Analysis Phase Checklist

Analysing your data in Omniscope

This checklist covers tasks you should perform, or options you should consider, AFTER you have imported/merged all the data sources and 'scrubbed' the data to ensure correctness and completeness, but BEFORE you begin to define the best ways to visualise and present the data set.

In this phase, column re-naming should be used to shorten names to save space and make them instantly meaningful to the end-user audience. Unneeded columns (especially empty or uniform-value columns) can be hidden or deleted, and the number of unique category values can be reduced, either via re-naming/consolidating values with data edits, or by adding formula columns that re-categorise records into fewer categories. Aggregations can be set and aggregation formulae specified to create transformed views of the data for use with most views.

Analysis Checklist:

Close the Chart View (if still open after scrubbing) and continue working initially with a single Table View on a single 'Data set' tab

3-01 Rename fields/columns - horizontal space is always at a premium in Omniscope and DataPlayer files, so changing/shortening the field names used in the source databases to shorter names meaningful to the intended audience not only communicates better, but also presents better. You can enable multi-line display of field (column) names in the Table View from Table View: View Tools > Column options > Column header height. Insert a "\" character when renaming field names to introduce custom line breaks, which will appear in Table View column headers (assuming multi-line headers are enabled) and also in filter devices displayed on the Sidebar.

3-02 Hide or delete fields/columns - empty, uniform value and fields not needed by end users for filtering can be globally hidden or deleted using Data > Manage fields. Deletions are a remembered action, and will be re-performed on every file refresh. Values in hidden columns can still be displayed in details and used in Sidebar filters and links.

3-03 Define formula fields - Formula fields are used to transform imported data into new columns containing more useful, calculated values and to detect alert conditions to be highlighted. If you use formulae to make calculations, convert/reduce total category values, or to extract useful data fields from within text strings, your changes will be re-evaluated on every refresh. Formula fields can be added from the Main Toolbar: Data > Formulas command, the  Manage fields dialog, or the Table View: View Toolbar: Formulas drop down. Functions available for use in formulae are documented in the Functions Guide. This page lists useful formulae commonly used in Omniscope. You may need to use Subset functions unique to Omniscope to define formulae involving defined subsets of the data.

3-04 Duplicate/re-format selected fields - sometimes it is useful to duplicate a data/formula field (column) so that each can be typed two different ways to facilitate use of different filter types, often while allowing one of the columns to also be used as a splitting category. For example, the display format and data typing of Dates & Times sometimes needs to be changed so that the values sort better as categories or otherwise better facilitate user interactions. To create a duplicate of a given column, right-click {Column Header} > Tools > Create duplicate of this field.

3-05 Order Sidebar devices - if it is not already visible, reveal the Right Sidebar using Main Toolbar: Toolbars > Right Sidebar and its Devices drop down. Using the dragging 'hands' (or by dragging the Device headers themselves) set the display order by dragging various devices upwards or downwards. Now also open the Left Sidebar and its Devices drop down. Starting from the bottom, check the empty devices boxes to move the devices from the Right Sidebar to the Left Sidebar.

3-06 Define Named Queries/subsets - In addition to the 'Data Set' tab already configured, create a new tab from the current layout and name it 'Defined Subsets' or similar. The new tab should show a Table View and one or both Sidebars should still be displaying all the relevant filters just as they are on the 'Data Set' tab from which this tab was derived. Use the Sidebar filters to select a useful subset of the data, then define and name the results of these filter settings as a persistent Named Query (data subset) using Main Toolbar: Queries > Create queries from filters. Confirm that your Named Query has appeared at the top of the MainToolbar Queries listing and on the bottom of the Data Subset selector drop-down on the Table View View Toolbar. Perform a Main Toolbar: Reset, then choose another combination of filters and create another Named Query subset.

3-07 Define aggregations - use the Aggregate drop-down menu to define & check aggregations, specifying the aggregation functions to be applied in each column. For formula fields, consider whether it is appropriate to apply the formula to the aggregated values.

Commit all your changes using Main Toolbar: Tab > Commit changes for all, then File > Save (Ctrl+S) to save the file.

At the end of this phase, all the data, images, maps and link references required to meet end-users' requirements should be in the file, and the single 'Data Set' tab should show all the columns, both data and formula, which have not been globally hidden. Separate 'Subset', 'Formula' and 'Aggregated' tabs should be used to show useful data subsets made reference-able as Named Queries, the inputs and results from defined Formulae, and various Aggregation settings with key values calculated according to specified aggregation functions displayed. Don't worry, you can delete all these tabs in the next phase.

Go to Visualisation Phase