Data Visualization
Visualization is the presentation of numerical data in a graphical format. By presenting data in a visually appealing manner, the user is presented with a quick qualitative understanding of the information.
Data (and hence, information) plays an important role in a company’s day to day operations. Business users find numerical data informative but difficult to quickly interpret without thorough analysis. The same data when presented as a graph (pie chart, bar graph etc.) conveys the information more effectively. It is important to note that the original, numerical data remains unchanged in data visualization.
Successful data visualizations have the following three characteristics:
- Accurate – presentation of the data (with appropriate selection of scales and graph type)
- Aesthetically pleasing – enjoyable user experience
- Flexible - accommodates visual style changes
MicroStrategy software provides excellent data visualization capabilities
We recognize the importance of data visualization – that’s why our reporting and analysis software provides a comprehensive library of graph styles to model numerical data. MicroStrategy’s design capabilities provide end users with over 100 graph styles (histograms, pie charts, lines graphs, bubble graphs etc.). Users are free to choose, edit, and change the graph styles that fit best to the numerical data.
Data Visualization Customization
In addition to the numerous graph styles provided, MicroStrategy’s design capabilities allow users to customize each graph style -- format titles, legends, and axes, add trend lines, and even change graph display properties. Users build graphs that have the right combination of aesthetics, accuracy, and visual effects.
Data Visualizations and User Self-Service
Once data visualizations are shared in reports or documents, end users can quickly re-organize any graph on a report or document with simple drag and drop actions to change their data visualization experience. Users tune the data visualizations on the reports and dashboards to meet their specific requirements, and save their version of the reports in their My Reports Folder. Users can derive unique data visualizations on the same report without relying on support from IT or report developers.
MicroStrategy also provides capabilities to design report documents with multiple grids and graphs placed side by side within the same document. Visually impressive and compelling documents can be shared between users over the Internet, sent to anyone via email, or printed out and shared with corporate executives.
Dynamic Data Visualizations and Adobe Flash Widgets
With the introduction of Dynamic Dashboards, MicroStrategy has combined interactivity with data visualization to provide an outstanding interactive data visualization experience. These interactive data visualizations literally will bring report data to life and are achieved using MicroStrategy widgets, built with Adobe Flash technology.
Visualizations such as bubble graphs, stacked area charts, and heat maps provide users with a simple and intuitive yet radically different way to view information. The visualization SDK provided with the software allows companies to create new methods of visualization that best suit their specific data visualization needs.