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Overview

The most important reason for creating a Conditional Format is to assist an end user to interpret the data presented to them. You can create rules to highlight or alter data on your report and charts.

 

It is recommended that Conditional Formats are used whenever the reader of a report needs to be drawn to act or interpret data based on a pre-determined set of rules.

 

General Settings

Option

Description

Alert Legend

Display a conditional format rules legend with the report.

Legend Title

Provide a title for the conditional format rules legend.

Legend Description

Provide a description for the conditional format rules legend.

 

Field Settings - Basic Rules

Basic rules allow you to set the format of a column using comparisons to either its own values or another field’s values. This is the most common forms of Conditional Format that are applied.

 

Option

Description

Alert Type

Select the complexity of the alert rules.

  • Basic: these alerts are based on comparison of the column value to a set value or another column.
  • Advanced: these alerts can be based on multiple conditions, set up using logic similar to that of Filter Settings.

Style

Select a display method for the alert. There are three options available:

  • Bar: the value in a matching cell will be displayed as an inline bar. (Note: This type of styling can only be applied to certain types of content.)
  • Cell: the background colour in a matching cell will be highlighted.
  • Icon: the text in a matching cell will be replaced with an icon.

Type

Select the comparison type from the following options:

  • Value: compares data to set values eg. Greater than 10.
  • Compare Column: compares data to set values stored in another column. E.g. Compare the received amount with amount invoiced to highlight those that are not equal.
  • Percentage of Column: compares the value to a percentage threshold of a comparison column. Use this to highlight revenue that is 10% less than ‘planned revenue’.
  • Percentage of Total: compares the value to a percentage of the total of the column. Use this to highlight values that represent less than 5% of revenue.
  • Percentage of Max: compares the value to a percentage of the maximum value. Use this to highlight values relative to the maximum value eg. values that are in the lowest 20% bracket of results

Target

If you select a column comparison type you will have to choose the column that you want to compare your data to. Choose the appropriate column.

 

Creating Basic Rules

Once you have selected how you want to highlight your data you must set the alert rule. See Columns Conditional Formatting to learn more about this.

 

Field Settings - Advanced Rules

 

 

Advanced rules allow you to create complex rules for determining the format of the column. For example, if you wanted to create a rule such as: If Region = Europe and Revenue > $200,000 then highlight Profitability as RED.

Option

Description

Alert Type

Select the complexity of the alert rules.

  • Basic: these alerts are based on comparison of the column value to a set value or another column.
  • Advanced: these alerts can be based on multiple conditions, set up using logic similar to that of Filter Settings.

 

Option

Description

Alert Details

Provide a description for this rule.

Style

Select a display method for the alert. There are four options available:

  • Bar: the value in a matching cell will be displayed as an inline bar.
  • Cell: the background colour in a matching cell will be highlighted.
  • Icon: the text in a matching cell will replaced with an icon.
  • Text: the text in a matching cell will be highlighted.

Icon Set

If the Style is set to Icon then select the set of icons to apply to the alert.

Traffic Lights

Arrows Up

Arrows Down

Ticks

Shapes

Colour

This option requires you to define either the colour, or the icon from a set, to be applied to the rule.

Rules

Enter the logic of your rule. You can select a column the operator and the value. By clicking add you can add additional rules with bracketing etc.

See Filter Settings for more information.

 

Conditional Format Data Validation

When inserting values into the Conditional Format type a number of rules need to be followed. These include:

 

Value Overlaps

If you are creating a number of Conditional Formats, as in the example above, care will have to be taken to ensure that the Conditional Format values do not overlap. For instance you cannot set one record that is 50 to 60 and another 55 to 65. This will cause a clash in processing and may result in your report failing.

 

Value Sequence

When creating a range of values – such as for a BETWEEN operator the lower end variable must be inserted as the first value of the Conditional Format followed by the higher. Example – 30 then 40 not 40 then 30. If this is not followed you report Conditional Format will fail since no data will meet the criteria.

 

Value Applicability

You do not have to create a Conditional Format for every possible value that will be returned. If there is a measure that does not meet a Conditional Format criterion it will be returned in a normal font. Conditional Formats should only be put on values that you want to draw attention to.

 

 

 

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