Create your own charts

Owned by Olivier Grenet
Jan 31, 2023
4 min read

The customization of Analytics has taken a leap forward since the 2022.2 version.

Previously, we only allowed creating a personalized dashboard based on existing ones. However, starting from this version, you can create your own chart and add it to a dashboard.

To do so, go to the Analytics screen, access your personal dashboard, and look for the new "Create a Custom Chart" button.

By clicking on it, a popup with different steps will open:

  • Step 1 : Choosing the chart type

The first step is to choose the shape of your personnalized chart. The 5 types enables you to have different representation of your data.

  • Step 2 : The scope of the analysis

The second step is to narrow the scope of the analysis so you will have a precise chart. According to the scope you choose, you may see another radio button to precise the objects type you want to select.

Note : Because a dashboard only contains data about one scope, the scope choice might be disabled if you are building a chart in a dashboard that already contains some charts. It will be automatically set to the current one.

  • Step 3 : The aggregation(s)

To build this chart, we use ElasticSearch which will perform “aggregations” (sums) on the data.

This step is about to define the different computation methods that will be performed on the data.

Note : The options you get on this step might differ according to your choices to the 2 previous steps.

We will see 2 different examples so you can understand how it works :

In this first case : I have chosen to build a “Table” on my “Metadata statistics” only on “DAM Objects“, let’s review the different options that I have :

First, select an "Aggregation Field". This field determines the basis for the main aggregation.

For example, if you choose "User", the table will show the top 50 users who performed any action in the DAM.

Next, choose the method to aggregate them. You can either choose "Sum" or "Sum Single Value".

If you select "Sum", it will simply add up the actions of each user and display the top 50.

On the other hand, selecting "Sum Single Value" allows you to add another dimension to your analysis. For example, if you choose "Browser", the table will show different users and the numbers will represent the number of browsers used by each user to perform an action, which is referred to as sub-aggregation.

In this second case : I have chosen to build a “Count” on my “Metadata statistics” only on “DAM Objects“, let’s review the different options that I have :

I have only to choose the method ( Sum or Sum single value) and the field on which I will make the aggregation.

  • Step 4 : Limit the actions

This step enables to select some of the actions that we stored in ElasticSearch. For example, if you only want to draw a chart about “downloads”, you can select it in the dropdown and click next.

  • Step 5 : Limit the query

The next step is about to filter the results, you can compare it to the filter you are adding the toolbar in the default dashboards : it enables you only select some events.

  • Step 6 : Give your chart a name

It’s important to choose a precise name so you can remember what your chart is about.

  • Step 7 : The preview

The last step shows you the preview of the chart you just builded, based on the different options that you’ve set. You can change the period of time, and save it if you’re happy with the result. Otherwise you can come back in the steps and redraw it as you like!