What is a Bar Report?

The Bar Report displays learner performance with a bar chart. It displays horizontal or vertical bars based on measure values. You can use multiple measures on the same chart or set up a series of charts that measure anything from score to KPI measurements. 

Creating and Editing a Bar Report

Use the report builder to create new Bar reports and to configure existing Bar reports.

Bar Report Filters and Options

Beyond the typical report builder filters and options, the Bar report provides options that are unique to the Bar report.

Bar Filter

Select Bar from the report selection menu and then click Bar in the filter menu:

In the Bar filter, you’ll use the different menu items to customize your report.

Organized Menu

On the Organized menu, you’ll choose what you’d like to rank on the Bar report. Choose an option from the Organized menu and the Bar report will organize data by what you’ve chosen.

For example, if you choose By Group in the Organized menu, your Bar report will be organized by group, and each bar will represent a different group:

Measures Menu

On the Measures menu, you’ll choose how you’d like to rank what you chose in the Organized menu. You can choose multiple measures for the same Bar report.

For example, if you choose By Person in the Organized menu and you chose Completion Count as a measure, your Bar report will be organized by people and the Completion Count bar will show the number of activities each person has completed:

To add a measure to the Bar report, choose a measure from the Select a Measure menu and click the Add Measure button next to the menu. You’ll see the measure added to the Bar report, and the measure will be added to the Measures section. Every measure you add will be represented by a different bar. To deselect a measure, click the X next to the Measure in the Measures section.

Orientation Menu

The Orientation menu is used to configure if bars should be oriented horizontally or vertically. Generally, reports with a small number of items and multiple unstacked measures work well with a vertical orientation, and reports with a large number of items and one or two measures (or stacked measures) work well with a horizontal orientation. Orientation can also be a useful way to create variety on your dashboard if you have a lot of bar reports.

Charts Menu

The Charts menu controls whether multiple measures will be shown side by side on a single chart, or as separate charts. This only affects detail view and the dashboard view will always show measures on a single chart. 

Select Single chart when you want to compare the values of measures for each item. Select Charts by measure when you want to look at each measure on its own. This is the detail view of a bar report with the Charts by measure option selected: 

Stacking Menu

The Stacking menu determines if bars will be show side by side (Not Stacked) or stacked on top of one another. Stacked charts can either show the actual values, or stacked bars as a percentage for each item (a bit like a rectangular pie). Stacking cannot be used in conjunction with Charts by measure in detail view, since the bars need to be on the same chart to stack!

Use Stacked bars when you want to compare total values of a number of measures across items. For example, total time to complete learner content and total time to complete the assessment would add up to show total time in a course. Use Stacked Percent bars when you want to compare the the differences in measure values for each item and are less concerned with comparing the overall total. For example, comparing relative self-survey competency scores of a team where the difference in score between competencies is more important than the actual score recorded.

Default Sort Menu

The default sort menu determines the order bars will be sorted by default, before the report viewer selects a different sort. You can sort either by the dimension, or by one of the measures. Sorting Ascending means that lower numbers or letters near the start of the alphabet will be listed first. Sorting Descending means that higher numbers or letters nearer the end of the alphabet will be listed first. Items are listed from the top or left of the chart depending on the orientation.

Data Labels

Data Labels show the actual value for each bar on the chart without needing to hover. When Show is chosen, data labels will be on the chart. When Hide is chosen, the user will need to over over the bars to see the actual values.

An example of Data Labels being set to Show:

Advanced Configuration

Certain settings are only configurable in Advanced Configuration.

"-dimension[0].label"

"measure[1].value"

The value of the default sort property contains four pieces of information:

1. Whether to sort ascending (default) or descending ("-" prefix).
2. Whether to sort by a dimension or by a measure.
3. The index of the dimension or measure to sort by.
4. Whether to sort by the measure value or by its label.

 Related: Check out our Advanced Configuration guide for more information on customizing your reports.

Benchmarks

Benchmarks can be added in two different ways to Bar reports both by using advanced configuration. 

Creating Static Benchmarks

If there is a desire to show a static red line across the Bar report to signify a benchmark, this can be accomplished by adding a benchmark at the measure level.

An example of a benchmark configuration that would be added to a measure is as follows:

"benchmark": { 
  "type": "SIMPLE",
  "value": 75 
}

Creating Dynamic Benchmarks

Dynamic benchmarks can be created using a formula measure and adding the benchmark at the report level. This will create another bar added on to the report with a "(target)" appended to the corresponding measure that is configured in the benchmarks block. An example of a benchmark configuration that would be added at the report level:

{
  "benchmarks": {
    "m0": {
      "type": "FORMULA",
      "formula": "(m1 * 0.5) + m2"
    }
  }
}

Adding 2 measures and 2 benchmarks in this way will yield a report like this: