This tutorial shows you how to get started with Quick BI. You will use Quick BI Standard to connect to an external data source, analyze data, and build a report.
Overview
Quick BI is a self-service business intelligence (BI) platform for cloud users and enterprises. It provides simple visual tools and flexible multidimensional analysis, allowing you to gain fine-grained data insights that support your business decisions.
This tutorial uses a real-world data analysis case to help you quickly learn the product. It also demonstrates the value of using smart reports for DingTalk business data analytics.
Imagine you are a data analyst for a large e-commerce company. Your manager has just received the monthly operations analysis data for August 2019 and noticed that the company's performance has been poor. The gross profit for August dropped significantly compared to previous months, putting the third-quarter gross profit target at risk.
Therefore, you must analyze the reasons for the decline in gross profit in August using data such as order information and traffic channel information. You then need to share your findings with the team to help the relevant business departments make decisions and take action to increase the company's overall gross profit.
Procedure
Connecting to an external data source, analyzing data, and building a report in Quick BI involves the following steps:
Step 1: Connect to a data source
Connect to a data source to practice using Quick BI.
After you connect to the data source, you can join data from different tables to create a data model for your analysis.
Create a dashboard and add charts to visualize your data. Then, you can use filter interactions to perform visual analysis.
After you finish the analysis, you can add the dashboard to a BI portal and export it for your records. If new data anomalies appear later, you can share the dashboard for collaborative editing.
Example report
Preparations
Create an Alibaba Cloud account and complete your account information.
You must have a registered and verified Alibaba Cloud account.
Activate Quick BI.
You must have purchased Quick BI or requested a free trial. For more information, see Purchase, upgrade, renew, or handle overdue payments for Quick BI.
(Optional) Prepare a data source.
Create a data source in the destination region. For more information, see Create a database data source or Create a file data source.
If you use a file data source, upload the local file to Quick BI. For sample local files, see Channel Information Dimension Table.xlsx and Order Information Detail Table.xlsx.
Set the operation permissions for works in the workspace.
For the target workspace, the organization administrator must set the Feature Permissions to Works Can Be Public and Works Can Be Authorized. For more information, see Create and manage workspaces.
Step 1: Connect to a data source
Before you can analyze data and build reports in Quick BI, you must connect to a data source.
Log on to the Quick BI console.
In the Quick BI console, follow the instructions in the following figure to connect to a data source.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to add a data source.
Go to the page for creating a data source. For more information, see Create a data source.
On the Alibaba Cloud Databases tab, select RDS for MySQL.
In the Configure Connection dialog box, configure the following parameters.
Parameter
Description
Example
Display Name
The display name of the data source.
The name can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, underscores (_), and hyphens (-).
Demo data source
Database Address
The public endpoint of the MySQL database.
rm-uf***********.mysql.rds.aliyuncs.com
Port
The port number that corresponds to the public endpoint of the MySQL database.
3306
Database
The custom name of the MySQL database.
quickbi_***
Username
The username used to log on to the MySQL database.
quickbi_***
Password
The password used to log on to the MySQL database.
quickbi_***
Database Version
Select a database version:
Select 5.7. This version is compatible with MySQL 5.7 and earlier.
Select 8.0. This version is compatible with MySQL 8.0.
5.7
VPC Data Source
If you use an Alibaba Cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to connect to the database, select VPC Data Source and configure the parameters.
Not applicable
Click Test Connection to verify the connection to the data source.
After the test is successful, click OK to add the data source.
Demo Data Source now appears in the data source list, indicating a successful connection.
Step 2: Data modeling
After you connect to the data source, you can join data from different tables to create a data model for your analysis.
On the Data Sources page, select the target data tables and create a dataset as shown in the following figure.
On the dataset editing page, follow the instructions in the following figure to join the data tables.
Preview and save the dataset.
Add the gross profit and gross profit margin fields to the measures.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to add the gross profit and gross profit margin fields.
Parameter
Description
Example
Original Field Name
The name can contain Chinese and English characters, digits, underscores (_), forward slashes (/), backslashes (\), vertical bars (|), parentheses (()), and brackets ([]). The name can be up to 50 characters in length.
The expression for the gross profit field is
SUM([Sales])-SUM([Cost])The expression for the gross profit margin field is
(SUM([Sales]-[Cost]))/SUM([Sales])
Expression
Enter a left square bracket (
[) to display a list of dimension and measure fields that you can insert.Data Type
The supported data types are Dimension and Measure.
Measure
Field Type
The supported field types are Text and Numeric.
Numeric
Format Expression
The following data formats are supported:
Automatic (retains the default data format)
Integer, 1 decimal place, or 2 decimal places
Percentage, 1 decimal place percentage, or 2 decimal place percentage
Custom or manual input
Automatic
Field Description
Enter a description for the field.
Gross profit = Sales - Cost
After adding the fields, click Save.
Step 3: Visual analytics
Create a dashboard and add charts to visualize your data. Then, you can use filter interactions to perform visual analysis.
On the dataset editing page, click Create Dashboard in the top navigation bar.
Create a metric trend chart to analyze the monthly core sales, gross profit, and gross profit margin.
To best visualize the trends for the three key metrics (sales, gross profit, and gross profit margin) across different months, you can use a Metric Trend chart.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to create a metric trend chart.
On the Data tab, go to the Advanced Settings section, enable Secondary Metric, and configure the chart style.
The following table lists only the parameters that you need to configure. You can use the default values for other parameters.
Parameter
Description
Example
Comparison Metric
Select the metric that you want to use for comparison.
Sales
Secondary Metric Content
You can configure the content of the secondary metric and set a Quick Style in the conditional formatting settings.
Month-over-month
Sync Configuration To Other Comparison Metrics
You can sync the configuration of the current metric to other metrics.
Gross profit and Gross profit margin
Create a bubble chart to analyze sales and gross profit data by channel category.
A Bubble Chart is ideal for displaying sales, gross profit margin, and gross profit for different channel categories.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to create a bubble chart.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to set a filter and view the data for August 2019.
In the Set Filter dialog box, the following table lists example parameter settings for the Date (month) field.
Parameter
Description
Example
Filter Method
Supports Single Month and Month Range.
Single Month
Filter Condition
Supports Relative Time and Exact Time.
Exact Time
Date
Supports custom dates.
2019-08
On the Style tab, you can configure the chart style.
The following table lists only the parameters that you need to configure. You can use the default values for other parameters.
Configuration Item
Parameter
Example
Title And Card
Show Title
Select Show Title
Title
Channel Category Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart
Legend
Position
Right (
)Chart Area
Quadrant
Select Enable Quadrant
Quadrant Names
Configure the names as follows:
Top-right Quadrant: High Gross Profit Margin, High Sales
Top-left Quadrant: Low Gross Profit Margin, High Sales
Bottom-left Quadrant: Low Gross Profit Margin, Low Sales
Bottom-right Quadrant: High Gross Profit Margin, Low Sales
Create a bubble chart to analyze sales and gross profit data by channel detail.
You can use a Bubble Chart to best display detailed sales, gross profit, and gross profit margin data for each channel.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to create a bubble chart.
To avoid repeating steps, this example copies the bubble chart created in the previous step and replaces the Channel Category field with the Channel Name field.
On the Style tab, you can configure the style of the chart.
The following table lists only the parameters that you need to configure. You can use the default values for other parameters.
Configuration Item
Parameter
Example
Title And Card
Show Title
Select Show Title
Title
Channel Detail Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart
Use a filter interaction to analyze the gross profit margin data of channel details for August 2019.
To better analyze the sales and gross profit margin details for each channel in August 2019, configure a filter interaction from the metric trend chart to both the Channel Category Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart and the Channel Detail Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart. This lets you view the sales and gross profit margin data for each channel category in August 2019.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to configure the chart filter interaction.
In the Chart Filter Interaction dialog box, link the charts as shown in the following figure.
After the filter interaction is configured, click the data point for August 2019 in the metric trend chart. The data in the Channel Category Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart and the Channel Detail Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart is filtered to show only the data for August 2019.
After you analyze the sales and gross profit margin data for each channel category in August 2019 in the Channel Category Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart, you will see that the Free Channel is in the high-sales, low-gross-profit-margin quadrant. This is an abnormal range. In the next step, you will analyze which channel details caused this anomaly.
Analyze the sales and gross profit margin data for each channel name under the Free Channel category for August 2019.
Configure a filter interaction from the Channel Category Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart to the Channel Detail Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart. This lets you analyze the sales and gross profit margin data for each channel name under the Free Channel category for August 2019.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to configure the chart filter interaction.
In the Chart Filter Interaction dialog box, link the charts as shown in the following figure.
After the filter interaction is configured, click the data point for the Free Channel in the Channel Category Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart. The data in the Channel Detail Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart is filtered to show only the data for the Free Channel in August 2019.
After you analyze the sales and gross profit margin data for each channel name in August 2019 in the Channel Detail Sales & Gross Profit Quadrant Chart, you will see that the Taobao Coupon Package is in the high-sales, low-gross-profit-margin quadrant. This is an abnormal range and the root cause of the abnormal drop in gross profit.
Conclusion: An investigation revealed that in August 2019, some employees misused many internal coupons. They used the Free Channel - Taobao Coupon Package to make fraudulent purchases for profit. This activity caused an abnormal decline in the company's overall gross profit. The relevant data has been submitted to the audit department. In the following month, the company's operations returned to normal, and performance metrics such as sales and gross profit reached new highs.
Step 4: Publish and share
After you finish the analysis, you can add the dashboard to a BI portal and export it for your records. If other data anomalies appear over time, you can share the dashboard with others for collaborative editing.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to publish the dashboard.
NoteThe Publish Dashboard dialog box appears only the first time you publish a dashboard.
Parameter
Description
Example
Name
The name of the dashboard.
Diagnostic Analysis Report on Abnormal Decline in Gross Profit of a Retail E-commerce Company
Location
The location where the dashboard is stored.
Root directory
Enable auto-save for subsequent edits
If you select this option, the dashboard is automatically saved during subsequent edits.
Select this option.
Build a BI portal.
A BI portal, also known as a data product, lets you organize dashboards into a complex structure with a navigation menu, which is often used for thematic analysis. You can integrate the dashboards you create into a BI portal and export it for your records.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to create a BI portal.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to add and configure the portal menu.
In the Content Settings section, the following table lists the required parameters. For all other parameters, you can use the default values.
Parameter
Example
Menu Display Name
Diagnostic Analysis Report on Abnormal Decline in Gross Profit of a Retail E-commerce Company
Content Settings
Select Dashboard. On the dashboard search page, find Diagnostic Analysis Report On Abnormal Decline In Gross Profit Of A Retail E-commerce Company.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to save the BI portal.
In this example, the BI portal is named Diagnostic Analysis Report on an Abnormal Decline in Gross Profit of a Retail E-commerce Company.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to export the BI portal.
Parameter
Example
Export Name
Diagnostic Analysis Report on Abnormal Decline in Gross Profit of a Retail E-commerce Company
File Format
Select Image
Export Channel
Select Local
Share the dashboard.
NoteBefore you publish or share a dashboard, ensure that works in the workspace can be made public and can be authorized. For more information, see Create and manage workspaces.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to make the dashboard public or share it.
Public Sharing links can be accessed by anyone without logging in to an Alibaba Cloud account.
Only authorized users can access the link generated for Private Sharing.
Follow the instructions in the following figure to configure collaborative editing for the dashboard.
For more information, see Grant permissions on data works.