Customizing Dashboard Panels
Now that you have created the dashboard, each panel is set to a default view of the data. In this section you will customize each panel with the specific information to be displayed.
Before you start, lets get a look at the KPI panel interface. Each KPI panel can have up to 7 controls in the upper right hand corner.
The controls are as follows:
Deletes the KPI from the page.
Enlarges the KPI to occupy a page by itself (Disappears when the KPI is enlarged, and is replaced by the #4 control below).
Collapses the KPI so only the title bar above is displayed (Disappears when the KPI is collapsed, and is replaced by the #4 control below).
Returns the KPI to share a page with other KPIs.
Repositions the KPI below the KPI beneath it (Disappears if the KPI is at the bottom of the column).
Repositions the KPI over the KPI above it (Disappears if the KPI is at the top of the column).
Opens the Preferences panel for the KPI (Appears when the Preferences panel is closed).
Collapses the Preferences panel. (Appears when the Preferences panel is open).
Download the KPI data to Excel, .csv, or .tsv format.
Customize the Annotation Panel
To edit each of the Annotation panel, which you renamed Sales Dashboard, click the Edit Preferences icon, , in the upper right hand corner.
Highlight the text This content can be changed by clicking the Preferences icon above., and overstrike with Sales 2008. Click the Save button and you will notice the new text will be displayed in the panel.
Next, highlight the text just entered Sales 2008, and click the enlarge font icon, 
, twice and then click the Save button.
Close the preferences panel by clicking the Edit Preferences icon, .
Customize the Dial Chart
The What are our total sales? panel is a meter chart that you will configure as a dial. Click the Edit Preferences icon, , on the What are our total sales? panel. Since the dashboard is intended to show sales for the year 2008, you will need to filter out the data for all other years in this chart.
Click the green magnifying glass, 
, to the far right of the Year filter. This will launch the Search dialog to select values to filter:
Click the Select items from list radio button, check the 2008 check box and click the OK button. This will set the Year filter value to 2008.
In the Visualization drop down menu select Dial and click the Options icon, 
, to customize the dial chart. Under the Visualization drop down, click the General tab to set the Dial format to “$1,235 ($1,235)”. Then click the “Dial Scale and Colors” tab and set the dial scale and the red, yellow and green background sector colors and ranges as shown below. Press the OK button to save changes.
Close the preferences panel by clicking the Edit Preferences icon, .
Customize the Top Customer Table
Click the Open Preferences menu icon, , on the Who are top Customers? panel (this is the second panel in the left column). This is one of NetCharts Performance Dashboards’ most powerful KPI, and allows comparisons, and other calculations.
In this KPI you’re going to create an analysis of top customers year to date in 2008 and 2007. The KPI will allow you to identify your top customers, to identify how your top customers from last year are performing so far this year, or to identify your bottom customers from this year or last and compare their performance to other time periods.
In the visualization pulldown menu, select Table. In the Dimension drop down menu, select Company Name. In the Name: edit box under the Series, overstrike the name for Series 0 to be 2007. Click the green magnifying glass, , adjacent to the drop down menu associated with Year, and select 2007. In this analysis we know we only have for the first 9 months of 2008, so we should only present data from the equivalent time period in 2007. Change the Date filter to on or before 9/30/2007. Likewise set the Customer ID filter to exists and True to limit the analysis to orders which have valid Customer names. Click in the 2007 column header to set the format of the data to currency. You should then see the following:
Click the Copy button at the top of the Preferences panel, 
, to add a second series.
Name this series 2008. Click the green magnifying glass, , adjacent to the drop down menu associated with Year, and select 2008. Change the Date filter to Exists All. Format the data to currency.
Click the Add Calculated Series button at the top of the Preferences panel, 
, to add a third series.
Name this series Variance. Set the value of Left Data to the series 2007 and the Right Data to the series 2008. In the Function drop down menu, select Divide. Format the Variance column with a custom format, removing the decimal places, adding a % sign and multiplying the value by 100 to present am appropriate percent variance display.
To draw attention to the top performers set a visual alert on variances that are greater than 100% to identify customers who are purchasing more this year than last year. Click on the variance column and select Alerts. Click the green plus sign, 
,on the upper right hand corner of the Alerts Editor Dialog to add an alert. For data values greater that 1 (100% prior to using the multiplier in the table format), place a green up arrow to the right of the data value. Label this alert “Sales exceeds previous year”
Now you will set the chart to only display the top 10 customers for 2008. Adjacent to the Show option are a set of drop down menus. Select 10 from the center menu, and select 2008 from the right menu.
A variety of analyses can be conducted with this table. You can show the top X performers from 2007, or from 2008 or the top X largest gainers. Likewise, you can choose the bottom X customers to identify areas of concern.
Close the preferences panel by clicking the Edit Preferences icon, .
Customize the Trend Line Chart
Click the Open Preferences menu icon, , on the How are sales trending? panel (this is the first panel in the right column). Change the Dimension to Month. Next click the green magnifying glass, , to the far right of the Year filter and select 2008. Further, we know that the database only contains complete data through September, so set the Date filter to suppress partial month data from October.
Select Line from the Visualization drop down and then click the Options icon, , to begin customizing the chart.
In the Visualization Options panel uncheck Autogenerate for the Title and enter Sales Trend. Next, check Grid and use Horizontal for Grid Lines. Next you will add the trend line for analysis. Select Trend from the Analysis drop down.
You can clean up the chart by removing labels. Select the Label Axis tab (which is the bottom axis in your line chart) and uncheck Autogenerate and leave the value blank. This will not add a label to the bottom axis of your chart.
Next click the Line tab. Here you will customize the line chart to be an area line chart by simply checking the Fill Color option.
Finally you will place a legend on the chart. Click the Legend tab and check the Show option. Set the Layout to Horizontal and Location to Top.
Next click the OK button.
Close the preferences panel by clicking the Edit Preferences icon, .
Customize the Pareto Chart
Click the Open Preferences menu icon, , on the Where are sales occurring? panel (this is the second panel in the right column). Change the Dimension to Country. Next click the green magnifying glass, , to the far right of the Year filter and select 2008. Show the Top 5 Regions, and group all other data into a single value labeled “All Others”. Select Pareto from the Visualization drop down and then click the Options icon, , to begin customizing the chart.
In the General tab check Grid and select Both from the drop down. Next click the Label Axis tab and set the Label Rotation Point to Right Edge, and set the Label Rotation Angle to 60.
Click the OK button to view the chart.
Close the preferences panel by clicking the Edit Preferences icon, .
Your dashboard will now look like this:
Next you will learn about other formatting options available.