The Business Analytics Explorer (BA) allows you to view data across multiple "entities" in SI: Projects, Project Items, Clients, Change Orders, Purchase Orders, Tasks, Service Orders, and Service Plans. This article will cover the basics of the default BA in SI but you can also create your own custom BA.
You can access this interface via Start->Reports->Manage Business Analytics:
You can also access BA via the Business Analytics buttons throughout SI on the Explorer ribbons.
When you click one these buttons, a list of BA will display to run, filtered to the entity from whose ribbon you clicked the button. Running any BA will open the Business Analytics Explorer:
On the left side there is a list of the stock BA in SI, organized by entity.
There are two types of BA: Chart and List. A chart-type BA displays the data as either a Bar, Column, or Pie chart (example shown above).
A list-type BA displays more like a spreadsheet of data with columns/rows:
There are a few things to explain here regarding terminology. Leads are Clients that do not have a Project, Service Order, or Service Plan associated with them. A Lead becomes a Prospect when a Project/Service Order/Service Plan is created. A Prospect becomes a Client when a Project or Service Plan is approved, or when a Service Order's Status changed from "Not Started".
An Opportunity is a Project that has not been moved to a Status with a State of "Won":
Chart-type BA have a list of available groupings (one will be set as the default grouping) and the list varies by entity:
You can double-click a chart-type BA name or grouping to generate the chart (if you double the name of the BA, the default grouping will be used). You can also click the Run button on the ribbon.
When you run a BA, you can then change the way the data is displayed via the controls along the top of the interface.
Note: Changing these settings on a default BA will not be saved for future use, i.e. you can't permanently edit our default BA. If you wish to make your changes to a default BA permanent, first clone the BA to create a new one and then set your preferences. Click here to learn how create your own Business Analytics.
All of the default chart-type BA in SI are set to Column by default and most have one data set but you can have up to two data sets for Column or Bar charts.
List-type BA do not have groupings listed beneath them as there are no groupings for these.
Similar to Chart-type BA you can then change the way the data is displayed via the controls along the top of the interface using the Filter button:
Note: Changing these settings on a default BA will not be saved for future use, i.e. you can't permanently edit our default BA. If you wish to make your changes to a default BA permanent, first clone the BA to create a new one and then set your preferences. Click here to learn how create your own Business Analytics.
The default Home page in SI is a webpage, similar to the one shown below:
When you first install and launch SI (and until you either set it up or check the box not be reminded) you will be prompted to set up which BA you want to display on your Home page when SI launches.
When you click Yes on the prompt the following interface will open where you can select up to six BA to display and can put them in the order you prefer using the up/down arrows:
Note: Project Item BA are not available for display on the Home Page due to load time.
Your choices will display on the Home page, two side-by-side:
After initial setup, if you wish to change the BA the that display on the Home page, click your user name in the upper-right corner of the SI interface:
Then click the Home Page Analytics button on the My Account Information dialog:
You can also change your Home Page Analytics directly in the Business Analytics Explorer:
There are specific User Group Permissions for Business Analytics that will grant or deny users permissions to manage each entity:
In addition, your other User Group Permissions could limit what BA you have access to view, e.g. if you don't have permission to view Cost/Price for a Project you will not be able to view any BA that use those fields.