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Using Explore

Explore is the quickest way to answer a question from a datastore: pick it, pick a figure, pick what to group by, and a chart appears. It needs no set-up beyond switching Business Intelligence on, because it works out what each field is from the datastore's own field types.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Dashboards:

  • Explore — pick a datastore, a figure and a grouping, and see the chart

Admin Panel → Reporting:

  • Explore — the same screen for people who are not architects, once the item is granted

Exploring a datastore

  1. Choose a Datastore. Your own datastores are under "Your data", platform ones under "System". It runs straight away, showing the number of records.
  2. Choose the figure in Total and the calculation in How: Count, Distinct count, Total, Average, Lowest or Highest.
  3. Choose a field in Grouped by, or leave "Nothing (one figure)". Grouping by a text or dropdown field shows the top 15 values plus "Other".
  4. Grouping by a date shows Period: Day, Week, Month (the default), Quarter or Year. This is how dates are grouped, not a date range; empty periods are filled in so gaps show.
  5. Change Show as if "Chosen automatically" is not the chart you want.
  6. Click a bar or point to see the records behind it, up to 500, listed under the chart. Click a record to open it.

The Try: row offers suggested questions for the chosen datastore.

Which fields can be used

  • Numbers can be totalled and averaged.
  • Dates group by period.
  • Dropdowns, pills and radio buttons group.
  • Tickboxes and toggles count how many are Yes.
  • Every datastore also offers Number of records, Record ID, Created, Last updated, Created by and Last updated by.

To relabel a field, change its role or hide it from Explore, add a row for it in the BI Field Settings datastore under Data → Datastores. With no row, Explore works it out from the field type. See The Semantic Layer.

Saving and exporting

  • Download CSV saves the figures shown.
  • Save query asks "Name this query:" and saves it for everyone who can use Explore. Reopen it from Saved queries….

Explore has no filters, no date range and no way to add a chart to a dashboard. For those, build the report in the Report Builder. See The Report Builder.

What goes wrong and how to tell

  • "There are no datastores you have access to, so there is nothing to report on.": your security group has no Read permission on any datastore.
  • A field is missing: you have no access to it, it is encrypted, or it is a type Explore cannot use.
  • A chart type shows "(not installed)": it cannot be drawn on this system.
  • Explore says Business Intelligence is switched off: switch it on in Platform Modules.

Worked example

A volunteer co-ordinator wonders whether sign-ups are rising. They open Explore, choose Volunteers, leave Total as Number of records, group by Created, and see a monthly bar chart. October looks high, so they click the October bar and read the 42 records behind it: a recruitment event explains the jump. They save the query as "Volunteer sign-ups by month" for their colleagues.

Recommendations

  • Use Explore for questions, the Report Builder for reports.
  • Click through to the records before acting on a surprising figure.
  • Name saved queries clearly; they are visible to everyone with access.
  • Tidy field labels in BI Field Settings where the raw names confuse people.