources as possible. 3. Interactive visual representation options: A i i i ‘sual repr A good self-service ting solution Should have intuitive, interactive visual rep i The should offer end- re " Tepresentations of the data. The solution gauge charts, line chars nc oh sono bar chants, tables, cross, 4 Online and mobile accessibility: Users. should von browsers and mobile devices, 1 5, Embeddability; Te section to easly access the data and generate reports. sale eoSeaes, self-service = em ate a8 ood as their data, Stale data leads (0 | auto updating reports and dashboarde ware becomes more powerful ifit can generate ( en-source or supplier-owned proprietary ‘eporting solutions should integrate to as much of the be able to reach reports and | (00% web-based solutions allow 6. Enterprise features: Features such as single sij 7 fi . si : facilitate large companies to use selgan oe Seman and role-based Lone ‘ based access is important since business users he ithe, tions. For example, eal any’s data. While it may be OK for ans nt levels of proficiency Wi the company’ ‘r an intern to view the company’s metrics: iReporting = 207 it would not be OK for an intern to make changes to the company’s data on his/her first day. Advanced self-service Teporting software enable administrators to limit new users’ upload capabilities to ensure that users do not accidentally create wrong records. 7, Collaboration: Self-reporting tools should be collaborative. If users are able to share the reports with their team and create reports with their colleagues’ participation, better reports can be prepared. Self-service BI enables users to easily analyze data without writing code. Modem BI platforms that use an associative engine allow users to explore data freely in any direction, recalculating analytics and highlighting data relationships after each click. Dashboards and data visualization are used to improve understanding, allow collaboration and share information across an organization. Interactive dashboards that include rich data visualizations of charts, graphs and maps make it easier for stakeholders to understand and collaborate, Modern BI tools make it simple for any user to easily interact with the data themselves, and create their own custom dashboards with drag-and-drop tools. Static reports and alerting are also important ways for stakeholders to stay on top of their business and take quick action. BI software should allow users to easily build and share static reports in popular document formats and to set up data-driven, real-time alerts when KPIs pass a threshold. Self-service Reports - Common Application Scenarios With the rise of modern technologies like self-service BI tools, the use of interactive reports in the shape of business dashboards is becoming very popular among companies. Unlike static reports that take time to be generated and are difficult to understand, dashboards are intuitive. Their visual nature makes them easy to understand for any type of user, and they provide businesses with a central view of their most important performance indicators for an improved decision-making process. The following section covers some important and frequently used dashboard reports with applications across domains. 1. Financial Report A Financial Report offers an overview of the most important financial metrics that a ay needs to monitor, its economic activities and answers vital questions to ensure healthy 'imances, With insights about liquidity, invoicing, budgeting, and general financial stability, managers Can extract long- and short-term conclusions to reduce inefficiencies, make accurate forecasts ‘bout future performance, and keep the overall financial efficiency of the business flowing. For ‘xample, getting a detailed calculation of the business working capital can allow users to ‘derstand how much liquid cash or assets are available witha company. If it is higher than ‘pected, it means the company can go ahead and invest in new opportunities.Sor Advanced Data Visualization Financial KPI Dashboard ee ner Current Working Capital Days - Last 3 Years ‘Cash Conversion Cycle in 48.3 mm 468 Current Assets 129,000 59.0 SBD ay = 2 i busoatis u neat a6 ‘PO cee Cosh $34,000 » Accounts Receivable $59,000 laventery $31,000 ry Pre-Paid Expenses $5,000 2 a o an » » Bank Operating Credit $27,000 Accrued Expenses $8000 33% Taxes Paysble $5000 177 ay a% E 38 POS at gg" Yeon Pemest tor Rine | — seein venir ramen or ate Fig. 5.13: Financial Report 2. Marketing Report pines ‘i x a snarling report cue that a company’s, marketing efforts are yielding a healthy retum a a a ‘ype of report offers a detailed overview of campaign performance over ® | given time period. Having acces to this information enables a company to maximize the va of | ir promotional actions, keeping their audience engaged by Providing targeted experiences. | Businesses can implement different campai sone : lement t campaign formats as a test and th ich one i mos sacri for their business. This is possible by monitoring inn sic market ne mei like click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA) ede The visual nature of this report makes it ea: : ee tal natur i sy to understand important insi ance. For example, in the dnage sive pela the four gauge charts at the ay fs ei ial ; end | from all campaigns and how much of the total budget of each campay ee ff just seconds, you can see if you are on target to meet your reciting: aera ieee soa 4 for 4 campaign.71880. UW ase) 2.203 afont tiakle 5 » Fig. 5.14: Marketing Report 3. Sales Report An intuitive sales dashboard like the image shown below is the perfect analytical tool to Monitor and optimize sales performance. Armed with powerful high-level metrics, this report type is especially relevant for managers, executives, and sales VPs as it provides necessary data to ensure strategic and operational success.210 Advanced Data Visualization % lanes REVENUE PROFIT | cost $150,009 | $39,709 | $110,300 Qs Br Orme Erte (Om Bris! Sar | COST BREAKDOWN oN Marketing = 5 sen $73,450 4, HR Report ‘A-HIR report contains information about human reoun : needs to track a lot of data such as employee performance and ete eee Tee HR. department ensure that employees are happy and working in a healthy eqqe ness Tey also need 1° svorkforce ean significantly damage a company. This is ait me env onment since an unhapPY HR dashboard. le with the help of an intuitive ee3,4% i ism in three different ways: yearly above, the tion of the dashboard covers absenteeism in : average, bean rate with a target of 3.8%, and absenteeism over the last 5 years. Tracking absenteeism rates in detail is helpful as it can tell if employees are skipping days ‘of work. If the Tate is over the expected target, then HR teams can try and figure out the reasons and find Sustainable solutions. rerall labor effectiveness (OLE). This can be The second part of the dashboard covers the overall | ) tracked based on tpecifie criteria that HR predefined and it helps them understand if workers are Achieving their targets or whether they need extra training or help,Advanced Data Visealization 212 5. Management Report Fig. 5.17: Management Report Managers need to monitor huge amounts of data to ensure that the business is running smoothly. The management dashboard focuses on high-level metrics that shareholders need to look at before investing such as th ie return on assets, retum on equity, debt-equity ratio, share price, among others, By getting an overview of these important metrics, investors can easily extract the needed information to make an informed decision Tegarding an investment in any company. For instance, the return on assets measures how efficiently the company’s assets is being used to generate profit, With this information, investors can understand how effecti Tesources in comparison to others in the market, Another go. higher the increase in share price, the.mo1 6. IT Report The IT department can pea fom reports with de 7 technical issues to solve, NE a visual tool Teadily saya as their workload becomes critical, s Partment-specific information: Available will help IT specialsFig, 5.18: IT Report In the image given above, the IT dashboard offers detailed information about different system indicators. It provides a visual overview of the status of each server, followed by a detailed graph displaying the uptime and downtime of each week. This information is complemented with the most common downtime issues and ticket management data. Getting this level of insight helps IT staff to know what issues are cropping up and at what times. This helps them find proper solutions to avoid these issues in future. Keeping constant track of these metries Will ensure robust system performance.Advanced Data Visualization at 7, Procurement Report sattonny 210507 en in 96708 gee” permeatnres 652596 y ae ses Fig. 5.19: Procurement Report ‘The above image displays a sample report built with intuitive procurement analytics software. It gives a general view of various metrics that the procurement department needs to work with on a regular basis, and interact with the data, this useful procurement dashboard offers key information to ensure a healthy relationship with suppliers. With metrics Suppliers, or the purchase order cycle time, the Suppliers, define the relationship each of them his ensure that the company stays profitable. 8, Customer Service Report A Customet Service Repor includes many powerful customer service KPIs. This dashboatd is a useful tool t0 monitor performance, spot trends, identify strengths and weaknesses, * improve the overall effectiveness of the customer support department, Covering aspects such as Tevenue and costs from customer support as well as custom satisfaction, this complete dashboard is the perfect too} for managers that need to keep an ev" every Jittle detail from a performance and operational Perspective. For example, by mouitoriNé— Reporting 25 customer service costs and comparing them to the revenue, we can understand if the company is investing correctly in their support processes. This can be directly related to a customer service agent’s average time to solve issues. The longer it takes to solve a support ticket the more money itll cost and the less revenue it will bring, If the report shows that customer service agents are taking too long to solve an issue, a company can plan for additional training to reduce this time. aa = z < 5 are] Merah even Fig. 5.20: Customer Service Report 9. Market Research Report A market research report plays a very crucial role in understanding a company’s products, Customers and competitors. A market research report is a document that reveals the characteristics of Your ideal customers, their buying habits, the value your product or service can bring to them, and the list of your top competitors. The marketing research report gives an idea about what kinds of new products or services may be the most profitable in today’s highly competitive landscape. For products or services Already available, a marketing research report can provide detailed insights as to whether they are Meeting their consumers’ needs and expectations. It helps understand the reasons why consumers ‘'y a particular product by studying consumer behavior, including how economic, cultural, ‘cietal, and personal factors influence that behavior. Market research agencies deal with a big ‘Tlount of information coming from surveys and other research sources. Taking all this intoae Advanced Data Visualization + interaction becomes more necessary account, the need for reports that can be filtered for deepel for this industry than any other. <® ‘BRAND ANALYTICS, Brand Awereness hen you tek about outdoor gear products - Have you heard ofthe foFowtng brands? ‘what rands come toyourming? rot 333 333 oe SLAY + seco EATERIES 0 oe SERRE Soa SESE + esr st ORE + sean ERS seve I foes Hs Celebrity Analysis ‘Who ofthe three persons would be the best celebiy to represent the values of rand O? mk | Research Report ow animate above is a brand analytics dashboard that displays the resulls of a survey ab cary (6 vill Pare, ihe Public. The dashboard contains different chart types that make it | quickly up eee e ak ee a instance, the map chart with the different colors lets YS | ° ich age rai is see the detailed answers from each group fora ence ‘The data can be filtered further 10. Social Media Report A social media report provides an a; ‘i ‘and how it impacts their business, igeregated view of a company’s social media prese™® |Fig. 5.22: Social Media Report bove monitors the performance of four main social media channels: This dashboard shown al ; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and it serves as a perfeet visual overview to track the performance of different social media efforts and achievements, Tracking relevant metries such as followers, impressions, clicks, engagement rates, and conversions, this report type serves as a perfect progress report to show to managers or clients that need to see the status of their social channels, Each metric is shown in its actual value and Compared to a set target. Effective use of colors helps in quickly understanding if metric is over Or under its expected target. VL. BI Techniques’ for Effective Reporting Business Intelligence techniques are being used in Analytics domain to assist in timely, ¢éta-driven decision-making and to generate useful insights. Some of the important BI techniques ae discussed in the following section along with the best kind of reporting structures for each of these techniques. “e218 1, OLAP Advanced Data Visualization Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) is an important business neligees eee that is used to solve analytical problems with different dimensions. A major benefit of sing SLAP is that its multidimensional nature provides leniency for users to look at data issues from different views. By doing so, they can identify hidden problems in the process. OLAP is mainly used to complete tasks like budgeting, CRM data analysis, and financial forecasting. ‘The source data for OLAP systems are Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) databases that are commonly stored in data warehouses. OLAP data is derived from historical data, and ageregated into structures that permit sophisticated analysis. OLAP data is also organized hierarchically and stored in cubes instead of tables. It is a sophisticated technology that uses multidimensional structures to provide rapid access to data for analysis. This organization makes it easy for a PivotTable report or PivotChart report to display high-level summaries. For example, an OLAP report can display sales totals across an entire country or region, and also display the details for sites where sales are strong or weak. OLAP databases are designed to speed up the retrieval of data. OLAP usually uses the technology of ad-hoc reporting which is the model of real-time reports generation used by the end-users on demand. OLAP reports ensure a response to a single specified question based on the dat tabase connected to the application. They are flexible and allow users to get information in real time. ‘Typical epplications of OLAP include business reporting for sales, marketing, management ‘Sevorting, business process management (BPM), budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting and similar areas: © Interactive, multidimensional OLAP reports. ® Usually provide more general information — usin, ic dri icing, dici P ig dynamic drill-down, slicing, dicing and filtering, users can get the information they need © Reports with fixed design defined by a report designer ‘© Generated either on request by an end-user or refreshed Periodically from a scheduler ‘* Usually are made available on the web server or a shared drive. 2, Data Visualization gain insights.Fig, 5.23: Types of Data Visualizations 219 Data visualization is the representation of data in a graphical or pictorial format. It allows key decision-makers to see complex analytics in a visual layout, so that they can identify new patterns ot grasp challenging concepts. From website metrics and sales team performance to marketing campaign results and product adoption rates, there is a range of data points your organization needs to track. Some of the most common data visualization elements found in reports include: Bar Chart Pyramid Chart Table Circuit Diagram Pie Chart Funnel Chart Geographic Map Timeline Donut Chart Radar Triangle Icon Array ‘Venn Diagram Half Donut Chart Radar Polygon Percentage Bar Histogram Multi-layer Pie Chart __| Polar Graph Gauge Mind Map Line Chart ‘Area Chart Radial Wheel Dichotomous Key Scatterplot Tree Chart Concentric Circles PERT Chart Cone Chart Flowchart Gantt Chart Choropleth Map Data visualization can be used for demonstrating performance, communicating trends, Understanding the impact of new strategies, showing relationships, and beyond. These Tepresentations can be powerful tools for communication and collaboration, bringing greater Value to reports, journalism, apps, or any context where sharing information is required. While Stunning, rich visuals can be great tools for. communicating ‘ideas, the end benefit of data Visualization is its ability to drive better decision-making.Advanced Data Visualization 20 3. Data Mining Data mining is the process of analyzing large quantities of data 2 Saeeaeisie patterns and rules by automatic or semi-automatic means. In a corporate ates denleiins ic amount of data stored is very huge. Finding the actual data that could drive ‘ a i is quite critical. Therefore, analysts use data mining techniques to unravel the hidden Pa lems and relationships in data. Knowledge discovery in databases is the whole pra o ene the database along with any required selection, processing, sub-sampling, and cl Te the proper way for data transformation, Data mining results can be reported using data visualizations, such as graphs and charts. 4, Analytics Analytics in Business Intelligence defines the study of data to extract effective decisions and figure out trends. Analytics is widely used among companies as it lets analysts and business leaders understand the data completely and derive value from it. Many business perspectives, from marketing to call centres, use analytics in different forms to make effective business decisions. For example, call centres leverage speech analytics to monitor customer sentiments and improve the way answers are presented. An analytical report is a type of business report that uses qualitative and quantitative company data to analyze as well as evaluate a business strategy or process while empowering employees to make data-driven decisions based on evidence and analytics. While analytical reporting is based on statistics, historical data, and can deliver a predictive projection of a specific issue, its usage is also spread in analyzing current data in a wide range of industries, For instance, a hospital can use analytics to understand that the average ‘waiting time can be reduced by conducting specific actions. A marketing agency can decide to allocate its budget differently after the team has seen that the most traffic comes from a different source of the invested budget. Applications of these kinds of reports are different, and therefore, the writing style and generating valuable insights are distinctive in every industry. af sue oe oe be gateway to business intelligence (BI). These reports will empower mpanies to make informed, accurate decisions while also allowin, oi respond to changes with greater accuracy, Paneer 5. ETL Extraction-Transaction-Loading (ETL) is a unique business intelligence technique that takes care of the overall data processing routine, ETL extracts data from storage, transf¢ 3 it into the processor, and loads it into the business intelligence system, Iti mainly a ane forms i ee that transforms data from various. sources to data warehouses It also moderates the data 10 address the need of the company. It improves the qui ‘ nice ait Ta such as databases or data warehouses. ity level by loading it into the end targes ETL Reporting includes understanding and defining e 5 * uirements, a jirements, developing estimates, designing and developing solutions. With tre help cae bot —Reenthg: aa companies can evaluate the exact business requirements and how to set up Data Warehouse, strocture the Schema, and ficititate migration, ETL Reporting Tools ensure fist access to huge, integratad and transformed sets of dats for business users to facilitate them in decision-making, hence delivering a considerable performance boost. VIL CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD REPORT Business Intelligence reporting is broadly defined as the process of using s BI tool to prepare and analyze data to find and share actionable insights In this way, BI reporting helps ‘users to improve decisions and business performance. Creation of reports should be done keeping the following points in mind: © Purpose of report: A well-designed report conveys information that leads to action. Before creating a report, we should first identify the questions thet the report helps to answer. Use of effective visualizations: Effective dats visualization ties to display information that is easy for the report user to understand. This needs 2 good understanding of various visualizations available and whst options would be a good match for the data that we want to visualize. For example, a chart effectively conveys summary and aggregated information better than a table that spans many pages of detailed information. . ° © Customize reports as per user needs: Identifying a user's needs and their level of technical expertise helps in creating useful reports. For example, high level managerial users might need to drill down or look at slices of data from multiple reports. Having a good understanding of user requirements leads to creation of better reports. ‘© Understanding of final report formats: If 2 report bas to be exported to a specific ‘output formst, it is better to test the export format early in the design stage. Feature support varies based on BI Tools being used to generate reports. © Build reports in stages: When cresting complex reports with many layouts, it is better to build the Iyout in stages. Use rectangles as conttiners to organize report items. Build data regions directly on the design surface to maximize working area, and add each individual data region to the rectangle container. By using rectangles ss containers, all report contents can be positioned in one step. Rectangles also help control the way report items render on each pase. © Reduce Clutter: Keep repoct simple to view, understand and use To reduce clutter in & report, use conditional visibility foe specific report items and let the user choose which items to view. Visibility can be set up based on a parameter of 8 text bax toggle. Conditionally hidden text boxes can also be added to show interim expression results, When 2 report displays unexpected dit, interim resuts can be shown to help debus expressions.222 Advanced Data Visualization © Effective use of color and color variations: Using different colors for various elements on a report can enhance readability. When working with nested items, use different background colors for the container and contained items. Also, usage of color filters can covey a lot of extra information. Color filter can be used to represent varying values on a card/visualization. © Use of visual analytics: Analytic elements like trend lines, average lines and constant values can be added to visual elements to convey more information. Layout Options Sonenaprecryei somone eres Fig. 5.24: Creating a Power BI Layout Power BI layouts help to create well-organized and presentable reports. Features of Power BI Layouts 1. Layouts are Custom Every layout is a completely custom sete -up. Each visual i isely the presentation ea the data should look the best. All es ee ioe precision, X- or Y-axis tumed off or on are customizal 2 2 clicking on the visual and choosing the Paint Roller to aie es aren ies. 2, Duplicating a Layout Page After creating a layout of your choice, that la yout may " done by right clicking on the report layout tab and selecting urna times. It can be ption.Reporting 223 3. Delete Unwanted Layout Page Most of the layout files comprise of various Teport pages. Some of the layout documents have different layouts per PBIT fie, It is possible to right click on the report tab that you wish to delete and select Delete Page option. The Layout files are generated with many different report tabs so that we can have absolute flexibility. For instance, initially, we may create the main page with only one visual and slicer, but later in the report, we may require a three-column layout. By adding many different designs within one Power BI Layouts file, we can decide what works best with the data at hand. 4, Visuals Layout in the Selection Pane Im the selection pane, multiple items will be present that denote each item on the report page. Every item in the Selection Pane can be laid out with appropriate names and in order of left to right usually. 5, Report Pages Background All the Layout Report pages come with a background image. If this background image is not required, it can be removed very easily. To remove the background image, verify that no visuals are selected, In the Visualizations Pane, enlarge the Page Background. To remove the backeround image, click the little X next to the image name, found under the Transparency setting. If background image is removed, it cannot be replaced. So, once it is removed, we cannot reapply 2 background image. 6. Changing Visuals Tf we want to add a custom visual or change a visual from a map to a bar chart, it is very easy to do so. We can change the visual without any difficulty even in predefined Power BI layouts. To modify the visual, first, select the visual that needs to be changed, and then on the Visualizations Pane, click on a new visual type. 7. Moving Visuals Visuals on the report page are locked by default and cannot be change or moved directly. Use the Lock Objects setting to move the locked visual in Power BI. This setting can be changed by going to View Ribbon and then Unchecking the Lock Objects item. By unchecking this option, it is casy to move the visuals anywhere around the page. 8. Adding Custom Report Themes It is easy to customize the color schemes for Power BI layouts. After linking data, we can ‘asily add any color theme of choice. New color themes can also be created using JSON. Power BI layouts make it easy to work with a wide variety of layouts. It is also very easy to ‘teate our own layouts in Power BI. Power BI Layouts helps in making reports attractive and teadable, and help with decision-making. =Advanced Data Visualization 2248 REEORT CRESTED! USING EOWER BI LAYOUT festa} Fig. §.25: Sample Power BI Layout Good ys. Bad Report Implementations The following example displays a poorly designed BI dashboard: See ee ee ; feo re 2K A Poot DEQSGI urn225 The top two charts (“ ") don’ change ‘fenealy Pa by YTD Revenue” and “Number of Users by Age 7 ev i “gi ih” and “Daily Metrics” have been placed er oe eanaine (ables such as “Signups Pet " ed at the bottom. As a result, day, an end-user at this report. He/she will have to 20 throu, . result, every day, al “opthe ti i A igh the top ty ; st _ ofthe time, before getting to the information that lange eases ee en: ‘Using simple ae ea keeping the reports clean without clutter also help in conveying “ibe data better. The following example highlights the importance of using simple visuals that suit dete The first image depicts sales volume per region using Pie Charts, However, itis om due and treemaps as we cannot easily differentiate between pie fields that } ‘ilar values. . oat Fig. 5.27: ‘Sample: Wrong Che next visual with the help of a simple bar chart. The sualize and understand in this dashboard. The same data is presented in the ne ce in sales volumes is very easy to Vi226 lth ‘orrect choice of Visuals Improves Readability For example, consider the following image. Segment Sales and Profit Summary Dashboard setneshe teanice - ome a Bi om wet Da ae TT] la ‘Shenoy eet weet =e f a Ran Sere topes flr et Cmnatioes KIM” HS bow am tis Gommmet ALIS TBO 5 Were vain ‘sos heres meine ots poner) oot Advanced Data Visualization : ne Fi Example of Designed Reportne? ris example contains many design mistakes, 1 shows too mich information for the to quickly understand, The inconsistent segment colors within charts. add to. the a, The column chart X-axis quarter labels do not atign to the shown monthly valves. numbers do not have any context with regards to trends, The-pie chart fails to jcate the negative enterprise results, The Manufacturing Price line chart is way too small pas n0 legend. The Discount Bands bar chart is also quite smalt with unnecessary labels. pt the table with the scroll bar in the middle of the screen does not ack any value, The seroll 18 Suoes dashboard usability. jnhe image shown below, information overload has been reduced, and! noise ane! confision | gp decreased bY selecting a few appropriate data visualization types and adding context: All | gfomation fits properly within the screen without scrolling. The segment colors are consistent “Bain te bar and scatter charts to improve clarity, Single total numbers have improved titles to "scibe reporting time period and are accompanied by sparklines to show trend context. The bi sitclearly shows the negative enterprise results. The scatter chart adds perspective at @ glanee eee regards to the product performance within a segment. The date under the dashboard title sie the audience to understand when this information was last updated. This example Of. do sgt showcases how different design decisions enable effective communication of insights usin ‘Sales and Profit Summary Dashboard ° : contoso | Tesh ne, ull ra aotew naira nate cere Nee Baits —— ease trate ate ee “1M Vv 99) Je Report with: Good Design Choices Fig. 5.30: Examp!228 Advanced Data Visualization Step by Step Process to Building and Designing BI Reports Step 1: Defining your insights The first step in the process is to define the insights that will be showcased through the report. This needs a clear understanding of the audience or users of the reports. Understanding user needs before deciding upon insights will help in creating valuable, relevant, and memorable visualizations, This also ensures that time and money is not wasted on creating irrelevant reports. Define the purpose of the report: Defining the purpose of the report follows from identifying intended audience. A clear purpose will provide necessary guidelines to help focus on answering the report’s most vital questions. To find the purpose of any report, find answers to the following questions: © Why is the report being generated? © What does audience need from this report? ‘© What information will users gain from seeing this data? © What are the most important questions the report will try to answer? Identify key insights: After determining the audience and purpose of the report, we will be able to identify the most valuable insights we want to derive from the report. Power BI helps in visualizing data more engagingly than Excel and other tools, To avoid a Cluttered report, it is a best practice to decide upon 6 to 10 data points that we want to visualize in the report. Fig. 5.3 xample Power BI Report Showcasing 9 Insightsntho above example report, the following 9 insights are shown: » Total Revenue — KPI Total Profit - KPI e Total Orders - KPI e Total Customers — KPI Total Quantity — KPI ‘e Performance Ratio — 100% Stacked Bar Chart ‘e Sales Performance Revenue by Month — Area Chart Region Performance split by Category — Stacked Bar Chart ¢ Quantity and Sales by Category ~ Multi-card Row ‘Agood practice is to make up a list of 6-10 insights most needed. This will make it easier to ‘ride on the data and match each insight with the relevant visual. To create a multi-page report, make a list of all the insights you want to drive before ‘categorizing them by relevance, e.g., HR Insights and Sales insights, After listing and cargorizing, work on prioritizing 6-10 insights per page. Step 2: Deciding on the data Identifying the right data set to use en: “needed to create insights. The data set we ch nd if correct data is not chosen, we will be unabl can result in a redundant report. It is, therefore, essential to make sure we are using the before building the report. |___ To evaluate whether you are usin ‘hfomation you want the audience to re Step 3: Choosing Visuals Using the right kind of visuals is extremely important in creating effective reports. The lowing list contains various visual types and their use cases to help in identifying the correct "sual based on the insight. © Comparison: Comparison visuals compare data between different categories. sures that reports will include all the information ‘oose will determine which insights you can drive, right data the right data in your report, identify the key pieces of fain and confirm your data can provide them. le to show what we originally intended which— Advanced Data Visuatlzattoy xo § tv Une Chart Be shoes Fig. 5.32: Power BI Visualizations for Data Comparison © Data Over Time: Data Over Time visuals represent the spread of data over a period of ___time and are displayed to identify trends or changes, As aroachan ‘ e@ @", — Bubblochart | i ll] stacked ave ryt Waterfall # Power BH Visualizations — Data Over Time231 Correlation: Correlation visuals are used to find a correlation between different subbiechat i} Bs; Hi Column tine Fig. 5.34: Power BI Visualizations - Correlation «¢ Distribution: Distribution visuals are used to show how often values occur in a data z sts ai Fig. 5.35: Power BI Visualizations — Part-to-whole visuals show the bre Distribution © Part-to-whole: akdown of elements that add up to a Fig. 5.36: Power ‘BI Visualizations — -art-to-whole an ordered list based on a unique data point, © Ranking: Ranking visuals showeasi Fig. 5.37: Power BI Visualizations — Ranking In the next section, we will walk through how to take your chosen visuals and begin to build a logical report layout and structure, Step 4: Positioning of Visuals Building a logical report layout and structure is very important in creating effective reports. Positioning of visuals in a report is critical. A consistent layout and grouping relevant metrics together will help audience understand and absorb the data quickly. The correct layout ensures that the dashboard is easy to understand and has a logical flow between different insights, which is important as users tend to process information from top to bottom. Grouping relevant metrics together, such as KPIs, adds further to the logical report flow and the ease of user insight interpretation. Referrin 8 to the dashboard example below, we can begin to Segment our dashboard to ensure the correct layout is implemented, ‘ >233 SSSR Co eeoeee ee ae o " { a GEER RRR SERRSR0ReRR eR eeee See ew SaS8880800088 GGG Reo eoee8 oe rine Fig. 5.38: Power BI Grid for Positioning Visuals When determining where to allocate each of your visuals, it is best practice to follow the following tips: © Top: The top of a dashboard should include high-level insights represented as visuals such as KPIs or Gauges, and should include 2-3 squares. © Middle: The middle of a dashboard should represent trend-based data including activity-based metrics and visuals that demonstrate data over time. This section is best suited for larger visuals, and is best kept to 4-6 squares. © Bottom: The bottom of a dashboard is reserved for granular metrics such as specific KPIs or Tables, and is best kept to 3-4 squares.Advanced Data Visualization 234 3 z z TE Sonn Fig. 5.39: An Example Report Showcasing a Logical Layout Step 5: Design Tips for Effective Reports There are a few tips to follow during the report building process, © Ensure visualizing 6-10 insights per page: the insights, as the best way to help users them, is to use simple design, Teport page. It is important not to go overboard with understand what the data is trying to tell Prioritize 6-10 insights that we want to visualize per Fig. 540: Example Lavout for Power By Dashboard235 Match the right insights with bars the jnsights. Ensure that the right insight got Visual: Different visuals suit different i hi it FG Togcal layout and grou ht are matched with the correct visuals. ee cse-Your Layout secs Pav metrics: Follow the structure provided in the Of this guide to ensure your users can easily navigate High-level visuals at the top Cran veel tthe bottom arn ine ie Fig. 5.41: Power BI Logical Layout © Ensure the correct sizing of visuals: Different visuals represent different levels of detail, and their size needs to reflect this.Fig. 5.42: Visual Sizing Guide margin and Padding: Visuals, © Apply suitable Outside of the boxes between When working with boxes, use good mas and padding within each visuals box. This fasily and becomes more legible for the end-use.ws ‘ 237 . 0 aa archy: Visual hierarchy is about making elements of different uP accordingly on the dashboard, In this example, the numeric value js more important : z is more imp than the textual description. So, you can increase the font size and the font weight to make it stand out. The subheading can be de-emphasized through smaller font size, lighter color, and wider letter spacing. lm evenve prone revenue ee cizisnomcur eaten Fig. 5.44: Power BI Dashboard Example of Visual Hierarchy © Add clear headings and labels: Using clear headings and labels helps to add clarity and context to the information you have provided. This principle will also give audience the ability to extract valuable insights at a glance, eliminating any confusion. phone Dashboard Example of Headings and Labels Jor palette to stay consistent when using colors ‘lor palette helps you understand. which color to use for Fig. 5.45: Power BI © Use a Color Palette: Build a prope: °® across any report. Using @ ©238 certain to build theme/eolor palett tae ettoan Color Palette Thome colors Sontiment/owergent colors nt lowing the custome herr tras oA Power land inctudes 1 nour eorenponding vector label fein Advanced Data Visualization speets of a report, The Power BI customize theme framework can also be used el-ecision-making. oot 239 e Use a consistent theme: Ens, ; oon + Ensure a consi i it e distinguish e Us guishable colors with enough contrast: Use colors that are easy to distinguish between one anoth : ct, €., using contrasting colors compared to shades of the same color, as this can make it hard to tell the difference si Core Tools to Build Report and Dashboard Layouts to Achieve Maximum Effectiveness Dashboard and reporting tools are very useful i a ia ata for effective decision-making. They te pc of ns SR by cna 5 make the process of data analysis simpler by collecting and presenting all the necessary data in a report for deriving insights and aiding in high-level ~ Dashboard and reporting tools help in creating data visualizations, combine them i s “valuable dashboard reports, and customize them based on need. ‘They can help in monitoring citical problems, consolidate key performance indicators, and help in making the right decisions. The following section covers some of the important tools available to create reports and dashboards. 4. Microsoft Power BI Microsoft Power BI is web and cloud-based analytics, and data visualization platform. It is available as a desktop or mobile application, with interactive reports, real-time dashboards and datasets that can connect to dozens of data sources. Power BI also features embedded visuals, trend identification, custom reports and SQL Server Analysis Services. One of Power BI’s unique features is its Q&A interface. Using the natural language you would use when asking a question out loud, you can input any question to scout your data for specifics, and the Power BI technology will use suggestions, rephrasings and autofill to present the answer. 2. Tableau Public Tableau Public is part of the Tableau software portfolio that offers three different software choices: Tableau Public, Tableau Reader and Tableau Desktop. Tableau Public is the free package that offers data visualization, analysis _and business ineligence for companies of all sizes. It has many features like in-depth insights, data Storytelling and analytics on demand. It can be used to uncover data patterns, like sales trends or Consumer behavior, and create visualizations that connect to Excel, CSV or other data sources. Tableau Public publishes visu: Web through a simple user interfac alizations — maps, graphs, charts and other outputs — on the and live dashboard. Tableau is known for its publicly available visualizations and interactive graphics. The platform reduces, time to insight by ‘ecommending visualization types based on the analyzed dat, Tableau Prep Builder’s ML-based recommendations support smart data cleansing and partion, ‘Tetra Online allows data access anywhere on any device and is available on