Visualizations → KPI

About a KPI visualization

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that indicates how effectively an organization is achieving key business objectives. Each industry or business has its own KPIs to track and measure success. KPI visualizations provide companies, departments, and managers with a simple tool to track the progress of business objectives and make data-driven business decisions more efficiently.

As a dashboard developer, you can use a KPI visualization to create an insight that shows the aggregated or calculated values of one or more business measures, such as revenue or profit. The result is a KPI chart on a dashboard tab that shows each measure as an aggregated or calculated value with the column label below. You can apply conditional formatting to an indicator to easily communicate if it is behind or beyond a target value.

The distinction between a visualization and an insight is that an insight is an instance of the visualization. As an instance, a KPI insight has unique configurations that a dashboard developer determines for displaying a KPI chart on a dashboard tab. Insight configurations affect the available user interactions for a dashboard consumer, such as the ability to drill down into a grouping dimension.

Configurations for a KPI insight

A dashboard developer first selects a KPI visualization for an insight in the Analyzer. Using the Analyzer, a dashboard developer configures pill properties, filter properties, and insight settings. Insight settings and pill properties determine not only how the KPI chart appears as an insight in a dashboard tab, but also how a dashboard consumer can interact with the KPI chart.

The visualization selection in the Insight panel of the Analyzer determines the available trays. From the Data panel, a dashboard developer adds a column or a formula to a tray. A column or a formula in a tray is a Pill.

Each pill has configurable properties. The parent tray determines the available properties of a pill.

The available trays for a KPI insight are:

Grouping Dimension
Measure
Individual Filter

Note

A KPI insight requires at least one measure pill.

Grouping Dimension

From the Data panel, you can add a column or a formula to the Grouping Dimension tray. The KPI insight shows multiple individual KPI tiles, one for each dimension value. The maximum and the default number of rows is 20 per dimension. Each pill in the Grouping Dimension tray is a filterable column for the insight. The pill ordering in the grouping dimension tray defines the following:

the first pill is the initial grouping dimension
the other pills define an order of user interactions that allow a dashboard consumer to drill down into the next grouping dimension and in doing so, also create one or more dashboard runtime filters

Note

The Grouping Dimesion works only if a single measure exists in the Measure tray.

Measure

To create an aggregation or calculation, you can add a column or a formula from the Data panel to the Measure tray.

A KPI insight shows the aggregated or calculated value of each measure pill as a number with the pill column label. A KPI insight can have multiple measure pills that are independent of each other.

You can select the measure pill to open the Properties panel. In the Properties panel, you can configure various properties such as the Aggregation and Format properties.

Individual Filter

To filter individual rows for the KPI insight, define an individual filter for the insight. You can add a column or a formula to the Individual Filter tray from the Data panel.

You can select the individual filter pill to open the Filter panel. Using the Filter panel, you can specify the filter operator, one or more filter values, or the filter expression itself with the Formula Builder. You can also disable the individual filter.

To learn more about filter expressions for an individual filter, review Concepts → Individual Filter.

Pill properties

The parent tray determines the available properties of a pill. There are various possible configurations for each pill type:

Grouping Dimension pill properties
Measure pill properties
Individual filter properties for a filter expression

You can edit the properties of a measure pill with the Properties panel for a KPI insight.

To create a filter expression, you can edit the properties of an individual filter pill with the Filter panel.

For the Filter property of a measure pill, you can open the Filter panel from the Properties panel to create the filter expression.

To open the Properties panel or Filter panel, select the pill arrow.

Grouping Dimension pill properties

Here are the properties for a pill in the grouping dimension tray in a KPI insight:

Property	Control	Description
Column fully qualified name	label	The fully qualified name of the selected column. This property is available only when you edit the properties of a column in the tray.
Formula	text box	When you select it, it invokes Formula Builder and create the formula expression. This property is available only when you edit the properties of a formula added to the tray.
Data → Column Label	text box	Enter the label for the grouping dimension column or formula
Data → Date Part	drop-down list	When the selected column is a date or timestamp, select the part of the date used. The options are: ● Full (default) ● Year ● Quarter ● Month ● Day
Data → Sort By	drag and drop	Drag the column or formula to sort the columns by
Format	select	Select the format of the formula or date column. This option is available only when you edit the pill properties for a date column or a formula
Format → Date Mask	text box	Enter a customized date format or select a predefined one to appear in this text box
Drill Down → Dashboards Drill Down	link	Select + Add Dashboard to select a dashboard tab to drill down to when the user selects a grouping dimension value in the insight
Add Dashboard → Include Runtime Filters	toggle	Enable this property to pass the applied filter, if any, from one dashboard to another
Add Dashboard → Search Dashboard	text box	Enter a search string to filter the dashboard tree. From the results, select a dashboard tab to drill down to.

Measure pill properties

The parent tray determines the available properties of a pill. Select the arrow to the right of the pill name to open the Properties panel and configure the related properties.

Here are the properties of a pill in the Measure tray in a KPI insight:

Property	Control	Description
Column fully qualified name	label	The fully qualified name of the selected column. This property is available only when you edit the properties of a column. Select the information icon (the letter i in a circle) to preview the column function (dimension, key, or measure) and samples of the column data. You can also use the Copy Column Name option (two paper sheets icon) to copy the column’s fully qualified name.
Formula	text box	Select to invoke the Formula Builder and create the formula expression. This property is available only when you edit the properties of a formula added to the tray.
Data → Column Label	text box	Enter the label for the measure pill. This will be the label of the measure aggregated value on the chart.
Data → Date Part	drop down list	When the selected column is a date or timestamp, select the part of the date used. The options are: ● Full (default) ● Year ● Quarter ● Month ● Day
Data → Aggregation	drop down list	Select the aggregation function to apply to the measure values. The available options vary according to the column or formula data type. The options are: ● Average ● Count ● Distinct ● Median ● Min ● Max ● Sum ● Formula ● None
Data → Scale	drop down list	Select the chart scale. The options are: ● None ● Percent (%) ● Thousands (K) ● Millions (M) The default is None.
Data → Filter	drag and drop	Drag a column or formula to filter the measure values before applying the aggregation function. Use the Filter panel to specify the filter properties
Format → Number Format	drop down list	Select the format of the measure aggregated value (e.g. Dollar Rounded)
Format → Decimal Places	text box	This property appears when you select Decimal, Dollar, Euro, Yen, or Percent as the Number Format. Enter the number of decimal places to use with the measure aggregated value.
Format → Thousands Separator	toggle	This property appears for all Format options, except No Format. Enable this property to include a comma separator for values of 1000 or greater.
Format → Percentage	toggle	Enable this property to display the measure aggregated value as a percentage
Format → Prefix	text box	Enter a string (a currency symbol for example) to add at the beginning of the measure aggregated value. The string you enter cannot contain single quotes.
Format → Suffix	text box	Enter a string (a currency symbol for example) to add at the end of the measure aggregated value. The string you enter cannot contain single quotes.
Format → Date Format	drop down list	Select a date format. This property is available when you edit the properties of a date column or formula.
Format → Date Mask	text box	Enter a customized date format
Format → Color	select	Select a color for the value and label
Conditional Formatting	section	Define conditions to apply different formats on the measure column or formula depending on the aggregated value of the same or another column or formula
Conditional Formatting → Based On	drag and drop	Drag a column or formula to format the current measure according to the aggregated value of the added column or formula. Leave blank to apply conditional formats depending on the aggregated value of the measure itself. To remove the column or formula, hover over the column pill, and then select X.
Based On → Column Name	read only	The fully qualified name of the column that you select to base the measure formatting on. Available only when you drag a column to the Based On section.
Based On → Column Label	text box	The label of the column or formula pill in the Conditional Formatting section
Based On → Aggregation	text box	The aggregation function to apply to the conditional formatting measure
Based On → Formula	text box	Select to add a formula to format the measure based on its aggregated value. Available only when you drag a formula to the Based On section.
Conditional Formatting → Conditions	section	Use this section to add and manage conditional formatting rules (conditions). You can add multiple rules and arrange them as required using drag-and-drop techniques. If multiple rules overlap, the first rule on the list prevails. To edit a rule, select its pill. To remove a rule, hover over its pill, and then select X.
Conditions → Clear All	link	Select to remove all conditional formatting rules
Conditions → + Add Condition	link	Select to add a rule to change the text color based on a defined condition
Conditional Formatting → Note	read only	Denotes the name of the current measure, the aggregation function, and the label of the column or formula used in the rule. Available only when you drag a column or a formula to the Based On section.
Conditional Formatting → Operator	drop down list	Select the operator to use in the conditional formatting rule
Conditional Formatting → Value	text box	Enter the threshold value of the conditional formatting rule
Conditional Formatting → Background	select	Select the background color to apply to the values when the conditional formatting rule is true
Conditional Formatting → Text Color	select	Select the text color to apply to the values when the conditional formatting rule is true
Drill Down → Dashboards Drill Down	link	Select + Add Dashboard to select a dashboard tab to drill down to when the user selects the aggregated value for this measure in the insight
Add Dashboard → Include Runtime Filters	toggle	Enable this property to pass the applied filter, if any, from one dashboard to another
Add Dashboard → Search Dashboard	text box	Enter a search string to filter the dashboard tree. From the results, select a dashboard tab to drill down to.
Advanced → Base Field	drag and drop	Drag a column to join two physical schema objects that are not directly joined. To learn more, review Concepts → Base Table.
Advanced → Query Plan	button	Select to access the Query Plan Viewer to check the Direct Data Map path that Incorta Analytics Service uses to retrieve or calculate the measure

Conditional formatting considerations

Conditional formatting based on another measure is available starting 2022.9.0.
When formatting a measure based on another measure, If the measure column and the conditional formatting base column exist in different objects, make sure that there is a valid query plan between the two objects.
Conditional formats are preserved when changing a KPI insight to a visualization that support conditional formatting, such as Bar and Listing Table, and vice versa. However, conditional formatting is lost when changing a KPI insight with one or more conditional formats to a visualization that does not support it.
You cannot reference an Incorta SQL View column as the base column for conditional formatting rules.
Downloading or sending the insight as PDF respects applied conditional formats based on other measures or the same measure.

Individual filter properties for a filter expression

To filter individual rows for the KPI insight, define an individual filter for the insight. You can add a column or a formula to the Individual Filter tray from the Data panel.

Individual filter properties for a filter expression with a column as a pill

Here are the properties of a filter expression for a column as a pill in the Individual Filter tray for a KPI insight:

Property	Control	Description
Column fully qualified name	label	The fully qualified name of the selected column. Select the information icon (the letter i in a circle) to preview the column function (dimension, key, or measure) and samples of the column data. You can also use the Copy Column Name option (two paper sheets icon) to copy the column’s fully qualified name.
Data → Column Label	text box	Enter the label for the individual filter pill
Date Part	drop down list	When the filter column is a date or timestamp, select the part of the date used. The options are: ● Full (default) ● Year ● Quarter ● Month ● Day
Operator	drop down list	Select the operator to use in the filter expression
Values	multi-select	Select the value(s) to evaluate the column value against. Some operators do not require a value to evaluate against, such as `Null` and `True`, and some require more than one value, such as `Between`. If applicable, enter a string in the search bar to filter the list of values. To add a value to the list, enter it in the text box below the list and select +.
Advanced → Disable Filter	toggle	Enable this property to disable the filter. Disabled filters are deleted when you save the insight.

Individual filter properties for a filter expression with a formula as a pill

Here are the properties of a filter expression for a formula as a pill in the Individual Filter tray for a KPI insight:

Property	Control	Description
Formula label	label	The formula pill label
Data → Column Label	text box	Enter the label for the individual filter formula pill
Formula → Dynamic	toggle	Enable this property to select a filter expression session variable as a value
Formula	text box	Disable Dynamic to configure this property. Enter the formula in the Formula Builder to create the filter expression.
Operator	drop down list	Select the operator to use in the filter expression
Values	multi-select	Select the value(s) to evaluate the column value against, if required. Some operators do not require a value to evaluate against, such as `Null` and `True`, and some require more than one value, such as `Between`. In the case that you enable Dynamic, select a filter expression session variable. If applicable, enter a string in the search bar to filter the list of values. To add a value to the list, enter it in the text box below the list and select +.
Advanced → Disable Filter	toggle	Enable this property to disable the filter. Disabled filters are deleted when you save the insight.

Settings panel

With the Settings panel, you can configure additional properties for the KPI insight. To open the Setting panel, in the Analyzer, in the Action bar, select Settings (gear icon).

Property	Control	Description
General → Auto Refresh	toggle	Enable this property to automatically refresh the insight preview while editing it in the Analyzer. A tenant configuration in the CMC Clusters Manager can globally enable or disable this feature at the tenant level.
General → Inherit Runtime Filters	toggle	Enable to have this insight’s result set filtered by the selected dashboard prompt filters. When disabled, the dashboard prompt filters will have no effect on the result set of this insight.
General → Data Sampling	toggle	Enabled by default. Enable this property to use only a sample of the insight query data set, rather than the whole query set, when creating the insight.
Format	section	Use the different options in this section to specify a general number format of the values on the insight that applies only to measures that you do not specify a specific number format for. Those that you specify a specific number format for in the measure pill properties will preserve the defined format.
Format → Number Format	select	Select the general number format of the values on the insight (e.g. Dollar Rounded)
Format → Decimal Places	text box	Enter the number of decimal places to display for the insight values
Format → Thousands Separator	toggle	Enable this property to include a comma separator for values of 1000 or greater
Format → Percentage	toggle	Enable this property to display values as percentages
Format → Prefix	text box	Enter a string (a currency symbol for example) to add at the beginning of the values. The string you enter cannot contain single quotes.
Format → Suffix	text box	Enter a string (a currency symbol for example) to add at the end of the values. The string you enter cannot contain single quotes.
Style and Appearance	section	Use the different options in this section to specify the font, color, and alignment of KPI values and labels. These settings are available starting in version 2022.12.0.
Style and Appearance → Value → Font Size	select	Select a font size for values.
Style and Appearance → Value → Font Family	select	Select a font family for values.
Style and Appearance → Value → Color	select	Select a color for values. This is the default color if the color isn’t defined in the measure pill properties.
Style and Appearance → Value → Alignment	select	Select the alignment of values and labels (left, center, or right).
Style and Appearance → Value → Reset to Default	link	Reset the value’s style and appearance to the default.
Style and Appearance → Label → Font Size	select	Select a font size for labels.
Style and Appearance → Label → Font Family	select	Select a font family for labels.
Style and Appearance → Label → Color	select	Select a color for labels.
Style and Appearance → Label → Vertical Alignment	select	Select to align the label above or below the value.
Style and Appearance → Label → Reset to Default	link	Reset the label’s style and appearance to the default.
Style and Appearance → Tile → Show Separator	toggle	Enabled by default to include a line next to KPI values and labels. Disable to remove the line.
Style and Appearance → Tile → Background Color	select	Select a background color for the KPI tiles.
Style and Appearance → Tile → Gutter	text box	Enter the gutter size, or margin between KPI tiles, in pixels.
Style and Appearance → Tile → Space	text box	Enter the space between labels and values in pixels.
Advanced → Max Groups	text box	Set the maximum number of groups that cannot be exceeded in the insight.

User interactions for a KPI insight

As a dashboard consumer, you can interact with a KPI insight on a dashboard tab. Some interactions will affect only the KPI chart. Other interactions will affect both the KPI chart and the dashboard. The creation of one or more dashboard runtime filters is an example of a user interaction that affects all applicable insights on all tabs of a dashboard.

Note

Some user interactions require specific configurations by a dashboard developer and therefore may not be available.

Here is the possible user interaction for a KPI insight:

Select a KPI tile to drill down into a grouping dimension and in doing so, create a dashboard runtime filter
Select a number on the chart to open the Go to menu and select a dashboard tab to navigate to (requires a dashboard drill down configuration for the measure pill)

Note

A dashboard runtime filter that affects all applicable insights on all tabs of a dashboard. A dashboard runtime filter appears as a filter bar pill and displays the filter expression.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) enforces access to certain features and functionality. With Discretionary Access Control (DAC), a user who owns the dashboard can control the access to the dashboard. Access rights include the ability to view, share, and edit the dashboard. Together, RBAC and DAC affect the available selections in both the Action bar and the More Options menu for an insight. For more information about RBAC and DAC, review Tools → Security Manager.

Set Alert

You can set an alert that identifies specific changes to a KPI insight by defining a filter expression for a measure filter, individual filter, and/or aggregate filter in an aggregated table or a listing table.

For the KPI insight, select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis icon).
Select Set Alert. The Analyzer opens with an aggregated table insight that has the Grouping dimension pill and the measure pill from the KPI insight. Refer to the Scheduler document for additional information on Data Alerts.

Open Lineage

Starting with 2023.7.0, you can view the data lineage of each insight on the dashboard. The Data Lineage Viewer v2 displays the entities (tables, views, variables, and columns) that the insight references.

For the KPI insight, select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis icon).
Select Open Lineage. The Data Lineage Viewer v2 opens displaying the data lineage diagram of the insight.

Steps to create a KPI insight

For an existing dashboard, to create a KPI insight for a given dashboard tab, follow these steps:

If not already open, open a dashboard.
To add a new insight to the dashboard, in the Action bar, select +.
If needed, in the Analyzer, in the Data panel, select Manage Dataset.
In the Manage Data Sets panel, select one or more business schema views and/or one or more physical schema tables.
To close the Manage Data Sets panel, select X or any other area of the Analyzer.
In the Insight panel, first, select V.
In Others, select the KPI visualization.
From the Data panel, drag one or more columns to various trays in the Insight panel:
- Grouping Dimension
- Measure
- Individual Filter
Configure the pill properties using the Properties panel or Filter panel.
Configure various insight properties using the Settings panel.

Adding insights starting 2023.4.0

After introducing the dashboard free-form layout in 2023.4.0:

The steps to add an insight to a dashboard are as follows:
- In the Action bar, select Edit (pen icon).
- From the Insight panel, drag the visualization that you want to the canvas, and then hover over the new insight and select Edit (pen icon) to launch the Analyzer.
To open an insight in the Analyzer, hover over the insight, and then select Edit (pen icon).
The steps to edit the insight in the Analyzer are still the same.

Example of a KPI insight

In this example, you will create a KPI insight that shows sales KPIs including the total revenue, total cost, gross profit, and gross profit margin. The example uses the SALES schema that comes with the Sample Data.

Note

In the CMC, you can create a tenant that includes Sample Data. The Sample Data includes the SALES schema.

Add an insight starting 2023.4.0

In the Action bar, select Edit (pen icon).
From the Insight panel, from Others, drag KPI to the canvas, and then hover over the new insight and select Edit (pen icon) to launch the Analyzer.
In the Data panel, select Manage Dataset.
In the Manage Data Sets panel, in Tables, under the SALES schema, select the Sales table.
Close the Manage Data Sets panel.
From the Data panel, drag the Year, Quarter, and Months to the Grouping Dimension tray.
From the Data panel, drag the Revenue and Cost columns to the Measure tray.
For each column pill, in the Properties panel, for Number Format, select Dollar Rounded.
Drag a formula to the Measure tray.
- In the Formula Builder, create the following formula to calculate the gross profit: sum(SALES.SALES.AMOUNT_SOLD) - sum(SALES.SALES.COST_OF_GOODS).
- In the Properties panel, for Column Label, enter Gross Profit.
- For Number Format, select Dollar Rounded.
Drag a formula to the Measure tray.
- In the Formula Builder, create the following formula to calculate the gross profit margin: (sum(SALES.SALES.AMOUNT_SOLD) - sum(SALES.SALES.COST_OF_GOODS)) / sum(SALES.SALES.AMOUNT_SOLD).
- In the Properties panel, for Column Label, enter Gross Profit Margin.
- For Number Format, select Percent Rounded.
- In the Conditional Formatting section, select Add Condition, and then in the Conditional Formatting panel, specify the following:
  - For Operator, select >.
  - For Value, enter 0.3.
  - For Text Color, select a color (for this example, select the green color).
Name the insight Sales KPIs.
Select Save.