Create a New Data Visualization

Purpose: To show how to add a new data visualization by creating a workbook and using its features to build dashboards that share key insights into your HR data.

Table of Contents

Overview

Workbooks enable you to transform data into interactive data visualizations that provide actionable insights for your company's success. A workbook has two modes:

  1. Viewing: View the latest saved version of the workbook without making changes. This mode is accessible from the Dashboards section of the Reports tab (Reports > Dashboards).
  2. Editing: Make changes to the workbook. You do not need to worry about losing your progress since changes will be auto-saved as you go. Changes made in this mode will also update the associated dashboard. This mode is accessible from the Manage Dashboards page (Reports > Dashboards > Manage Dashboards).

Key terms

Workbooks Workbooks are interactive environments designed for creating and editing data visualizations.
Topics Topics are datasets created by BambooHR that serve as the foundation for building data visualizations.
Fields

There are two field types: dimensions and measures.

  • Dimensions are fields that categorize data, typically used on the x-axis. They represent different combinations of values for analysis.
  • Measures are quantitative fields that are aggregated using functions like sum, count, or average, typically used on the y-axis to provide numerical insights.
Filters Filters narrow down data in a workbook. Additional filter options vary based on the field type (number, text, date, etc.).
Formulas

Formulas (or calculations) can be added to a workbook using Excel syntax. Most Excel functions are supported.

Workbook setup

To start a new workbook, go to the Reports tab and select Dashboards from the sidebar menu. On the Dashboards page, select Manage Dashboards and then click +New Analysis in the top right corner.

Select a topic you want to build data visualizations upon.

Within a dashboard, you can add a new data visualization based on any of the default topics.

After opening a new workbook, you can start adding specific fields from the left column by clicking on the field name. Using the search bar will help you save time looking for a specific field.

  1. Auto-populated data based on your selections will automatically appear on the Results tab. You can either view the data as results or a chart, or both. The chart option provides data visualization types (bar chart, pie chart, etc.) for you to determine which type best reflects the data you want to analyze.
  2. The bottom toolbar is where you can add more data visualizations (click the + icon) and rename an existing one (right-click on name > select Rename). 
  3. Once the data visualization is ready to publish, simply click +Dashboard to add it to a custom dashboard.*

*TIP: When you arrive at this step, it is highly recommended to review our help guide about creating a custom dashboard and learn more about the additional settings you can apply to the dashboard's published view for other users.