Dashboards User Options

What is Dashboards

Dashboards is a self-service Planful product. It provides modern, interactive, flexible, and easy-to-use visualization capabilities.

Why Use Dashboards

With Dashboards, you can create interactive dashboards based on your financial, workforce, and scorecard data. Data security is ensured across all devices (phone, Ipad, and so on) and platforms. Dashboards is available with responsive design meaning that the user-interface displays appropriately no matter the type of device used and screen resolution applied.

When to Use Dashboards

Dashboards product is used to extrapolate your data in Planful for meaningful interpretation. Once your data is loaded to Planful, and the appropriate data security is applied, users can build dashboards using charts, tables, and filters to interpret data for forecasting and budgeting purposes.

Your Admin will provide you with access to Dashboards. To access Dashboards, click the Dashboard icon as shown below.

Create Dashboards when you need to extrapolate and measure data, such as:

• Revenue by Product and Region

• Gross Profit by Region

• Sales by Product Type and Category

• Operating expense by Department

• Total Sales by Product/Type

• Revenue by quarter (Forecast Vs Actual)

• Expense Trend (Budget Vs Actual)

• Revenue & Units by Month

• Gross Margin (Budget Vs Actual)

• Month over Month headcount

• Departmental expenses trend

• Profit/Loss Trend

How to Use Dashboards

Dashboards consists of three interfaces; Organizer, Designer and Read.

• Organizer - a centralized repository of dashboards with thumbnails, user favorites and search functionality. Thumbnails can be customized for each dashboard to represent the data they store.

• Designer - create dashboard elements and design layouts using drag and drop functionality. You can add charts, text, tables and filters as elements into the dashboard. Dashboard designer enforces secured access to hierarchies and data.

• Read - enables slicing and dicing of data and provides insights into the data. You can drill down to the lowest levels of the hierarchy and change filters that immediately reflect across all dashboard elements.

When you click Dashboards, you are directed to the dashboard last accessed.

Dashboard Organizer

Use the Organizer to view your favorite dashboards, all dashboards, to search dashboards, and to view dashboards based on the date modified.

Only the dashboards that you own or those shared with you are displayed in the Organizer.

You can use Dashboards in browser full screen mode by clicking the icon (shown below) located at the top right corner. This action hides the top banner and the left navigation. Press the ESC button on your keyboard or click the icon to exit full screen mode.

Viewing All or Favorite Dashboards

Click the All or Favorites links to toggle back and forth between the two views. To make a dashboard a favorite, click the star icon so that it displays in a yellow color as shown above for the Sales Dashboard.

Setting Default Page

Click the Set Default Page option to set your dashboard landing page preference.

• Last Viewed Dashboard - When you set this as your preference and navigate to the Dashboard section, you will view the previously accessed dashboard on your dashboard landing page. This option is selected by default.

• Dashboard Listing - When you set this as your preference and navigate to the Dashboard section, you will view all the dashboards you can access listed on the dashboard landing page. All or Favorites page is displayed based on the last user access.

Understanding More Options

Click More Options to edit , duplicate , delete , or share a dashboard. You can also click Upload Thumbnail to upload an image if one does not already exist. If a thumbnail exists, the Edit Thumbnail and Remove Thumbnail options are available.

In Practice :Accessing the Reporting Role Option

1. Go to Maintenance > Admin > User and Role Management , and click Add. The Add User window appears.

2. You can view the Reporting Role option along with other necessary parameters needed to add a new user.

3. Select an appropriate Reporting Role from the list. Following are the options available:

Regular User: When you assign this role to anyone, they can access the Reports or Dashboards which they have created on their own or when someone has shared the Report or Dashboard with them.

Reporting Administrator: When you assign this role to anyone, they can access any Report or Dashboard (existing and new) available in Planful.

Editing a Dashboard

Select to edit a dashboard directly from the dashboard thumbnail and the dashboard will open in Edit mode. This option reduces clicks and is available for users with Edit or Full access to the dashboard.

In Practice

1. Open Dashboards.

2. Click More on a dashboard tile.

   

3. Select Edit. The dashboard opens in Edit mode.

   

Duplicating a Dashboard

You can duplicate a dashboard from the organizer, designer or read interfaces.
To duplicate a dashboard from the Organizer:

1. From the Organizer, click More Options and select Duplicate.

2. A message will appear indicating that the duplication was successful.

3. The dashboard will appear last in the Organizer.

Deleting a Dashboard

You can delete a dashboard from the organizer, designer or read interfaces. When you delete a dashboard, all charts and other dashboard elements and their metadata and settings are removed from the application.

Sharing a Dashboard

To share a dashboard:

1. From the Organizer, click More Options and select Share.

2. The Share Selected page appears. Enter user or user group names in the search field and select the user or user group that appears as you type.

   

3. For the newly selected user or user group, select from the following options:

• Full Control - user or user group can organize, delete, and share the dashboard.

• Can Edit - user or user group cannot make layout changes to the dashboard nor can the user or user group duplicate, delete or share the dashboard. However, the user or user group can edit the dashboard.

• Can View - user or user group can view the dashboard and modify the filters.

4. Click Share.

Reset User Preferences

You can use this option to reset the selections made by the users with whom the dashboard is shared and reset the values that you have set in Global and Chart filters. When you select this option, all the filter selections (Global and Chart level) made by other users in the dashboard are cleared, and when they run the dashboard, the latest Global and Chart filters set by you are applied to their Charts until further modification.

In Practice :Accessing the Reset User Selection option

1. Go to Dashboards and select any dashboard.

2. Click Edit.

3. Update the Global or Chart level filters.

4. Click the More Optionsicon in the Menu Bar.

5. Select the Reset User Selectionoption so that the changes you made are reflected in other users' dashboard.

   

Exporting a Dashboard

To export a dashboard:

1. From the Organizer, click More Options and select Export. The Export Selected pop-up window is displayed.

2. Select the required format from the drop-down list and click Export.

   

   Limitations

• When you export any Dashboard:

  • The dimension member label may not be displayed accurately. The workaround is to increase the chart size.

  • The space above the chart filter name gets reduced.

  • The complete filter name is not displayed. The workaround is to increase the chart size.

  • Table borders are not displayed properly.

The above limitations may not occur every time you export any Dashboard.

Best Practice

• If the rendering of the exported dashboard is an important requirement, utilize the export while building the dashboard and adjust the dimensions of the various objects on the dashboard to achieve the most accurate export.

• You need to zoom the exported file for better visibility.

Exporting a Chart in a Dashboard

When you open any dashboard and hover over the charts, you can view an Export icon on the top right corner of the chart. You can use this option to export the corresponding chart in PDF, PNG, JPEG/JPG formats. The Export option is available in all the Dashboards containing charts. This option is applicable for all the chart types and tables.

When you export a chart, all the Chart filters, titles, subtitles, formatting, labels, and chart settings are preserved in the exported chart, and you can view the chart as it is displayed in the Dashboard. You can also export any chart in a dashboard in drill-down mode.

Uploading a Thumbnail

Every dashboard is initially displayed with a default thumbnail. When you click Upload Thumbnail, the Upload Thumbnail Image page displays where you can drag and drop a .jpeg , .jpg or .png image or click browse to locate the image.

Overriding Substitution Variables

The Substitution Variables icon shown below is available when:

• Substitution variables are used in filters (both dashboard and chart level)

• Substitution variables are used in charts

• Substitution variables are used on horizontal or vertical axis

• Substitution variables are used on secondary axis

• Substitution variables are used in tables

• Substitution variables are used in text areas

• Substitution variables are used in KPIs

• Substitution variables are used in titles, subtitles, or descriptions

• Substitution variables are used in custom members

For detailed information on using Substitution Variables in Dashboards, see the Substitution Variable section in the Dashboards Admin Guide.

Dashboard Designer

To launch Dashboard Designer to create your own dashboard, click the plus icon (shown below) from the Dashboard Organizer.

How To Add a Dashboard and a Chart

1. Enter a dashboard name.

2. Select a chart from the right pane and drop it on the gray canvas to start visualizing your data.

   In the image below, the bar chart is dropped on the gray canvas.

   

3. Click Add to select dimension members for each axis. For information on how to do so, see How to Add Dimensions to Each Chart Axis.

4. For each axis, you can enter a name in the Enter Axis name field. You can use substitution variables in the Axis Name field. For more information, see Using Substitution Variables for Chart Titles, SubTitles, and Axis.

5. Enter a title and subtitle for the chart by clicking the fields. You can use substitution variables in the chart title and subtitle. For more information, see Using Substitution Variables for Chart Titles, SubTitles and Axis.

6. Click the tick icon shown below to save the chart.

   

How to Add Dimensions to Each Chart Axis

By clicking the Add Dimensions button, you can search and add dimensions to the chart and complete the member selections. All dimensions of the Financial, Workforce, and Scorecard Reporting Areas and their main, alternate, and attribute hierarchies are available in Dashboards. You can also include Calculated Members from the Account hierarchy. A maximum of 2 dimensions can be added on each row and column axis for charts.There is no limit for to the number of dimensions selected for chart filters.

1. Click Add Dimensions for a chart axis.

2. A list-box appears. Select how you want the dimension member you select displayed in the chart. You can select Label (combination of code and name), Code only, or Name only. Then, scroll up and down or search to find a particular dimension.

   

3. Once a dimension is selected (for example, Company), click the dimension and all of its members display.

4. Select dimension members.

For each dimension you select, the "Selected" option is displayed by default. However, you can select from the following options:

• Selected - The members selected are displayed.

• Children - The first level children of the selected members are displayed.

• All Children - All of the descendants of the selected members are displayed.

• Sel+Children - The selected members and the first level children of the selected members are displayed.

• Sel+AllChildren - The selected members and all of the descendants of the selected members are displayed.

• Leaves - The posting levels below the selected members are displayed.

• Sel+Leaves - The selected members and the posting levels below the selected members are displayed.

• Sel+Parents - The selected members and the summary levels above the selected members are displayed.

Using Substitution Variables for Chart Titles, SubTitles, and Axis Name

You can use Substitution Variables like @CURMTH@ in a chart Title , Subtitle, and Axis Name. In the example below, the current year substitution variable is used in the subtitle. When the dashboard for which the chart resides is saved or in read mode, the current year value is displayed.

User Selection in Chart Filter

The Chart Filter retains your member selection when you navigate away from the dashboard or sign out of the application.

For example, if you select GL Data and Adjustments in the Pick List and navigate away from the dashboard, the GL Data and Adjustments selection will still be displayed in the chart the next time you open the dashboard as shown in the image below.

When multiple members are selected in the Chart Filter, the members that were selected will be displayed in the Pick List. If you want to select all the options displayed in the chart filter, you can use Select All option. This behavior is different if you select Dynamic Planning Charts or dimensions (such as Scenario and Measure) in Reporting. For Dynamic Planning Charts and Scenario and Measure dimensions, only a single member can be selected at once as shown in the image below.

Sharing a Dashboard

When a dashboard is shared between two users:

• If the first user configured multiple members in the Pick List and the second user opens the shared chart, then the chart shows all the members selected by the first user. If the second user deselects a few members and navigates away from the dashboard, then the next time the second user opens the dashboard, the same selection is displayed.

• If the second user does not have dimension security access to the selected member on the Page axis, the chart is run for the next available members in Pick List.

Using Custom Members on a Chart

Your Admin user can define custom members for use when designing charts. In this example, a custom member named Sum was created on the Account dimension. It totals several accounts shown in the image below. Use the Sum custom member when the Account dimension is selected for a chart(s).

1. Access Dashboards.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the dashboard.

3. For the x or y axis, select Account for dimension.

4. Under Custom Members, select the Sum customer member as shown below. Continue to build the chart by selecting additional dimensions and members.

   

Altering Default Chart Settings

You can change the default chart settings to display dimension members from a different reporting area as well as format numeric data. For example, you might want to display Workforce dimension members and the numeric data in the chart as percent with 5 decimal places.

To change default chart settings:

1. Within Dashboard Designer, select the chart element from the canvas and click the Settings tab in the right pane. Settings available are based on the chart type element selected.

   

2. For Reporting Area, select from Financial, Workforce or Scorecard.

3. Axis Labels are displayed on the axis of the chart and are available across all chart types including Line, Bar, Column, Waterfall, Stacked Column, Stacked Bar, Area, Stacked Area, Bubble and Scatter. Select Horizontal, Vertical or None. For existing Bar and Stacked Bar charts, Horizontal is selected by default. Vertical is selected by default for all other chart types as shown in the image below for a Line chart. If Vertical is not selected for all charts (excluding Bar and Stacked Bar), the axis displaying numbers/data is hidden. For Bar and Stacked Bar this applies to the Horizontal axis. If None is selected, both the dimension labels and the data values on both the axis are not displayed for all chart types.

   

   

   For Dual Combination Charts, configuration done on the Vertical axis also applies to the secondary Y axis. For existing Combination Charts, Vertical is always selected by default for Axis Labels.

   Note:

   Axis Labels are enabled for Pie and Doughnut charts, but there is no horizontal or vertical dropdown.

   Here is an example with Horizontal and Vertical Axis Labels selected.

   

4. Select how you want the labels displayed on the chart. You can select from None, Wrap, Rotate, Stagger, or Auto., Wrap displays labels so that they don't overlap. Labels with many characters are displayed with a partial name appended with three dots. Rotate displays the label at an angle. Stagger displays the labels at a staggering height (low, high, low for example). Auto displays the labels for best results.

5. Data Values represent the numbers of measures represented in the chart. Data Values are displayed when you hover over the chart elements. You can select to hide them on the chart. Slide the selector to the right to display data values.

   Data Values Displayed

   

   Data Values Hidden

   

6. Display the chart legend at the bottom, top, or to the right of the chart.

7. Select the maximum and minimum values to display on the vertical axis. For Vertical Axis, enter a minimum or maximum value for the vertical axis of a chart. For example, the vertical axis of the chart below is 60M.

   

   Enter 30M for Axis Min. As you enter a numeric value, the chart dynamically adjusts as shown below.

   

8. Select Show Grid Lines to display gridlines for the selected chart. Enter a numeric value for Grid Line Count.

9. For Number Format, select the number of decimals to display, select to show or remove the number scale and thousands separator on data values. Select to display numbers in number, currency or percentage format.

10. Display or hide chart axes name for the horizontal and vertical axis.

In Practice

1. Open Dashboards.

2. Edit a dashboard or add a new one. If you add a new one, drag and drop a chart to the canvas.

3. Select the chart and click the Settings tab.

4. Scroll to the bottom.

5. Slide the blue buttons to the right to show the horizontal and vertical axis names. Or, slide the buttons to the left to hide the axis names.

   Note:

   Some settings are not applicable for KPIs, single-series charts like Pie, Doughnut and Bar charts. Refer to the Chart Types section for further details.

Gauge Chart Settings Explained

Show or hide tick values.

Tick mark values displayed:

Tick mark values hidden:

Show or hide tick marks.

Tick marks displayed:

Tick marks hidden:

For Tick Marks Count , enter the number of tick marks you want displayed.

Only one member can be selected on each dimension. As with all charts, all member selections are subject to dimension security. Settings enable selection of Min, Breakpoint 1, Breakpoint 2, Max value, Low Range Color, Middle Range Color, and High Range Color.

Dashboard filters are applied when the selected dimensions exists on the page or do not exist on the chart.

When a chart is run, the colors are applied as follows:

1. Low Range Color - applied for the range between min to breakpoint 1

2. Middle Range Color - applied between breakpoint 1 and 2

3. High Range Color - applied beyond breakpoint 2

Scale is split based on the Min & Max values selected.

2 Value KPI Chart with Variance Explained

KPI charts display 2 values and you can include a variance against a compare dimension with corresponding text.

In Practice

In the example below, gross margin is compared for Q4 and Q3 of 2017. Percentage is shown for variance, but you can opt to display as a number (versus percentage) in the Settings - Property pane. The variance default negative color is displayed in red. The variance default positive color is green.

Steps to create a 2 value KPI with a variance and description:

1. Ensure Variance is turned ON. Click the Settings pane and select the Properties tab. Slide the button for Variance to the right as shown below. The Compare Dimensions prompt is displayed beneath the KPI Chart.

   

2. Select a single member from each dimension as shown below. Notice that checkboxes have been removed from the selection hierarchy. Now, you can just select the member.

   

3. Select compare dimensions. You can add up to 2 compare dimensions for each KPI.

   

4. To add a description, ensure the Description field is turned ON. Click the Settings pane and select the Properties tab. Slide the button for Description to the right as shown below. Enter the description above the Compare Dimensions option (also shown below). Substitution Variables can be used in the description.

   

   Use ‘Type’ to apply a sign reversal.

   Another option is to display variance in a specific color. To do so, select the KPI chart, click the Settings tab and the Style tab. Slide VarianceColor to ON. Select custom positive and negative colors to display.

   At any time you can return to the default color scheme provided by Planful by clicking Reset style setting to default.

   

Two Variances in a KPI Chart

You can calculate two variances in a KPI chart. The following fields are available in a KPI chart:

• VARIANCE 2 section: In the Settings tab, you can enable Variance 2 to calculate variance for the selected dimensions.

• Compare Dimensions for Variance 2 drop-down list: You can select the required dimension from the drop-down list to compare it with the primary dimension selected from the Dimensions drop-down list.

The image below displays the VARIANCE 2 section in the KPI chart.

How to Apply a Percentage Calculation for a Dimension or Dimension Combination

Using the Pie, Doughnut or Stacked type chart, you can apply a percentage calculation for a dimension or dimension combination (custom member). Applying percentage calculation on the fly is yet another valuable performance indicator offered by Dashboards.

When Display Values is enabled, Display Value As is available. Select to display chart values as percentage (calculated as percentage of the sum of all values) or in number format.

In Practice

1. Navigate to Dashboards. Create a new dashboard or use an existing one.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the canvas. In this example, a pie type chart is dropped onto the canvas.

3. Select Settings.

4. Enable Data Values. When you slide the indicator to the right it turns blue and the Display Value As field becomes available.

5. Click % for Display Value As.

6. Apply changes to the chart and save the dashboard.

   

Best Practice Tips

• Display data values and number values in percent or number format, which will change the display of the chart to obtain the view and data you want.

• If you have an Account dimension set up as percentage, it does not mean that it will display as percentage in a chart. The same goes for number format. The formatting is not carried over to Dashboards. You must format as needed within Dashboards.

How to Use a Stacked Column Chart in Combination Charts

Use the Stacked Column chart type in single and dual y axis Combination charts. In addition, use the Stacked Column chart in combination with a Line chart.

In the image below, the Stacked Column chart type is shown in the setup for a single axis Combination chart.

When a Stacked Column chart is applied in a Combination chart, the Settings pane enables all existing configurations as applicable for the Stacked Column chart.

The image below shows the Stacked Column chart type in a dual axis Combination chart used in combination with a Line chart.

Enable Data Values and set the Display Value As to % to include the percentage Stacked Column chart in combination with a Line chart.

Changing the Chart Type

With Dashboards, you can visualize the same data from different perspectives by changing the chart type.

When changing the chart type of a selected chart, Dashboards provides compatible chart selections. Incompatible selections are not available for selection. For example, the image below shows a Bar type chart. The Bar type chart is selected and compatible charts are shown in the list-box.

In Practice

To change the chart type, complete the following steps:

1. Open Dashboards.

2. Select a dashboard and click Edit.

3. Select a chart in the dashboard.

4. On Settings tab, click the Chart list-box.

5. Select a compatible chart. The chart is updated immediately.

6. Click Save.

Additional Interactions in Dashboard Designer

• Select a chart in the canvas and drag its bottom right corner to resize the chart (shown below).

• Drag and drop the charts in the canvas to rearrange them in the dashboard.

• Select a chart in the canvas and select the three dots to display options to duplicate or delete the chart from the dashboard (shown below). Or, click the Edit icon to edit the chart (also shown below).

Chart Types, Descriptions, Settings, and Use

The following chart types are supported:

Adding Tables and Text to a Dashboard

In addition to charts, you can also add filters, tables and text as dashboard elements.

Tables are used to show financial data in column format.

To add a table to the dashboard:

1. In Designer, drag and drop the table icon from the toolbar to the canvas.

2. Add title and subtitle information.

3. Complete dimension and member selections on each axis.

You can add up to 2 dimensions on each axis. Optionally, you can amend the default Settings for Display As & Number Format. Settings are common and applied uniformly across all columns in the table.

Text box is used to add descriptions or a list of items in the dashboard.

To save table columns widths:

Further customize the look and feel of a Dashboards table by resizing the column widths. Resizing of tables can be done in both Design and Edit modes. Column widths are retained when the Dashboard is accessed in Run or Edit mode, when the Dashboard is copied or duplicated, and when exported.

In Practice

1. Access Dashboards.

2. Open a Dashboard.

3. Use the arrow to drag the column to the required size.

   

4. Save the Dashboard, which saves the column width.

To add a text box to the dashboard:

1. In Designer, drag and drop the text icon from the toolbar to the canvas.

2. Several types of alphanumeric values are allowed in the text box.

3. Alter the default settings for text style and alignment.

Dashboard is Supported on iOS Mobile Devices

Dashboards have been certified for use on latest iOS devices with a resolution of 2160X1620 on Chrome and Safari browsers. You can seamlessly view dashboards with the ability to perform the following actions:

• View Dashboards that are optimized for the resolution of your device.

• Zoom In and Out on dashboard.

• Scroll (Horizontal/Vertical) to view the content that is beyond the viewable portion of the screen.

• View Data labels, Legends, X-axis labels.

• Modify selections on filter dimensions - Global filters and Chart filters.

• Click data to view Tooltip and Drill down.

• Double click to view Drill down data.

• Sort a column within the table.

• Access toolbar options - Update Substitution Variable value, Refresh, Full Screen mode, Share, Duplicate, Delete, Export.

On the dashboard landing page, you can view the dashboard tiles along with search and sort options. You can perform various actions such as, Duplicate, Delete, Share, Upload Thumbnail, Mark as Favorite, and so on.

Using Dynamic Planning Data in a Dashboard

Your Admin user may enable the use of Dynamic Planning data as an available option when building a chart. If so, Models will be included as a source in Chart Settings and are enabled with drill capabilities.

In Practice

1. Launch a dashboard.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the canvas.

3. The Settings pane opens. Click Properties.

4. Under Reporting Area, select a model from the new Models option.

5. When you select a model, related dimensions are loaded as shown in the image below. Select dimension and members to display.

   

6. Continue to build the chart as needed.

Dynamic Planning Dimensions in Global Filters

You can use the Dynamic Planning dimensions as filters across the applicable charts. Every model contains a different set of dimensions, so all the dimensions under respective models are available under global filters.

When you add a dimension, the different models are available in the drop-down list, as shown in the image.

You can select the required dimensions from the Pick list to filter the applicable charts as displayed in the image.

All members selected from Member selector are displayed in the Pick list. You can select the required member as a global filter. The last selected filter from the Pick list is retained when you log in the next time. If you want to select all the options displayed in the chart filter, you can use Select All option.

The Dynamic Planning global filters are retained when you Refresh, Save, Duplicate, Share, or Export a Dashboard. The Code and Label display applies to the Dynamic Planning dimensions as well.

Best Practice

• We recommend you to create a Dashboard for a single Reporting area or model to view accurate results using global filters.

Using Substitution Variables

When you use Dynamic Planning data in a Dashboard chart, you can include substitution variables in page filters, titles, subtitles, axis names, and 2 value KPI descriptions.

Substitution variables are enabled in the member selector interface on the page, row, and column axis when the Reporting Area is selected on the chart, under Models.

Variables are filtered based on the dimension selected. For example, the Current Month substitution variable might be available for the Time dimension. You can then make substitution variable selections from the member selector using the pick list (example shown below).

When the chart is rendered, substitution variables are updated with the corresponding values as configured in the Dynamic Planning application.

In Practice:

1. Launch a dashboard.

2. Drag and drop a chart to the canvas.

3. The Settings pane opens. Click Properties.

4. Under Reporting Area, select a model from the Models list.

5. When you select a model, related dimensions are loaded. Select dimensions and members to display.

6. Use substitution variables in page filters, titles, subtitles, axis names, and 2 value KPI descriptions.

   In the example below, the Current Month substitution variable is used in the chart subtitle.

   

   When you save the dashboard, the chart renders the month based on substitution variable setup for Current Month in the Dynamic Planning application.

   

Dashboard Read

Dashboard Read is when you open a dashboard, but do not click the edit button shown below. You may only have read access and if that's the case you will not see the edit icon.

In read mode, you can interact with charts and tables. You cannot make any modifications to the dashboard design and layout. Tooltips are displayed when you hover over a particular entity within a chart. Tooltips display labels of the selections and their formatted values.

Saving Dashboards

The Save action also runs a dashboard. The Save icon is in the upper right-hand corner of the Designer interface. Be sure to save prior to exiting.

When you save a dashboard, you can view data for different combinations by changing the filters. For example, if the dashboard is currently run for All Regions and you want to run the same dashboard particularly for Europe, you can update it from the dashboard filters with a single click and all charts and dashboard elements fetch the latest data. Filters you use on a dashboard are retained and shown the next time you visit the dashboard.

Refreshing Dashboards

Refreshing a dashboard without saving it will return it to the state it was in prior to any selections you made as long as they were not saved.

You might want to refresh a dashboard when you want the latest data or when you’ve interacted with charts and tables.

In Practice

To refresh a dashboard:

1. Open the dashboard in Edit mode.

2. Interact with the dashboard as needed.

3. Click the Refresh icon shown below.

   

Using Filters

You can use filters in dashboards and/or charts.

Dashboard filters make it easy to view data for different combinations of dimensions from a single interface and eliminate the need to create multiple dashboards for different users. Dashboard filters are common for all charts and elements included in the dashboard.

Adding a Dashboard Filter

To add a filter to the dashboard:

1. In Designer, click the Filter icon. Dimensions are displayed.

2. Filtered dimensions appears in the upper left-hand corner of the canvas.

3. Click the filtered dimension and select dimension members. Now, the filter is applied to all charts and tables on the dashboard.

For dimensions common to Financial, Workforce and Scorecard (for example; Account, Company, Time) reporting areas, the substitution variables available are from the Financial Cube only. However, you can still update the charts created on the Financial, Workforce and Scorecard reporting areas.

Reset of User Selections on Global Filters

Users can reset dashboard filters after dimension member selections for a dimension have been saved. For example, let’s say a user selects dimension member 123 instead of 789 saves the dashboard. The 123 selection is retained the next time the user accesses the dashboard. However, let’s say the user then decides that he or she wants the chart returned to the previous state (with dimension member 789 displayed). To make this happen, the user clicks the Reset button shown below.

Drilling to Filter Chart Data

You can click on certain charts to drill down into more detail. For example, drill into Men's Mountain Bikes by clicking the blue portion of the chart.

You can also unfilter (drill out) by clicking Product or Mountain Bikes in the path.

Using Drill Down and Drill Through

You can drill down and through to data from Dashboards to Operational Planning, Capital Planning, Workforce Planning, GL Data Loaded data, and Consolidation. Drilling down and through is available for all chart types, but does not apply to filters and text areas. Drill Down and Drill Through may or may not be available on chart data points. Chart data point selections are made when the chart is created. For example, using the chart below, only Drill Through is available. This could be because the leaf level members are already displayed on the chart; so there are no lower level members to drill down to.

Some Important Details:

• Drill through is available for all dimensions, attributes, and attribute hierarchies.

• Planful offers in-memory and on demand loading of drill through data to ensure the best performance with large volumes of data.

• All Drill Through reports honor dimension security; irrespective of the individual module access/security such as Planning template security, Data Integration security, budget entity privileges, and Consolidation security.

• Drill through on Custom Members is supported only when there is a single dimension multiple member or single dimension single member or multiple dimension single member mapping.

• Currency in Drill Through reports is displayed in the same currency and format in which it was loaded to Planful.

• Number scale is NOT honored in Drill Through reports.

• Bubble/Scatter charts show multiple values on a single data point. The Drill Through report displays the source details for all values.

• In a Table, drill down always happens on a row irrespective of the cell selected.

In Practice

1. Select the Drill Down option by right-clicking on a chart intersection to drill to the next level in addition to double-clicking on a data point. For example, using the image below, right-click on the Q3 2018 data point and select Drill Down.

   

2. Now, let’s say you want to drill through, using the chart below as an example, right-click at a data point select DrillThrough.

   

   The Drill Through report displays with relevant data as shown below. You cannot save the Drill Through report, but you can export it to Excel.

   

   Information on fields and icons available in the Drill Through report is provided below.

   Label - Display the Drill Through report output by member code, name, or label (code+name). When Drill Through report is exported to Excel, the code/name/label configuration is retained across all tabs. Once you navigate away from the Drill Through screen, the default setting is reapplied. You cannot have one tab display code while the other displays label, for example. All tabs will display based on the latest selection made on any of the tabs.

   Filter - Filter data in the Drill Through report. You can filter each column as shown in the image below.

   

   Doc Ref - If the Drill Through report has Operational and Capital Planning tabs, you can click on the hyperlink available in the Doc Ref column of any record in the report to open the corresponding source document template. The Source template opens in a new browser window. The user security for the budget entity and the navigation access permissions to the template are honored while opening the template.

   

   Gear icon - You can turn on/off Doc Ref. If turned off, data is aggregated for a given segment and currency combination across all Data Load Rules. Select or deselect the checkbox and click Apply Changes.

   Select columns to show or hide in the drill through report by selecting or deselecting the checkboxes under SHOW/HIDE COLUMNS.

   

Custom Color Schemes

Customize your charts with custom and themed color schemes. You might choose to use your organizational colors. Or, use color as a visual indicator to quickly identify gains and losses or over and under performing departments.

In Practice

To add a delivered or custom color scheme:

1. Access Dashboards.

2. Open a dashboard in Edit mode.

3. Select a chart. The Settings screen appears.

4. Click the Style tab. Notice that the chart type is displayed. In this example it is a Bar chart.

   

5. There are two options; Single and Multiple. Selecting Single displays a single color palette. Selecting Multiple allows you to select from default themes or design your own color scheme.

6. Select a color scheme by selecting Theme 1 or 2. Notice that the chart (of type Line) is updated immediately.

7. Alternatively, select a custom theme. For every color in the selected theme, customize it by selecting a custom color as shown below. Enter an RGB, a color number, or drag the cursor around the color grid to find the desired color.

8. Click to save.

   

   At any time you can return to the default color scheme provided by Planful by clicking Reset style setting to default.

How to Build a Workforce Dashboard

Situation: Extrapolate information on the following data:

Salary trends by department

Total cost per headcount

A 5 year headcount trend

Total headcount

Resolution:

To achieve the resolution below, see the steps to create the dashboard.

Steps to Create the Dashboard

Step 1: Load the Latest Data to Planful

Whether you use Data Load Rules, Web Services, or Cloud Services, ensure all data is loaded to the Planful application.

Step 2: Security and Navigation Access

See the Dashboards Admin Guide for information on data security and Dashboards navigation access.

Step 3: Build the Dashboard

1. From the Organizer, click the Add button.

2. Enter a name. For example, Workforce Dashboard.

3. Click the Chart icon.

Step 4: Build the Charts

There are 4 charts on the dashboard;

• Salaries 5 Yr Trend by Department

• Total Cost per Headcount

• Headcount Trend

• Total Headcount

Step 6: Recreate the Dashboard:

1. Drag the line chart to the canvas and drop it.

2. Select Settings and select the Workforce Reporting Area.

3. Enter Salaries 5 Year Trend by Department for the custom X axis name.

4. Click Add Dimensions and select CompensationItem.

5. Click CompensationItem and select the Salaries and Benefits member.

6. Add a second dimension to the X axis by clicking Add Dimension and selecting the Department dimension.

7. Select the Cost Centers, Direct Sales & COS and Design Depts members.

8. On the Y axis, select the Scenario dimension. Select the Actual member.

9. On the Y axis, select the Time dimension.

10. Click the Time dimension and select 5 years as shown below.

    

11. Click the tick (checkmark) to save the chart.

12. Continue to build other charts.

13. Click Save.

Now you can share your dashboard with other users and add a thumbnail.

Setting Dashboards as Your Homepage

To set Dashboards as your Planful homepage, complete the following steps:

1. Select Maintenance > Overview.

2. Click My Settings.

3. Under User Settings, select Dashboards for Home Page as shown below.

   

Best Practices

• Organize dashboard filters on the top and arrange the elements from top left to bottom right, to ensure the most important items are easily noticed.

• Use chart filters only when there is a need to apply filters that are different from the dashboard filters.

• Design the dashboard in a way that allows users to drill down into the details.

• Place key performance indicators on the top left and any supporting information at the bottom of the dashboard.

• Choose appropriate chart type based on the nature of data and its relevance. Single value KPI, line, waterfall, column and stacked area are some of the recommended chart types for building financial dashboards.

• Keep the content on the dashboard precise and limit it to one page; too many elements clutter the dashboard and make it inefficient.

• Avoid including too many categories or data points in a single chart, keep them simple and use labels appropriately.