SpendMap User Guide (v15)

Field

Description

Code

•Used to reference the dashboard on screens and reports.

•Can be 15 characters in length and any combination of letters and/or numbers but cannot contain the following: (. , / \ * ? < > + = | : ; " [ ] # % @ ( ) spaces or high-level ASCII characters).

•This is a mandatory field.

Description/Title

•The description/title shows at the top of the browser window when viewing the dashboard.

Comment

•Comments or notes that show at the bottom of the browser window when viewing the dashboard, to help with the interpretation of the dashboard (eg. a notice to reader).

•Use [BOILERPLATE] to insert a boilerplate clause where the cursor is positioned.

Button

Description

[ADD]

•Add a new KPI.  You will be prompted to select a KPI, after which you will be brought to the KPI Details Screen to modify the KPI details as needed.

•The new KPI will be added to the bottom of the list but will be reorganized in the list based on the position (i.e. row and column) that you specify, once you [SORT] or [SAVE] the dashboard configuration.

[MODIFY]

•Modify the selected KPI.  This will take you to the KPI Details Screen.

[DELETE]

•Remove the selected KPI from the list.

[INSERT]

•This is used to insert a new KPI somewhere in the middle of the list.

•Rather than actually adding a new KPI to the list, this button is used to increment the row or position for all KPIs in the list that are below the currently selected KPI, thereby creating a "blank" space for you to [ADD] a new KPI.

[COPY]

•Copy the selected KPI.  You can then [MODIFY] the new KPI as needed.

•The new KPI will be added to the bottom of the list but will be reorganized in the list based on the position (i.e. row and column) that you specify, once you [SORT] or [SAVE] the dashboard configuration.

[SORT]

•Reorganize the list based on the position (i.e. row and column) specified for each KPI.

•To also remove any blank/missing rows and columns, use [SAVE] instead.

[PREVIEW DASHBOARD]

•Generates the dashboard based on current data in your system and displays the dashboard in your web browser.

•Depending on the number of KPIs on the dashboard and the amount of data in your system, this may take several minutes.  However, the information will be cached (remembered) and, assuming nothing significant changes, the next time you preview the dashboard it should take less time to generate.

Field

Description

Time Period

•The time period or time interval to include in the calculation of the KPI.

•This will only be available for "historical" KPIs that span time (e.g. amount spent, number of transactions in a time period, etc.) but will not be available for KPIs that show a "snapshot" at a particular moment in time (e.g. number of orders that are currently late, number of requisitions waiting for approval, etc.).

•If you select Day, Week, Month, Quarter or Year, enter the number of Past and Future time periods to include, using the fields below.

•Also please note the "Time period  option" below.

•If you select "Date Range", you can fill in the starting and ending date to include in the adjacent fields. More...

Past periods to display

•If you select Day, Week, Month, Quarter or Year for the Time Period in the field above, this field is used to specify how many previous periods to include in the calculation of the KPI.

•The number of periods that you specify includes the current period, so the minimum value for this field is 1.   For example, if the current date is December 5th and you select to include the past 3 months, the KPI will include October 1st to December 31st.

Calendar or fiscal time periods?

Future periods to display

•Some KPIs can have dates into the future (eg. accruals can have a payment date into the future based on the delivery date of the item and the terms of payment for the order), so this field can be used to indicate how many periods into the future you would like to include in the calculation, if any.

Time period option

•If you select to include more than one Day, Week, Month, Quarter or Year for the Time Period above, this option can be used to either 1) display data for each time period separately (i.e. create a separate object on the dashboard for each time period), or 2) to combine the data for all time periods into a single object on the dashboard.

•For example, if you select to include three years' worth of data, do you want one graph for all three years, or three separate graphs (one for each year)?

Scope

•This option can be used to limit the data that is included in the KPI.  For example, you may want to see spending history for only your top 5 suppliers, or perhaps a Department Manager only needs to see the status of the budget for their own Cost Center but not others.

•So, like the Time Period option above, in many cases you will limit (filter) the data that is displayed for a KPI.  Most KPIs offer between 5 and 10 scope options (e.g. by supplier, by cost center, by user, etc.), so while there are around 50 available KPIs, there are in fact hundreds of unique options to choose from when creating your dashboards.

•Use the "Code selection option" field, below, to select the codes to include.

Code selection option

•When using a scope other than "all data", this is used to select the code(s) to include in the KPI.

•For each code that is included, a separate data point or object will be included on the dashboard, so generally the number of codes should be limited to around 10 or so.  You can, however, include as many codes as you like, but you may need to adjust the size of the object to allow for enough room.

•If you use "Selected codes", use the adjacent "User Selected Codes" area and associated buttons to [ADD] and [DELETE] codes from the list.  Click [NEW] to delete all codes (start over).

•NOTE: When using the "Top n codes" option, this will include the top codes for each time period included.   So, for example, if you include the top 5 suppliers, the graph may show data for more than 5 unique suppliers, if there are different "top suppliers" in different time periods.

•When the scope is based on the User, Cost Center, Division or Inventory Location, you can use the "Based on current user" option to dynamically adjust the dashboard based on the user that is viewing it. More...

Scope display option

•If you have selected multiple time periods AND multiple codes using the options above, this option will determine how the data is displayed for the codes in the selected scope.

•"X-axis grouping" will display the data for the selected codes along the bottom of the X-axis and the time periods will become the multiple series for the chart.

•Conversely, "Series" will display the time periods along the bottom of the X-axis and the data for the selected codes will be multiple series for the chart.

Show me...

Include description?

•Check this box to include the description of each code on the dashboard (e.g. supplier's name, user's name, etc.) in addition to the code itself.

•This might be used if you do not use meaningful Master File codes.

•Including the descriptions will use up more space on the dashboard, so make sure to [PREVIEW] the KPI.

Object type

•When selecting the object type for the KPI, consider the Time Period and Scope that you are using, as some object types are suitable for displaying single values, while others are more appropriate for displaying multiple values.  For example, a Radial Gauge or a Digital Panel might be used to display "spend for your entire history" (a single value), whereas a Bar Chart or Pie Chart would be more suitable for displaying, say, the last 5 years of spend (e.g. to show a separate bar for each year).

•If you select a "single value" object type (e.g. Radial Gauge) but the Time Period and/or Scope include multiple pieces of data (e.g. multiple years, multiple suppliers, etc.), then SpendMap will create multiple objects on the dashboard (one for each piece of data).

Color palette

•Some object types allow you to select from a variety of color palettes, while others are hard coded to Blue (the default palette).  Your choice will affect the areas of the object that display the data (e.g. bars in a bar chart, slices in a pie chart, etc.) but not the background colors, which are hard coded.

•Note the "number of unique colors" and select a color palette that has enough unique colors to suit the number of different data groups on your chart. The default is "Blue" which includes the maximum of 18 unique colors and is therefore recommended.

Object width X height

•The total size of the object, in pixels, including labels, legend, etc.

•The size that you specify will need to take into account the nature of the data that you are displaying and may require some experimentation.  For example, a bar chart showing data for your top 10 suppliers will obviously need to be wider than the same type of chart showing the top 3 suppliers.

•For some object types, the height will be hard coded to the width that you specify (e.g. round objects, like pie charts).

•For most object types, 500 pixels (or so) is a good starting point.  Just use the [PREVIEW KPI] button to test your results, then adjust accordingly.

•TIP: The actual size of the object when viewing the dashboard will depend on each user's screen resolution. You can scale the entire dashboard larger or smaller using the scaling/zoom feature in your web browser.

Display row/column

•The vertical and horizontal position that the KPI will appear on the dashboard. Show me...

•The position that you entered for the last KPI is displayed for your reference.

•Since you are specifying the vertical and horizontal position of each KPI relative to the other KPIs on the dashboard, you don't have to concern yourself with the actual position of each KPI (e.g. in pixels, inches, etc.).  The actual position of each KPI will be determined by the row/column that you specify, as well as the size of each object that you specify in the adjacent field.

•Don't worry about overlapping or gaps in the positions that you specify - when you [SAVE] the dashboard configuration,  the positions for all KPIs will be reorganized  automatically so that they are sequential, and any blank or missing rows and columns will be removed.

Maximum value

•Used to select the upper limit for the object.

•If you enter zero (0), SpendMap will determine the upper limit automatically based on the data when generating the dashboard.

•Usage Example: For a KPI showing "amount of budget used", you might set the Max Value as the total budgeted amount.

Multiples factor

•Used to reduce large numbers down to values that are easier to interpret (eg. thousands, millions, etc.). When selected, all data values will be divided by this factor and a note will appear near the KPI on the dashboard (eg. "In millions").

Scale step value

•For object types that include a scale, you can determine the step value (ie. number of increments between major scale points).  For example, a value of 25% will result in 4 equal segments with corresponding scale indicators, while a value of 5% would result in 20 equal segments. Show me...

X-axis label orientation

•For charts that include an X/Y axis, this is used to rotate the labels, should they overlap. Show me...

Label position

•Available for pie charts only, this is used to select where the label will be displayed, either as a (separate) legend next to the pie chart, or within (or close to) the slices of the pie chart itself. Show me...

Include trend line?

•For X/Y chart types, check this box to include a trend line to show the average trend direction and slope (ie. rate of change) of the data. Show me...

•NOTE: For objects that include multiple time periods, the current (most recent) period may be incomplete (e.g. you might view the dashboard part way through your fiscal year or month).  If so, SpendMap will prorate the value for the current time period to extrapolate what the total value will be at the end of the period, and will use that value for the purposes of drawing the trend line.  This is done to avoid "dragging down" the trend line (which would be misleading) for incomplete time periods.  For more details, see the notes for "Past periods to display", above.

Include value labels?
and
Label Orientation

•Check this box if you would like to display the exact value for each data point on a chart, then select the label orientation (vertical or horizontal) in the adjacent field. Show me...

•Depending on the type and size of object that you are using, the labels may overlap, so please [PREVIEW] the KPI and adjust as necessary.