Quick start for business perople

1.1 Version

1.2 Applicable crowd

Salesperson: In this article, salesperson refers to the user who uses FineBI for data processing and analysis and viewing when the administrator has entered user information, configured relevant permissions, and set up a use environment such as data connection.

1.3 Business scenarios

This article will use a simple example to guide business personnel through the production process of BI dashboards.

For example, a business person uploads an Excel table to FineBI for analysis, and combines the "Sales Statistics" table and the "Sales Region" table into one based on the existence of related fields between the two Excel tables (the fields represent all the data under one column in the table). The self-service dataset is placed in the component "Sales Details" to display all field information related to sales for analysis. As shown below:

1.4 Implementation ideas

The realization idea is shown in the figure below:

1) Upload data in Excel table;

2) Create a self-service data set. Merge the related fields of the two tables into the self-service data set by combining the related fields of the two tables. (To display the two Excel tables in one component requires data merging, because the component can only be made based on one data set);

3) Make visual components based on self-service data creation components;

4) Layout & beautify the components in the dashboard to optimize the effect of data analysis and display.

5) Finally, share the dashboard with other users.

Note: There are unintelligible terms in FineBI, please refer to: FineBI specific terms explanation

In the data preparation, add two Excel tables that require data processing to the business package to prepare for data processing.

2.1 New business package

Open "Data Preparation>Add a Business Package", then successfully add "Business Package" under "Data List". As shown below:

Under the business package, you can add data tables.

2.2 Add EXCEL dataset

Sample data download: 

Example Data.zip

1) Upload the data required for analysis under the newly created "Business Package". Open "Business Package> Add Table> EXCEL Dataset", as shown in the figure below:

2) Click to enter the new Excel dataset interface. After downloading the sample data, click "Upload Data", add the "Sales Region" table and the "Sales Statistics" table at the same time, and click "Open". As shown below:

3) After opening, successfully upload all the data in the two Excel tables. Click "Sheet1" of "Sales Region" to view the dataset of "Sales Region" that will be uploaded. As shown below:

2.3 Convert field type

The "Contract ID" field type of the "Sales statistics" table is "numeric". However, the contract amount needs to be analyzed based on the contract ID, and the numeric field cannot be used as an analysis dimension. Therefore, the field type needs to be converted.

Convert the "Contract ID" to the "Text" field. After finishing, click "OK" to upload two data sets successfully. As shown below:

2.4 Data preview

After the upload is successful, the system automatically updates the data. Click "Data Preview" to view the uploaded table data. As shown below:

A component can only be produced by relying on one dataset, but if you want to use the data of two tables for analysis at the same time, you need to perform data processing and merge the two tables.

Data processing needs to create a self-service dataset, and then merge the two types of fields in the table through Left and Right Merge.

3.1 Create a new self-service dataset

Still under "Business Package", add a dataset.

There are two ways to create a self-service data set: 1) Click "Add Table> Self-Service Dataset"; 2) Click "Create a self-help data set" in the upper right corner, as shown in the figure below:

3.2 Selection field

After creating the self-service data set, first add the fields in the "Sales Statistics" table to it. For details on the function of the field selection, please refer to: field selection

1) Select the data source: click "Sales Statistics" under "Data List/Business Package";

2) Select the fields to be analyzed in the data source: click "Select All" to add all the fields. The result shows the preview of the effect on the right. As shown below:

3.3 Merge left and right

Then merge left and right to continue to add the fields in another "Sales Region" table in the self-service data set.

1) Select the table to be merged

Click "+>Left and right merge" to open "Data List/Business Package/Sales Region", click "Select All" to select all fields in the table and "OK". All fields in the "Sales Region" table have been successfully added. As shown below:

2) Choose the left and right merge method: "Union merge". You can click the small question mark "?" on the right side of the merge method to learn more.

3) Set the merge basis. For the merge basis fields of the two tables, select the field "principal", and then match the same data under the merge basis field. The unmatched data is displayed as empty, and the merge result is "principal", and the merge effect is displayed below. Results as shown below:

4) Change the name of the table to "Sales Analysis", click "Save and Update" to complete the data processing, and close the interface. As shown below:

3.4 Effect view

You can view the "Sales Analysis" table under "Business Package". The fields of the "Sales Statistics" and "Sales Region" tables have been merged, as shown in the following figure:

3.5 Export data

If the user only wants to process data, BI can export all the data in the "Sales Analysis" table through the "Export Excel" function in the dashboard.

1) Select the table "Sales Analysis" to be exported, and click "Create Component".

2) After entering the component editing interface, make a detailed list component.

Select "Detailed Table" for the chart type, hold down the shift key, quickly select all fields, and drag them into the analysis area to complete the production of the detailed table. And click "Enter the dashboard". As shown below:

3) Click "Export Excel" directly on the dashboard editing interface to export all data. As shown below:

For more details, please refer to the document: Dashboard Export

If users need to use "Sales Analysis" to display the analysis results, they can display them through different forms of components.

This example uses grouped table components, line chart components, column chart components, etc. to display the analysis data in the dashboard.

Click "Create Component" in the "Sales Analysis" table, enter "Name" and "Location", and click "OK", as shown in the figure below:

Successfully created a "Sales Analysis Dashboard", and based on the "Sales Analysis" table, made the first component of the dashboard: a grouping table.

4.1 Add group table

Use a grouping table to show the contract amount in different dimensions.

1) Chart type: select "Group Table";

2) Drag into the analysis field: drag the "Sales Analysis" table fields in the order as shown in the figure below, and then drag them into the "Dimensions" and "Indicators" columns on the right;

3) Set "Component Style": select "Expand Row Header Node" as the format to complete the production. As shown below:

From this, you can view the details of the contract amount of each province, and the details of the sales amount of each city under the province.

4.2 Add a line chart

Use a line chart to analyze the trend of contract value changes over time.

4.2.1 Add components

Click the "+" on the right side of the Tab label of the spreadsheet component to add a second component: a line chart.

Select the "Sales Analysis" table to make the data table that the component depends on, and click "OK", as shown in the figure below:

4.2.2 Making components

1) Select "Custom Chart" for chart type and "Line" for chart attribute;

2) Drag the "Contract Signing Date" and "Contract Amount" fields in the table into the analysis area on the right to complete the production of the line chart. As shown below:

3) After dragging into the field, the effect is as shown in the figure below:

Note: To analyze the contract amount of multiple dimensions, you can use the legend to distinguish different trend lines. The example only has one dimension, and the legend is not needed, so the legend is removed.

It can be seen that the contract amount is higher around the beginning of September and lower at the end of the year, and product sales may be affected by the season.

4.3 Add a column chart

Use the column chart to compare the contract amount of each city.

4.3.1 Adding components

The steps for adding components are the same as above, refer to section 4.2.1 of this article.

4.3.2 Making components

1) Select "Custom Chart" for the chart type and "Column Chart" for the chart properties;

2) Add analysis fields: drag the "city" and "contract amount" fields in the table into the analysis area on the right to complete the production of the line chart. As shown below:

Note: To analyze the contract amount of multiple dimensions, you can use the legend to distinguish different columns. The example only has one dimension, and the legend is not needed, so the legend is removed.

It can be seen that Suzhou and Hangzhou have the highest contract amounts, and the products have developed well in this area.

4.4 Dashboard layout

Enter the dashboard editing interface. You can adjust the layout of the three components that have been made.

1) Adjust the size of the component. Click the component, move the mouse to the small spot and drag the component frame to adjust the size of the component, as shown in the figure below:

2) Adjust the position of the component. Click the target component, move the mouse, and the mouse arrow becomes  to drag the component, as shown in the following figure:

4.5 Effect preview

The three components are completed, and the effect is shown in the following figure:

Q: What is currently displayed is the analysis result of all the data. But if I only want to see the data analysis results of some specific dimensions, how can I achieve it?

A: You can use the filter component to dynamically display the data that users need. For example, add a text filter component to filter and view the contract amount of each province.

5.1 Operation steps

1) Click "Filter Component", add a "Text drop-down" filter component, and drag the filter component to the specified position, as shown in the following figure:

2) Bind fields to the filter component. Drag the "Province" under "Data List/Business Package/Sales Analysis" into the field on the right, and click "OK", as shown in the figure below:

The size and position of the filter component can be adjusted appropriately. For steps, see section 4.4 of the document.

5.2 Effect preview

By filtering the filter components, you can view the contract amount of different provinces. As shown below:

Adding other components can enrich the dashboard interface and meet users' needs other than displaying data on the dashboard, such as displaying pictures, text content, and other web pages.

This example uses a text component to add the title of the dashboard interface to make the dashboard fuller.

1) Add "Other Components>Text Components" as the title of the dashboard, and adjust the size and layout. As shown below:

2) Set the title content style. Click the text component and enter "Sales Analysis Dashboard", set the font size "36", the alignment method "center", and the font color "black", as shown in the following figure:

Dashboard beautification helps users view the data more clearly, and the data display is more beautiful.

7.1 Dashboard layout

Adjust the size and position of the components in the dashboard, the steps are the same as above, please refer to section 4.4 of this article.

7.2 Edit title

1) Select the component and double-click the title to edit the content, as shown in the figure below:

3) Follow the above steps to set the component titles respectively, as shown in the following table:

7.3 Set dashboard style

1) Click "Dashboard Style> Preset Style 4> OK" to complete the dashboard production, as shown in the figure below:

If you want to automatically filter out the sales status of "Jiangsu" every time you open the dashboard, you can select "Jiangsu" in the dashboard editing interface after completing the dashboard creation. The default display effect of the dashboard is: the last edit of the dashboard editing interface The effect of time.

2) Finally, click "Preview Dashboard" to enter the dashboard view interface.

7.4 Effect view

The "Sales Region" and "Sales Statistics" table fields have been placed in the same component for display, and the corresponding data can be viewed through the "Amount Details" group table. And through the filter components, you can view the sales in each province, as shown in the following figure:

For the dashboard that has been created, you can share it with others for viewing. You can use public links to share the dashboard with anyone. You can also hang out the dashboard to the directory, or share the dashboard directly with other BI users.

The example shows how to share the dashboard with other BI users. For example, Markov shared the dashboard with eoco.

1) Open the "Dashboard" management interface. Select "Sales Analysis Dashboard" and click the "Share" button. As shown below:

2) Select the user you want to share, and click "OK". For example, I shared it with eoco, as shown in the following figure:

3) The user eoco (Aike) receives a message notification (the default login password is 1). Open the "Catalogue" and click the "Share" button to view the shared dashboard. As shown below: