Excel-based Dashboards and Self-Service Analytics

An amazing way to transform Excel files into multidimensional analytic models for drag-and-drop self-service analytics, reporting, dashboard creation, and joined collaboration within your organization!
Discover simple steps to convert Excel files into powerful Business Intelligence data sources.

A few steps from Excel file to Self-Service Analytics

Excel files are great! We use them every day and that will not change. Excel application includes many analytics and data visualizations of its own, but when we gather data in an Excel file that should be transformed into business intelligence models with measures and dimensions for quick self-service analytics and dashboard creation by the whole organization using the web browsers, there is no such simple and user-friendly solution as converting Excel into self-service analytic models available within the Kyubit BI Platform.

  • Excel analytics 1) Excel file with data organized in rows and columns
    The starting point is to have an existing Excel file with the values organized in the Table structure. In Kyubit > Data Sources, create a new 'Analytic Model', save it under some name, and upload the existing Excel file. If the model will be updated regularly with new Excel values from the same file, we recommend uploading from the shared folder (for example, \\mycomp\folderwithexcel) which will enable creating scheduled jobs for reprocessing.
  • Create Analytic Model based on Excel fie 2) Defining measures and dimensions for Excel data
    The second setup, after the Excel file is uploaded, is to define the role of each column in the Excel data in the new 'Analytic Model'. The numeric values that would be aggregated and observed in the analysis should be declared as 'Measures', while the values we will use to drill down measures we declare as 'Dimensions'. There are also 'Date' and 'Details' column types. For more details on this step please read on the Self-Service BI Tutorial page.
  • Excel Self-Service Analytics 3) Drag-and-drop self-service analytics
    After the Analytic Model is processed (which takes from a few seconds to a few minutes), users can start their self-service analytics with processed data from the Excel file. Drag-and-drop analytics is one of the product's key features. Simple drag-and-drop measures and dimensions on the analysis categories and series axis to get started with data analytics. Add multiple dimensions on the same category axis for drill-down analysis or add filters to slice the whole view with some dimension members and observe particular data insights.
  • Dashboard from Excel file 4) Build dashboards based on the Excel data
    After certain analytics are created in the previous step, now it is easy to build the dashboard. Simply, drag-and-drop a particular chart type and connect it to the created (saved) analytics. Resize and position the chart as preferred on the dashboard layout surface. Use various charts to show critical values, KPIs, tables of values, hierarchies, comparison charts between two data sets and much more. Use chart analytic features to further drill down and drill through the data in numerous interactive ways.

Transform Excel file to a beautiful Dashboard analytics

Kyubit BI platform enables its users to quickly transform existing Excel data into interactive business intelligence dashboards and self-service analytics for data exploration and quickly isolating business important data and conclusions. The created dashboard could be shared by URL to all authorized users. The users could be members of the Creators or Visitor role. Visitors are able only to see the created content, while creators can create new or change existing if have the Write permission on a given object. The created dashboards are not one-time created static objects but could be scheduled for reprocessing with the new Excel file data which would automatically refresh all dashboards and other objects based on the same Analytic Model.
Excel to Dashboard and self-service analytics

How to get started with creating dashboards from Excel files

  • Download and set up your Kyubit BI platform instance.
  • Identifying dimensions and measures within the existing data source (Excel file) is a fundamental step in planning future analytics. Dimensions refer to the descriptive characteristics of data that can be either qualitative or often fall into categories, such as geographical area, type of product, or time frame. They offer the ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘where’, and ‘what’ context of the data. Conversely, measures are the numerical metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) that undergo analysis. They embody the ‘how much’ aspect and can undergo mathematical operations such as summation, averaging, among others. Examples encompass sales revenue, profit margin, or the number of customers. Grasping the dimensions and measures in your data is vital as it aids in shaping your data model and impacts how you will scrutinize and illustrate your data for the purpose of making decisions.
  • Create and process a multidimensional analytic data model based on your data from an Excel file. (Watch the 60-minute Self-service BI tutorial on this topic.)
  • You are ready for your first self-service analytics and dashboard creation!

Scheduled Reprocessing

Create 'jobs' in the Kyubit application that will reprocess existing Analytic Models with the new (fresh) data from the existing Excel file. For that purpose, the Excel file has to be uploaded to Analytic Model from the shared folder (for example, \\mycomp\sharedfolder), so it can be reached from the Kyubit web application at the time of scheduled processing. Schedule the jobs to run at preferred times at daily, weekly, or monthly intervals in the 'Subscriptions' section.

Limitations

Kyubit technology to transform Excel files into Analytic Models is very convenient and easy to implement. However, converting Excel files has its limitations. For quick processing, we recommend Excel files up to 200k rows (depending on hardware). The larger Excel files start to take a significant amount of time and are not ideal for this scenario. If you have more than 200k rows, we suggest using Analytic Models with SQL data source, or OLAP/Tabular technology.

Examples of Dashboards based on the Excel file data

Various reports and dashboards could be created based on the business requirements with a drag-and-drop user-friendly approach of the Kyubit BI platform. Different layouts, color schemes, and behavior details are ready to be customized!

Get started with the Kyubit BI Platform

Download BI Platform Download the Kyubit BI Platform for 30 days of free product evaluation. A simple and quick setup delivers all features unlocked in the evaluation version. After the evaluation period, continue with a free personal edition license or purchase the appropriate commercial license for your organization. We will be happy to receive your feedback! Visit the Kyubit BI Tutorials page to help get you started.