What are Single KPI Charts?
Single KPI charts, also referred to as Single KPI Views are a good way to emphasize an individual KPI. Specifically, focusing on the actual performance of the value of that KPI at a single point in time, or as a summed total over a period of time. Single KPI charts also provide some historical context to the emphasized value, by using a graphical line chart to display previous trend data.
This trend line is purely graphical in nature and is aimed at placing the value in reference to historical performance, and as such the trend lines do not contain values.
Types of Single KPI Views
There are various types of Single KPI views available for emphasizing a KPI, Metric or simple data point:
Basic Actual
Using a chart to show the actual or last value entered for the KPI, this type of chart also can be customized to show only last entry, or an accumulated value of many different data points over time.
Integrated Trend Line
To give the actual value of the KPI some context a trend line is sometimes incorporated. Typically, these trend lines would not contain values but would provide a secondary visual aid to see if the value has fluctuated or remained constant.
Ratios
This type of view works well for showing ratios or percentages. These types of charts are useful when looking at KPIs calculated from one or more values such as, the percentage of calls answered within an SLA, or the percentage of capacity in a manufacturing process.
Comparisons and Targets
Comparisons against previous periods can also be displayed on these charts. Enabling a second visual dimension in which to place the context of the main value. For example, you can see the total calls into a service center and then see if that has increased or decreased compared to the previous period.
RAG (Red, Amber and Green Indicators)
Single KPIs charts can also show secondary color orientated indicators. These indicators also referred to as RAG (Red, Amber, Green) can provide a visual indication when the value falls within certain value criteria. For example, when a value is within an acceptable limit the green indicator displays, when it falls below then either an amber or red color is displayed.
Best Practice:
Single views can be a powerful way to communicate a KPIs performance in a very simple way. But its worth considering some best practice advice when deploying this chart type on KPI Dashboards and Reports.
- Use full descriptive language when providing a chart title
- Ensure that comparative date ranges are identical to avoid misleading totals.
- Place the single view in areas of prominence when this information is needed to be seen at a glance.
How to use Single KPI charts in SimpleKPI
The single KPI chart is the easiest of all the chart types to setup within SimpleKPI. By selecting the individual KPI and the date range the values that fall within the range are selected. Options can then be used to filter for showing RAG, trend and Target. Furthermore, by selecting a secondary or comparison date range the single chart will display the change between the two values automatically.