Creating and Managing Data Cards

Data cards visually represent the information and data you can access in Syncari. They are the primary component of dashboards, and you can create data cards in several different ways, depending on the situation:

• Create a data card from scratch. This process combines the steps to create a data card and data set.

• Configure a data set first, and then drag the existing data set to the dashboard.

• Reuse existing data cards, including those that make up the default dashboards, by dragging an existing data card to the dashboard.

Create a New Data Card

Follow these steps to create a data card from scratch. During the configuration, you will define the data set and then configure the data card visualization.

To create a data card from scratch:

1. Create or open a draft dashboard. See Creating and Managing Dashboards for details.

2. Start the Add a card wizard:

   • Click Add a new card in the canvas.

   • Click Add new card in the dashboard menu.

   • Click New in the Data Cards panel.

     

3. Complete the Describe card step in the Add a card wizard, and then click Next.
   Display name—The data card Display Name appears at the top of each card and should provide a short summary of the visualization.
   API name—Syncari generates the API name based on the Display Name. You cannot change the API name.
   Description—Enter an optional description of the data card. The description appears in the tooltip text for the visualization.
   Tags—Enter tags one at a time and press enter after each tag name.

   

4. On the Configure data step of the Add a card wizard, keep Create a new Data set selected.
   These steps describe how to create a new data card with a new data set. If you want to use an existing data set, select Use an existing Data set and see Create a Data Card from a Single Existing Data Set.

   

5. In the Select data list, choose one or more entities or data sets as the source for your data card.

   

6. Choose the fields to use for the query. You can either select specific fields or use calculated fields.

   • To select fields, expand Select Fields, expand the entity, and choose the fields.

     
     

   • To create calculated fields, expand Add calculated fields, click Add a new calculated field, select the Function, add Params, and provide a name for the calculated field. When finished, click Add. 
     

7. After you’ve configured the fields in the query, it’s a good idea to look at the query results in the Preview area. The preview shows the first twenty results. Click Preview.

   

8. Use the remaining sections to put together your query.

   • Blend data—If you have more than one object in Select data, use Blend data to join records in records in one data set with another.

     

   • Group —Use Group to group rows that have the same values into summary rows, like “find the number of medals won by each country.” If you’re using a calculated field that uses an aggregate functions (like COUNT or SUM), the query requires that you group data.
     To group data, expand Group and click Group data. Drag the fields to reorder the grouping.

     

   • Add filters—Use filters to select only fields that match your query, like “find only gold medals.”
     To add a filter, expand Add filters, select the field to query, add your operator, and then add the value to filter by. Click Add condition to add more filters.

     
     

   • Sort—Define the sort order of your results in ascending or descending order.
     To sort your results, expand Sort, click Add sort, select the field to sort and whether it should be Ascending or Descending. Adjust the sort order by dragging the fields up or down.
     

   • Set limit—Specify the maximum number of records to return.

     To set a limit, expand Set limit and enter the number of records.

     

   • Variables—You can define variables when you configure calculated fields and filters. Use the Variables section to see the variables in the data set and update their values.

     

9. When finished configuring the query, click Next on the Configure data step.

10. In Viz type, select the visualization to use. The options differ based on the type of visualization. See Insights Visualizations for details.
    When finished, click Next.

11. On the Preview step, take a look at your data card. You can navigate back to other pages in the wizard to make adjustments. When you’re satisfied, click Save & Finish.

Create a Data Card from a Single Existing Data Set

You can create data cards from existing data sets. These can be data sets created by someone else in your organization or data sets that you already created.

If you want to create a data card using more than one data set, or a combination of data sets and entities, see Create a New Data Card.

To create a data card from an existing data set:

1. Create or open a draft dashboard. See for Creating and Managing Dashboards details.

2. Click the Data Sets tab and drag a data card to the canvas. You can also add a data card as described in Create a New Data Card.

   

3. Complete the Describe card step in the Add a card wizard, and then click Next.
   Display name—The data card Display Name appears at the top of each card and should provide a short summary of the visualization.
   API name—Syncari generates the API name based on the Display Name. You cannot change the API name.
   Description—Enter an optional description of the data card.

   Tags—Enter tags one at a time and press enter after each tag name.

4. On the Configure data step of the Add a card wizard, keep Use an existing Data set selected.
   These steps describe how to create a new data card with an existing data set. If you want to create a new data set, select Create a new Data set and see Create a New Data Card.
   If you did not drag the data set as described in Step 2, select Use an existing Data set and choose the data set to use.

5. Click Next.

6. In Viz type, select the visualization to use. The options differ based on the type of visualization. See Insights Visualizations for details.
   When finished, click Next.

7. On the Preview step, take a look at your visualization. You can navigate back to other pages in the wizard to make adjustments. When you’re satisfied, click Save & Finish.

Reuse a Data Card

Syncari provides default data cards used to configure the default dashboards. Leverage the default data cards in your custom dashboards or mix them in with your own data cards. You can’t configure the data cards, but you can set up your data in Syncari to support their visualizations.

To reuse a data card, drag it to your dashboard.