Creating the final report pages
Pam is finally done with the preparation. However, all of this preparation is about to pay off by making creating the rest of the final report pages far easier.
In the following subsections, we will create each of the seven pages of our report.
Creating the Executive Summary page
The first page we must create is the Executive Summary page. This page will display a quick snapshot of the most important information to the business executives. To create the Executive Summary page, follow these steps:
- Right-click the Template page and choose Duplicate Page.
- Rename Duplicate of Template to Executive Summary.
Because this page is a duplicate of the Template page, all of the slicers on this page have the same group names that were defined for the slicers on the Template page. This means that the slicers on this page will be kept in sync with the slicers on the Template page; any other pages that are created will be done by duplicating the Template page.
Pam wants this page to be a high-level summary of information that the executives can glance at and immediately understand the state of utilization across months, divisions, and branches. She wants big, bold, colorful visuals that convey a lot of information quickly.
She remembers the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) visualization she created earlier and liked its color and ability to display a lot of information in a small amount of space. To add a KPI visualization, follow these steps:
- On the Executive Summary page, click on a blank area of the canvas. Then, from the Visualizations pane, select the KPI visualization.
- Place this visualization at the top left of the page and adjust its size so that it takes up half the page vertically and half of the light-gray area horizontally.
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Place the Month column from the Calendar table in the Trend Axis field well, the % Utilization measure from the Calculations table in the Indicator field well,
and the Target Utilization Value measure from the Target Utilization table in the
Target goals field well.
- Use the Format sub-pane of the Visualizations pane to toggle Background to Off.
- Expand the Indicator section and adjust Text size to the maximum of 60.
- Expand the Title section and change Title text to % Utilization vs. Target by Month.
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Change Font color to #3C3C3B, Theme color 2, Alignment to Center, Text size to
24, and Font family to Segoe UI (Bold).
- Expand the Goals section and change Font color to #3C3C3B, Theme color 2, Text size to 24, and Font family to Segoe UI (Bold).
The next visual to be created is a summary of % Utilization by Division. To create this visual, follow these steps:
- Copy and paste the KPI visual and move the copied visual directly underneath the original KPI visual.
- Change this visualization to a Clustered bar chart.
- Replace the Month column in the Axis field well with the Division column from the Hours table.
- Remove Target Utilization Value from the Values field well.
- Use the Format sub-pane of the Visualizations pane to expand the Title section and edit Title text to % Utilization by Division.
- Toggle Title for both Y axis and X axis to Off and change the Color values of both to #3C3C3B, Theme color 2.
- Toggle Data labels to On, expand the section, and change Color to #3C3C3B, Theme color 2.
- Finally, click on the Analytics sub-pane in the Visualizations pane. The icon looks like a magnifying glass.
- Expand Average line and click + Add.
Pam also wants a summary of % Utilization by Branch. To create this visual, perform the following steps:
- Copy and paste the % Utilization by Division visual and reposition the copy next to the original.
- Add the Location column from the People table to Axis and remove Division.
- Change Title to % Utilization by Branch and change the visual to be a Clustered column chart.
Finally, Pam wants to show the total utilization. To do this, follow these steps:
- Copy and paste the KPI visual and reposition this new visual to the right of the original KPI visual.
- Change the visual to a Card visualization and ensure that the % Utilization
measure from the Calculations table is in Fields for this visualization.
- Use the Format sub-pane of the Visualizations pane to toggle Category to Off.
- Toggle Title to On and enter Total % Utilization as Title text.
- Expand the Data label section and set Text size to 60, Color to #EC670F, Theme color 1, and Font family to Segoe UI Bold.
The final Executive Summary page should now look as follows:
Figure 7.11 – The Executive Summary report page
Pam is satisfied with the Executive Summary page. In the KPI visualization, executives can now see the latest month’s utilization, along with its trend in previous months and a comparison with the target utilization. They can also see the overall utilization by division and by branch. Finally, they can see the overall total utilization for all selected dates, branches, divisions, and employee types.
Before moving on, Pam needs to finish up a few details for the Executive Summary page. To finish off the Executive Summary page, do the following:
- First, because she does not plan on this page being a drill-through page, select and delete the Back button at the bottom left of the dark gray rectangle.
- Next, create a bookmark for this page by selecting the View tab of the ribbon. Then, in the Show panes section, select Bookmarks.
- Set the Target Utilization slicer to 80.
- In the Bookmarks pane, choose Add and rename this bookmark to Reset Executive Summary.
- The previously created bookmarks are no longer needed, so for each one, choose the ellipsis (…) next to the bookmark name and choose Delete.
Pam is planning to create more bookmarks and wants to keep her bookmarks organized. To keep the bookmarks organized, we need to create groups for them. To do so, follow these steps:
- For the remaining Reset Executive Summary bookmark, select the ellipsis (…) and choose Group.
- Rename the group Executive Summary.
- Close the Bookmarks pane.
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Finally, select the Reset button in the lower left of the dark gray rectangle. In the
Format button pane, toggle Action to On.
- Expand the Action section and for Type, choose Bookmark.
- For the Bookmark, choose Reset Executive Summary.
A couple of notes about the different values for % Utilization on the page. With the full date range selected and all the slicers set to All, the KPI visual displays 86%, while the card visual displays 85%. This is because the KPI shows the latest month’s % Utilization while the card visual shows % Utilization calculated across all three months. Similarly, you may notice that the Average lines for the bar and column charts are at different levels, one at 80% and the other at 86%. This is because these averages are the averages of the groups displayed, not the overall average % Utilization. Thus, in the bar chart visual, the average between 88%, 79%, and 73% is 80%, while in the column chart visual, the average between 89%, 86%, and 83% is 86%.
