How to create Excel dashboards easily

How to build Dashboards - How to create Excel dashboard
Howto build Dashboard - Stepby Step tutorial/recipe
Contents
How to build Dashboard - Step by Step tutorial/recipe..........................................................................1
How to create Excel Dashboard [ as direct connection ]........................................................................2
Purpose of this Dashboard tutorial...................................................................................................3
Excel Dashboards................................................................................................................................3
Modular Dashboard Design.............................................................................................................3
Best Practice for Dashboard Design..................................................................................................4
Benefits of this approach.............................................................................................................4
Data Preparation................................................................................................................................5
Launch InfoCaptor Dashboard.............................................................................................................6
Connect to the Excel File.....................................................................................................................9
Build the first chart...........................................................................................................................16
Add Chart to the dashboard ..........................................................................................................19
Add Circle Pack hierarchical visualization to the Dashboard.................................................................20
Add a pivot table to the dashboard....................................................................................................21
Add Row sub-totals and Column Grand total..................................................................................22
Change the color palette...............................................................................................................23
Add filter to the dashboard...............................................................................................................26
Link Parameter to the widgets...........................................................................................................29
Test the interaction for the filter selection .....................................................................................33
Publishing the Dashboard .................................................................................................................37
1. Private Sharing:.........................................................................................................................38
Share a page directly to the user................................................................................................38
2. Public Sharing...........................................................................................................................43

Howto create Excel Dashboard [ as direct connection ]
We will learn how to create webbasedExcel dashboards.
And this is the exact dashboard wearegoing to build
1. Preparethe excel file

2. Create a connection to Excel
3. Visualizethe data and build analysis
4. Add analysis to the dashboards
5. Add parameters to the dashboard
6. Publish the Dashboard
1. Download the infocaptor_online_retail Data file you will need for your practice
http://infocaptor.s3.amazonaws.com/infocaptor_online_retailer.xlsx
2. Download and install InfoCaptor software
Here are the instructions and link to the zip download
http://infocaptor.com/help/install_dashboard_on_standalone_computer_or_laptop.htm
Purpose ofthis Dashboardtutorial
Complete guide on building dashboards using Excel, Access and any other
Databaseas the data source.
The tutorial will start with instructions on building a dashboard using Excel Files.
The purposeis not justto build any dashboard buta good and usefuldashboard
that is modular in design and easy to maintain and scale it.
Excel Dashboards
Databases areoften under lock-n-key of the ITDepartmentand not
possibleto connect directly due to security reasons. So if you plan to build
a Dashboard prototypeor a Dashboard Mockup itmakes senseto export
the data to Excel and build it.
Modular Dashboard Design
Lot of the online tutorials and Dashboard e-books teach you to build
dashboard in Excel file. They provideyou with templates, you fill in the

information and build the dashboard using Excel charting techniques.
If you use Excel Templates for your real dashboarding needs then you may
end up with any of the below problems.
 Big Bulky and bloated excel files
 Undocumented Macros
 Zero verification on the data authencity
 No way to refresh the dashboard (lostproductivity)
Best Practice for DashboardDesign
Use Modular Design - KeepData and PresentationSeparate
How? – Use Excel only for storing your data. Nothing more. Do not buildany
visualizationinthe same place where your Data resides. Inshort, your excel files
shouldcontain only the data.
Benefits of this approach
 Your dashboard or presentation layer is independent –Dashboard
definition is stored separately
 Increasedproductivity –When you have fresh data justrefresh the
dashboard, no redevelopment needed
 No Messy Excel Macros or coding knowledge required –Just drag and
drop tables and visually build Tables, Charts, Speedometer, Gauges, Dials,
Thermometers and more charts
 SimplifiedDistributionandPresentation –You can Exportthe Dashboard
to PDF or HTML and justsend them as attachments
 Save Time - Just build the dashboard presentation layer only once and
automate the refreshes.

Data Preparation
There are certain rules to be followed when you get the data in Excel files.
Here is a sample Excel file for the online retailer example.
The first row is always treated as the column names.
In this tutorial we are going to connect directly to the Excel file as a database.
There are alternative ways to work with Excel/CSV data and we will discuss them
later.
Rules for the Excel File
1. It should be a simple table structure(no pivottables : if your data is pivot like
then you need to unpivot the data)
2. First row is the column names
3. The worksheetnameshould begin with a character and there should be no
special characters

Benefits of connecting andusing Excel file as database table
 We can put the dashboards on a central windows machine
 Everyonein your organization can login and view the dashboards using
their browser
 You can simply replace a new updated version of Excel file and the
dashboard willshow the latest information withoutyou needing to do
anything.
Launch InfoCaptor Dashboard
Follow the steps listed in the below URL
http://infocaptor.com/help/install_dashboard_on_standalone_computer_or_lapt
op.htm
Once launched and running, you should see the browser open with the dashboard
URL.
The softwarecomes packaged with sample dashboards and that is whatyou see
when you launch it.
Let us begin our dashboard building journey.
1. Go to the menu Actions and create new Project"OnlineRetail"

Itwill promptyou to give a name to your project
We will name it "OnlineRetail"
Click OK.
Itwill create a new projectand add a new dashboard pagethat you can see on
the left panel.

Right click on the "Rename New" and you will see the following options
We will select 'Rename' and give a name "Sales Dashboard"

Connect to the Excel File
Go to the Action menu and select "Manage Data Source/Connections"
Itshould open another page where you can define database and Excel
connections

Click on the Excel link and it will show you the fields to enter Excel file details.
Our excel file is located in the "c:samples" directory
So we enter the full path to the Excel file as below
We give a connection handle name so we can identify what this connection is
about.
Click on the "TestConnection" button
After clicking "TestConnection" it immediately tells us the file is valid. This is
important if we misspelled the directory name or some filename.

Now click on "Add new Connection Entry" button
Now switch the browser tab to go back to the DashboardEditor
On the top left you will 3 tabs
Click on the "Data" tab

Expand the "Use DatabaseTable/SQL"
Click on the "Fetch DatabaseConnections"

Click on our newest connection that we justcreated "infocaptor_online_retail"
Click on the worksheetname"transactions"

On the right side, you will see a list of sampledata.
Click on the "AnalyzeData fromselected Table"
This action will bring the data and switch the tab to "Visualizer"

The Visualizer put the order_year column into measures bucketso we simply drag
and bring it to the Dimensions bucket.

As you see, it has nicely separated the Dimensions and measures based on the
column types. These are the column names fromthe firstrow of the excel file.
Build the first chart
In the Visualizer, drag the following fields
1. Drag "ProductLine" to rows
2. Drag "order_year" to cols
3. Drag "Sales" to values
Once you finish dragging, the Visualizer keeps building the pivotas you finish
dragging so it provides a nice visual feedback. Your final pivotshould like below

We will invokethe Visualizer Picker to change it to a bar chart.
Click on the "VisualizeAs" region and it will open the following picker

Click on the "Grouped VerticalBar chart"

You should now see the above chart
Add Chart to the dashboard
Click on the plus icon that says "Add to dashboard" when you hover on it.
Your first chartis now added to the dashboard. Sincethis is a direct connection to
Excel file you don't need to saveany data.

Add Circle Packhierarchical visualizationto the Dashboard
1. Switch back to the Visualizer
2. Add one more dimension "affiliates" to the Rows bucket
3. Select "Circle Pack" fromthe Visualizer drop down
4. Reversethe colors

Now click again on the "+" icon to add to the dashboard
Your dashboard should havenow two widgets as below
Add a pivot table to the dashboard
1. Switch to the Visualizer
2. Add "Customer Class" to the left of "ProductLine"

3. Remove "Sales" and add "Profit"
4.
5.
Add Rowsub-totals and ColumnGrand total
Expand the "Analysis Options" and then

1. Select Row subtotals
2. Select Row Grand total
3. Select Column Grand Total
4.
Change the color palette
1. Click on the color palette icon
2. Select the "Red Yellow Green" palette

Your pivot table is now automatically color coded to a Heatmap. The negative
numbers are deep red and the higher positive numbers aregreen.
Add this pivottable to the dashboard.

Add Sunburstdiagramto the dashboard
1. Go back to the Visualizer
2. Follow the steps to producethe sunburstdiagram

3.
4. Add it to the dashboard
Add filter to the dashboard
Once all your four widgets are added to the dashboard, wewill add a
parameter/filter to makeit more interactive.
1. Go back to the Visualizer
2. Right click on "Ship Priority"
3. Select "Create Parameter"
4.
5. Itwill show the following filter dialog

6.
7. You can select the type of parameter and the options are "Checkbox",
"Radio Button", "Single select" dropdown, "Multiselect " combobox.
8. We will keep the default selection of "Checkbox"
9. Click on "Add as Parameter to Dashboard"
10.The parameter is added to the dashboard as shown below

11.
12.As seen, the parameter is vertically oriented.
13.Close the parameter/Filter dialog box
14.Right click on the new checkbox anywherewithin the blue border
15.
16.Select "HorizontalOrientation"
17.Drag the blue border to make room for horizontalplacement so that all
checkboxes are in same row

18.
We added the checkboxparameter, similarly we can add as many parameters to
the dashboard if needed.
Next we will see how to connect the parameter to the widgets.
NOTE: Connecting the parameters to the widgets is needed for any databasetype
connection. If you used CSV file upload to create a packaged dashboard with data
inside then you don't need the linking. They are automatically linked for packaged
dashboard.
Link Parameter to the widgets
The manual linking of parameters has some benefits such that you can choose
which widgets will respond to the user selections.
In the following steps we will link the "Ship Priority" to justthe top two widgets
such as the "Group bar chart" and the "Circle pack"

1. Select the bar chart widget, note the blue border is showing to confirmit is
selected
2. Click on the "Data source" icon
3. It shows theSQL as below

4. Just before the group statement in the SQL, press enter and type the following
condition
5.
6. where "ShipPriority"in( )
7. Bring your cursor within the brackets
8. Click on the "Show Filter Prompts"
9.
10. Expand "Input_Controls"

11.
12. Select the "html_checkbox_d6"
13. Click on the "Add Selected Filter" button
14. This action will add the filter values between the brackets where your cursor
is. If your cursor was somewhereelse, then justcopy the new text and place it
between the brackets
15.
16. Final wherecondition { where "Ship Priority" in ( param<html_checkbox_d6> ) }

16. Click OK and close the "Data Source" window
Test the interactionfor the filter selection
1. Select "ALL"
2. De-Select "All" and select "OneDay"

3. Select "Three Day" as well

As you notice the chart has now become interactive and responds to the
parameter selections.
We repeat the process for the Circle pack widget and make it interactive as well.
For the circle pack wecan simply copy the where condition and paste it in the SQL
where"Ship Priority" in ( param<html_checkbox_d6> )

Click OK and now we are done.
We will keep the pivot table and the sunburstwithoutlinking to the parameter.
Now when you change the parameter selection both widgets respond
accordingly.

Publishing the Dashboard
Once weare done adding all the four analysis and the dashboard
parameter/filter, we can savethe dashboard and then click on "View this Page"
Once you click on "View Page", it will open as independent URL
This dashboard is only viewable by you or the person who has developed it. In
order to haveothers view the dashboard and interact with it you need to share
the dashboard.
There are two ways you can shareyour dashboard.

1. Private Sharing
2. Public Sharing
1. Private Sharing:
You can sharethe dashboard privately to a single user or a group of users. When
you sharethe dashboard privately, the users can view the dashboard only when
they login into InfoCaptor.
For e.g. When you sharethe dashboard and when the user logins, they will see
the following screen upon login
There are two sections "My Dashboards" and "Shared Dashboards"
Any dashboards thatyou develop will be visible under the "My Dashboards"
section.
If someoneshares the dashboard with you then it will be available under the
"Shared Dashboards" section
Share a page directly to the user
You need to navigate to the "ManageProject/Users" page.

This can be done two ways. When you login, you will see a launchpad like below
And you will see the big icon "Manage Projects/Users"
Click on that.
Alternatively, if you are in the Dashboard Editor, then navigate as
Actions >> Manage Projects/Users
You should see something similar

There are multiple tabs, Projects, Groups, Pages and other things.
Jump to the "PageDetails"

You can click on the search icon to look for your page. If you see your page, then
justclick on it once so that it is highlighted.
In this example, we selected the "bloomberg dashboard"

When you click on "Shareselected page with users"
Itopens this dialog

We providethe user id (login name) for each user we intend to share the
dashboard with.
Each user is entered in a separate line
Click OK and you should see a confirmation.
When these individual users login or browsethe shared dashboards, they willsee
new entries in their list.
2. Public Sharing
Public sharing is one click job. In your dashboard editor, you will see the link
'Make it Public" on the top toolbar

Click on it once and now you can shareyour dashboard by justpassing the URL
with anybody in your company or network. Making it public simply means that
the users don'tneed to login to view the dashboard. They can still fully interact
with the dashboard.

How to create Excel dashboards easily

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