As of Date Reporting

[dylanwan]

Introduction

A commonly seen reporting requirement is to view data as of a specific date in the past or as of a range of days in a period.  This post discusses techniques that can help optimize the runtime performance of dashboard that use as of date reporting.

What you need to know before reading this article

We will use the following features from Incorta:

• Presentation variable
• Applied filter of a dashboard
• Insight filter
• Measure filter

You can find these topics in Incorta documentation.

Let's Go

Use a presentation variable in the applied filter at the dashboard level

As-of-date based reports show data relative to a date.  This date should be the driving filter for all data in the dashboard.  Instead of adding filters in many places, such as an insight filter for every insight or a measure filter in every measure, the filter should be applied at the dashboard level.

Filter out unneeded data with an applied filter 

Dashboard filters are applied before other filters.  Using an applied filter can reduce the data processed by downstream processes such as insight filters and measure filters.

For example, if a dashboard is showing a comparison of data for the last three years, do not bring more than three year worth of data into the dashboard.  Instead, use an applied filter to limit the size of the data.

Related Material

• Dashboard Design for Performance
• Variables
• Dashboard Design Principles