The Report-Building Interface and Side Configuration Panel
- Josh Daugherty (Deactivated)
The Report-Building Interface
When building a new report (or modifying an existing report) in Insights, the Report-Building interface, of three main areas:
Side Navigation
Data
Side Configuration Panel
Side Configuration Panel
Within the Side Configuration Panel, a user can revisit and/or modify the report's basic Settings, set a Results Limit, configure Live settings, set a custom date range, and add fields and groupings to the report.
Modifying a report's basic settings
When viewing an existing report, the Settings button allows for changes to be made to the report's name, time zone, and label(s).
Note: Once a report has been built and saved, the data source cannot be changed.
Buttons
The top row of buttons within the side configuration panel will appear differently depending on where/how the report is being built (from a template vs. from scratch).
If you begin with a template, there will only be two buttons: Build and Save As. This is because the template cannot be modified without being saved under a new name, keeping the template always intact and available.
Build applies any configuration changes, so they can be previewed. Tweaks and changes can be made on the fly, until the report is what you want it to be.
The Save As button saves a copy of the report in its current form. You're required to give the new report its own name in order to successfully save.
Once a report has been built/saved, four buttons replace the two, as shown below.
Setting a results limit
The max results limit—20,000—is also the default value.
Configuring Live settings
Live functionality, when enabled, causes a report to refresh itself on a set interval, in order to provide a real-time view of what's happening. To create a live version of a report, switch the Live toggle to on.
While Live functionality is typically more appropriate for charts, certain reports can also be modified to present compelling live data.
When to Use a Live Configuration
A live version of a report can be useful on live dashboards.
The only real difference between having the live switch flipped on and leaving it off is how/when the report refreshes. When the live switch is flipped, you can set a specific interval on which the report will refresh itself with new data as well as the scope of data displayed.
Here's what it looks like with the Live switch turned on:
Setting a date range
The default date range is set to past week. Additional options include today, past 30 days, this month, last month, or custom.
Setting a custom date range
A custom date range provides added flexibility, as you can select a year/month/day and hh:mm:ss for the report to return data from as well as to, as shown below.
Add fields and groupings
Fields are the data a report shows; groupings impact how the data is presented.
Below the limit, live, and date range settings are the two tabs that deal with the content of your report: Fields and Groupings.
Fields are the different data points you want Insights to return—they can be filtered, sorted, and summarized in countless ways.
Groupings are optional, and serve to sort data by grouping "like" data together. Multiple groupings can be implemented, serving as a sort of data hierarchy to help interpret the raw data
When adding fields, clicking on the small triangle next to the [ + ] button provides the option to add all fields (available per data source).