Creating a Microcharts widget in Microstrategy

Creating a Microcharts widget in MSTR

The Microcharts widget consists of one or more microcharts, which are compact representations of data that allow analysts to quickly visualize trends in data.

Microcharts convey information in such a way that the user can, at a glance, determine the trend of a metric over time or how a metric is performing compared to forecasted figures. The Microcharts widget is useful for this purpose because individual microcharts can display attribute and metric data in a small graph that would otherwise be displayed as a single value in a grid report cell.

The Microcharts widget can be used when an analyst needs to quickly visualize the trend of a metric at a glance without having to know many additional details. The bar, sparkline, and bullet microcharts used in the Microcharts widget convey information that an analyst can understand just by looking at the graph once.

You can view these rows of microcharts in several ways:

• As a scrolling ticker that moves horizontally
• As scrolling rows that move vertically

The number of rows in the widget represents the number of elements from the first attribute on the rows of the Grid/Graph that contains the widget. For example, the widget above has seven rows of regional data because the Region attribute on the Grid/Graph's rows has seven different elements, or regions.

To create and add a Microcharts widget to a document

1. Open the document in Design or Editable Mode.
2. From the Insert menu, point to Widgets, and then select Microcharts.

3. Click the location on your document in which to place the widget. You cannot place the widget in the Detail section of a document.
4. The Grid/Graph, which looks like a standard grid container, is displayed. A small icon is displayed at the bottom right of the Grid/Graph, identifying the type of widget you added to the document.
5. If required, resize the widget by clicking and dragging its handles.

Add objects to the Grid/Graph that contains the widget

6. From the Dataset Objects panel on the left, select attributes, and drag them on top of the widget. The steps below ensure that the widget is prepared to display all three microcharts (bar, sparkline, and bullet); however, this procedure also contains information to display or hide any of the microcharts.
• If KPI List mode will not be used, place at least two attributes on the Grid/Graph’s rows.
• The last (right-most) attribute on the rows determines the X-axis values in the bar microcharts and in the sparkline microcharts in the widget.
• The remainder of the attributes on the rows (the first, second, third, fourth, and so on), determine the total number of rows displayed in the widget. The elements from those attributes become individual rows in the widget.
• If KPI List mode will be used:
• Only one attribute can be included on the rows if the widget will be used with KPI List mode enabled in Grid mode or Vertical Scroll mode.
• Use a time-based attribute such as Month since the attribute controls the time series of the bar charts and of the sparklines in the widget. If only one attribute is included on the rows, KPI List mode is enabled automatically and the widget cannot be used except in KPI List mode.

7. Place at least seven metrics on the Grid/Graph’s columns.

• The first (left-most) metric on the columns determines the height of the bars in the bar microcharts and the peak points in the sparkline microcharts.
• The second metric creates the horizontal reference lines that are displayed in the sparkline microcharts.
• The third metric determines the length of the performance measure bar in the bullet microcharts. The bar represents the actual metric value.
• The fourth metric determines the maximum possible values in the bullet microcharts.
• The fifth metric determines the right-most boundary of the first color band, Band 1, in the bullet microcharts.
• The sixth metric determines the right-most boundary of the second color band, Band 2, in the bullet microcharts.
• The seventh metric determines the value of the vertical reference line in the bullet microcharts, which is typically the target value for the metric.
• Any additional metrics are displayed in the columns of the widget, after the microcharts and their associated metrics.

Enable the widget to be displayed in Flash Mode

8. From the Tools menu, select Document Properties. The Properties dialog box opens. Select the Flash check box under Run Modes. For more information about Flash mode, see Viewing documents in Flash Mode.
9. Click OK to apply the changes and return to the document.