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Analysing data

Using the Event Visualizer app

About the Event Visualizer app

With the Event Visualizer app, you can create charts based on event data.

Create a chart

  1. Open the Event Visualizer app and select a chart type.

  2. In the menu to the left, select the meta data you want to analyse.

  3. Click Layout and arrange the dimensions.

    You can keep the default selection if you want.

  4. Click Update.

Select a chart type

The Event Visualizer app has eight different chart types, each with different characteristics. To select a chart type:

  1. In Chart type, click the chart type you need.

    Chart types
    Chart type Description
    Column chart Displays information as vertical rectangular columns with lengths proportional to the values they represent.

    Useful when you want to, for example, compare performance of different districts.
    Stacked column chart Displays information as vertical rectangular columns, where bars representing multiple categories are stacked on top of each other.

    Useful when you want to, for example, display trends or sums of related data elements.
    Bar chart Same as column chart, only with horizontal bars.
    Stacked bar chart Same as stacked column chart, only with horizontal bars.
    Line chart Displays information as a series of points connected by straight lines. Also referred to as time series.

    Useful when you want to, for example, visualize trends in indicator data over multiple time periods.
    Area chart Is based on line chart, with the space between the axis and the line filled with colors and the lines stacked on top of each other.

    Useful when you want to compare the trends of related indicators.
    Pie chart Circular chart divided into sectors (or slices).

    Useful when you want to, for example, visualize the proportion of data for individual data elements compared to the total sum of all data elements in the chart.
    Radar chart Displays data on axes starting from the same point. Also known as spider chart.

  2. Click Update.

Select dimension items

An event chart is always based on a program and you can do analysis based on a range of dimensions. For programs with category combinations, you can use program categories and category option group sets as dimensions for tables and charts. Each dimension item can have a corresponding filter. You select dimension items from the left-side menu.

  1. Select data elements:

    1. Click Data.

    2. Select a program and a program stage.

      The data elements associated with the selected program are listed under Available. Each data element acts as a dimension.

    3. Select the data elements you need by double-clicking their names.

      Data elements can be filtered by type (Data elements, Program attributes, Program indicators) and are prefixed to make them easily recognizable.

      After selecting a data element, it is visible under Selected data items.

    4. (Optional) For each data element, specify a filter with operators such as "greater than", "in" or "equal" together with a filter value.

  2. Select periods.

    1. Click Periods.

    2. Select one or several periods.

      You have three period options: relative periods, fixed periods and start/end dates. You can combine fixed periods and relative periods in the same chart. You cannot combine fixed periods and relative periods with start/end dates in the same chart. Overlapping periods are filtered so that they only appear once.

      • Fixed periods: In the Select period type box, select a period type. You can select any number of fixed periods from any period type. Fixed periods can for example be "January 2014".

      • Relative periods: In the lower part of the Periods section, select as many relative periods as you like. The names are relative to the current date. This means that if the current month is March and you select Last month, the month of February is included in the chart. Relative periods has the advantage that it keeps the data in the report up to date as time goes.

      • Start/end dates: In the list under the Periods tab, select Start/end dates. This period type lets you specify flexible dates for the time span in the report.

  3. Select organisation units.

    1. Click Organisation units.

    2. Click the gearbox icon.

    3. Select a Selection mode and an organisation unit.

      There are three different selection modes:

      Selection modes
      Selection mode Description
      Select organisation units Lets you select the organisation units you want to appear in the chart from the organization tree.

      Select User org unit to disable the organisation unit tree and only select the organisation unit that is related to your profile.

      Select User sub-units to disable the organisation unit tree and only select the sub-units of the organisation unit that is related to your profile.

      Select User sub-x2-units to disable the organisation unit tree and only select organisation units two levels down from the organisation unit that is related to your profile.

      This functionality is useful for administrators to create a meaningful "system" favorite. With this option checked all users find their respective organisation unit when they open the favorite.
      Select levels Lets you select all organisation units at one or more levels, for example national or district level.

      You can also select the parent organisation unit in the tree, which makes it easy to select for example, all facilities inside one or more districts.
      Select groups Lets you select all organisation units inside one or several groups and parent organisation units at the same time, for example hospitals or chiefdoms.

  4. Click Update.

Select series, category and filter

You can define which data dimension you want to appear as series, category and filter. Each data element appears as individual dimensions and can be placed on any of the axes. Series and category panels can only have one dimension at the time.

Note

Data elements of continuous value types (real numbers/decimal numbers) can only be used as filters, and will automatically be positioned as filters in the layout dialog. The reason for this is that continuous number cannot be grouped into sensible ranges and used on columns and rows.

  1. Click Layout.

  2. Drag and drop the dimensions to the appropriate space. Only one dimension can be in each section.

  3. Click Update.

Change the display of your chart

You can customize the display of an event report.

  1. Click Options.

  2. Set the options as required.

    Chart options
    Option Description
    Data Show values Displays values as numbers on top of each series.
    Use 100% stacked values Displays 100 % stacked values in column charts.
    Use cumulative values Displays cumulative values in line charts.
    Hide n/a data Hides data tagged as N/A from the chart.
    Include only completed events Includes only completed events in the aggregation process. This is useful when you want for example to exclude partial events in indicator calculations.
    Hide empty categories Hides the category items with no data from the chart.

    None: doesn't hide any of the empty categories

    Before first: hides missing values only before the first value

    After last: hides missing values only after the last value

    Before first and after last: hides missing values only before the first value and after the last value

    All: hides all missing values

    This is useful for example when you create column and bar charts.
    Trend line Displays the trend line which visualizes how your data evolves over time. For example if performance is improving or deteriorating. Useful when periods are selected as category.
    Target line value/title Displays a horizontal line and title (optional) at the given domain value. Useful for example when you want to compare your performance to the current target.
    Base line value/title Displays a horizontal line and title (optional) at the given domain value. Useful for example when you want to visualize how your performance has evolved since the beginning of a process.
    Sort order Allows you to sort the values on your chart from either low to high or high to low.
    Output type Defines the output type. The output types are Event, Enrollment and**Tracked entity instance**.
    Program status Filters data based on the program status: All, Active, Completed or Cancelled.
    Event status Filters data based on the event status: All, Active, Completed, Scheduled, Overdue or Skipped.
    Axes Range axis min/max Defines the maximum and minimum value which will be visible on the range axis.
    Range axis tick steps Defines the number of ticks which will be visible on the range axis.
    Range axis decimals Defines the number of decimals which will be used for range axis values.
    Range axis title Type a title here to display a label next to the range axis (also referred to as the Y axis). Useful when you want to give context information to the chart, for example about the unit of measure.
    Domain axis title Type a title here to display a label below the domain axis (also referred to as the X axis). Useful when you want to give context information to the chart, for example about the period type.
    General Hide chart legend Hides the legend and leaves more room for the chart itself.
    Hide chart title Hides the title (default or custom) of your chart.
    Chart title Type a title here to display a custom title above the chart. If you don't enter a title, the default title is displayed.
    Hide chart subtitle Hides the subtitle of your chart.
    Chart subtitle Type a subtitle here to display a custom subtitle above the chart but below the title. If you don't enter a subtitle, no subtitle is displayed in the chart.

  3. Click Update.

Download a chart as an image or a PDF

After you have created a chart you can download it to your local computer as an image or PDF file.

  1. Click Download.

  2. Under Graphics, click PNG (.png) or PDF (.pdf).

    The file is automatically downloaded to your computer. Now you can for example embed the image file into a text document as part of a report.

Download chart data source

You can download the data source behind a chart in HTML, JSON, XML, Microsoft Excel or CSV formats. The data document uses identifiers of the dimension items and opens in a new browser window to display the URL of the request to the Web API in the address bar. This is useful for developers of apps and other client modules based on the DHIS2 Web API or for those who require a plan data source, for instance for import into statistical packages.

To download plain data source formats:

  1. Click Download.

  2. Under Plain data source, click the format you want to download.

    Available formats
    Format Description
    HTML Creates HTML table based on selected meta data
    JSON Downloads data values in JSON format based on selected meta data
    XML Downloads data values in XML format based on selected meta data
    Microsoft Excel Downloads data values in Microsoft Excel format based on selected meta data
    CSV Downloads data values in CSV format based on selected meta data

Manage favorites

Saving your charts or pivot tables as favorites makes it easy to find them later. You can also choose to share them with other users as an interpretation or display them on the dashboard.

You view the details and interpretations of your favorites in the Pivot Table, Data Visualizer, Event Visualizer, Event Reports apps. Use the Favorites menu to manage your favorites.

Open a favorite

  1. Click Favorites > Open.

  2. Enter the name of a favorite in the search field, or click Prev and Next to display favorites.

  3. Click the name of the favorite you want to open.

Save a favorite

  1. Click Favorites > Save as.

  2. Enter a Name and a Description for your favorite. The description field supports a rich text format, see the interpretations section for more details.

  3. Click Save.

Rename a favorite

  1. Click Favorites > Rename.

  2. Enter the new name for your favorite.

  3. Click Update.

Write an interpretation for a favorite

An interpretation is a link to a resource with a description of the data at a given period. This information is visible in the Dashboard app. To create an interpretation, you first need to create a favorite. If you've shared your favorite with other people, the interpretation you write is visible to those people.

  1. Click Favorites > Write interpretation.

  2. In the text field, type a comment, question or interpretation. You can also mention other users with '@username'. Start by typing '@' plus the first letters of the username or real name and a mentioning bar will display the available users. Mentioned users will receive an internal DHIS2 message with the interpretation or comment. You can see the interpretation in the Dashboard app.

    It is possible to format the text with bold, italic by using the Markdown style markers * and _ for bold and italic respectively. Keyboard shortcuts are also available: Ctrl/Cmd + B and Ctrl/Cmd + I. A limited set of smilies is supported and can be used by typing one of the following character combinations: :) :-) :( :-( :+1 :-1. URLs are automatically detected and converted into a clickable link.

  3. Search for a user group that you want to share your favorite with, then click the + icon.

  4. Change sharing settings for the user groups you want to modify.

    • Can edit and view: Everyone can view and edit the object.

    • Can view only: Everyone can view the object.

    • None: The public won't have access to the object. This setting is only applicable to Public access.

  5. Click Share.

Subscribe to a favorite

When you are subscribed to a favorite, you receive internal messages whenever another user likes/creates/updates an interpretation or creates/update an interpretation comment of this favorite.

  1. Open a favorite.

  2. Click >>> in the top right of the workspace.

  3. Click on the upper-right bell icon to subscribe to this favorite.

  1. Click Favorites > Get link.

  2. Select one of the following:

    • Open in this app: You get a URL for the favorite which you can share with other users by email or chat.

    • Open in web api: You get a URL of the API resource. By default this is an HTML resource, but you can change the file extension to ".json" or ".csv".

Delete a favorite

  1. Click Favorites > Delete.

  2. Click OK.

View interpretations based on relative periods

To view interpretations for relative periods, such as a year ago:

  1. Open a favorite with interpretations.

  2. Click >>> in the top right of the workspace.

  3. Click an interpretation. Your chart displays the data and the date based on when the interpretation was created.To view other interpretations, click them.

Visualize a chart as a pivot table

When you have made a chart you can open it as a pivot table:

Click Chart > Open this chart as table.