Creating Infographics

In this section:

An infographic is a way to convey an idea or metric in a compelling visual format. It uses images to share information and present complex concepts, such as business analytics, in a simple and approachable manner. Through the narratives of infographics, you can go beyond dashboards and visualizations, and extend your communication to the level of data storytelling, increase understanding of the subject matter, and make a lasting impression.

This topic introduces WebFOCUS Infographics, and describes how to create and edit an infographic, as well as share it with relevant audiences.

Introducing WebFOCUS Infographics

When you pair infographics with the power and reporting capabilities of WebFOCUS InfoAssist, you can populate your visuals with data from your corporate sources and adopt key elements that are specific to different audiences. You can take full advantage of WebFOCUS Reporting Objects, which enable you to create all of your filters and WHERE conditions once and then quickly apply them to different data elements in your infographic. You can also reuse the same infographic template and modify it using different parameters in your Reporting Objects to quickly show changing data narrative. Finally, use WebFOCUS ReportCaster to distribute your message across different users, while automatically personalizing information, and applying security rules.

The steps that you can use to create WebFOCUS Infographics are outlined in the following image.

Your WebFOCUS Infographic begins as an outline. Once you have determined the information and story that you want to relay, you are ready to build a template, and create your infographic using WebFOCUS InfoAssist in Document mode.

As you modify your infographic template, you identify and mark objects within the design so that they can be linked to WebFOCUS data through report and chart components. When you upload your infographic template and open it in InfoAssist, you create your infographic as a compound document. Each object you marked in the template becomes available as a component of the compound document. You can also leverage InfoAssist functionality to customize your infographic further.

The final step is sharing your infographic with your target audience. You do this by scheduling your infographic procedure for distribution by email, FTP, to a printer, Report Library, or to the Repository. You can also distribute sections of the infographic procedure separately to the same or different destinations in your organization using the burst option in WebFOCUS ReportCaster. Bursting enables you to target relevant sections of a procedure to individual users. It uses data fields in the procedure that correspond to burst values that you specify in a Distribution List. For more information about bursting, see the ReportCaster Guide technical content.

For example, you may need to create and share and infographic to relay quarterly revenue, highlight the most successful months, and identify the products that were most profitable during that time. Using WebFOCUS Infographics, you can create an infographic similar to the one shown in the following image, and customize it for regional managers in your company.

North America Infographic example

Because the infographic is geared for multiple regions of a retail electronics company, when sent, it automatically shows different text and data metrics depending on the region to which it is sent.

This content provides steps that you can use to create and share a WebFOCUS Infographic, using sample retail data that is available to you with your installation of WebFOCUS.

Activating a WebFOCUS Infographics Account

How to:

Before you can begin creating infographic templates, you must first activate your WebFOCUS Infographics account. This activation requires you to register the site code associated with your Information Builders account that is licensed for WebFOCUS Infographics, as well as the corresponding email address and a password.

Procedure: How to Register a WebFOCUS Infographics Account

  1. Access the WebFOCUS Infographics Sign In page in one of the following ways:
    • Sign in to WebFOCUS. From the WebFOCUS Home Page, click the User menu, point to Tools, and then click WebFOCUS Infographics, as shown in the following image.
      WebFOCUS Infographics menu
    • In a web browser, such as Google Chrome™, type the following address: https://webfocus.easel.ly.

    The WebFOCUS Infographics Sign In page opens, as shown in the following image.

    WebFOCUS Infographics Sign-in page
  2. Under the Sign In button, click Register here, as shown in the following image.
    Register here hyperlink
  3. When prompted, log in to the registration page using your Technical Support Center email address and password.

    Note: If you are already logged into the Technical Support Center or InfoResponse LIVE, you will not be prompted to log in again.

    The WebFOCUS Infographics Registration page opens, as shown in the following image. Here, you can manage the site codes associated with your Information Builders account, and register the site codes that are licensed for WebFOCUS Infographics.

    WebFOCUS Infographics Registration page
  4. Click Register Now to register a site code that is licensed for WebFOCUS Infographics. These site codes are denoted with a checkmark.
  5. Click Manage Site Codes to add a site code to your account. This opens a new window with options that you can use to register a new site code, as shown in the following image.
    Manage site codes page

    Once you have added your site codes, click Back to return to the WebFOCUS Infographics Registration page. The site codes that you added now display, and show those that are licensed for WebFOCUS Infographics, denoted with a checkmark.

  6. Upon clicking Register Now, you will receive a confirmation message and email with details about your registration, as shown in the following image.
    Registration confirmation message
  7. Close your browser window.

    You will receive an email notification within 24 hours that provides the details you need to activate your account.

Procedure: How to Activate a WebFOCUS Infographics Account

  1. Within 24 hours of registering your WebFOCUS Infographics account, you will receive an email notification similar to the one shown in the following image.
    Activation email message
  2. Click Activate My Account to access the Active Your Account page, which is shown in the following image.
    Activate Your Account page
  3. Type the email address associated with your WebFOCUS Infographics site code, create a password, and click Submit.

    This launches the WebFOCUS Infographics powered by Easelly dashboard, where you can choose from a library of infographics templates and get started, as shown in the following image.

    WebFOCUS Infographics powered by Easelly default screen

Outlining Your Infographic

Before you begin creating any infographic, you should outline the information you want to share, and build your story. This planning includes considering the following elements that contribute to the success of your message.

While developing your outline, collect any resources to support your infographic and make sure you have a good idea of the data that you intend to showcase. You can then create a wireframe of your infographic to help visualize the layout and aesthetics of the final product.

Once you have created your outline, you can build an infographic template that prepares it for use with WebFOCUS data.

Creating a WebFOCUS Infographic Template

How to:

You can begin creating your infographic template, once you have registered your WebFOCUS Infographics account. This allows you to access to WebFOCUS Infographics powered by Easelly, which provides a library of infographic templates, and a design tool that contains a WebFOCUS tag option and placeholder objects that can be linked to WebFOCUS charts once you upload your template into WebFOCUS.

You can access the Creation Tool in one of the following ways:

When you sign in with your account, you can immediately begin using the extensive resource library of templates and user-created public visuals, as shown in the following image.

WebFOCUS Infographics template selector page

You can choose any template and adapt it to fit your purpose. You can also select a blank canvas, and build your template from scratch. Once you select a template, the Creation Tool opens. The following image shows an example of the WebFOCUS Infographics Creation Tool view with the blank template.

Blank infographic template

You can begin to customize your infographic template using the options that are available to you on the ribbon, which is shown in the following image.

From the ribbon, you can:

You can use the File, Download, Share, and Resize menus, which are shown in the following image, to save your template to your own local directory, download it in various formats, resize it, share it, invite other users to collaborate with your design, view your template in the browser, export your template to WebFOCUS, and modify the size of your template.

Menu bar

The canvas is interactive. As you drag an object from the ribbon, the canvas automatically displays placement lines that you can use to position the object, as shown in the following image.

When you click an object on the canvas, the ribbon expands and shows additional options that you can use to modify the object. For example, if you click a text box, the following options become available.

The options available to you change, depending on the type of object you select. For example, these options may include:

Procedure: How to Create a WebFOCUS Infographics Template

  1. Sign in to WebFOCUS.
  2. On the User menu, point to Tools, and click WebFOCUS Infographics.
  3. In the browser window, sign in to WebFOCUS Infographics powered by Easelly.

    Note: If you have not registered your WebFOCUS Infographics account, click Register here.

  4. Select a template that you want to adapt to your infographic.

    Alternatively, select Blank Template, if you want to build your own infographic template.

    The template opens in a new window with features that you can use to edit it.

  5. Edit your template to fit your requirements.

    Using the ribbon options, you can manipulate a template in the following ways:

    • Add objects and media.
    • Resize shapes, images, and text.
    • Delete objects and sections.
    • Change colors.
    • Edit entries.
  6. As you develop your infographic, decide which objects you want to replace with data in WebFOCUS. Click these objects, and then click WebFOCUS Tag, as shown in the following image.

    The WebFOCUS Friendly Tag Name dialog box opens. Here, you can assign a name to the object. These names appear in the InfoAssist Query pane as components, such as charts or reports in the compound document. The more descriptive the tags, the easier it is to identify components, and connect your data to those components in InfoAssist.

    Note: You can add WebFOCUS tags to text, images, icons, or charts.

  7. Type a name for the tag in the Enter Tag field and click Tag, as shown in the following image.

    In our example, we define points of revenue for each consecutive year to ensure that the tag can be easily identified when we upload the template into InfoAssist. The tag, in this case, Revenue, is used as the name of the component in Document mode in InfoAssist.

    A star appears next to the object that you tagged, indicating that the tag has been applied, as shown in the following image.

  8. Tag any other text components that you want to fill with WebFOCUS data.
  9. Add placeholders for WebFOCUS charts. On the ribbon, click Charts, and then drag the WebFOCUS chart icon onto the canvas. Use the placement lines to position your chart.
  10. Optionally, add images from the library or upload your own images. You can upload images from your machine, or select from a large array of images available as part of the WebFOCUS Infographics toolset. To upload images, on the ribbon, click Upload, and then click Choose Files. Select the files on your machine, and close the window. These uploaded images are now available under the My images category of Objects. To add images from the library, click Objects and use the drop-down list to navigate through the available images and shapes.

    In our example, we added four alternating map images as watermarks for each region title. In the template, however, we only needed one image as a placeholder. When you connect this object to data in InfoAssist, you can create a simple DEFINE expression to automate the changing images at run time. To add a watermark image to your template:

    1. On the ribbon, click Upload.
    2. Browse to a file from your machine or drag it to the Upload Files window.
    3. Once you have selected the desired files, close the Upload Files window.
    4. Click Objects, select My images from the drop-down list, and drag your image to the canvas. This image will serve as a placeholder for all alternating images that we will use in the infographic procedure.

      Note: You do not need to upload all your alternating images, but make sure they are approximately the same size.

    5. Select the image on the canvas and change the opacity to be 40-50%.
    6. Click Text and drag a Header object to the canvas.
    7. Edit the text so it displays on top of the watermark image, by clicking the up Position arrow on the ribbon.
    8. Add WebFOCUS tags to both the image and the header.
  11. Add any extra elements that you want to include in your template, such as text objects, dividing lines, or icons.

    The following image shows an example of a completed template.

  12. Save your infographic with a meaningful name, in one of the following ways:
    1. Edit the name in the control at the top of your browser window, shown in the following image.

      Click outside the text box to save the edit.

    2. From the menu bar, click File, and then click Save As.

      Type a name for your template in the Enter a name field, and click Save.

      When you return to the Creation Tool, the new name of your infographic template appears.

  13. In the header menu, click Download, and then click Export to WebFOCUS.

    The pop-up message appears, informing you that the download is ready to import into WebFOCUS, as shown in the following image.

    Note: When you download the infographic template for use in WebFOCUS, a copy of the template saves to the Downloads folder on your machine, following the standard of each individual browser. If you download the file more than once, it does not overwrite the previously downloaded version, and appends it with a number that increases each time you download it. For example, if you name your template Infographic, it saves as Infographic.ely. If you download the same template a second time, it saves as Infographic (1).ely. You can continue to enhance your template and infographic procedure by overwriting the old template with your updated download. As long as the template name remains the same, the linked infographic procedure will continue to reference it. To ensure this link stays in place, delete the previous .ely file from the Downloads folder before you issue a new download, or rename the template before uploading it.

Adding Data to an Infographic Template

How to:

You add data to your infographic template using WebFOCUS InfoAssist. When you open the infographic template in InfoAssist, it becomes a compound document. Specifically, each object that you marked with a WebFOCUS tag in the template becomes a component of the compound document, where you can add your data. Text objects become report components, where you can add the data field to the SUM field container or Header. Image objects become report components that are replaced by a binary large object (BLOB) database reference, a field reference that contains the name of an image file in a Reporting Server application path, or an external URL. Basic chart objects become WebFOCUS grid charts, and WebFOCUS chart objects become chart components that use the standard charting functionality available in InfoAssist.

You can add data to your infographic with InfoAssist in one of two ways:

Note: In the example used throughout this topic, we used a Reporting Object to create Where conditions that narrowed down our data to only show a specific quarter and product category.

Procedure: How to Add Data Using a Reporting Object

  1. Sign in to WebFOCUS.

    The WebFOCUS Home Page opens.

  2. Navigate to the domain of your choice, and on the Action Bar, click Upload File .
  3. Navigate to the WebFOCUS Infographic template on your machine and click Open.

    The file uploads to your domain folder.

  4. In the same domain, on the Action Bar, click Reporting Object .
  5. In the Open dialog box, select a Master File, and then click Open.

    In our example, we used wf_retail.mas.

    The Reporting Object interface opens, as shown in the following image.

    Reporting Object interface

    Here, you can create Where statements and filtering conditions for your infographic. These Where statements are applied to the infographic, but remain invisible. Filters, instead, appear in InfoAssist, and can be manually included or excluded for each individual component.

  6. Right-click the Where Statements node and click New.

    The Create a filtering condition dialog box opens.

  7. Create a Where statement with your data. For example, you can create a Where statement that specifies that a field, such as Sale,Year/Quarter, is equal to a constant value such as the first quarter of 2018. This Where statement would be Sale,Year/Quarter Equal to 20180101, as shown in the following image.
    Sales Quarter where statement example
  8. Click New Filter to add more Where statements, if you have another metric that applies to the entire infographic. For example, if your infographic highlights accessories, you can add a Where statement that narrows the Product,Category field down to Accessories, as shown in the following image.

    Accessories where statement example

  9. After creating your Where statements, click OK to return to the Reporting Object interface.
  10. Right-click the Filters node and then click New.

    The Reporting Object Filter Group dialog box opens.

  11. Name the filter group and click OK.

    The filter group appears below the Filters node, as shown in the following image.

    Reporting Object filters node
  12. Right-click the filter group you created, and click New.

    The Reporting Object Filter dialog box opens.

  13. Name the filter and click Add New.

    The Create a filtering condition window opens.

  14. Add one or more filters that you want to enable manually inside the infographic.

    For example, if you want to refine the view of your data, you can create a filter to specify that Product Subcategory, when used, should equal Chargers, Universal Remote Controls, or Headphones. An example of these configured filters is shown in the following image.

    Reporting Object filters node group example
  15. Save the Reporting Object. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save.
  16. In the Save As dialog box, name the Reporting Object, and click Save.
  17. Close the Reporting Object interface and return to the Home Page.
  18. On the Home Page, right-click your infographic template, point to New Infographic, and click Reporting Object.

    The Reporting Object dialog box opens and displays the list of the available Reporting Objects, as shown in the following image.

    Reporting Object Dialog Box
  19. Click your newly created Reporting Object, and click Select.

    InfoAssist opens in Document mode, and your template loads on the canvas. Notice that the WebFOCUS-tagged objects on the canvas correspond to the components in the Query pane. In the following image, the Region Image object is selected, and is shown as a report component in the Query pane with Sum and Coordinated field containers that can accept data values.

    WebFOCUS Infographic template in InfoAssist

    You can now build a WebFOCUS procedure that connects the infographic with your data.

  20. On the canvas, click an object to which you attached a WebFOCUS tag.

    The data component for this object opens in the Query pane, as shown in the following image.

  21. Populate the component with appropriate data by dragging the field from the Data pane to the Query pane or to the component on the canvas. In our example, we dragged Revenue to the Sum field container of the Revenue report component.

    When the canvas refreshes, it displays the data, as shown in the following image.

    Notice that if you created Where statements in the Reporting Object, all your data is automatically narrowed down to those parameters.

  22. Populate any remaining components with your data. In our example, we populated the three Subcategory Revenue components, Headphones, Universal Remote Controls, and Chargers, but we wanted to refine the data, so that it only showed the revenue for these specific accessories.

    To do this, we enabled the individual filters in the Filter pane, as shown in the following image.

    Note: In InfoAssist, you can aggregate measure fields so they display as percentages, sums, averages, or several other value types. To do this, right-click a measure field, point to More, point to Aggregation Functions, and then select one of the options.

  23. Populate any chart placeholders with data that is relevant to your infographic. Both basic charts and WebFOCUS charts have corresponding field containers in the Query pane.
  24. Optionally, you can change the styling of the WebFOCUS chart to fit your template.
    1. Right-click any chart component, and then click Series Color.

      The Color window opens.

    2. Select the desired color or complete the RGB information, and then click OK.

      An example of completed charts is shown in the following image.

  25. Populate text components.

    In our example, we highlighted Region on the canvas and dragged Store,Business,Region to Sum. The component now reflects the field data, as shown in the following image.

    You can also modify the image that each user sees when you burst the infographic. For example, if you want to display an individual image for each region, you would create a Define that points to different image files that you upload to the Reporting Server application path.

  26. Ensure that your images are uploaded to the Reporting Server. You can use the Legacy Home Page to upload them to the server path corresponding to the same domain in which the infographic resides.
  27. On the Data tab, in the Calculation group, click Detail (Define).
    1. In the Define Field dialog box, create an expression that links your image to a specific field value. For example, if you want to show images based on Business Region, you would create an expression to accomplish this, as shown in the following image.
    2. After you create your Define, it appears in the Data pane. You can then add it to the Sum field container for an image component.
  28. You can also modify portions of your text components and personalize them for bursting. Specifically, you can insert a variable value in a line or lines of text that are custom for each recipient.

    For example, if you want to create a variable word in the introduction text component that changes for each region when the infographic is distributed, you can do this, using the following steps:

    1. Select the intro text and click Header & Footer.

      The Header & Footer dialog box opens.

    2. Add the text that you want to modify, and drag the corresponding data field from the Data pane to the dialog box.

      Drag any field from the data pane into the canvas to incorporate it into the text.

      In our example, we replaced the word Region (variable) with the Store,Business,Region field, so the message reflected the region of our recipient, as shown in the following images.

    3. Click OK.
    4. Drag the same field to the Query pane, under the Sum bucket.

      The text portion changes to reflect the field value, as shown in the following image.

  29. Optionally, you can coordinate components of the infographic procedure for bursting. This means that when you apply a data value to all components, it customizes the output of information that you send to each recipient.

    In our example, we wanted to coordinate our data by region, so each Regional Manager received a specific revenue report narrowed down to their area. To do this, we dragged Store,Business,Region in to a Coordinated field container in the Query pane.

  30. Once you have populated your infographic with data, you can run it to preview the output. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Run.

    The infographic runs in the preview mode.

    Since our example was created for bursting, the preview displays four versions of the infographic, one for each region. In each version, the values, headlines, and images relate to each of the four regions in our data, as shown in the following images.

    You can use the same principle to generate bursts by any other field or metric, and distribute a different infographic to different stakeholders. For example, you could distribute new versions for each quarter, or change the Product Category represented to highlight other areas of the product line.

  31. Save your infographic. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save, and then name your infographic.

    You can now share your infographic with others by email, in a form of an email burst across different groups of stakeholders, as well as publishing or sharing it in the WebFOCUS Repository.

Procedure: How to Add Data From a Master File

  1. Create an infographic template and upload it to WebFOCUS.
  2. On the WebFOCUS Home Page, right-click the infographic template, point to New Infographic, and then click Master File.

    The Open dialog box opens and displays the list of Master Files that are available to you, as shown in the following image.

  3. Select a Master File and click Open.

    The infographic template opens in InfoAssist Document mode, where you can connect it to your data.

  4. Drag data fields from the Data pane to the Query pane to add data to your components.
  5. Optionally, filter your data within the InfoAssist session in one of the following ways:
    1. Right-click a field in the Query pane, click Filter Values, and create a filtering condition of your choice.
    2. Drag a field from the Query pane to the Filter pane, and proceed with creating a filtering condition.
    3. Select a field in the Query pane, and on the ribbon, from the Data tab, click Filter, and then follow the steps to create a filtering condition.
  6. Save your infographic procedure.

    You are now ready to share it with others.

Replacing Data in a WebFOCUS Infographic

How to:

You can modify your infographic at any time to reflect new data that is available to you. For example, you may create an infographic that sends information monthly or quarterly. Once you set up the initial infographic template, and Reporting Object, you can easily distribute an updated infographic.

In our example, we created an infographic for the first quarter of a year. You can reuse the same template and Reporting Object for subsequent quarters without making any extensive changes. All you need to do is modify the Reporting Object so it uses data for a new quarter.

Procedure: How to Replace Data in a WebFOCUS Infographic

  1. On the Home Page, right-click the Reporting Object you used to create your initial infographic, and click Edit.

    The Reporting Object interface opens.

  2. Expand the Where Statements node and double-click an existing Where statement.
  3. Modify the Where statement so that it uses your new data values. For example, if you were creating an Infographic to reflect revenue for the second quarter, you would change the value to April of that year, as shown in the following image.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Save your Reporting Object with the same name, and return to the WebFOCUS Home Page.

    Note: If you rename your Reporting Object, the infographic will not run. If needed, create a backup of the Reporting Object before you edit it.

  6. If your infographic contained any static text, headings, or images related to the data for a specific quarter, you must edit the Infographic in InfoAssist, and update those components accordingly.

    Once you have edited your Infographic, you are ready to share it with others.

Sharing WebFOCUS Infographics

How to:

You can make your newly created WebFOCUS Infographic available to other users by publishing it in your repository, sharing it with specific users and groups, or by distributing it using WebFOCUS ReportCaster. You can also distribute it using the burst option, which enables you to share specific sections of the infographic procedure with different users, based on the coordinated field in our infographic compound document. The following steps outline how you can share your infographic by email or burst it to members of your organization.

Procedure: How to Share Infographics

  1. On the Home Page, right-click your WebFOCUS Infographic, point to Schedule, and then click Email.

    The ReportCaster Basic Scheduling tool opens, and you can specify how you want to distribute your Infographic. You can send the same infographic or infographics to everyone on a Distribution List or you can burst personalized instances of your infographic to different people, based on the values in your infographic.

    For more information on bursting, see the ReportCaster Guide.

  2. Click Distribution, and populate the To field with the email addresses of your intended recipients, as shown in the following image, or select a Distribution List.
  3. If you want to burst your infographic to a Distribution List, you must have access to an existing list, or create a new one. For more information on Distribution Lists, see the ReportCaster Guide.

    You can send your infographic inline, or as an attachment, by selecting the corresponding option under the Email Information section.

  4. Click Recurrence to specify the date and time that you want to distribute your infographic.
  5. If it is not already configured, you may need to enter an Execution ID and password for the Reporting Server. Click Task to add this information.
  6. On the Task pane, you must also select the Burst Report check box to distribute your infographic separately to the same or different locations.

    Note: For the Burst Report to operate successfully, you must define a coordinated value in the infographic procedure you create in InfoAssist. Both the coordinated value and the Burst flag are required for successful distribution of the coordinated infographic.

  7. Once you have specified how you want to distribute your infographic, click Save & Close.

    The Save As dialog box opens.

  8. Enter the name of your schedule and click Save.

    Your distribution schedule is now available from the WebFOCUS Home Page. You can edit it at any time, or view the log file to ensure that it was successfully distributed.

WebFOCUS