Before working in Analytics, we recommend that you always take a few moments to define the results you’re expecting. Expressing this as a concise, explicit question will help you configure the widget properly to pull out the information you need.
Here are three examples to show you how to analyze a trend using a widget.
- Number of communications entered by employee
- Average grievance resolution time
- Communications entered by location
Prerequisite: Know how to create a widget.
Trend 1: Number of communications entered by employee
Choose the form and type of widget
The type of widget you choose will define how the information is displayed (for example, calendar, map, graph, indicator, scatter plot, table).
Choose the form that contains the data you want to interpret.
Refer to the choices in the image below:
After you click “Save and view,” you will be taken to the “Properties” tab to enter additional information.
Choose the chart type, category, and values
The chart type determines how your data will be displayed (e.g., pie chart, bars, ring, pyramid).
When selecting a chart type, be sure you choose one that’s appropriate for the information you want to display. When it comes to analyzing trends, a bar chart isn't going to show you what you need to know. Your best option is to choose a line, spline, or area chart to see how results change over time.
‘Values’ (as the name indicates) refer to the values you want to evaluate.
For ‘Category,’ select the field you want to display on the x-axis.
Note: Each time you modify one of these elements (chart type, values, category), the preview of the chart will change.
Choose the sub-category (optional)
Subcategories allow you to specify which particular information the widget should consider – in this case, the users who created the communications.
Choose the filter (optional)
Filters can be used to refine the chart and improve readability. To add filters, click on the “Filters” tab at the top of the widget, then click the “+ Add filters” button. (Note: If you don’t see the “+ Add filters” button, click on the “Edit” button above the tabs.)
Enter a value in each column.
Choosing “Include, Type of communication, Equals, Consultation” tells Analytics that you only want to display consultations.
Next, add a filter to identify each user you want to include in the chart, as seen below.
You will see the result in the preview pane on the right.
Note: You don’t have to remove filters when you want to focus on specific information. Simply click on the values below the chart to toggle their visibility on and off. This can help you focus on individual trends, such as data about a single location or individual.
Add a Target Value (optional)
It can be incredibly helpful to add a "target" value so you can easily compare your results to your goal. To do this, click on the “Target” tab at the top of the widget, then click “+ Add value”. (Note: As is the case with filters, if you don’t see the “+ Add value” button, click on the “Edit” button above the tabs.) Enter the target value (for example, let’s say your organization wants everyone on your team to enter at least 3 communications per week, you would enter 3), then click “Save.” You can even enter multiple target values, which can be helpful if you want to mark the upper and lower limits of a standard value range.
Once you have entered a target value(s), you can show or hide the trend lines from the ‘three dots’ menu in the top, right corner of the widget.
Trend 2: Average grievance resolution time
Choose the form and the type of widget
Another trend you might want to monitor is average resolution time for grievances. We’ll create another chart widget for this example. For the Form, choose "Stakeholder engagement - Engagements - Grievances" as the source data.
Choose the chart type, category, and values
Since this is another trend, we’ll choose “line” as the chart type. Since the value we want to examine in the trend is an average, we must first calculate this value.
Go to the Calculated Values tab and select “Average” from the Type drop down and “Resolution time” in the Column drop down.
You will then be able to choose “average resolution time” as the ‘Values’ to examine.
By selecting the Category "Resolution date/time," these values will be placed on the x-axis.
Note: Each time you modify one of these elements (chart type, values, category), the preview of the chart will change.
Choose the sub-category (optional)
For this example, we don’t need to add a sub-category; we just need a general overview of the trend.
Choose the filter (optional)
Let’s add a filter to refine the chart. For this example, we’ll apply an interval for the "resolution date/time" column:
Here is what it will look like.
Trend 3: Communications entered by location
You can also create a Widget to help you track trends in number of communications by location. This lets you see where your communications are coming from, to help you adapt or realign your engagement strategies as needed.
Choose the form and the type of widget
We’ll choose “chart” again as the widget type for our final trend.
Select "Stakeholder engagement - Engagements - Communications" as the source for your data.
Choose the chart type, category, and values
Since we’re still working with trends, we’ll choose “line” as the chart type.
The ‘Values’ we want to examine will be “number of communications.”
For category, we’ll select “date,” so these values will be placed on the x-axis.
Note: Each time you modify one of these elements (chart type, values, category), the preview of the chart will change.
Choose the sub-category (optional)
For this example, we don’t need to add a sub-category; we just need a general overview of the trend.
Choose the filter (optional)
As in the previous examples, we’ll a filter to refine the chart. For this example, let’s filter by location and select the Province of Quebec.
And here’s the result: