Build Your First Report With Ajelix BI

Let’s dive deep into report building! We will walk you through the elements, setup, and how to create your first report. Make sure you have read previous articles on how to format files and how to upload data.

Once you have completed the setup that we covered in the previous guides you should have a blank editor, like this 👇

To understand the functions for each element read the article about available ajelix elements.

1. Understanding editing

Pick the first element you want to see in your report. Once you click on any element it will appear on your report and you will see the editor.

1. Your data – this is where you can see all your files. Click on any file to add them to the chart. This feature enables you to build a dashboard from several data sources.
2. Element setup – in this box you can arrange the Y, and X axes, apply filters, and sort chart data.
3. Customization settings – this toolbar lets you change colors, labels, legends, set number formatting, and customize chart visual appearance.
4. Report preview – here you can arrange, and resize all charts using drag and drop functionality. This is the preview of all elements.

Click on any element to open the element settings. Each element has its element settings where you can:

1. Rearrange and rename X and Y axis, by drag and drop functionality.
2. Sort columns ascending, descending or set your own criteria
3. Set “Top N” value
4. Apply filters to a chart or any data
5. Add explanations or comments

2. Set up the first element

If you skipped the guide about available ajelix elements you can read it here.

2.1. Add data to your chart

Now let’s set up the first element settings. We picked the column chart element that we will start editing, look at the picture below to track the editing.

To create charts you first have to understand how to add data to your charts.

1. Click on any file icon on the left side, the number 1 visualizes the data source name, your Excel, CSV, or Google Sheets file. The next icon titled “Marketing Data Q1” is the name of the imported sheet.
2. Dimensions are non-numeric column titles. For example, you want to add the “Campgain name” as label on the axis.
3. Aggregations are numeric column titles, by clicking on any column you will calculate these values. For example, you want to understand how many clicks each campaign got. You would pick “campaign” from dimensions and “clicks” from aggregations.
4. Measures are metrics that you created in the data preparation step. For more on creating KPIs and data models visit the data modeling guide.
5. Once you have clicked the columns you want to visualize, click the “Save & Recalculate” button to see updates in your charts.
6. In this field, you can see data that is visualized on the chart. You can change calculations or rearrange by drag and drop functionality. You can also rename the column titles.
7. The sorting field lets you sort ascending or descending by any label.
8. Sorting Custom field gives you the option to set your sorting criteria. For example, you want to rearrange month names in chronic order by separating each label with a comma. Example: Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.
9. Top N lets you sort and visualize only top or bottom values. Select the column, for example, “Clicks” and top 10 or 5. Depends on how much you want to visualize.
10. Data Filters will filter any column from your data source. For example, if you have visualized a “Campaign name” column but want to filter based on a specific “Location” that is not visualized.
11. Visualization Filters will filter the result that is visualized on the chart. For example, if you have added a “Capmaigin name” column, you can enter a specific campaign you don’t want to see in the chart and the filter will remove it.
12. Don’t forget to click “Save & Recalculate” 🎯

2.2. Customize elements

Once you have added dat to your chart, it’s time to customize charts to meet your needs. Follow the numbering in the picture to understand the guides better.

To meet your dashboard needs there are several customization settings you can use. All customization settings for specific element can be found on top toolbar.

1. In the first field, you can rename the chart title. If you don’t need a title, delete all text and the title will disappear from the chart.
2. In the next dropdown, you can change the chart type to any other, such as, pie chart, line chart or other.
3. Select the colors for each category to meet your brand guidelines.
4. Customize label settings. Here you can hide labels, change the font size and set colors.
5. Legend settings. This feature lets you hide or unhide labels.
6. In axis settings you can hide X or Y axis.
7. You can set your number formatting in the next field. Set percentage, currency, or any other formatting you need, we have summarized the most popular data types, however, you can visit the custom number formatting guide to create more customized data types.
8. Resize any element by dragging the right bottom corner.
9. Once you have the charts you can either share a dashboard via link or email or download the chart to insert it in emails or presentations.

Click Save and add the next element. If you enjoy our tool consider subscribing for a monthly or yearly plan (this way you will save 30%) to unlock the premium features.

3. Add another element

Once you’re done with the first element you can click on Add element in the editor and pick the next element.

Choose from the element list and edit the next element following the same guides as described above.

4. Save, Preview, Share

Once your report is ready you can save it, and preview it to see how it looks in full width by pressing on the Preview button at the top right corner. You can also share the report with links, set passwords, or add other users via email.

Important: Always save your report manually as Ajelix BI doesn’t have an automatic saving feature.

To learn about data preparation, cleaning, and data preparation & KPI creation visit this guide.