Working with Story Reports

A Story is a presentation-style report that uses visualizations to describe data. Story Reports consist of pages. Pages are made up of:

• Visualizations of data
• Filters and Input Controls to manipulate the data
• Supporting items such as Images, Shapes, and Text

Stories involve queries that retrieve data that you want to report and widgets that represent the data. To build or update queries, you work in the Query Designer. To manage the representation of the data the queries retrieve, you work on the story pages.

A query model is a representation of large amounts of business data using common business terminology. The Query Designer enables you to select the fields you want to use to create reports using Story. The queries you build using the Query Designer are stored within the stories. They are referred to as Data Sources in your Story.

When you design your story report, you can add and edit pages, sections, and widgets with the Story Designer. You can toggle between turning on and off Designer Mode while working on the report. The designer has two main functions, the builder and styling. The Builder allows you to configure and select what data appears in the widget while the Styling affects the way data displays. The options for displaying data depend on the visualization you are working with. For example, if working in a chart visualization gives you different options from working in a table.

The story canvas toolbar is divided into different categories such as File, Insert, Tools, and Data to help you find options and perform tasks.

When you select a widget on a canvas, you will get an additional menu separate from the toolbar. This Action Menu has commands specific to the widget you have selected. Additionally, the first button in the menu shows other commands that are not displayed in the initial display and is referred to as the more actions button.

The high-level steps to create a story report are:

1. Click New and select Story. The Query Designer will load.
2. Build a query in Query Designer:
   1. Browse the module data sets in the Available Data section, and expand the data set for your report.
   2. To select a table for your query, double-click it or drag-and-drop it on the query canvas.
   3. On the query canvas, select the table on which you want to build your query.
   4. Add columns and filters to build your query, using the options on the action menu.
   5. When you have completed your query, choose Finish.
   6. Enter a query name along with an appropriate description.
   7. Choose OK to save the query.
3. Add and configure widgets to your Story Page.
   1. Add charts and tables to represent your data.
   2. Add filters and input controls to help analyze the data.
   3. Add text, images, and shapes to support the display and understanding of the report.
4. Save the report by using the File Menu.

Watch the video to learn how to create a simple story report.