Step-2: Format results

The trend report is formatted as a graph by default. Report Builder picks the graph type based on your selections so far. Experiment to find the best graph type. Typically, line graphs convey trend information effectively, but you might find that a bar chart (stacked or grouped) works better with your data.

Before you can preview a graph, you must select a value for the unit of measure. You can also select the dimension.

Click Refresh to see a sample layout of your report. To see all the data, you must run the report.

1. Enter the chart title.
2. Select the category to show on the X-axis (horizontal), and enter a label name.
   Typically, you select what you want to measure.

   • Click Date scale, and choose what date range to show in the report: days, weeks, months, or years.

     By using the Date scale feature, you can improve the aging reports. An aging report gives you a summary of artifacts that are grouped by dates, by using which you can see patterns in how artifacts are grouped, such as relative age since creation and resolution of work items. For example, you can define a creation aging report where you can view the age of open defects based on their creation date. Choose the Graph tab and set the Group data by attribute field to Creation Date. The default graph will likely be flat at first because creation date includes the time, so each date value is seen as unique, giving it a different entry on the X-axis. To see more interesting results, you can change the date scale to be weeks, months, or years.

   • To show data gaps, select the Fill in gaps with zero value checkbox .

     In aging reports that you are looking at a trend over time. There might be conditions on that trend that restrict the amount of data being visualized so that no data is available at certain times. For instance, you might want a trend report of defects that are created by a certain person. Create a work item report and then add a condition for the Creator and add Creation Date as a column.

     The problem in this case is that, for days when no value is returned from the query, how do you interpret this in a chart? It can be correctly interpreted in two ways – either ignore the value or consider the value a zero result. If the value is ignored, the line merely connects the previous day’s values with the next day’s values. This interpretation is right if you want to ignore certain days or if no data was collected on some days. Otherwise, it should be possible to interpret this missing data as a zero result.

     This developer typically logs a defect possibly every week, but definitely not every day. In this case the report provides a flat list for the daily trend, since the gaps are ignored. To get an accurate daily view of defects created, you need to consider gaps as being a zero value. From the Date scale menu and select Fill in gaps with zero value checkbox.

     The graph fills in those date gaps with a zero value and you can accurately compare when defects were logged to when they were not logged.

3. Select the quantities or units to show on the Y-axis (vertical), and enter a label name.
   • If your report is for a single trend, select a unit to count. To compare different aspects of the value that you're measuring, select a dimension.
   • If you report on several trends and want to include each trend in the graph, select the Add lines or bar segments for numeric measures option, and click Measures. From the Add attributes to the report, choose a trend from the Attributes of list and select your attributes, and click Add. For example, if you are interested in the Total Work Items measure that provides a count of all work items that are filtered by conditions you’ve added previously on the Choose Data tab.
     • To track a trend against a particular goal, click Goal line, and enter a start and end value. Choose a bar, a solid line, or a dashed line. Use an angled, curved, or an S-curve trajectory for the goal line. You can add several goal lines to your chart.
     • Add date lines to mark specific milestones. Click Date line and specify the date. For each date line, select the graph type for your date line: the default, line, or dashed line.
4. Adjust the graph.
   • Change the colors of the lines or bars on the graph to make the categories more visible, or to comply with conventions in your organization. From the Color column in table underneath the Add measures button, you can modify the color of an individual line or bar to a pre-defined color or you can even pick a particular RGB value. It is also possible to rename the legend entries to be more concise or consistent with the other entities.
   • Combine line and bar chart segments to show the dimensions in your report. For each segment, specify the graph type: bar, line, or dashed line.
     Note: The orientation can be set only for the stacked bar and the grouped bar. The line chart and pie chart have only vertical orientation option.
   • To show values, totals, or grids on the chart, click Graph type, and select the appropriate checkbox.
     Note: The Show grids checkbox is only applicable for line and bar graphs.
5. When you finish arranging your report, click Continue.