Case Study: Creating Custom Reports Has Never Been Easier

Key Challenges

•   Enable users to build reports using multiple business intelligence (BI) sources.

•   Create filters to set global parameters that are reflected in all reports.

•   Create structured report navigation.

Dealing with the Proliferation of BI Platforms

Organizations increasingly rely on BI reporting to analyze up-to-the-minute sales and marketing data. Most organizations address their analytics needs on a piecemeal basis. It’s not uncommon for companies to develop reports on HTML5, Power BI, Tableau, and other platforms simultaneously. The variety of platforms makes creating custom reports difficult. For example, if an account executive has a critical meeting and needs visuals from multiple reports, he typically must rely on programmers to pull the information he needs and generate a new custom report.

We created a tool that allows non-programmers to create custom reports, regardless of the source of the data. With our Power BI Global Filter, users can easily navigate between reports on various platforms, create custom reports, and filter the results to display only the data they need. Our Global Filter tool screens reports based on the job role selected, making relevant data easy to find. Our tool even allows users to share default views of reports so that the receiver immediately knows what information to focus on.

Using Our Power BI Global Filter

Users begin by selecting their job role (Figure 1). Global Filter then refines the results, displaying only reports that are relevant to the selected role.

Figure 1: Role selection prompt

Users can select specific reports using the navigation menu on the left side of the app (Figure 2). This customizable menu allows users to quickly navigate report hierarchies. Once the user selects a report, it is displayed in the right-hand frame.

Figure 2: Navigation screen

Users can also create collections of reports that are tailored to specific roles or work areas (Figure 3). For example, let’s say a user selects a filter to only display sales data for the Pacific Northwest. Once applied, only sales data from the Pacific Northwest will be shown on all reports in that collection. Pacific Northwest sales data is then shown, regardless of which reporting platform the data originates from.

Figure 3: Navigation customization

Finally, users can create custom reports (Figure 4). This feature allows users to select visuals from any report, regardless of BI platform, and compile it into a single source. For example, a user could select one chart from a Power BI report and another from a Tableau report and combine them in the same custom Global Filter report. Users can also add unique metadata to reports detailing the data source, user concerns, or other pertinent information.

Figure 4: Custom report creation

Create Reports Without Compromises

With our Global Filter, you can reduce the time it takes to find reports, apply global filters to edit reports more easily than ever, and even create custom reports to suit your specific business needs. You’re no longer restricted by visuals that are located on disparate reporting platforms. Global Filter lets you gather the exact information you need without complex coding, saving you time and giving you complete control over your analytics visualization.