Summary Series

The Softools Summary Series chart has been designed for planning and forecasting purposes. It allows you to plot any data that is associated with a capacity based scale, this could be real live data or even account for hypothetical scenarios. Ultimately this will enable you to better understand and manage your spread of company resources at given points in time. Letting you see much more clearly where complete efficiency is being achieved; fallen short on or even exceeded i.e. forecasted needs exceed resources at that point in time.

Example Chart

Configuration

To generate a Summary Series, you first need to be in the 'Reports' section of AppStudio where you will then be able to click 'Add Report' near the bottom.

By clicking the button it should bring you onto a report selection page where you are shown various reports and some information about them. To choose 'Summary Series' find the card containing the 'Area' chart then click on 'Create'. Alternatively, you can find it by searching and selecting 'Summary Series' on 'Filter Types'.

Consequently, this presents you with the Report configuration options below:

Title: The title is the reference to the Report that will appear in the App for the users. It will appear in the left pane menu for the and also in the breadcrumb (header bar) at the top of the page which tells the user where they are on the site.

Sub Title: The subtitle is a banner that appears at the top of the screen beneath the title that allows you to give a short description the report, this can be useful for keys and user audience.

Identifier: This should reflect the label. The identifier is a system ID for referencing a Report. This ID must be unique per Report and must contain only letters and numbers starting with a letter. It must also be a minimum of three characters.

Report Type: 

• Chart - Has to be selected for summaryseries
• Dashboard
• List
• Matrix
• Table 

Group: The Report Group is used if you need to group reports together. A Report Group will appear on the left pane, and once clicked, show the Reports in it below. They are collapsed when the App is first launched, and expandable as required. 

Note: Report Groups will always display below non-grouped Reports.

Is Default: The default Report is the Report that the user will be directed to the first time that they open the App. If no default has been set then the user will be navigated to the Report with the lowest display order.

Note: Once a user navigates to a different Report, this preference will override the default option the next time they view the App if they haven't logged out in-between.

Is Hidden: This will hide the report from all users. It is commonly used whilst a Report is being reconfigured or if a Report needs to be removed temporarily to be reinstated at a later date.

Background Image URI: This option allows you to have an image behind the Chart by entering the image's Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). This generally is a character sequence identifying a resource, usually on the internet. In this context it identifies your chosen image, which can be useful to indicate zones within the chart, for instance, a RAG background, or simply for more tailored branding. For more information, click here

Example RAG Background - https://pixabay.com/illustrations/red-yellow-green-orange-lime-650676/

Chart Type: Choose from over 15 Chart Types - Here you will need to select 'summaryseries'.

In-App Data Source Field: Some chart types can be created from Grid Field data to produce In-App Charts To select the Grid Field that the data will come from you can choose this as the In-App Data Source Field.

Base Filter: If the report is to always show a subset of Records, then the Base Filter can be used to apply a permanent Filter to the report. This Filter is always applied, and then user-defined filters and searches are compounded on top when the report is being used - For more about configuring base filters click here

Target Click-Through Report - With 'Target Click-Through', you can select a List Report for the user to drill down into to display more information about the Records that meet the criteria. It will apply the appropriate filters to that List Report to only show the relevant records. This can make an effective navigation tool for the App.

Display Table: This will display a grid view of the data below (or instead of) the chart. The series becomes a row of data with each column being a field from the charts fields. There is also the option to add a row and/or column totals for this grid.

Display Chart: This option will display the chart in the report.

Default Series Name Field: The label that each series will have in the absence of a Filter that groups data. When there is a grouping Filter applied to the report the series will take on the group name and aggregate values associated with such.

Capacity Field: Used to define the maximum capacity at any point on a series this should be a Bit Field. Those Records that have it checked will be aggregated in order to compile the maximum capacity.

Show Points: Choose whether you would like the series to show as simply lines or lines with each individual point in the series marked.

Capacity Label / Colour: Set the name and colour of the maximum capacity that is aggregated from those Records that have the Capacity Field checked as true.

Partial Capacity / Colour 1,2,3: If desired set partial capacity lines, define what percentage of the maximum capacity you'd like them to be with a number from 1-100 and give each a colour.

Display Variance | Label | Colour: Choose to display the variance as a series, between maximum capacity and what is forecasted, giving it a label and corresponding colour.

Zoom Type: This will determine the Axis which you can zoom in on to get a more precise view of the data in the report.

Label Type: This is what orientation the label will take when viewing the report in workspace.

Height: Define the height of the Chart - Denote with px i.e. 700px

Chart Fields - Click the arrow next to the 'Add' button to select 'Add Chart Field' and open the pane below and select the data (Fields) you want to use.

Field: Select an appropriate Field, this may be from a GridField or a stand alone Field depending on the 'Chart Field Type' you select.

Label: For those 'Chart Field Type(s) that aren't 'Colour' or 'Order' the label will appear on the chart and needs to be suited to the series, for example this could be months of the year.

Chart Field Type: Choose from multiple options:

• Value - A point on a series
• Colour - The colour of a particular series - Using an image list is recommended here as you can set the corresponding values to the correct colour codes. (See example below)
• Order - A number Field, the order that the series appear in on the chart if they are of the same value. Also the respective order of the series key / labels below the x-axis. E.g. If two series were of value 500 and one had an order value of 1 and the other 3 the series with the order value 1 would appear above the other on the y-axis.

Make sure to click the 'Save' button when making any changes in order for them to be added to the next app version. Once you have made all the changes you need to an application you are then ready to publish it to workspace.