Dashboards with FileMaker 11 Charts
The most exciting new feature in FileMaker 11 is the built-in FileMaker Charts tool. FileMaker Charts allows you to add
five different types of charts to your FileMaker layouts including vertical and horizontal bar charts, line charts, area charts, and pie charts. At IT Solutions, we’re very excited at the ease at which we’ve been able to use the new FileMaker Charts feature to build very rich dashboards in existing FileMaker solutions.
What data can you chart?
Any FileMaker data can be represented using one of the five chart types as long as the data can be represented in a data series. The data series is simply a list of value pairs that represent the two axes on your chart. For example, if you were charting total sales over four quarters, your data series would include four value pairs: Q1 $23,000, Q2 $18,000, Q3 $28,000, and Q4 $24,000. If these values were represented on a line chart, the left side of each pair would make up the X-axis or bottom of the chart and the dollar amounts would make up the Y-axis or left side of the chart.
FileMaker offers several different ways to access data in a series. You can use data from related fields, data from fields in the current record, or data from fields in the current found set. The third option can be extended to include summarized data (the groupings on a summary report) when the data is sorted appropriately.
Transforming data into the appropriate form for a desired chart can be tricky. Start with the end in mind by considering what the data series should look like based on your goals with the chart and figure out where the chart will be located (on which layout in your database). Based on that layout, first make sure you can see the raw data in the correct form. If you can, then the chart will be a breeze.
Dashboards
A dashboard is an overview of the data in your system, often originating from different data sources, for the purpose of seeing a bird’s eye view of your organization. Unlike a single chart on a layout or report, dashboards are often a collection of different charts and/or lists of data that can come from a variety of sources, either different databases, or different tables within the same database. As a result, one dashboard may utilize different types of charts that access data from different sources in different ways.
This is an example of a four-panel dashboard that has been added to a simple project tracker solution built exclusively with the FileMaker Chart tools. Each chart is based on data from different tables in the database and the layout is based on a “system” table. None of the data represented on the dashboard is stored in the system table. Different techniques are used to transform the data from each source into the proper data series structure for each chart. Together the charts make up a high level overview of four different parts of the system.
The next example is a dashboard from our own internal project management solution. This dashboard mixes charts and data elements to create a robust overview of our open projects. The bottom of the dashboard is dynamic; a project is selected in the drop down and the data elements and four charts are updated to show only data pertaining to that project.
Conclusion
FileMaker Charts is an exciting new feature that allows developers to take FileMaker solutions to a whole new level, without the use of any third party tools. All FileMaker Charts are fully customizable to match the look and feel of an existing solution. By combining data and charts from a variety of data sources, robust and comprehensive dashboards can provide an executive overview of an entire organization on one FileMaker layout.
If you have any questions about FileMaker Charts or dashboards and would like more information on how we can add dashboards to your solutions, feel free to contact Jason Mundok at jason.mundok@itsolutions-inc.com.
