Creating analyses for others
When you are creating analyses to be used by others, there are certain things that can be good to think about. Depending on your audience and their licenses, access to data, or their work environment, you might need to think about your analysis design from different angles.
About this task
- Dashboards
Dashboards are designed to present what is important in analyses, in an informative way. They can be used, for example, for analyzing, monitoring, or reporting purposes. Regardless if you design the dashboard to be consumed on a wall screen or a cellular phone, the data that is summarized in the analysis must be presented in a structured layout. Key parts of the analysis should catch the consumer's eye instantly and the content should be understood without much effort from the user. - Designing accessible dashboards
When creating dashboards for a large audience you should be aware of how you can make your visual analytics dashboards more accessible. - Reports
One strength of Spotfire is to present what is important in the data by means of interactive dashboards. However, sometimes there is a need to present the information in another format, for example, as standardized PDF reports or as Microsoft® PowerPoint® slide decks. To publish in different formats, the features under are used. - Guided analyses
You might want to prepare the analysis file to load particular data and show certain visualizations, but you might also want to instruct other people how to use the document. There might be a specific order a person should go through the pages, and you can add detailed instructions on what to look for and which filters are relevant to use on each page. To aid in this, there are a number of things you can do in Spotfire to define a guided flow through your document. - Preparing analyses for Spotfire web clients
When an analysis file is saved to the library, it becomes available to use in Spotfire web clients. Web browser-based versions of Spotfire can be used for viewing and exploring prepared analyses, but also, in some cases, for creating and editing analyses. Any analysis can be saved to the library and opened with a Spotfire web client, but there are a few things to keep in mind that can make things easier for the web client users. First, consider how familiar your target audience is with the visualized data. The familiarity of the target audience can affect the instructions required as well as the configuration of the analysis. For example, you might need to change the visibility of some filters for a certain audience. Second, bear in mind that all users of the analysis might not have access to the same data sources. - Adding functionality for mobile devices
When designing analyses to be used on mobile devices, you can add functionality to take advantage of this. For example, you can include bar code scanning, or functionality that reads the devices current location.
- Dashboards
Dashboards are designed to present what is important in analyses, in an informative way. They can be used, for example, for analyzing, monitoring, or reporting purposes. Regardless if you design the dashboard to be consumed on a wall screen or a cellular phone, the data that is summarized in the analysis must be presented in a structured layout. Key parts of the analysis should catch the consumer's eye instantly and the content should be understood without much effort from the user. - Designing accessible dashboards
When creating dashboards for a large audience you should be aware of how you can make your visual analytics dashboards more accessible. - Reports
One strength of Spotfire is to present what is important in the data by means of interactive dashboards. However, sometimes there is a need to present the information in another format, for example, as standardized PDF reports or as Microsoft® PowerPoint® slide decks. To publish in different formats, the features under are used. - Guided analyses
You might want to prepare the analysis file to load particular data and show certain visualizations, but you might also want to instruct other people how to use the document. There might be a specific order a person should go through the pages, and you can add detailed instructions on what to look for and which filters are relevant to use on each page. To aid in this, there are a number of things you can do in Spotfire to define a guided flow through your document. - Preparing analyses for Spotfire web clients
When an analysis file is saved to the library, it becomes available to use in Spotfire web clients. Web browser-based versions of Spotfire can be used for viewing and exploring prepared analyses, but also, in some cases, for creating and editing analyses. Any analysis can be saved to the library and opened with a Spotfire web client, but there are a few things to keep in mind that can make things easier for the web client users. First, consider how familiar your target audience is with the visualized data. The familiarity of the target audience can affect the instructions required as well as the configuration of the analysis. For example, you might need to change the visibility of some filters for a certain audience. Second, bear in mind that all users of the analysis might not have access to the same data sources. - Adding functionality for mobile devices
When designing analyses to be used on mobile devices, you can add functionality to take advantage of this. For example, you can include bar code scanning, or functionality that reads the devices current location.
Parent topic: Building applications