In the last two posts I have covered using Visio 2013 with data and displaying it quite simply in a dashboard. This very quick post is going to cover how to use data graphics to do simple calculations and show adjust the data graphic accordingly.

Configure Data

For this example we are going to use the same data as before, except this time our students have a target and not just a grade

We are going to use Visio to give us a graphical view of how the student is performing

Create Visio Diagram

I am not going to go over how to create the diagram as this was covered in post 1 & 2 of the series (click on the numbers to access them)

So the screenshot below shows the external data being used and the data graphics. All of this is being done in Office 365 again

As you can see we have all the data in view but its a bit boring, plus its not immediately obvious how the students are performing

We are going to add an icon to the graphic to give us that instant feedback, to do this right click on one of the data graphics and select Data | Edit Data Graphic

As you can see, the current data is all there just displayed as text, although I have played around a bit with font sizes and headings to make it look a little bit better

You can use fields within the data as many times as you like so we are going to add the Grade field again by selecting New Item

Select all the options you need, in this case we are going to use the Grade data field again and I have selected Icon Set for the data to be displayed as and the style of icons I want

I want to show green if the student is above grade, red if they are below grade and a yellow triangle if they are currently at grade, lets start with above grade

Click where it says equals and select greater than

In the next box select More Fields

In this box select Shape Data, this will then allow you to choose from the external data choices, so in this case we are going to select Target as we want to compare the students current grade to their target

You should end up with it looking like this

Here is the rest of the icons filled in, take note that any you don’t want to use just change the setting to Not Used

Click OK and then OK on the Edit Data Graphic dialogue box

Visio now shows the data but also has a very clear indication of the current status of the student using the icons I configured earlier.

Saving the file to Office 365 will also allow non Visio client users to access the drawing and view the data as well

Conclusion

So what I have shown you in this post is how you can use Visio to carry out calculations against your data and display it in various ways or in this case as icons to give instant feedback on a students progress.

You could of course use these types of facilities to present graphical representations of stock levels against a reorder number, budgets against set warning criteria or even your personal finances against set warning levels.

In a previous post I showed how to create a very simple dashboard in Visio 2013 from an external data source. In this post we are going to surface that data using Office 365 Visio services.

Please note that all the work and screenshots is done in what is commonly called Wave 15 of Office 365, so with all the new 2013 versions of SharePoint

Create List

In Office 365 I am going to use a list to keep the data that was originally in the spreadsheet. Simply create a new list and enter the data

Add Data To Visio

Open Visio and start a blank diagram and add the data from the SharePoint list, this time selecting the option for SharePoint Foundation list. Click Next

Enter the URL for the site that stores the list and click Next

From the list of lists select the list you created with your data and then click Next and then Finish to create the connection

The data should now show at the bottom of your Visio window

Create Data Graphic

Select all of the data and drag it onto the Visio diagram page

Using the same techniques as shown in the previous post, manipulate the data graphics to suit your design criteria, this is how mine looks after a bit of manipulation

Don’t forget to configure the refresh as well, right click on the external data and select Configure Refresh

Saving The Diagram

Once you are happy with your data graphics then save the file to a document library on the Office 365 SharePoint site, you don’t need to save it in any particular format, just use the standard Visio file format

Viewing the Graphic

Your users can now access the Visio diagram by navigating to the document library and opening the Visio file, it will simply open up in the Web App, so no need for them to have Visio installed

Clicking on any of the shapes will allow the user to select the Shape Info option to view information about the shape, they can also make comments if you allow it.

Refreshing Data

The best thing about using Visio services in Office 365 is the refresh system, anyone who has rights can change the SharePoint list data and when the graphic is opened it will show the new data. If h

However the graphic is already opened then the user can simply press the Refresh button in the Visio window to load the latest version of the data

Conclusion

So with the previous post and now this one you can create some very simple dashboards that contain data, your users don’t need access to Visio to view your dashboards and the data can be changed in the background.

Let me know if you create any cool Visio & Office 365 based dashboards, I would love to highlight them on here.