Tutorial: Adding a KPI to Your Report (Report Builder)

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A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that has business significance. This tutorial teaches you how to include a (KPI) in a report. In this scenario, the sales summary by product subcategories is the KPI. The current state of the KPI is shown by using colors, gauges, and indicators.

The following illustration shows the report that you will create.

rs_AddKPITutorial

What You Will Learn

In this tutorial, you will learn to add a KPI by setting the background color of table cells based on cell value and add and configure a gauge and an indicator. You also learn to write the expression that sets the background color of the table cells.

This tutorial contains the following procedures:

  1. Create a Table Report and Dataset from the Table or Matrix Wizard

  2. Organize Data, Choose Layout, and Style from the Table or Matrix Wizard

  3. Use Background Colors to Display a KPI

  4. Display a KPI by Using a Gauge

  5. Display a KPI by Using an Indicator

  6. Add a Report Title

  7. Save the Report

Note

In this tutorial, the steps for the wizard are consolidated into two procedures: one to create the dataset and one to create a table. For step-by-step instructions about how to browse to a report server, choose a data source, create a dataset, and run the wizard, see the first tutorial in this series: Tutorial: Creating a Basic Table Report (Report Builder).

Estimated time to complete this tutorial: 15 minutes.

Requirements

For more information about requirements, see Prerequisites for Tutorials (Report Builder).

1. Create a Table Report and Dataset from the Table or Matrix Wizard

From the Getting Started dialog box, choose a shared data source, create an embedded dataset, and display the data in a table.

Note

In this tutorial, the query contains the data values, so that it does not need an external data source. This makes the query quite long. In a business environment, a query would not contain the data. This is for learning purposes only.

To create a new table

  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Report Builder, and then click Report Builder.

    The Getting Started dialog box appears.

    Note

    If the Getting Started dialog box does not appear, from the Report Builder button, click New.

  2. In the left pane, verify that New Report is selected.

  3. In the right pane, click Table or Matrix Wizard.

  4. On the Choose a dataset page, click Create a dataset.

  5. Click Next.

  6. On the Choose a connection to a data source page, select an existing data source or browse to the report server and select a data source. If there no data source is available or you do not have access to a report server, you can use an embedded data source instead. For more information, see Tutorial: Creating a Basic Table Report (Report Builder).

  7. Click Next.

  8. On the Design a query page, click Edit as Text.

  9. Copy and paste the following query into the query pane:

    SELECT CAST('2009-01-05' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Accessories' as Subcategory, 
   'Carrying Case' as Product, CAST(16996.60 AS money) AS Sales, 68 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-06' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Accessories' as Subcategory,
   'Tripod' as Product, CAST(1350.00 AS money) AS Sales, 18 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-11' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Accessories' as Subcategory,
   'Lens Adapter' as Product, CAST(1147.50 AS money) AS Sales, 17 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-05' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Accessories' as Subcategory,
   'Mini Battery Charger' as Product, CAST(1056.00 AS money) AS Sales, 44 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-06' AS date) as SalesDate,  'Accessories' as Subcategory,
   'Telephoto Conversion Lens' as Product, CAST(1380.00 AS money) AS Sales, 18 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-06' AS date) as SalesDate,'Accessories' as Subcategory,  
   'USB Cable' as Product, CAST(780.00 AS money) AS Sales, 26 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-08' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Accessories' as Subcategory, 
   'Budget Movie-Maker' as Product, CAST(3798.00 AS money) AS Sales, 9 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-09' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Camcorders' as Subcategory, 
   'Business Videographer' as Product, CAST(10400.00 AS money) AS Sales, 13 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-10' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Camcorders' as Subcategory, 
   'Social Videographer' as Product, CAST(3000.00 AS money) AS Sales, 60 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-11' AS date) as SalesDate,  'Digital' as Subcategory, 
   'Advanced Digital' as Product, CAST(7234.50 AS money) AS Sales, 39 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-07' AS date) as SalesDate,  'Digital' as Subcategory, 
   'Compact Digital' as Product, CAST(10836.00 AS money) AS Sales, 84 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-08' AS date) as SalesDate,  'Digital' as Subcategory, 
   'Consumer Digital' as Product, CAST(2550.00 AS money) AS Sales, 17 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-05' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Digital' as Subcategory, 
   'Slim Digital' as Product, CAST(8357.80 AS money) AS Sales, 44 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-09' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Digital SLR' as Subcategory, 
   'SLR Camera 35mm' as Product, CAST(18530.00 AS money) AS Sales, 34 as Quantity
UNION SELECT CAST('2009-01-07' AS date) as SalesDate, 'Digital SLR' as Subcategory, 
   'SLR Camera' as Product, CAST(26576.00 AS money) AS Sales, 88 as Quantity

  10. Click Next.

2. Organize Data, Choose Layout, and Style from the Table or Matrix Wizard

Use the wizard to provide a starting design on which to display data. The preview pane in the wizard helps you to visualize the result of grouping data before you complete the table or matrix design.

To organize data into groups, choose a layout and a style

  1. On the Arrange fields page, drag Product to Values.

  2. Drag Quantity to Values and place below Product.

    Quantity is summarized with the Sum function, the default function to summarize numeric fields.

  3. Drag Sales to Values and place below Quantity.

    Steps 1, 2, and 3 specify the data to display in the table.

  4. Drag SalesDate to Row groups.

  5. Drag Subcategory to Row groups and place below SalesDate.

    Steps 4 and 5 organize the values for the fields first by date, and then by all sales for that date.

  6. Click Next.

    When you run the report, the table displays each date, all orders for each date, and all products, quantities, and sales totals for each order.

  7. On the Choose the Layout page, under Options, verify that Show subtotals and grand totals is selected.

  8. Verify that Blocked, subtotal below is selected.

  9. Clear the option Expand/collapse groups.

    In this tutorial, the report you create does not use the drilldown feature that lets a user expand a parent group hierarchy to display child group rows and detail rows.

  10. Click Next.

  11. On the Choose a Style page, in the Styles pane, select a style.

    The illustration of the completed report shows the report using the Ocean style.

  12. Click Finish.

    The table is added to the design surface. The table has five columns and five rows. The Row Groups pane shows three row groups: SalesDate, Subcategory, and Details. Detail data is all the data that is retrieved by the dataset query.

  13. Click Run to preview the report.

For each product that is sold on a specific date, the table displays the product name, the quantity sold, and the sales total. The data is organized first by sales date and then by subcategory.

3. Use Background Colors to Display a KPI

Background colors can be set to an expression that is evaluated when you run the report.

To display the present state of a KPI by using background colors

  1. In the table, right-click two cells down from the [Sum(Sales)] cell (the subtotal row that displays the sales for a subcategory), and then click Text Box Properties.

  2. In Fill, click the fx button next to the Fill color option and enter the following expression in the Set expression for: BackgroundColor field:

=IIF(Sum(Fields!Sales.Value) >= 5000 ,"Lime", IIF(Sum(Fields!Sales.Value) < 2500, "Red","Yellow"))

This changes the background color to green, using the shade of green named "Lime", for each cell that contains an aggregated sum for [Sum(Sales)] that is greater than or equal to 5000. Values of [Sum(Sales)] between 2500 and 5000 are colored yellow. Values less than 2500 are colored red.

  1. Click OK.

  2. Click Run to preview the report.

In the subtotal row that displays the sales for a subcategory, the background color of the cell is red, yellow, or green depending on value of the sales sum.

4. Display a KPI by Using a Gauge

A gauge depicts a single value in a dataset. This tutorial uses a horizontal linear gauge because its shape and simplicity makes it easy to read, even in when it is a small size and used within a table cell. For more information, see Gauges (Report Builder and SSRS).

To display the present state of a KPI using a gauge

  1. Switch to Design view.

  2. In the table, right-click the column handler for the cell that you changed in the previous procedure, point to Insert Column, and then click Right. A new column is added to the table.

  3. Type KPI in the column heading.

  4. On the Insert tab, in the Data Regions group, click Gauge, and then click the design surface outside the table. The Select Gauge Type dialog box appears.

  5. Click Linear. The first linear gauge type, Horizontal, is selected.

  6. Click OK.

    A gauge is added to the design surface.

  7. From the Report Data pane, drag Sales to the gauge. When you drag Sales across the gauge, the Gauge Data pane opens.

  8. Drop Sales in the Values list.

    When you drop the field onto the gauge, the field is aggregated by using the built-in Sum function.

  9. Right-click the pointer in the gauge and click Pointer Properties.

  10. In Pointer Type, select Bar. This changes the pointer from a marker to a bar that will be more visible when the gauge is added to the table.

  11. Click Pointer Fill. In Secondary Color, pick Yellow. The gradient fill pattern will change from white to yellow.

  12. Right-click the scale in the gauge and click Scale Properties.

  13. Set the Maximum option to 25000.

    Note

    Instead of a constant such as 25000, you can use an expression to dynamically calculate the value of the Maximum option. The expression would use the aggregate of aggregate feature and look similar to the expression =Max(Sum(Fields!Sales.value), "Tablix1").

  14. Drag the gauge inside the table into the third cell in the subtotal row that displays the sales for a subcategory of the column that you inserted.

    Note

    You might have to resize the column so that the horizontal linear gauge fits into the cell. To resize the column, click a column header and use the handles to resize the cells horizontally and vertically.

  15. Click Run to preview the report.

    The horizontal length of the bar in the gauge changes depending on the value of the KPI.

  16. (Optional) Add a maximum pin to handle overflow so that any value over the scale maximum always points to the maximum pin:

    1. Open the Properties pane.

    2. Click the scale. The properties for the linear scale are displayed in the Properties pane.

    3. In the Scale Pins category, expand the MaximumPin node.

    4. Set the Enable property to True. A pin appears after the maximum value on the scale.

    5. Set BorderColor to Lime.

  17. Click Run to preview the report.

5. Display a KPI by Using an Indicator

Indicators are small simple gauges that communicate data values at a glance. Because of their size and simplicity, indicators are often used in tables and matrices. For more information, see Indicators (Report Builder and SSRS).

To display the present state of a KPI using an indicator

  1. Switch to Design view.

  2. In the table, right-click the column handler for the cell that you changed in the previous procedure, point to Insert Column, and then click Right. A new column is added to the table.

  3. Type KPI in the column heading.

  4. Click the cell for the subcategory subtotal.

  5. On the Insert tab, in the Data Regions group, double-click Indicator.

    The Select Indicator Type dialog box opens.

  6. Click Shapes. The first shape type, 3 Traffic Lights (Unrimmed), is selected.

    You will use this indicator in the tutorial.

  7. Click OK.

    The indicator is added to the design surface.

  8. Right-click the indicator and click Indicator Properties.

  9. Click Values and States.

  10. In the Value drop-down list, select [Sum(Sales)], but do not change any other options.

    By default, data synchronization occurs across the data region and you see the value Tablix1, the name of the table data region in the report, in the Synchronization scope box.

    In this report, you can also change the scope of an indicator placed in the cell of the subcategory subtotal to synchronize across the SalesDate field.

  11. Click Run to preview the report.

6. Add a Report Title

A report title appears at the top of the report. You can place the report title in a report header or if the report does not use one, in a text box at the top of the report body. You will use the text box that is automatically placed at the top of the report body.

The text can be further enhanced by applying different font styles, sizes, and colors to phrases and individual characters of the text. For more information, see Format Text in a Text Box (Report Builder and SSRS).

To add a report title

  1. On the design surface, click Click to add title.

  2. Type Product Sales KPI, and then click outside the text box.

  3. Optionally, right-click the text box that contains Product Sales KPI, click Text Box Properties, and then on the Font tab select the different font styles, sizes and colors.

  4. Click Run to preview the report.

7. Save the Report

Save the report to a report server or your computer. If you do not save the report to the report server, a number of Reporting Services features such as report parts and subreports are not available.

To save the report on a report server

  1. From the Report Builder button, click Save As.

  2. Click Recent Sites and Servers.

  3. Select or type the name of the report server where you have permission to save reports.

    The message "Connecting to report server" appears. When the connection is complete, you see the contents of the report folder that the report server administrator specified as the default location for reports.

  4. In Name, replace the default name with Product Sales KPI.

  5. Click Save.

The report is saved to the report server. The name of report server that you are connected to appears in the status bar at the bottom of the window.

To save the report on your computer

  1. From the Report Builder button, click Save As.

  2. Click Desktop, My Documents, or My computer, and browse to the folder where you want to save the report.

Note

If you do not have access to a report server, click Desktop, My Documents, or My computer and save the report to your computer.

  1. In Name, replace the default name with Product Sales KPI.

  2. Click Save.

Next Steps

You have successfully completed the Adding a KPI to Your Report tutorial. For more information, see Gauges (Report Builder) Indicators (Report Builder and SSRS).

See Also

Concepts

Getting Started with Report Builder

Other Resources

Tutorials (Report Builder)