Overview
Most views can be set up to use automation products, such as Assisted Insights and Guided NLQ. From Yellowfin 9.7, you can access a view's automation settings directly from your Browse window: this negates the risk of accidentally editing your view's content because the automation settings are accessible outside of Edit mode.
For each new or existing view, Assisted Insights and Guided NLQ are disabled by default. You can enable them through the General Settings tab, and then tailor them to your needs via the Key Variables tab.
Note that the Yellowfin sample view, Ski Team, has both these products enabled when installed as part of Yellowfin 9.7 or later.
If you're implementing Guided NLQ, make sure you read our best practice guide to fully reap the benefits.
Accessing the Automation Settings dialog box
The General Settings tab of the Automation Settings dialog box allows you to enable or disable Assisted Insights and Guided NLQ per view. To access the Automation Settings dialog box, follow the steps below.
- From the burger bun (
), click Browse, then Views to display a list of available views
- Find the view you wish to use with Guided NLQ, and right-click on it to display a pop-up menu
- Hover your mouse on Edit, then select Automation Settings
The Automation Settings dialog box will appear
You can also access a view's Automation Settings dialog box while you're editing a view (whether you're modeling or preparing). Look for the Automation Settings tool 
, along the top toolbar and click on it for fast access.
Understanding the General Settings tab
The General Settings tab of the Automation Settings dialog box displays additional options when Guided NLQ or Assisted Insights is activated.
The table below describes all the options that are available.
Field name | Field description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable View for Assisted Insights | Toggle this on to enable Assisted Insights and Signals for this view. This is the only mandatory option on this page for enabling Assisted Insights. The optional settings will, however, further improve the Assisted Insights experience. | Off |
Enable View for Guided NLQ | Toggle this on to enable Guided NLQ for this view. This is the only mandatory option on this page for enabling Guided NLQ. | Off |
| Row Unique Identifier | If you have a field in your view that acts as a unique identifier, select it from the list. This is used by Assisted Insights. | None |
Primary Date Field | This dropdown is used for Signals and Guided NLQ. Select the default date field for either or both to use. In Signals, this field is used to pre-populate the date field in Step 3: Time & Schedule when setting up a new signal. When your Guided NLQ question or Assisted Insights data contains the date range, Yellowfin will retrieve your results based on the field you select as the primary date field. Bear in mind that choosing different date fields will likely change your results. For example, setting your primary date field to an invoice date field will produce different results to a payment received date field. If you queried your invoice date field for invoices dated January 1 this year, the total invoiced amount on that day would differ to a subsequent query on January 1 this year for payments received. When you select a field from this dropdown, an additional field called Scope of Analysis - Date Period will appear below it and is used solely for Assisted Insights. | None |
| Scope of Analysis - Date Period | This field is used only for Signals, and only appears after a Primary Date Field has been selected. It is used to set up default granularity. | None |
Custom Help Text - Guided NLQ | Add content to this text field if you wish to display any specific text for the current view. When using this view with Guided NLQ, this text will be displayed on the dropdown for switching views, alongside the view name and description. | None |
The Automation Settings dialog box won’t save your settings until you’ve clicked the Submit button on the Key Variables tab. Any time you visit the Automation Settings dialog box, you must continue on to the Key Variables tab and click on Submit. This saves any changes to both tabs of the dialog box.
Understanding the Key Variables tab
After enabling Assisted Insights or Guided NLQ (or both), you can adjust your view to suit your needs. The Key Variables tab provides field-by-field customization for both Assisted Insights and Guided NLQ, as well as for report creation. Some of these settings apply throughout Yellowfin and some apply only to Assisted Insights or Guided NLQ.
The Key Variables tab is divided into sections for metrics, dimensions, dates and filters (if any filters exist). Scroll down the dialog box to see the different sections.
When you select each field to include with Guided NLQ or Assisted Insights, you will notice a number of other options available, and some of these options are shared in different places within Yellowfin. The table below indicates where each field is used. We recommend you keep this in mind as some of these are system-wide settings.
Field name | Description | Field type | Usage | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
– | A dropdown on the left displays any default aggregation applied to the field. This can be edited from the dropdown if required. | Metric | System-wide | Sum |
– | The field name can be edited here, but note that it will be updated everywhere else it’s used (the view, reports etc.). | Metric, dimension, date | System-wide | Column name from the table the view field came from |
| Assisted Insights | Use this checkbox to include or exclude a field for Assisted Insights. If you don’t see a column for Assisted Insights, make sure you have enabled Assisted Insights at View level (see the General Settings tab section), and that your role has the Configure Assisted Insights box checked. If the checkbox is greyed out, check for these situations and correct, if necessary.
| Metric, dimension, date | Assisted Insights | Unchecked |
Guided NLQ | Use this checkbox to include or exclude a field for Guided NLQ. If you don’t see a column for Assisted Insights, make sure you have enabled Guided NLQ at View level (see the General Settings tab section), and that your role has the Guided NLQ Manager box checked. . If the checkbox is greyed out, check for these situations and correct, if necessary.
| Metric, dimension, date, filter | Guided NLQ only | Unchecked |
Plural (dimensions only) | Only editable if a field has been enabled for either Assisted Insights or Guided NLQ. In Guided NLQ, this will ensure that plurals are shown as needed when someone is asking a question, and when certain types of results are displayed. In Assisted Insights, plurals are used in the narratives it creates. | Dimensions | Assisted Insights, Signals and Guided NLQ | — |
Description | Updating the field description here will update it throughout Yellowfin. It can also be accessed and updated when editing a view in Prepare mode. The description is often displayed when hovering over a field name — in the view, in Report Builder and in Chart Builder | Metric, dimension, date, filter | System wide | — |
Higher value is | This dropdown lets you choose if higher numeric field values are classed as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. For example, a higher profit margin value is typically good, but a high cost value is typically bad. Results considered 'good' are displayed in blue and 'bad' in orange in charts and narrative for Assisted Insights and Signals, and in ‘Difference’ questions in Guided NLQIn Assisted Insights, it displays an arrow showing the sentiment of a KPI. | Metric | Assisted Insights, Signals and Guided NLQ | Good |
Format | This dropdown lets you customize the format of metrics and dates. For example, you can use the typical date format options to display a yyyy-MM-dd date as MM d yyyy. Options for metrics are different to options for dates. For dates, take a look at the options on the Custom button, which provides additional settings. | Metric, date | System wide | — |
Granularity | This column is displayed only if the date field uses DateFormatter or TimestampFormatter. Use this field to see and set the date granularity with one click using this dropdown menu. Learn more about granularity. | Date | System wide | — |
Non-Additive | This field is reserved for future use. | — | — | — |
Custom Chart Color | Any custom chart colors set here will be used when Yellowfin creates charts. | Metric | System wide | — |
Filter Value Case | Selecting Uppercase or Lowercase for this field activates a backend operation which converts the filter value into the selected case. Anything you set for a field here will be used when Yellowfin runs an SQL query with this field. It is never reflected in how field values are displayed in reports or other content produced by Yellowfin. | Dimension | System wide | — |
Mandatory Filter | If a dimension or date field has this option set, it must be included with every Guided NLQ question. In Guided NLQ, an orange dot will appear next to mandatory fields in the dropdowns. In reports, mandatory filters must be included at the Report Builder stage, although when published, the filter can be left without any values selected. | Dimensions, date | System wide | — |
Field Usage Restrictions | This red checkbox works differently to the blue tick-style checkboxes. If a red checkbox on the dropdown is checked, some restrictions have been applied. Click on the dropdown to see the full list. The Load Filter Values is used only for Guided NLQ. For fields with many values, this option can be disabled (red cross on) to prevent Yellowfin from querying the database for possible values when Guided NLQ displays the field values as a list. This can improve performance of the system. The user can instead type a value. | Metric, dimension, date, filter | System wide (excluding Load Filter Values which is used for Guided NLQ only) | For metrics and dimensions, Restrict by Access Filter and Filter text suggestions are restricted (checked). For non-date hierarchy dates, Drill Anywhere and Restrict by Access Filter are restricted (checked). For dates that are part of a date hierarchy, Restrict by Access Filter is restricted (checked). |
All of the above fields can be enabled and/or configured for via the Automation Settings dialog box. As noted in the table, some of these settings may also affect other areas of Yellowfin. Make sure that you are aware of shared settings before you save any changes.
For more information on how to use these settings for specific functionality, such as Guided NLQ, please see the relevant section of the wiki.
Setting field usage restrictions
Administrators can influence how data is made available and used at report level by customizing these settings. For example, you may wish to prevent a field from being displayed as a column in a report table if its main purpose is to facilitate an advanced function.
Note that most of these restrictions apply to content used from reports with the exception of Load Filter Values, which is used exclusively for Guided NLQ Refer to the table below for further details.
| Restriction | Description |
|---|---|
| Display Column | Checking this box hides the column from displaying in reports and charts. It is still visible in the Report Builder, in the list of columns above the table, although its contents are not displayed in the table. See Field Settings for further details. |
| Grouping | Checking this box hides the Group Data option from the field's column dropdown in the Report Builder. See Field Settings for further details. |
| Drill Anywhere | Checking this box prevents the Drill Anywhere option from being available in the Report Builder. See Field Settings for further details. |
| Sort Column | Checking this box hides the Sorting option from the field's column dropdown in the Report Builder. It also hides the Sorting option in the column's formatting settings. See Field Settings for further details. |
| Calculations | Checking this box disabled the field from being used as part of a calculated field. See Calculated Fields for further details. |
| Restrict by Access Filter | Checking this box disables access filter restrictions on this field, so no restrictions apply. See Restricting Data with Access Filters for further details. |
| Filter text suggestions | Checking this box disables the option to use text suggestions with user prompt filters. See Filter Text Suggestions for further details. |
| Load Filter Values | Load Filter Values is used only for Guided NLQ. For fields with many values, checking this box disables Yellowfin from querying the database for possible values when Guided NLQ displays the field values as a list. This can improve performance of the system. The user can instead type a value. See Setting up Guided NLQ for further details. |