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Charts in the Report Builder

Any Totals report in the Report Builder can be drawn as a chart on its Chart tab, from a single big number to bars, lines, pies or a cross-tab. The chart you choose is saved with the report and is what appears when you add it to a dashboard.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Data:

  • Report Builder — the Chart tab beside Results

Admin Panel → Reporting:

  • Report Builder — the same screen, once granted

Drawing a chart

  1. Build a report with Show set to Totals, and click Run.
  2. Open the Chart tab. With Show as on "Chosen automatically", the platform picks a suitable chart for the shape of the report.
  3. To choose yourself, pick a type in Show as. Only types that fit the report are offered.
  4. Save the report. The chart choice is saved with it.

Which charts fit which reports

What is offered depends on how many figures (totals) and groupings the report has:

  • No grouping: Single figure (one to six big numbers) or Table.
  • One or two groupings, one to six figures: Bar chart, Stacked bar chart, 100% stacked bar chart, Horizontal bar chart, Line chart, Area chart and Table.
  • One grouping: Radar chart; with two to six figures also Bar and line; with exactly two figures Scatter chart, and with exactly three Bubble chart.
  • One grouping, one figure: also Pie chart, Doughnut chart, Polar area chart and Funnel.
  • Two groupings, one figure: Cross-tab, a grid with one grouping down the side and the other across the top.

Some types are listed as "unavailable" with a note that they need a module not installed on this system; they cannot be chosen.

"Chosen automatically" picks Table for several totals with no grouping. If you want them as big numbers, choose Single figure yourself.

Putting a chart on a dashboard

  1. On the Chart tab, click Add to dashboard. It is active once a chart is showing, and only appears if you can edit at least one dashboard.
  2. In "Add this chart to a dashboard", choose the Dashboard and type the Title on the dashboard.
  3. The chart goes on the dashboard's first tab. If the report was saved, the dashboard chart stays linked to it; if not, the dashboard keeps its own copy.

Charts are not sent by scheduled delivery, which sends data as a file. See Building a Dashboard.

What goes wrong and how to tell

  • "A chart needs totals.": the report is set to Records. Switch Show to Totals and add a grouping.
  • The type you want is not offered: the report has the wrong number of figures or groupings for it. A pie needs exactly one figure and one grouping.
  • "This system cannot draw a ... chart yet, so the figures are shown as a table.": the saved type is not available here.
  • "You have no dashboards you can add to.": create a dashboard, or ask its owner to share it with edit rights.
  • "This query asks for a value each time it runs, and a dashboard has nothing to supply it with.": save a version with the value filled in and add that.

Worked example

A fundraising team builds "Donations by month" as Totals: the sum of Amount and the count of donations, grouped by Date by month. "Chosen automatically" draws a bar chart; the team switches Show as to Bar and line, so the amount is bars and the count a line. They save it and click Add to dashboard, choosing the Fundraising dashboard and the title "Donations this year".

Recommendations

  • Let "Chosen automatically" have the first go, then refine.
  • Use Single figure for headline numbers, chosen explicitly.
  • Use pies only for a few categories; a bar chart reads better beyond five or six.
  • Save before adding to a dashboard, so later improvements reach the dashboard too.