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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-05-17
Setup Considerations: Charts

Setup Considerations: Charts

You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of charts. It explains:
  • Why to set them up.
  • How they fit into the rest of Workday.
  • Downstream impacts and cross-product interactions.
  • Security requirements and business process configurations.
  • Questions and limitations to consider before implementation.
Refer to detailed task instructions for full configuration details.

What They Are

Charts enable you to display data in an output type that best fits your business needs. You can compare metrics, view the relationship between sets of data, and visualize changes for these report types:
  • Advanced
  • Composite
  • Matrix
  • Trending

Business Benefits

Charts in Workday:
  • Are the most efficient way to analyze and dynamically interact with your data.
  • Enable you to change from 1 chart type to another when the report runs, so you can determine the best chart type to represent your data.
  • Enable you to gain insight by drilling into the data.

Use Cases

The chart type that you select depends on the data that you need to display and how Workday should display it. You can:
  • Analyze the relationship between the whole and each part of the whole by using a donut chart. Example: The percentage of open positions against all positions in your organization.
  • Compare metrics with different scales by overlaying 2 charts.
  • Display consolidated management information and actionable items by adding a worklet to a dashboard.
  • Display data in 3D using an area, bar, or line chart.
  • Plot data over time by using a line chart. Example: The number of new hires for each quarter over a fiscal year.
  • Plot relationships between data by using a bubble chart. Example: The average invoiced amount versus the total invoiced amount for each supplier.
  • Plot the relationship between numeric values by using a scatter chart. Example: The performance of a worker population as a percentage against their retention risk.
  • View a single value and its percentage on a gauge, like a speedometer in a car, by using a gauge chart.
  • View data for each category by using a bar or column chart. Example: The top 10 organizations in your company with the highest headcount.

Questions to Consider

Questions
Considerations
What kind of data do you need to represent in charts?
You can deliver data in different ways to capture averages, benchmarks, trends, and so on, as:
  • Comparisons.
  • Parts of a whole.
  • Patterns and relationships among multiple values.
  • Target line deviation.
  • Time series analysis.
How do you want to present your data visually?
The availability of some chart types depends on the report type that you select. You can:
  • Combine an area - overlaid, column - clustered, or line chart to create a dual-axis chart on composite, matrix, and trending reports.
  • Use a gauge on advanced reports to display a single value of data and its percentage on a dial.
  • Use a scatter chart on advanced reports to plot the relationship between pairs of numeric values.
  • Use a table with columns and rows to display your data in a grid.
You can use all other chart types on any report type that enables output options.

Recommendations

Use the
Table
output option on subreports so that data displays on a composite report without errors.

Requirements

  • To display area, bar, and line charts in 3D, use Report Designer, which is an application of the Eclipse Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) project.
  • To display your data on a chart, you must have enough data to populate the chart. Example: If you have only 1 category or data series to plot, a donut chart wouldn't be the best option for displaying your data.

Limitations

  • Workday doesn't support dual-axis and combination charts on mobile devices.
  • You can't print charts or export them to Excel.

Tenant Setup

No impact.

Security

The
Custom Field Management
domain in the System functional area enables you to create and manage custom fields, including gauge ranges.

Business Processes

No impact.

Reporting

You can view the chart types supported by custom reports on the
All Custom Reports
report.

Integrations

No impact.

Connections and Touchpoints

Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.