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Baseline in Visualization chart

  • 1.  Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Thu November 14, 2019 08:20 AM

    Is there a way to add a baseline to a line Viz, or if there is no baseline option, add it another way? We are using Cognos 11.1.3

    Thanks,

    Heather



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    Heather
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    #CognosAnalyticswithWatson


  • 2.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    IBM Champion
    Posted Thu November 14, 2019 09:19 AM
    Edited by System Fri January 20, 2023 04:35 PM
    Hi Heather, you could add multiple measures (2 in this case) to a line chart as part of the dashboard. One could be your actual and the other being the baseline value.
    To make it appear like a baseline, I normally uncheck the marker option from visualization properties panel. Cognos groups the measure to create a measure group and you can use custom palette to assign color to the 2 lines. For eg. red for baseline and blue for actual value. It looks like below screenshot:



    Sri

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    Sri Vijay Bharat Peddi
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  • 3.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Thu November 14, 2019 10:27 AM

    So the baseline option has definitely been removed? I thought I was just missing something when I couldn't find it. Is the same true for trendlines?

     

    Chris






  • 4.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Fri November 15, 2019 09:39 AM
    Hi Chris,

    Trendlines and Baselines continue to be part of the properties in the Charts visualization library, which gives you access to the Charts from Cognos 8 and 10 in Reports.  They are not properties of the newer built-in report Visualizations, nor are they properties of the built-in Dashboard Visualizations.  

    You could certainly submit an RFE for Baselines and Trendlines and perhaps they'll get added to the built-in visualizations if enough of us vote for the enhancement.

    With 11.1.4 you have the ability to incorporate external javascript-based visualizations (such as D3) into the tool -- so perhaps one or more of those would include baseline and/or trendline functionality (I haven't done enough research to know if such visualizations exist)... so perhaps that's another route you can take.

    I've been using the Target data slot recently to mimic a baseline in Column/Bar charts in Dashboards.  That requires a measure in your data set that represents the baseline value, but it displays pretty well.

    Best of luck!

    Rich

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    Richard Chester
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  • 5.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Fri November 15, 2019 08:14 AM
    Hi Sri,

    Sorry I am more familiar with older charts, not as much with visualizations. I'm  not using a dashboard, this is a visualization in a report, does that make a difference? How are you adding two measures? I am unable to add two values in the Value area. I can add two values in the Color area, but my second measure still does not show. Also, not sure what you mean by 'marker' in the properties? I don't see that one. 

    Thanks for your time!





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    Heather
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  • 6.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Fri November 15, 2019 09:04 AM
    I'm glad I'm not the only one. There definitely seem to be some things that are harder to do in the new UI / visualisations...to the point where I've considered using legacy charts for some things. Most of what I do is in reports rather than dashboards.

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    Chris Turner
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  • 7.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Fri November 15, 2019 03:54 PM
    There are a HUGE number of benefits in the legacy Chart objects, but yeah, they only work in Reports.  I would imagine that the modern Viz objects will close most of those gaps eventually, but given the shifting standards (D3 now seems to be the go-to), this is taking a lot longer than expected.  The openness of D3 is great, but writing custom viz specifications is a very scarce skill set.  My only hesitation in using legacy Charts would be potential drop of support for them in the long-term.

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    Albert Valdez
    albert@intelalytics.com
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  • 8.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Sun November 17, 2019 06:34 AM
    Hi all

    Just to correct the discussion a little bit ;-)
    - D3 is not an replacement for the visualizations coming with CA - we will continue to enhance the existing ones and add more visualizations in future releases. D3 and other JavaScript based visualization's like HighChart and GoogleChart are an addition, making it possible to add custom visualization's.
    - Trendlines, baselines etc are on the roadmap so should hopefully turn up soon... please continue voting for the enhancement requests like https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.aha.io/ideas/CAOP-I-717

    Torben

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    Torben Noer
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  • 9.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Mon November 18, 2019 08:00 AM

    Hi all,

    I can use legacy charts, but does anyone have a work around for viz. in reports? besides customizing the viz? or is this just not there yet? wanted to clarify. 

    Thanks,

    Heather



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    Heather
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  • 10.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Mon November 18, 2019 08:14 AM
    sidenote to @Albert Valdez I totally agree, there is so much more functionality in the legacy charts, I am disappointed that the viz objects have minimal object oriented ability to manipulate the graphing data that the legacy charts possess.  @Torben Noer I was also surprised that there are so few votes to include this and other legacy functionality to the new visualizations, has this been passed to the customer to figure out? Do you know if IBM's plan is to instead expecting businesses to have an in-house person for customizing going forward? or will IBM continue to improve their visualizations?

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    Heather
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  • 11.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Tue November 19, 2019 03:09 AM
    Hi Heather

    It's coming very soon ;-) So no, you would not need to customize viz's to bring this in....

    Torben

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    Torben Noer
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  • 12.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    IBM Champion
    Posted Mon November 18, 2019 08:05 AM
    Hi Heather, I was referring to the dashboard line visualization which allows you to add multiple measures. Even the marker property I was referring to, is specific to dashboards.

    Sri

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    Sri Vijay Bharat Peddi
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  • 13.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Mon November 18, 2019 08:16 AM
    Ok, thanks anyway @sri vijay bharat peddi, ​I'll keep digging : )

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    Heather
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  • 14.  RE: Baseline in Visualization chart

    Posted Tue November 19, 2019 07:46 AM
    easiest fix for now, update the legacy charts to look like a viz chart:
    • Entire Chart Font – Ariel 12 PT Normal Normal, GREY
    • Axis Title Fonts – Change Weight to Normal
    • Axis Line Properties -  Uncheck Axis Line box
    • Line Chart Pallet – Change each line to 2pt, on properties tab Hide marker borders, (optional update colors)
    • Baseline - change to dotted line, 2pt, (optional change color)
    • Primary Axis – (optional increase Major Interval value)


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    Heather
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