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Intelligencia Extensions for Analysis Services (IX) provides a set of custom
functions for SQL Server Analysis Services that allow you to add miniature business graphics to report tables for
use in dashboards. These small high-resolution graphics allow large amounts of
information to be visualized in a very small space and are appropriate for
showing trends and positions against business targets. Four chart types are
supported:
- Sparklines
- Bars
- Bullet Charts
- Binary (Win/Loss) charts
Examples of these charts are shown below.
Sparklines
A sparkline is a miniature line chart which does not display a scale or legend and is a very efficient means of displaying trends in large sets of data. Sparklines are normally used in conjunction with a single number which puts the trend in context.
Bullet Charts
A bullet chart is a small bar plotted against a background of acceptable values and optionally with a target displayed. Bullet charts are used to display performance against targets for a particular point in time.
Binary (Win/Loss) Charts
The binary or win/loss chart displays a series of good/bad indicators over a data series. They are used to display whether performance has been acceptable over an extended period of time and are useful where the absolute value of the result may not be a good guide to performance.
Bar Charts
Bar charts do not strictly add density of information to a report but are useful where the reader needs to quickly compare relative performance between many rows of data.
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How IX Works
Intelligencia Extensions for Analysis Services implements custom stored
procedures which return an image encoded as a string in base64 format. The
functions operate like any other MDX or VB function but you will need to decode
the image for use in your client application.
In Reporting Services this is easy:
Create a dataset which utilizes one of the IX functions:
The following Mdx shows the IX SparkLine function being called with a set
containing “Sales Amount” for the last 32 members in the time dimension.
Add a table item to your report and hook up the fields:
The Value expression uses System.Convert to re-assemble the image:
=System.Convert.FromBase64String(Fields!Column_0_VALUE.Value)
It's that simple!
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