Analytics > Designing an Analysis > Step 2: Reviewing Results and Creating Layouts
Step 2: Reviewing Results and Creating Layouts
After you define the criteria for your analysis, you can edit the compound layout for the analysis in the Results tab of the analysis editor. When you first open the Results tab after selecting the criteria for a new analysis, the results are shown in a Table view. The Table view inherits the formats, sorting, and other options that you specified in the Criteria tab.
A Title view is also included. If you already saved the analysis, then the Title view shows the name of the analysis. Otherwise, the Title view is blank. You can edit the Title view and the Table view, or you can delete them if you wish. You can also add more views to the compound layout.
NOTE: If the criteria and filters that you set up for an analysis result in no data being returned, then no views are displayed when you first open the Results tab. Instead, a message is displayed. You can create a custom message that is displayed when no data is returned, for more information, see Creating Custom Messages for No Data in Analyses.
You can add multiple views to a compound layout. You can also create multiple compound layouts for a single analysis. For example, one compound layout might include a Graph view and a Title view, and another compound layout might include a Graph view and a Narrative view. When you add the analysis to a dashboard page, you can select the compound layout that you want to include on that page.
The following table describes the types of views that you can add to a compound layout for an analysis.
View
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Description
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Title
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Use this view to include a title and subtitle, a saved name for the results, and a custom logo to identify the results, and timestamps. For result-specific help, you can include a URL that links to any HTML page or site that contains information about the analysis or the results.
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Table
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Use this view to display data in a column format. You can select to display a page of information at a time, which is convenient for larger result sets, and control the size of the page and the position of the paging controls. Table views are supported in a wide variety of formats and can include graphics, links, and so on.
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Pivot Table
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Use this view if you want to be able to take row, column and section headings and swap them around to obtain different perspectives. You can drag and drop headings to pivot results, preview them, and apply the settings. Users can navigate through pivot tables and drill down into information. Users can create complex pivot tables that show aggregate and nonrelated totals next to the pivoted data, allowing for flexible analysis. For an interactive result set, elements can be placed in pages, allowing users to select elements. Like the Table view, elements can be formatted.
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Performance Tile
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Use this view to display a single aggregate measure value that immediately reveals summary metrics that you might also present in more detail within a dashboard view.
Performance Tile views can help to do the following:
- Focus the user's attention on simple, need-to-know facts directly and prominently on the tile.
- Communicate status through simple formatting by using color, labels, and limited styles, or through conditional formatting of the background color or measure value to make the tile visually prominent. For example, if revenue is not tracking to target, then the revenue value may appear in red.
- Respond to prompts and filters to make the results more relevant to the user.
- Support a single, aggregate or calculated value.
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Treemap
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Use this view to display a space-constrained, two-dimensional visualization for hierarchical structures with multiple levels.
Treemap views have the following characteristics:
- They are limited by a predefined area and display two levels of data.
- They can contain rectangular tiles. The size of the tile is based on a measure, and the color of the tile is based on a second measure.
- They are similar to a scatter plot graphs in that the map area is constrained, and the graph allows you to visualize large quantities of data and quickly identify trends and anomalies within that data.
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Trellis
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Use this view to display multidimensional data as a set of cells in a grid, with each cell displaying a subset of data shown as graphs or numbers.
The following types of Trellis views are available:
- Simple Trellis. Simple Trellis views are appropriate if you want to compare like to like in a set of data. A Simple Trellis view displays a single inner graph type, for example a grid of multiple Bar graphs. The inner graphs always use a common axis; that is, the graphs have a synchronized scale.
- Advanced Trellis. Advanced Trellis views are appropriate if you want to monitor trends and see patterns in a set of data. An Advanced Trellis view displays a grid of small spark graphs. Measures can be shown as numbers or represented in various types of spark graphs. In an Advanced Trellis view, each measure column operates independently for drilling, axis scaling, and so on.
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Graph
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Use this view to display numeric information visually, which makes it easier to understand large quantities of data. You can control the title, the location of the legend, axis titles, and data labels in the Graph view. You can also control the size and scale of the graph, and control colors using a style sheet. In addition, you can drill down into the results. A graph is displayed on a background, called the graph canvas.
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Gauge
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Use this view to show results as gauges, such as dial, bar, and bulb-style gauges. Due to its compact size, a gauge is often more effective than a graph for displaying a single data value. As well as displaying the data visually, a gauge also displays the result in numeric form.
Gauges identify problems in data. A gauge usually plots one data point with an indication of whether that point falls in an acceptable or unacceptable range. Thus, gauges are useful for showing performance against goals.
Depending on the data in the analysis, a Gauge view might consist of multiple gauges in a gauge set. For example, if you create a Gauge view to show the sales data for the last twelve months, the Gauge view consists of twelve gauges, one for each month. If you create a Gauge view to show the total sales in the country, then the Gauge view consists of one gauge.
A gauge or gauge set is displayed on a background, called the gauge canvas.
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Funnel
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Use this view to display a three-dimensional graph that represents target and actual values using volume, level and color. It is useful for depicting target values that decline over time, such as a sales pipeline.
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Filters
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Use this view to show the filters that are in effect for the analysis.
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Selection Steps
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Use this view to display the selection steps that are in effect for the analysis. Selection steps, like filters, allow you to obtain results that answer particular questions.
Selection steps are applied after the query is aggregated.
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Column Selector
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Use column selectors to allow users to dynamically change which columns are displayed in the analysis. This allows users to analyze data along several dimensions and dynamically alter the content of the results.
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View Selector
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Use this view to allow users to select a specific view of the results from among the saved views. When placed on a dashboard, the View Selector view appears as a drop-down list where users can make a selection.
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Legend
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Use this view to document the meaning of special formatting used in results, such as the meaning of custom colors applied to gauges.
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Narrative
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Use this view to display the results as one or more paragraphs of text. You can enter a sentence with placeholders for each column in the results, and specify how rows should be separated. You can incorporate custom HTML or JavaScript to specify how information is displayed.
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Ticker
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Use this view to display the results as a ticker or marquee, similar in style to the stock tickers that run across many financial sites on the Web. This view is useful for calling attention to results and for late-breaking information. You can control what information is presented and how it scrolls across the page. This view supports a variety of formats and can include graphics, links, and so on.
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Static Text
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Use this view to include static text in the results. You can use HTML to include banners, tickers, Active-X objects, Java applets, links, instructions, descriptions, graphics, and so on, in the results.
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For More Information
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