Watch this Ask the Expert session to learn tips and tricks to ensure your reports are both useful and compelling.
Watch the Webinar
You will learn:
- The steps for creating impactful reports.
- How to apply report design best practices.
- How to choose the best chart type for your data.
The questions from the Q&A segment held at the end of the webinar are listed below and the slides from the webinar are attached.
Q&A
What if I don’t know which type of chart to use for my data. Can SAS Visual Analytics help?
If you recall, the first thing I did was change the treemap to the object that Visual Analytics recommended to use. So, by default, based on the data items you assigned to the object, Visual Analytics will make a recommendation on the chart type to use. If you don't know what type of chart to use and you're building a chart from scratch, you can take the data items you want to visualize and drag them to a page; Visual Analytics will select the best chart type based on the data items selected. This is a great place to start, and then you can modify the chart type as necessary, just like we did in the presentation.
How can I apply my corporate colors to a report?
At the report level, options are available for modifying the report, like setting the theme or the colors used to display the report. There are different themes that are available by default. In addition to these default themes, you can also create your own, which can be based on your corporate colors. Once you have the ability to create themes, only certain users can do that, and those themes are applied and pushed out for everybody to view, they will be listed under Theme and you can apply them to your report. As you select different themes, all the objects in the report are updated to use the colors and styles associated with that theme. One nice feature of these report-level themes is that for each object, if I use the default or automatic colors, changing the theme will automatically change the colors in the objects to use whatever is specified in the theme. That's another reason why you would want to use the defaults over assigning your own.
I want to create a landing page for my report. Is there any templates or shapes to design it manually?
In the presentation, the Table of Contents page was a template that I created specifically as a landing page for all my reports. This specific template uses only images and text objects, but you can add any objects that are available in Visual Analytics. It might be a good idea, depending on your audience, to use something like a video that shows how to navigate the report or has someone on screen describing the report and the purpose of it. I always think it's nice to have that personal touch and see someone actually work with the report. First, you create your page using whichever objects you want (in whatever arrangement you want), then create a template by selecting the Options button on the page tab and selecting Save page template. Once the template is created, you can use it in other reports, so they all look about the same.
Can the SAS Graphics Accelerator be used with this kind of report?
Yes. The SAS Graphics Accelerator enables users with visual impairments or blindness to create, explore and share data visualizations. It supports alternative presentations of data visualizations that included enhanced visual rendering, text descriptions, tabular data, and interactive sonification. Sonification, the ability to present data by using sound, is available for some object types in Visual Analytics. Visual Analytics provides sonification through the SAS Graphics Accelerator. For more information about how to build accessible reports, see "Creating Accessible Reports in Using SAS Visual Analytics" in the SAS Visual Analytics documentation.
What is the cost of using SAS Visual Analytics tool?
For more information about accessing a free trial or purchasing SAS software, visit How to Buy SAS Software.
Where can I find Orion star data?
Some sample data can be found at the SAS GitHub repository - sas-viya-quick-start.
Recommended Resources
Beautiful Reports
Creating Accessible Reports Using SAS Visual Analytics
Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte
Gallery of SAS Visual Analytics Objects
Telling Your Data Story by Atrin Assa
Tips and Techniques for Designing the Perfect Layout with SAS Visual Analytics by Ryan Norris and Br...
Tips for Building Rich Interaction in Your SAS Visual Analytics Reports by Jeanne Marie Tan and Sier...
SAS Visual Analytics Stories are Data with a Soul by Ted Stolarczyk
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
Types of Charts: Choose the Best Chart to Convey Your Message
Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte
Please see additional resources in the attached slide deck.
Want more tips? Be sure to subscribe to the Ask the Expert board to receive follow up Q&A, slides and recordings from other SAS Ask the Expert webinars.
