Tricks for SAS Visual Analytics Report Builders: Step 3 - Focus on What's Important

This is the fourth part of a six part series that describes tips and tricks for building impactful reports in SAS Visual Analytics.

Draft a Plan
Choose the Best Chart
Bonus: Chart Best Practices
Focus on What’s Important (this article!)
Consider the Layout
Test, Test, and Test Again

SAS Visual Analytics enables you to create compelling, interactive reports that can be viewed by anyone, anywhere. To create impactful reports that resonate with your audience you need to (1) draft a plan for the report, (2) choose the best chart type to display your data, (3) create your reports so viewers can focus on what’s important to them, (4) pick a layout that will best display your data and tell your data story, and (5) test the report to ensure it operates and looks the way you want. In this post, we will focus on the third step in the process: Focus on What’s Important.

Your reports should be organized, easy to navigate, versatile, and attractive.

Organized

You can organize content by adding multiple pages to your reports. Each page in your report should focus on one aspect of your data story and tell that piece with a limited number of objects (less than 6). Not only that, but you must ensure that each page can stand on its own. Viewers should not be expected to remember details from one page to understand the concepts that are communicated on another page.

In addition to adding multiple pages to your report, you can create pages that provide additional details to report viewers: hidden pages and pop-up pages. These pages can be used to communicate information about the report to other designers, describe the functionality in the report for report viewers, or they can be linked to an object on a regular page to enable viewers to see additional details.

There is no limit to the number of pages that can be added to a report or the number of objects that can be added to a page. However, it is a good idea to limit the number of pages to make your report easier to access, easier to navigate, and easier to understand.

Pro Tip! If you need more than six or seven visible pages to tell your data story, consider creating multiple reports and use links between them to provide additional information.

Easy to Navigate

You can make your reports easy to navigate by adding descriptions to define the purpose of your report and instructions to describe the features of your report.

Give all objects clear, detailed titles that can help your audience understand the purpose of the object and use the Text object to add additional details and numbers when needed.

You should also include a table of contents or introductory page for the report to help explain the basics of the report. You can even use pop-up pages to provide more information about navigating the page (like detailed tips on how to use the report, descriptions of report objects, and information about actions or links). These details can be communicated via text (with the Text object) or even a video (with the Web content object)! Including detailed descriptions and instructions can help make the report more accessible and is critical for users of screen reader technology. Using text to explain actions will enable all users to better understand the structure of the report.

As a best practice, all text should use consistent fonts.

Pro Tip! When providing instructions for the report, include details about keyboard shortcuts.

Versatile

You can make your reports versatile (or interactive) by adding animation, ranks, prompts, actions, links, and by setting the viewer customization level.

Animations can enable viewers to view changes in data over time. When using animations, be sure to focus on changes that are different from the norm.

Pro Tip! Be aware that the animation toolbar is not fully accessible to users of screen readers. The details table displayed when maximizing the object, however, is fully accessible. If using animation in your charts, consider including a note that instructs users to maximize the object to view a table of the same information in the animated graph.

Ranks enable viewers to focus on the most important values and can be used to identify leaders (top values) or laggers (bottom values).

Report and page prompts can help the viewer focus on areas that are important to them by enabling them to filter the report and page, respectively. Consider the placement of prompts in the report as you don’t want them to be overlooked. Use titles and text to explain the purpose of prompts and how to use them and to describe which elements are affected.

Actions can add interactivity to the report so viewers can explore data in a way that is meaningful to them. This will give them a part in the data discovery process and will increase their motivation to act on their findings.

Pro Tip! Use automatic actions to enable the viewer to tailor their experience by specifying the order in which their actions are applied. This makes the report more dynamic, increases visibility and usage of the report, and increases its value.

Links can be used to provide additional information about specific areas. You can link to another page in the report, other reports, or to an external web page. Be sure to add instructions that explain which links are available and how they work.

The viewer customization level enables you to give viewers more control over the appearance of the report by specifying a level of modification. You can set the viewer customization on the Options pane for the report. The degree of customization can be adjusted from simple edits (that will enable viewers to modify simple options for the report, such as adding labels and hiding or displaying legends) to comprehensive edits (that will enable viewers to change chart types) to data edits (that will enable viewers to modify the data used in report objects, filters, and ranks).

Attractive

You can add styles and display rules to make your reports more attractive.

Pro Tip! When using display rules, it’s recommended to use a small number of display rules (2 to 3) to make your reports easier to understand and more accessible. Consider adding labels to your display rules. For expression-based display rules, the label appears in the Rules pane and in tool tips for any elements to which the display rule applies. The label is also announced by screen readers when users are viewing the report.

Be cognizant of color choices as they can affect the mood and the viewer’s reaction to a report object. These emotions may differ based on the locality or region of the world, so color choices may change depending on your audience.

Select any image to see a larger version.
Mobile users: To view the images, select the "Full" version at the bottom of the page.

This graphic shows the positive (on the left) and negative (on the right) emotions provoked by common colors. These emotions may differ based on your locality or region.

Pro Tip! Choose WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)- compliant colors. This will make your report more accessible for viewers who are color blind or have low vision. The W3C website provides additional information about selecting WCAG-compliant colors.

Summary

After you have drafted a plan for your report and selected the best charts to display your data, you need enable your viewers to focus on what’s important. You can do this by ensuring that your reports are organized, easy to navigate, versatile, and attractive.

In the next part of this series, we discuss the layout of your report.