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Do Date Comparisons in a Dashboard
Charts and Crosstabs provide an easy way to compare data across different date ranges. For example:
- Compare this quarter's sales to the previous two quarters
- Compare this January's sales to each of the past five January's sales
- Compare each day last week to each day this week, showing percent change
To perform such date comparisons in a Chart or Crosstab, follow the steps below. NOTE: The Chart or Crosstab must contain a Date-type field. Date comparisons use color to distinguish date groups unless the original chart already uses color; in this case, the axis is used to distinguish date groups.
1. Press the 'More' button in the top corner of Chart or Crosstab, and select 'Date Comparison'.
This opens the 'Date Comparison' dialog box.
2. Optional: To apply an existing date comparison from another Chart or Crosstab in the Dashboard, enable the 'Share Date Comparison With' option, and choose the component from which to share the date comparison. Then press 'OK' to exit the dialog box.
3. Under Date Range to Include in Comparison, set the span of time to consider in the comparison. You can do this by specifying either a number of previous standard periods to compare (e.g., "compare previous 5 years") or by specifying a set of custom periods to compare (e.g., "compare Jan. 5, 2019 through Feb. 10, 2020 with Nov. 5, 2019 through Dec 10, 2020").
Compare Standard Periods
a. Select the 'Standard Periods' tab if not already selected.
b. Enter the number of past periods to compare and the type of period. For example, enter '4' and select 'Quarter' to compare data from the past four quarters.
NOTE: You can also use Form components to set the number and period by pressing the 'Value Type' button and selecting the 'Variable' or Expression' option. See End-User Property Control for more information.
c. Specify the 'Range End Date'. This is the date that determines the most recent data to include in the comparison. Select 'Today' to use the current date as the cut-off, or deselect 'Today' and enter an arbitrary date as the cut-off. Optional: To include the end date period (the period in which the selected 'Range End Date' occurs) in the comparison, enable the 'Include Year/Quarter/Month/Week For End Date' option. Otherwise, the comparison will include data up to, but not including, the end date period.
d. Optional: Select 'From Beginning of Each Year/Quarter/Month/Week to … of Year/Quarter/Month/Week ' to include data only up to the 'Range End Date' (i.e., the same number of days) for all selected periods. For example, if the 'Range End Date' is Jan 21, and you select "previous four quarters" and enable 'From Beginning of Each Quarter to 1st Month 21st Day of Quarter', the current and previous four quarters will each only include the first 20 days of the quarter.
Compare Custom Periods
a. Select the 'Custom Periods' tab if not already selected.
b. Enter the desired period ranges by typing the dates in the indicated format or by pressing the 'Select a Date' button.
You must specify at least two ranges. To add additional ranges, press the 'Add' button. To remove a range, press the 'Remove' button next to the range. NOTE: You can also use Form components to set the dates by pressing the 'Value Type' button and selecting the 'Variable' or Expression' option. See End-User Property Control for more information.
4. Under Compare Data Of, use the menus to set the desired comparison. You can perform the following three types of comparisons:
Compare All Periods in the Date Range
To compare all periods within the date range (e.g., all quarters, all months, etc.), select 'All' from the left menu. From the 'Granularity' menu, select the periods that you want to display on the Chart.
NOTE: You can also use Form components to set these options by pressing the 'Value Type' button and selecting the 'Variable' or Expression' option. See End-User Property Control for more information.
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