Gauge Control

Owned by
Migration
Last updated: Jan 20, 2015 by
Andy Heller (Deactivated)
4 min read

Introduction

This control is a part of Free Format Template and allows to analyze the company's KPI values as opposed to the defined target values. For instance, you may want to compare your actuals to the budget values, or previous month performance or peer performance. Please, refer to the Gauge Control article for detailed information.

Parameters

The report parameters define the look & feel of a report:

CONTENT

Basic Control Parameters

Parameter

Description

Mandatory

Data Source

Select the list containing the gauge sections

Yes

Title

 Title of the Gauge Chart Control

No

Advanced Control Parameters

Parameter

Description

Mandatory

External Item Selector

An external control which will be used as an item selector for this control

No

Gauge radius

Indicates outer radius of the Gauge. Use 0 for auto size

Yes

Scale radius

Indicates the radius of the scale. Use 0 for auto size

Yes

Number of intervals

Determines number of major intervals on the gauge chart.

Yes

Chart format

A format can be chosen from the Format list. This Format relates to the colors of the gauge elements: needle, numbers, background. Specify "Fore Color" for the numbers, "Back Color" for the needle, "Chart Series Color" for the background, "Chart Shape Color" for the background additional color. If you want to have a monocolor background, set "Chart Series Color" and "Chart Shape Color" to the same color.

Yes

Range distance from scale

Determines the distance between the scale and the ranges

Yes

Half-Circle

Allows to use a full or half-circle as gauge chart

Yes

Scale

This defines the scaling used in the report. It can be overruled by the scaling in the Lists.

Yes

Precision

Defines the number of decimals used for presenting the number. Options are 0-6. Similar to the Scale setting, The Precision setting is the default for all data in the report, but can be overruled by a specific (not -1) precision in the List.

Yes

How to create a Gauge Chart

The behavior of the Gauge chart is defined by the list, used in the Data Source Parameter.

You can create a Gauge chart with the fixed values or a dynamic chart, which will change the behavior based on the item, picked from the related Item Selector (see External Item Selector report parameter).

Example 1

Let’s first consider a simple example of a Gauge chart for a single fixed KPI.
We will build a report, which will allow to see if the company has reached the target value (Budget) for the Gross Margin.

First, we need to create a list, which will be used as a Gauge Data Source:

  1. The dimensions to be included in the list are: Account and Category
  2. The first item in the list represents the actual value of Gross Margin
  3. The second item is the starting point for the chart – in this case it is zero and a multiplication by zero is used in the formula
    #The third item represents a negative range – a multiplication formula is used (Budget value * 0.9)
  4. The fourth item represents a neutral range – equals Budget value
    #The fifth item represents a positive range – a multiplication formula is used (Budget value *2)

To define the colors of the Gauge ranges Maintain Formats menu is used.
You need to create a special Format for every range, specifying the Chart Series Color and Chart Line Width.
After creating the formats, apply them to the items in the Gauge Source list.

As a result, the Gauge Data Source list should look as follows:

After applying the list as a Data Source for the chart, fine tune the Report Parameters:

1. Set the Data Source to the list, created initially

2. Set the title to "Gross Margin" (the title will appear inside the Gauge chart)

3. Set Half-Circle parameter to Yes, so that the chart is displayed in the shape of a half-circle

In the end, we will get the Gauge Chart which displays the Gross Margin value compared to the set targets:

Example 2

Now let's consider an example of a dynamic report, which will allow to pick different accounts for the Gauge chart.

To achieve this we will combine a Gauge chart with an External Item Selector Control, also available in the Free Format Template.

1. First we will create a list to be used as an Item Selector and include there several accounts:

2. Then we will create the list, which will be used as a Gauge Data Source. Only Category dimension will be included in the list, as the account value will be defined by the Item Selector.

The ranges for the Gauge chart are defined the same way as in Example 1:

3. Now define the following Report Parameters:

  • Set the External Item Selector parameter to Item Selector
  • Set the Item Selector parameter to the list from Step 1
  • Set the Data Source parameter to the list from Step 2
  • Set the Half-Circle parameter to Yes

As a result, we will get the following Gauge Chart which display the values for any account, picked from the Item Selector:

See Also

Free Format Template