This article delves into the often overlooked but deeply human side of employment—the relationship between companies and their ex-employees—and highlights the profound need for a cultural shift that honors their lasting impact.

The emotional Investment

The so-called ex-employees often go above and beyond their job descriptions during their time at a company. For many employees, their time at a company represents a significant chapter in their professional life. They pour in their dedication, creativity, and hard work, often going above and beyond their job descriptions to contribute to the company's success.

Think about all the late nights, brainstorming sessions, and unwavering dedication employees put into their jobs. These efforts are not just tasks checked off a list but are heartfelt contributions aimed at making a difference. These employees frequently leave with a sense of pride in what they've achieved.

They look back at their tenure fondly, reminiscing about the challenges they overcame and the milestones they contributed to the company's reach. This sense of pride is a testament to their hard work and the emotional investment they made during their employment.

The Silent Treatment

Alignment between an employee's goals and a company's objectives is always crucial in the professional world. Companies won't keep employees who aren't aligned with their mission, and similarly, employees won't stay if their personal goals diverge from the company's path. However, many employees develop a deep connection with their company, often thinking of it as their own and investing themselves fully.

Despite this, companies frequently view those who leave as untrustworthy or disloyal, sometimes even restricting discussions about former employees. This raises the question: do ex-employees deserve such treatment? This culture of silence not only diminishes their hard work but also creates a sense of insecurity among current employees, who fear that their own efforts will be similarly forgotten.

The Ripple Effect on Morale

This lack of recognition has far-reaching effects on company morale. When employees see that the contributions of their former colleagues are not acknowledged, it sends a clear message: your work is only valued while you’re here. This can sap motivation and loyalty, as employees may question the long-term impact and recognition of their hard work. Why go the extra mile if your contributions will be forgotten the moment you walk out the door?

Embracing a New Approach

It's time for companies to change this narrative. Here are some ways how companies can ensure their former employees are appreciated and remembered:

Public Acknowledgment: Celebrate the achievements of departing employees. Mention their contributions in company newsletters, project credits, or during team meetings. A simple thank-you can go a long way in making employees feel valued.

Alumni Networks: Create and maintain networks for former employees. These networks can facilitate ongoing relationships, mentorship, and collaboration, showing that the company values its people even after they’ve moved on.

Meaningful Farewells: When an employee leaves, recognize their contributions through farewell events, personalized thank-you notes, or company-wide announcements. These gestures can leave a lasting positive impression.

Documenting Legacy: Keep detailed records of employee contributions in company archives or project documentation. This ensures that their hard work is not forgotten and can serve as an inspiration for current and future employees.

Building a Culture of Recognition and Respect

The relationship between companies and their former employees is a critical yet often neglected aspect of organizational culture. By recognizing and celebrating the contributions of ex-employees, companies can foster a more inclusive and appreciative environment. This not only honors the hard work of past employees but also inspires current and future staff, leading to a more motivated and loyal workforce. Embracing this shift is not just beneficial; it’s essential for building a workplace where everyone feels valued and remembered.

In the end, remembering and valuing the contributions of those who have left isn’t just a nice gesture—it’s a testament to the integrity and values of a company. It shows that the company understands that its success is built on the hard work of many, including those who have moved on to new chapters in their lives. Let's start celebrating our former employees and ensure their legacies live on.

I just want to share something that's been on my mind lately—finding balance in our busy work lives. It's a topic that many of us can relate to, especially in a fast-paced workplace where demands seem to never end.

Like many of you, I used to struggle with the constant urge to say "yes" to every request that came my way. Whether it was taking on extra projects, attending every meeting, or saying yes to last-minute deadlines, I found myself stretched thin, trying to please everyone.

Realizing the Cost

It wasn't until I took a step back and looked at my overflowing to-do list that I realized the toll this constant "yes" was taking on me. Every new task meant sacrificing time for myself, for my priorities, and for my well-being.

Reflecting on this, I noticed a pattern. The fear of disappointing my colleagues or missing out on opportunities often led me to say yes without thinking. But as the tasks piled up, I realized that something had to change.

Setting Boundaries and the Power of No

So, I made a conscious decision to start saying no when necessary. I established some boundaries for myself, a kind of internal filter to help me decide what was truly worth my time and energy.

Before agreeing to anything new, I started asking myself a few simple questions:

• Does this work/task align with my current priorities at work?

• Will saying yes to this compromise my ability to deliver quality work?

• Do I have the capacity and resources to take this on without sacrificing my well-being?

These questions helped me gain clarity on when to say no. I realized that saying no wasn't a rejection of the task or the person asking—it was a way to protect my time and focus on what truly mattered.

Embracing Freedom

As I started saying no more often, something amazing happened. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, a sense of freedom in reclaiming control of my time.

Saying no became an act of self-care—a way to prioritize my mental and emotional well-being. Instead of feeling guilty or anxious, I felt empowered by my choices. I was able to focus more on the tasks that mattered most, delivering better results in the process.

Balancing Workload with Grace

Over time, my colleagues began to understand and respect my boundaries. They appreciated my honesty and understood that saying no wasn't a personal rejection—it was a strategic choice for a more balanced work life.

I found that by saying no when necessary, I was able to excel in the projects that truly aligned with my skills and interests. My productivity improved, my stress levels decreased, and I felt more fulfilled in my work.

Practical Tips for Saying No at Work

• Pause and Assess: Before agreeing to a new task, take a moment to assess whether it aligns with your current workload and priorities.

• Use Clear, Honest Communication: When saying no, be transparent about your reasons. You don't need to make excuses—simply explain that your plate is full at the moment.

• Offer Alternatives: If possible, suggest alternative solutions or ways to help without taking on the full task.

• Practice Self-Care: Remember that saying no is an act of self-care. It allows you to preserve your energy and avoid burnout.

• Set Realistic Expectations: Be clear about what you can realistically accomplish within a given timeframe. This helps manage expectations and prevents overload.

So, my colleagues, I encourage you to consider to say NO in your work lives. It's not about shutting doors or rejecting opportunities—it's about finding balance, protecting your well-being, and doing your best work.

Here's to a more balanced, fulfilling work life for us all 🤞

Let's Talk, Shall We?

Remember those days in school when you played the classic game of "Telephone," whispering messages down the line, only to see how hilariously garbled they became at the end? Well, in the real world, clear and open communication is our golden ticket to better relationships at work. Here's how to make it happen:

• Active Listening: Think of conversations with your colleagues as more than just a verbal exchange. Be present, maintain eye contact, and show you're genuinely tuned in. Respond with nods and questions, signaling that you value their thoughts and ideas.

• Feedback: The Breakfast of Champions: Constructive criticism is like a growth serum for professional development. Invite feedback from your colleagues and dish it out yourself – but do it respectfully and constructively. It's a surefire way to show your commitment to the team's success.

• Keep the Updates Rolling: Picture this: You're working on a project, but your team has no clue about your progress. Sounds counterproductive, right? Share regular updates, deadlines, and relevant info with your colleagues. This transparency builds trust and keeps everyone on the same page.

• Conflict's in the Mix: Conflicts are the uninvited guests at any workplace. But don't sweep them under the rug. Instead, tackle them head-on with a problem-solving mindset. It's about finding solutions that benefit the team, not pointing fingers.

Walking in Their Shoes

Empathy – it's that secret sauce that can take your workplace relationships to the next level. It's about understanding and sharing the feelings of others. Here's how to be more empathetic:

• Seeing the World Through Their Eyes: Try to understand where your colleagues are coming from. What are their challenges, goals, and worries? This will help you connect with them on a deeper level.

• Be Their Support System: When your colleagues hit rough patches, be there for them. Lend a listening ear, a helping hand, or a shoulder to lean on. Your support fosters camaraderie within the team.

• Embrace Differences: We're all different – backgrounds, experiences, personalities – it's what makes us unique. Instead of being judgmental, embrace these differences. They're opportunities to learn from one another and enrich your team's skill set.

Trust: The Glue of Great Teams

Trust is the magic ingredient that holds everything together. Here's how to build and maintain trust in your workplace relationships:

• Consistency is King: Be reliable. If you say you'll do something, do it. Consistency in your actions and words breeds trust.

• Honesty is the Best Policy: Always be truthful and transparent with your colleagues. If you mess up, own it and take responsibility. Honesty builds credibility and trust.

• Respect Those Boundaries: Respect personal and professional boundaries. Don't pry into your colleagues' personal lives, and be mindful of their time and workload.

• Guard the Secrets: Keep sensitive information confidential when needed. If a colleague confides in you, protect their privacy.

All Aboard the Collaboration Train

Improving teamwork is the ultimate goal, right? When individuals work together cohesively, the team's performance and productivity skyrocket. Here's how to amp up the collaboration:

• Roles and Responsibilities, Please: Make sure everyone knows their role and responsibilities. No one likes to play a guessing game. Clarity reduces confusion.

• Common Goals FTW: Establish shared goals that align with the organization's objectives. A common target ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction.

• Celebrate the Wins: Every small victory is a step towards the big one. Acknowledge and celebrate the team's achievements and milestones. This keeps spirits high and reinforces unity.

• A Positive Work Oasis: Create a workspace where positivity reigns. Encourage open communication and brainstorming sessions. A happy team is a productive team.

Networking: Not Just for Social Butterflies

Building relationships isn't just about office hours. Networking and socializing outside of work can also strengthen your bonds. Here's how:

• Join the Party: Attend work-related events, conferences, and seminars. These gatherings are goldmines for meeting colleagues from other departments and building connections.

• Professional Organizations: If you want to broaden your horizons, consider joining industry-related professional organizations. You'll expand your network and connect with colleagues from different companies.

• Volunteer with Gusto: Volunteer for cross-functional projects or committees. This is your ticket to rubbing shoulders with colleagues from various teams and expanding your network.

• Online Presence Matters: In today's digital age, your online presence counts. Keep your LinkedIn profile polished and professional. Connect with colleagues and engage in industry-related discussions.

Gratitude Goes a Long Way

Who doesn't love a pat on the back or a word of appreciation? Recognizing your colleagues' contributions can work wonders in building strong relationships. Here's how to sprinkle some gratitude:

• Send Thank-You Notes: When a colleague goes above and beyond, take a moment to send them a heartfelt thank-you email or even a handwritten note. Express your gratitude for their hard work and dedication.

• Public Praise: Don't keep their accomplishments a secret. Shine a spotlight on your colleagues' achievements during team meetings. Highlight their contributions and the positive impact they've had on the team.

• Small Acts of Kindness: Little gestures can make a big difference. Bring in coffee for a colleague, or offer to lend a hand when they're swamped with work. It's the thought that counts.

• Join the Recognition Party: If your organization has a recognition program, get involved. Nominate colleagues for awards or recognition when they deserve it. It's a win-win for everyone.

Progress is a Journey, Not a Destination

Building strong relationships and improving teamwork is an ongoing adventure. Here's how to keep the momentum going:

• Feedback is Your Friend: Keep the lines of communication open for feedback. Regularly ask your colleagues how you can improve your working relationships. Use their input as stepping stones to personal growth.

• Invest in You: Your own professional development contributes to the success of your team. Invest time and effort into enhancing your skills and knowledge.

• Stay Adaptable: Embrace change with open arms. The workplace is always evolving. Your ability to adapt to new situations and challenges strengthens your relationships with colleagues.

Conclusion

In the grand tapestry of your professional life, relationships with colleagues weave a rich and colorful pattern. Effective communication, empathy, trust, collaboration, networking, appreciation, and continuous improvement are the threads that create this intricate design. By embracing these strategies, you're not just improving teamwork – you're nurturing connections that make your workplace a second home, a place where you and your colleagues flourish together.

Flexibility is our freedom flag!

One thing you gotta know about us Gen Z workers is that we thrive on flexibility like a fish in the ocean. We aren't content with the cookie-cutter cubicles of yesteryears. Give us the freedom to choose when and where we work, and you'll witness us conquering challenges with an unmatched fervor. Whether it's the option to work remotely or having flexible work hours, it empowers us to find a harmonious balance between our personal lives and our professional growth.

We dance to the rhythm of meaningful work!

Picture this: We're like a group of artists ready to leave our mark on the world. We want our work to resonate with our souls, something that goes beyond just monetary compensation. We seek purpose in our daily tasks, a reason to jump out of bed and face the day with unyielding enthusiasm. The corporate ladder might be appealing to some, but we'd rather climb a mountain that fulfills our passions and leaves a positive impact on society.

Authenticity is our life mantra!

Gone are the days of pretense and conformity. We, the Gen Z workforce, pride ourselves on our authenticity. We want our workplaces to be open and inclusive, where diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone can feel comfortable in their own skin. A workplace culture that fosters individuality unleashes our potential to innovate and push boundaries, creating an environment where each one of us can truly shine.

Mentorship is our guiding compass!

Now, let me tell you something about our desire for mentorship. We appreciate seasoned professionals taking us under their wings and nurturing our growth. It's like a young seedling basking in the warm sunlight of wisdom and experience. Having mentors who genuinely care about our development gives us the courage to explore uncharted territories, knowing we have someone to guide us through the storms.

Tech-savvy is our middle name!

Technology isn't just a tool for us; it's an extension of ourselves. We grew up in the era of rapid technological advancement, and we've adapted faster than you can say "hashtag." So, if you want to keep us engaged, embrace the latest tech trends and provide us with digital tools that streamline our work processes. Trust us; we'll be your biggest advocates for staying ahead in the digital game.

Work-life integration, not just balance!

Let's debunk the myth of work-life "balance" once and for all. For us Gen Z workers, it's all about work-life integration. We don't see our personal lives and work as two separate entities but rather as a beautiful symphony that complements one another. We appreciate employers who understand that sometimes life happens and allow us the space to handle it without feeling guilty about it.

Impactful feedback fuels our growth!

Feedback is the nourishment that helps us grow and blossom. We yearn for constructive criticism and recognition of our accomplishments. It's like watering a thirsty plant; the more feedback you provide, the more we'll flourish and bloom with renewed energy and determination. So, don't hold back on feedback; we can take it, and it'll only make us better!

Purpose-driven initiatives light our fire!

Here's a little secret about us: We are avid supporters of purpose-driven initiatives. We want to be part of organizations that genuinely care about the environment, social issues, and community welfare. Being involved in such projects gives us a sense of fulfillment, knowing that our work contributes positively to the world.

Celebration, the sweet icing on the cake!

Lastly, we adore celebrations! It doesn't have to be something extravagant; a simple acknowledgment of milestones, achievements, or even just surviving a challenging week brings us immense joy. Celebrating together as a team creates a tight-knit bond that keeps us motivated and excited to keep reaching for the stars.

Wrapping Up!

To sum it all up, dear readers, we, the Gen Z workers, are not just another cog in the corporate machinery. We are a generation driven by purpose, authenticity, and a desire for growth and meaningful impact. Embracing our needs in the workplace will not only unlock our potential but also contribute to a more dynamic and innovative workforce for the future. So, let's work hand in hand, embracing the new Gen Z wave, and together, let's create a better, brighter, and more fulfilling future!

1. Lack of Open Communication

In a toxic workplace, communication is often hindered. You may find it challenging to express your thoughts or concerns without fear of retaliation or judgment. A lack of transparency and open dialogue creates a toxic atmosphere where rumors and gossip thrive, leading to misunderstandings and increased stress levels.

2. Constant Negative Atmosphere

A toxic work environment is characterized by a consistently negative atmosphere. Negativity can manifest in the form of constant complaining, criticism, and a lack of support. If you find yourself surrounded by colleagues who are always pessimistic and unwilling to collaborate positively, it's likely a toxic workplace.

3. Micromanagement and Lack of Trust

Micromanagement is a sign of a toxic work environment. When superiors lack trust in their employees, they resort to closely monitoring and controlling every aspect of their work. This behavior can lead to feelings of incompetence, frustration, and a diminished sense of autonomy, ultimately affecting job satisfaction and productivity.

4. High Turnover Rates

A toxic workplace often experiences high turnover rates. When employees feel undervalued, unsupported, or unappreciated, they are more likely to seek opportunities elsewhere. Consistently witnessing coworkers leaving the company is a strong indicator that your workplace may be toxic and could negatively impact your career longevity.

5. Lack of Work-Life Balance

A toxic work environment disregards the importance of work-life balance. Constant demands for overtime, unreasonable expectations, and a lack of flexibility can result in burnout and an inability to maintain a healthy personal life. If your work consistently infringes on your personal time, it's time to evaluate the toxicity of your workplace.

6. Bullying and Harassment

Workplace bullying and harassment are toxic behaviors that can have severe consequences on an individual's well-being. If you experience or witness verbal abuse, discrimination, or any form of harassment, it is essential to address these issues and seek support. A healthy work environment should prioritize respect, inclusivity, and a zero-tolerance policy towards such behaviors.

7. Lack of Recognition and Growth Opportunities

In a toxic workplace, employees often feel undervalued and overlooked. If your hard work goes unnoticed, promotions are rare, and growth opportunities are limited, it's a clear sign that your workplace may be toxic. Feeling stagnant in your role can lead to frustration, demotivation, and a decline in overall job satisfaction.

8. High-Stress Levels

Excessive stress is prevalent in a toxic work environment. Unreasonable workloads, tight deadlines, and a lack of support contribute to heightened stress levels. Chronic stress not only affects your mental health but also impacts your physical well-being. If you constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious at work, it's crucial to evaluate whether your workplace is toxic.

9. Lack of Autonomy and Flexibility

A toxic workplace often imposes rigid rules, limits autonomy, and discourages independent thinking. If decision-making power is centralized, and employees' voices are consistently ignored, it indicates a toxic work environment. Feeling like a mere cog in a machine can stifle creativity and hinder professional growth.

10. Lack of Employee Well-being Initiatives

A toxic workplace neglects the well-being of its employees. The absence of programs or initiatives focused on mental health, stress management, and employee support indicates a lack of care for the people within the organization. A healthy workplace promotes employee well-being, encourages a healthy work-life balance, and invests in the growth and development of its employees.

Conclusion

Recognizing the signs of a toxic workplace is crucial for your personal and professional well-being. If you identify with several of the indicators mentioned above, it may be time to evaluate your current work environment. Remember, you deserve a workplace that fosters growth, supports well-being, and values your contributions. Don't be afraid to seek out opportunities that align with your values and provide a healthier and more fulfilling professional experience.

Today, I woke up at 7.30 AM, brushed my teeth, and started cleaning the house. At the time, I saw a Lays paper lying under my bed. I picked it up and thought of throwing it even though I knew I would fail. Eventually, I threw it. It was flying in the air, but fortunately, it landed in the trash can. I was jumping as I wasn’t expecting this result. And that’s how I know my day started with luck.

After that, I took a cold shower for 30 minutes, got dressed up, skipped breakfast as always, and started commuting to meet my friends. On my way, I saw a man pulling his bike and a little girl walking by his side. I crossed them, but I felt it would be nice to ask him if he needed any help. So, I pulled over and asked him, “Is there any issue with your bike?” He replied, “Yes, brother. I ran out of petrol.” Since the petrol bunk is a little far away, I told him to wait there and promised to buy petrol for his bike.

This is not the usual thing I would do, but seeing that little girl walking with his father made me move. I went to the petrol bunk and asked for a can to buy petrol, but they said no empty cans were available. So, I asked some other petty shops for an empty can, and one shop owner gave me half a liter empty can. I offered him money for the empty can he gave, but he stared at me and said: “Just go, brother.”

I bought the petrol and went back to the place where I told that father to wait and gave the petrol can to him and gave a ten rupees five-star chocolate to the little girl, she took it and smiled at me! It made me feel a lot better, and I decided to help others whenever I could.

After that, I met my friends Nihal, Puvanesh, and Nikita. We were a group of friends who completed our civil services interview last month and hoping for positive results.

All four of us went to a coffee shop and ordered three teas and one coffee along with samosas because I love eating samosas with my coffee. Once we got our orders, I started sipping my coffee and initiated a discussion regarding the ongoing invasion of Russia in Ukraine.

At that time, Puvanesh, a phone geek, interrupted and told that the results were released by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). My heart started pounding like a drum as I failed to succeed on my previous two attempts. Nikita opened the UPSC website, downloaded the result document, and checked. She literally spelled her roll number out loud: “Onee Fooour Ttttwo Fiiiive Eighttttt Nineee” Oh my god! She cleared it and got All India Rank (AIR) 23. She started screaming and dancing on the road. In the meantime, Puvanesh checked his result and told us that he cleared the exams and got AIR 54.

I am confident that I will clear the exam this time. Still, I got worried and told Nihal that I wouldn’t check my results and started doubting myself. So, Nihal checked his result and jumped with joy as he got AIR 45. Now it is my turn, they compelled me to tell my number, and I said my number one by one: "Two Three Eight Two Zero Four.” Nihal checked my number and got sad. Seeing his face, I was terrified, and my eyes started running. I urged Nihal to tell me my result, and he said that I got AIR 15. I couldn’t believe my ears and asked Nihal again to tell me the result. He got irritated and screamed that “Bro! you got AIR 15.” I just sat on the bench and started crying because this was the moment I had been dreaming about for ten years since my eighth standard. At that moment I thought, “Dreams really come true! Don’t they?”

After a few minutes, we got a mail from UPSC requesting the selected members to come to Delhi by 3.00 PM. This is an unusual request from UPSC to call upon the selected members to assemble on the same day as the result. We booked the immediate Air India flight, which was scheduled to take off at 11.00 AM, packed a few of our clothes, and fortunately boarded the flight at the last call. Since the travel time from Chennai to Delhi was three hours, we wondered why UPSC had called us really quick.

Puvanesh checked the internet and found that India had arranged a peace talk between Russia and Ukraine in New Delhi. So, we assumed that we were called for the event to be observers. By 2.00 PM, we arrived at Indira Gandhi National Airport, New Delhi, and reached the UPSC main office. And they gave us a heads-up about the peace talks and that we will be observers. We were happy and terrified at the same time because this was the first time I visited Rashtrapathi Bhavan. We will meet Indian prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi, Mr. Putin, the President of Russia, and the great soldier in recent times cum Ukraine president Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As we all waited, the peace talks began. Ukrainian delegates and Russian delegates' argument was heated about their country’s freedom, territorial integrity, and more. It was even more intensified when Russian President Putin stood up and shouted at Ukrainian President Zelenskyy that Ukraine belongs to Russia. Indian President Narendra Modi intervened and gave a speech about humanity and peace. Then Indian, Russian, and Ukrainian delegates discussed the common grounds.

Later some time, the Russian President accepted to sign an agreement and announced a ceasefire based on humanitarian grounds regarding their invasion of Ukraine. Indian delegates started drafting the peace treaty to get a sign from both parties. No matter how you try to avoid destiny, it will always find a hole to get you. Unfortunately, an Indian calligrapher got sick, and there was no replacement for him. They requested observers to volunteer if they knew calligraphy.

Fortunately, I got a certification in calligraphy a year ago. So, I stepped out and helped our Indian counterparts draft the peace treaty, and they got both leaders to sign the treaty and announced the ceasefire on the Russian invasion. Once the conference was completed fruitfully, the world media appreciated the Indian government for initiating the peace process and convincing the Russian President to announce a ceasefire. We happily got out of Rastrapathi Bhavan and went to our hotel rooms with the satisfaction of being part of this outstanding achievement by the Indian government.

On my bed, I recalled the incidents of my day, thought how lucky I am, and asked myself that “Dreams really come true! Don’t they?”

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In this blog post, we’ll look at the key enhancements of this release:

• Data source enhancements

• Server enhancements

• Designer enhancements

• Widget enhancements

• Embedded enhancements

Data source enhancements

Major enhancements

New data source connectors

We added connectors for the following data sources: Decision Lens, Zuora, Avochato, QuickBase, and Yelp. Now users can use these data source connectors to import their data using various API endpoints and create dashboards to gain insights.

Data source list ⁠—Decision Lens, Zuora, Avochato, QuickBase, and Yelp

Web API-based data sources using our custom connector

Creating Web API-based data sources using our custom connector

Customers create connections for their own APIs by using the Add new connectors option in the custom connectors section without requesting support connectors. Users can define the default properties, like adding URLs and dropdown lists in the JSON file.

Custom query extract mode support for SQL data sources

Custom query extract mode support for SQL data sources

Users can extract, group, or join the data based on the specified query. This custom query extract mode support helps the user to extract or group specific data. Instead of extracting all the data and selecting the required tables in the designer, users can save time using the custom query extract mode.

Option to connect specific data sets in Google BigQuery

Connect specific data sets in Google BigQuery

Users can select a particular schema by using specific parameters. This support will be helpful for the users who have to extract specific data sets from large data sets.

Median function support

Median function support in widget aggregation

We have implemented median aggregation support in this version 5.1 release. Now, you can use the median function to choose the middle value of a given data set when it is arranged in a particular order.

Minor enhancements

• Firebird ODBC connector support.

• Relative date minutes support.

Data source improvements

• Provided the OR condition support in initial filter workflow.

• Added performance improvements in Oracle extract mode in initial data source creation.

• Provided the dynamic connection string support in SnowFlake connector.

• Improved the performance in dashboard rendering while SQL extract mode data sources refresh.

• Upgraded the FB backend APIs to version 12.

• Fixed the issue in connecting Jira on-premises version.

• Fixed the issue in importing custom fields in Jira.

• Fixed the issue in uploading 200 MB files in file connections.

• Fixed the issue in connecting data sources with data in Hebrew.

• Fixed the issue with column schema not displaying in PostgreSQL.

• Fixed the relative filter Today’s UI not working properly.

• Fixed the invalid column name issue while applying a relative date filter in grid widgets.

• Fixed the issue of SSAS drill down not working properly.

Web connection improvements

• Provided a preview dialog for live web connections.

• Improved performance of dashboards with live web connection in view mode.

• Included the join support for live web connections.

MongoDB improvements

• Fixed an issue in data refresh when expression included in MongoDB.

• Provided the support to filter collections in MongoDB.

Server enhancements

Major enhancements

Publish data sources between sites

Publishing data sources between sites

Now, you can publish data sources between multiple tenants. Previously, in order to add a data source, you’d need to publish a dashboard on the other tenant. But with this update, you can easily publish the data sources on other tenants. This support will help users avoid repetitive work creating the same data sources multiple times.

Unlist dashboards from dashboard listing page

Unlist dashboards from the dashboard listing page

You can easily unlist a dashboard from the dashboard listing page. Use the Unlist dashboard from the listing option in access mode. Using this option, a dashboard owner can prevent others from viewing their dashboard.

Note: Using this option, you can unlist the dashboard from the listing page only. But if a user has the dashboard link, then they can still view the dashboard.

Track email delivery status

Track email delivery status

You can now track the email statuses from the tenant. This will let you know details such as event, date, recipient, initiated by, status, and actions. Owners can now resolve any confusions on the status of emails.

Turn on and off email notifications

Turning on and off email notification

You can now turn on or off the email notification feature. In the notifications panel, you can select or deselect it to send needed notifications or prevent sending unwanted emails to end users.

Minor enhancements

• Additional date format support in the settings page.

• Support to change the copyright information and powered-by logo from the settings page.

• Support to verify email credentials by sending test emails.

• Support to send dashboard exports to FTPS and SFTP locations.

• Support to extract the usage analytics data source by copying the usage analytics dashboard.

• Support to show a dependent dashboard of a particular data source.

Server improvements

• Implemented new, improved UX for user and group management, settings pages, permissions dialogs, and resource listing pages.

• Provided the support to export dashboards with a URL parameter using the REST API.

• Added support to use the REST API to update dashboard settings.

IDP and UMS

• Implemented new, improved UX for UMS administration, site management, and user management pages.

Server and UMS breaking changes

• We changed the content formation with dynamic words and local file paths for localization support. So, the already-generated PO files will not work anymore, and we need to generate the PO files again.

Designer enhancements

Major enhancements

Tab widget support

Adding tab widget

Tab widgets enable users to add multiple tabs in a single widget and add multiple widgets like charts and grids. Instead of creating a lengthy dashboard, you can easily reduce its size using tab widgets.

Custom date format support

Adding custom date format in grid and chart widgets

Using the custom date format, users can change the desired data format for the date, year, quarter, month, and day. The yyyy and yy formats are added as default, and you can also change the format using the custom format option.

Note: Currently, only grid and chart widgets have the custom date format.

Date field auto hierarchy and custom hierarchy support

Date field auto hierarchy and custom hierarchy support

Using the date field auto hierarchy feature, users can automatically create a date hierarchy based on the order of importance by configuring the date-time. Users can display data more conveniently and intuitively.

Also, using custom hierarchy, users can create a new hierarchy for string data using the Create a new hierarchy option or add them into already created hierarchy using Add to hierarchy option.

Designer improvements

• Added the search option in the data source designer page.

• Added the corner radius and shadow options in combine widget.

• Added a message window after completing the dashboard or widget exporting.

• Added a total record count when viewing underlying data.

• Provided the label and dashboard parameter support in measure formatting and conditional formatting for widgets.

• Now, you can remove designer-related DOM elements from the body on destroy action.

• Provided the support for dashboard embedding inside a form.

• Provided the support to append ejWaitingPopup inside the desired element instead of the body directly.

• Improved responsiveness in the View Underlying Data pop-up for widget mode embedding with a minimum height and width.

• Added an API to restrict dashboard resize action.

• Added an API to customize the alert dialog under the actionBegin event.

• Fixed the issue on embedded dashboard rendering in view mode after rendering design mode.

• Removed an unwanted scrollbar shown on widget mode embedding.

• Fixed an issue on dashboard navigating to base URL of embed application during “Publish As” option.

• Fixed the dashboard preview not working the second time with design mode embedding.

• Fixed the dashboard menu pop-up being created with default space even though all the menu items were removed.

• Fixed the unwanted vertical split line on banner icon customization.

• Fixed the console error thrown on embedding dashboards configured with auto-refresh settings.

• Fixed a console error thrown while destroying a dashboard object immediately when it starts rendering.

• Fixed the dashboard refresh failure if dashboard contains text widgets.

• Fixed the widget background image opacity not properly changing in dark theme.

• Fixed the “Does Not Equal” option not being saved in the initial filter window.

• Fixed the same column not properly exporting to Excel format.

• Fixed the Conditional Formatting window not loading for the number card widget.

• Fixed the sorting not working after refreshing or publishing the dashboard in an SSAS connection.

• Fixed the console error that occurred while loading the dashboard.

• Fixed the string literal of date format being changed in dashboard parameters.

Designer breaking changes

• Changed the content formation with dynamic words and local file paths for localization support. So, the already-generated PO files will not work anymore, and we need to generate the PO files again.

• Provided Chromium-based engine support for image and PDF export functionalities and dropped the PhantomJS support. The Chromium-based engine doesn’t support Azure App Service or Linux ARMx64.

Widget enhancements

Major enhancements

Bubble scatter chart widget

Configuring bubble scatter chart widget

We have implemented a new bubble scatter chart widget. This lets users create attractive data visualization in their dashboards to showcase the data in 3D to widen the scope of the analysis.

Note: It will act as scatter chart if x- and y-values alone are configured. It acts as a bubble chart if we configure the measures for bubble size.

Text filter widget

Configuring text filter widget

Now users can configure the text filter widget, which helps them perform filtering based on contains, start with, and end with by typing the values in the text box.

Relative date support for list box and combo box

Relative date support for list box and combo box widgets

Use the relative date support for the list box and combo box. Using this relative date support, users can filter the date period and create custom periods like last 6 months or last 3 months.

Legend support for map markers

Configuring legend support for map markers

Users can show a legend and toggle its visibility by applying marker color customization to map markers.

Index-based color customization for charts

Configuring index-based color customization for charts

Users can customize the colors based on a ranking system. So, users sort values based on some measure and display each color based on rank. Currently, we have only a data-based color option, which maintains the color even when the position changes based on data.

Alignment support for pivot grid Row, Column and Value

Alignment support for pivot grid Row, Column and Value

Now, users can align the row header, column header, and values using the right, left, and center options in the Alignment settings menu.

Text wrap support for Number Card Title:

Text wrapping for Number card

Now, the users can wrap and trim the card title based on height using the text wrap support. So, that the user can see the content as much as possible.

Widget improvements

• Hidden column support for number cards and KPI cards.

• A formatting option for date columns in grids.

• Hidden column support for pivot grids.

Embedding

Embed a dashboard for external providers in Iframe-based embedding.

Embed the dashboard for external providers in Iframe-based embedding

Now, users can easily embed a dashboard into any web application by copying and pasting the embed code. The administrators can easily embed dashboards using various authentication providers such as Windows Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, OAuth 2.0, and OpenID Connect.

Embedded improvements

• Embed a multitab dashboard or pinboard and create a data source in nonweb platforms.

• Use the save and save as view options in Iframe embedding.

• Customize the dashboard banner menu icon in mobile mode.

Conclusion

We hope this post was helpful to you in learning about the features and improvements of the Bold BI v5.1 release. To know more about the features and improvements, refer to our release page. You can download the latest version of Bold BI from your account page. If you are new to Bold BI, get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can also contact us by submitting your questions through the Bold BI website, or if you already have an account, you can log in.

New features and improvements

There are various new features and improvements in our latest update. You can find the complete details in the release notes page published after the rollout.

Data source enhancements

• Using new, built-in connectors, you can connect to Decision Lens, Zuora, Avochato, QuickBase, and Yelp with Bold BI.

  

  Data source list —Decision Lens, Zuora, Avochato, QuickBase, and Yelp

• You can create Web API-based data sources using our custom connector.

  

  Creating Web API-based data sources using our custom connector

• We intend to provide the following support:

  • Custom query extract mode support for SQL data sources.

    

    Custom query extract mode support for SQL data sources

• Option to connect specific data sets in Google BigQuery.

  

  Connect specific data sets in Google BigQuery

• Median function support in widget aggregation.

  

  Median function support in widget aggregation

• Firebird ODBC connector support.

  

  Firebird ODBC connector

• Relative date minutes support.

  

  Relative date minutes

Server enhancements

On the server-side, you can expect the following support in our upcoming release:

• Support to publish data sources between sites.

  

  Publishing data sources between sites

• Support to unlist dashboards from the dashboard listing page.

  

  Unlist dashboards from the dashboard listing page

• Support to track email delivery status.

  

  Track email delivery status

• Option to turn on or off the email notification.

  

  Turning on or off the email notification

• Additional date format support in the settings page.

  

  Additional date format support

• Support to show a dependent dashboard of a particular data source.

Designer enhancements

In the designer, you can look forward to the following support in our upcoming release:

• Tab widget support.

  

  Adding tab widget

• Custom date format support for grid and chart widgets.

  

  Adding custom date format in grid and chart widgets

• Date field auto hierarchy and custom hierarchy support.

  

  Adding date field auto hierarchy and custom hierarchy support

• Support for encrypting query parameters while linking a dashboard.

• Customization support for no data container.

  

  No data container⁠—customization support

• Lakhs and crores support in measure formatting.

  

  Lakhs and crores support in measure formatting

Widget enhancements

In the widgets, you can expect the following support:

• Bubble scatter chart widget.

• Text filter widget.

• Relative date support for list boxes and combo boxes.

• Support to show chart legend items as a dropdown.

• Legend support for map markers.

• Index-based color customization for charts.

Embedded

Embed a dashboard for external providers in Iframe-based embedding.

Embed a dashboard for external providers in Iframe-based embedding

Conclusion

We hope you’re excited about the features and improvements that are going to be rolled out in the Bold BI v5.1 release. Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting your questions through the Bold BI website, or if you already have an account, you can log in.

The Community License has the same features and support as the paid license, including updates to newer versions and attractive features like:

• Intuitive widgets: Get deep insight into your data with a rich set of built-in widgets and custom widget options.

• Data visualization: Embed data visualizations into your applications and websites, building an interactive data experience.

• Data connectivity: Connect to all kinds of business data from files and databases to web services.

• Easy-to-use designer: Get a pixel-perfect design-time experience with the integrated drag-and-drop designer.

• Enterprise reporting: Produce paginated, printable reports with the complete reporting platform, Bold Reports.

• Collaboration: Glean valuable insight from data collaboratively and help the team take quick action.

• Extensibility: Customizable features to meet the growing needs of an application, like authentication protocols and a granular permission model.

• Predictive analytics: Predict outcomes, identify risks, and understand consumer trends from predictive model results.

• Security: Granular control over access permissions, data security at rest or in transit, SSO authentication, and more.

Aren’t you excited to get your hands on a product worth $11,940 for free? Ready to get started? Claim a free license of Bold BI by signing up and run your business seamlessly.

FAQs

Who is eligible?

Individuals and companies with less than $1 million USD in annual gross revenue and 5 or fewer developers.

How does the Community License differ from a paid license?

The Community License has the same features and support as the paid license, but it offers only one deployment option, the Windows installer. With a paid license, you have access to Windows, Linux, Docker, and Kubernetes deployment options.

Can the products be used to build commercial applications?

Yes.

How long are the licenses valid?

Community Licenses do not expire. You will continue to receive support and updates for new versions as long as you are eligible for the licenses.

Visit the Bold BI Community edition page or contact Bold BI sales for more details.

The world is moving away from pressing a series of buttons or writing complex code to pass instructions to computers. We want our computers to understand human language and simplify our daily chores. We have started using Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa for professional and personal tasks. We also have technologies that can detect appointments, missing attachments, and reminders from email content. Natural language processing (NLP) is the science behind all these technologies. In this blog post, I will give you an overview of NLP and how it is used in various business intelligence (BI) platforms.

What is natural language processing (NLP)?

Natural language processing is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that strives to make computers understand and process human language. Human language has ambiguities that make it very hard for computers to understand the context and intent of natural speech or text. NLP works based on computational linguistics and statistical, machine learning, and deep learning techniques. These technologies work together to allow computers to interpret human language and comprehend its full meaning in context.

Usage of NLP in various BI tools

Today, business intelligence (BI) vendors support NLP, opening up data analytics to every user, from beginners to advanced data scientists. Data analysts can now interact with their data naturally, asking questions as they think of them. Previously, data analysts had to build complex visuals to understand correlation and causation. Natural language capabilities in BI tools now allow users to get insight by just talking normally. Let’s see how major BI vendors use NLP in their products:

• Tableau’s Ask Data.

• Power BI’s Q&A.

Tableau’s Ask Data

Ask Data is Tableau’s NLP for business intelligence. Fully embedded into the Tableau Server, Ask Data is available from version 2019.1. With Ask Data, users can ask questions of any published data source and get answers visualized. Ask Data provides a fast and straightforward interface that allows users to type in questions with guided search suggestions to get instant results. Refer to the following sample.

Photo by Tableau’s Ask Data

You can request Ask Data to “Show sales in the United States” and then ask a follow-up question like, “How about in Texas?” without mentioning sales for a second time. To use Ask Data, you don’t have to be anadvanced data analyst. Even the general business person can explore data with ease. Refer to this Tableau page, which explains how to create an Ask Data lens in Tableau and analyze the data.

In addition to Ask Data, Tableau also supports Explain Data. It provides AI-driven explanations for data points in a single click. The answers help users unearth new understandings of the data points using the advanced statistical models. This advanced feature allows data analysts and business users to go deeper in data exploration.

Power BI’s Q&A

On the other hand, Power BI provides support for NLP through a dedicated Q&A visualization. The Q&A visualization is available along with different visualizations in the Power BI toolbox. Interestingly, the Q&A visual behaves like other visuals in a report and can be cross-filtered and cross-highlighted. It supports bookmarks and comments. You can also convert a Q&A result into a standard visual with a single click.

The following example shows how Q&A quickly interprets a complex question and displays an accurate result. It can also interpret relative terms like “last year” and “last quarter.”

Power BI’s Q&A executing a natural language query

By default, Power BI chooses the best visual for the data when asked.

However, users can also specify their preferred visual by adding “as <visual name>.” For example, “Show profit by state as map” plots a bubble map, as shown in the following image.

Specifying visualization type

This tip page shows the keywords and terminologies that Power BI’s Q&A can recognize easily.

When comparing Tableau’s Ask Data and Power BI’s Q&A, I felt that Power BI is handling comparisons slightly better than Tableau. The following query to compare profits between two states was perfectly executed in Power BI.

NLP query for comparison

However, Tableau couldn’t recognize it. At least the terminology in Tableau wasn’t precise enough for comparison. On the other hand, Tableau has a better interface for editing the query.

Conclusion

It wasn’t that long ago when only data analysts and a handful of people worked with data. Today, it is a much different story. Business data is everywhere. In fact, according to the International Data Corporation, there will be 163 zettabytes of data in the world by 2025. And with businesses relying on data more and more to make decisions, it’s vital that everyone in every department feels confident in utilizing data analytics. NLP and AI-driven business intelligence platforms provide tools and guidance to understand data better. Everyone can now realize what’s really going on with their data and make sure AI-driven insights back up their business decisions.

Many companies are still struggling to select a good business intelligence (BI) platform. Data becomes more important for business success every year. The scope of BI is expanding. BI helps you break down your data and see the patterns in it, giving you insight into your business and industry. This is how companies make data-driven decisions, keeping their trajectory in line with their business goals.

As this year 2021 ends, let’s explore some trending topics in the evolving realm of business intelligence in this blog post:

• Data literacy

• Data governance

• Data security

• Data democratization

• Data quality management

• Self-service BI

• Predictive analytics

• Embedded analytics

Data literacy

Over the years, the usage of data in many industries has evolved. Many users in every organization are actively analyzing their data every day. With the gained insights, companies are able to identify customer needs, improve the quality of their products, explore opportunities, and gain more revenue. The ability to read, write, and communicate with the data is known as data literacy. By giving organized training on analyzing data to employees, businesses can achieve more. For example, if you are managing a marketing firm, you have loads of data resting in your systems. Giving organized training on data extraction, cleaning, and organizing helps them avoid dependency on your IT team. Proper knowledge about working with your organization’s data empowers your employees. Marketing insight directly from marketing experts will help you increase the revenue of your company.

Data governance

Data flows across the organizations using various mediums. All the gathered data is not entirely usable. To use the data properly, every business needs to implement a set of processes, an operational infrastructure that helps you govern and store data properly. Data governance lets you find and rectify the inconsistencies in your data and enables you to manage data assets and protect them within the organization.

Implementing a proper data governance system helps you institutionalize the data flow within your organization. You can achieve high accuracy in the data and maximize the value of data analytics. By using only accurate data, you can derive proper and actionable insights, which helps you in achieving your business goals.

Data security

In the 21^st century, data security and data privacy have become two of the most salient topics. Enormous amounts of data are stored daily within organizations. As new technologies grow, the necessity of protecting data also becomes more important. Data security prevents the data being accessed, manipulated, modified, or erased and it is as important as using the data.

Data also needs to be protected from accidental tampering by employees. By providing data access based on job roles and monitoring that access using a dashboard, you can limit potential damage and track who has accessed what data. This will let you narrow down the source of any data modifications or deletions that negatively affect your data quality.

Data democratization

Data democratization is making data accessible to all employees in an organization. All users can access data, track their departments’ metrics, and help their company’s growth. Data democratization helps many organizations get closer to their vision of becoming entirely data driven.

With the proper implementation of data democratization in your organization, your nontechnical teams, such as sales, marketing, business analysis, and executive teams, can uncover brilliant opportunities for your company. Refer to this blog to learn more about data democratization.

Data quality management

Data quality management consists of the processes and practices of constantly maintaining a high quality of information. Data enters an organization in various ways, so not all the data is accurate and perfect. It may be outdated, duplicated, or inconsistent. If it is not accurate and consistent, you cannot use it to make important decisions.

Data quality management includes the process of identifying poor-quality data, cleaning it, and making it usable with your business intelligence platforms. With the proper data quality management system, you can gain insight into your business from the data and use that insight to improve your organization. Refer to this blog to learn more about data quality management.

Self-service BI

In most organizations, only IT teams have data access. But even nontechnical employees are capable of using business intelligence tools. Data democratization is possible with self-service business intelligence. Employees use these tools to analyze, summarize, and visualize data without any support from IT teams and data analysts.

Teams can examine their own KPIs and gain insight into customer satisfaction, logistics plans, and inventory management that will help them make useful improvements. Refer to this blog to learn more about self-service BI.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is a set of techniques that includes data mining, modeling, machine learning, statistics, and artificial intelligence that predict future outcomes. Using historical data, you can apply mining models to predict future events. You could use predictive analytics models to analyze the purchasing patterns of your customers, and then use that information to recommend additional products and services to the customers most likely to purchase them. Even with a minor rate of success, this simple strategy would boost your business profits.

By feeding predictive analytics models with the right historical data, you can actively monitor and predict market trends. You can keep adequate inventory, which improves customer satisfaction, and increase revenue. Refer to this blog to learn more about predictive analytics.

Embedded analytics

Integrating analytical and data visualization capabilities into a software application is known as embedding analytics. Embedding analytics helps the end user analyze their data within the software application by embedding easily comprehended reports and dashboards. Embedded analytics help administrators and key decision makers get timely and relevant insight into their data within their usual workflow.

Embedded analytics opens up a world of possibilities for your business. The thoughtful implementation of embedded analytics, built on a solid foundation of data transformation tools and best practices, sets the stage for enhanced efficiency, stronger strategic positioning, and improved customer satisfaction—all of which drive revenue and grow a business. Refer to this blog to learn more about embedded analytics.

Conclusion

I hope now you have a clear idea on the trending topics of business intelligence for 2022. In your business journey, Bold BI helps you visualize your data to gain insight from the patterns within by tracking all your important metrics and KPIs in real time.

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. It will save you time by helping you avoid redundant work. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our documentation. You can create a dashboard any way you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ supported data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

Nowadays, most businesses are running based on data, and their growth depends on the insights gained from their data. Many businesses are striving to achieve the 100% quality data analysis that leads to creative business strategies using business intelligence tools. IT teams are doing wonders with data, but this privilege is restricted to the IT team alone. Even nontechnical teams such as sales, marketing, business analysis, and executive teams, can uncover brilliant opportunities for your company. But what they need is access to the data. Here comes the term data democratization, a hot topic now. In this blog post, I am going to discuss:

• What is data democratization?

• Stepping stones for data democratization.

• Data democratization—some best practices.

• Benefits of data democratization.

• How Bold BI assists in data democratization and organizational growth.

What is data democratization?

Data democratization makes data accessible to all employees in an organization. It enables them to analyze data, discover key insights in their data sets, and help their company’s growth. Data democratization helps many organizations get closer to their vision of becoming entirely data-driven. Although data democratization has its pros and cons, companies can reap the benefits of data democratization by properly implementing it.

Stepping stones for data democratization

Laying the stepping stones for data democratization helps you streamline the transition. With proper investment in budget, software, and training, you can achieve data democratization in your business. Let’s discuss some necessary steps towards data democratization.

Creating policy for data accessibility

To implement a successful data democratization model, the data must be accessible for all in an organization. For decades, data has been managed and owned by the IT team. The flow of the data has also been handled by the IT team. When widening access to other teams, organizations must create and deploy policies like authentication for user access to data and authorization for modifying or erasing data. Such policies will improve the credibility of data and insights derived by the users.

Implementing data-quality management

Data democratization is not helpful when you do not have quality data. The insights extracted from flawed data will lead to flawed decisions for the company’s trajectory. Maintaining data quality plays a vital role in a company’s growth. You can learn more about data-quality management by referring to our blog Data Quality Management in Business Intelligence.

Creating a user manual

Creating a clear user manual containing documentation procedures, policies, and procedures to use the BI tools helps your organization and employees understand the available resources, where to find them, and how to use them. It will give clarity to users and help them use the data valuably.

Implementing user permissions

Implementing user permissions is when a business chooses different access levels for different end-users. It allows users to access data relevant to their department and positions. It also avoids unwanted manipulation of the actual data.

Data democratization—some best practices

It is true that sometimes the insights shared by nontechnical people might be misled by misinterpretation. Still, we can educate nontechnical people with the proper methods to interpret data, avoid any mistakes, and ensure the growth of the business.

Proper understanding of data management

With data democratization, users have more freedom as well as responsibility. By knowing how the data is entered, processed, managed, and stored, users will be more cautious with it. This knowledge will reduce the flaws in working with the data and maximize the outcome. Training end users in data management will increase their efficiency with it.

Limit data accessibility

Enabling data accessibility for everyone helps them to find, understand, and interpret the data that will lead them to valuable business decisions. But when the data is misinterpreted, it can lead them to make some bad decisions, too. Since everyone in your organization can access your data, it may pose potential security risks. So, granting data access based on individual users’ needs, position, and skills helps them interpret the data properly and helps you limit damage. This also ensures credibility with the end users.

Embracing self-service analytics

Providing access to data is not enough for a nontechnical employee to come up with game-changing insights. You must ensure the data is easy to find, retrieve, and comprehend. Self-service BI software like Bold BI helps display the data in readable, user-friendly formats, which allows the end users to find the patterns in it. These patterns enable decision-makers to devise market strategies that help the business be one step ahead of its competitors.

Institutional training on using data

Every organization must train its employees to use these tools. By providing institutional training to their employees, a company can make them more familiar with the available tools, and therefore better at and more comfortable with using them. It will empower them to approach data analysis correctly.

Benefits of data democratization

“Expect that data democratization is an evolution where each small win, when non-technical users gain insight because of accessing the data, adds up to ultimately prove the merits of data democratization,” says Bernard Marr, bestselling author of Big Data in Practice.

The benefits of data democratization can be in the form of providing better customer experiences, operational efficiency, governance, etc.

Efficient workforce management

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

In an organization, data is acquired from various resources, consisting of structured and unstructured data. When data democratization is deployed in an organization, all the procured data can be processed and transformed to gain its actual value. There is no need for quality data to remain unused. With data democratization implemented in an organization, managers can assign the tasks like data formatting, data cleaning, and processing the unstructured data to the non-technical employees which improves the quality of the data as well as it can be a potential training to the employees. Using the processed data helps managers explore the valuable KPIs in their data and uncover hidden opportunities, which helps their company gain more revenue.

Faster decision-making

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels

Data democratization helps nontechnical users analyze trends and opportunities, make faster decisions, and optimize outcomes without seeking any outside help. They can avoid depending on other teams for data-driven insights. Since they can access and analyze the data themselves, it saves them time on improving products and processes.

Better customer experience

Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash

Different departments in a company can now track customer trends over time. Marketing departments can analyze the success of past strategies to provide tailor-made offers and marketing campaigns to attract customers, improving sales and overall revenue. Product designers and customer support teams can improve their products, services, and interactions with customers by correlating customer feedback data.

How Bold BI assists in data democratization and organizational growth

Bold BI is a powerful BI and analytics solution that allows you to glean insights from your complex data by visualizing it using a wide range of widgets and 150+ data sources. Bold BI’s drag-and-drop interface and user-friendly designer enable employees who don’t have a technical background to create powerful, attractive, and interactive dashboards. This helps them break down their data, spot trends, and make decisions with more confidence.

Some key features of Bold BI

Multitenancy

Bold BI’s multitenant architecture allows multiple users to share a single software application instance and its underlying resources. You can quickly deploy each environment as an individual site connected with separate database backends. It also helps you protect each tenant’s private information from others.

Self-service BI

Without any coding expertise, Bold BI helps you in self-service reporting and ad hoc analysis, enabling employees to answer business questions using various data sources.

Easy deployment

The Bold BI Embed SDK extends embedding capabilities across popular JavaScript frameworks and can be deployed in platforms such as Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Dockerized environments.

White labeling and redistribution

You can white label dashboards to publish them as your own. Bold BI also allows redistribution with your product so that your customers may host dashboards within their environment.

Bold BI helps you to create dashboards with many interactive features such as filters, drill down, drill through, customizable tooltips, linking, and export options. To learn more about Bold BI and its variety of features, refer to this link.

Why don’t you give it a try?

I hope now you have a better understanding of data democratization, its best practices, and its benefits.

Bold BI helps you visualize your data to see all your important metrics and KPIs in real time. It helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. You’ll save time by avoiding redundant work. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our documentation. You can create a dashboard any way you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ supported data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

Competition in the retail industry is never-ending. All retail businesses strive to increase their popularity and make more profit. Identifying the market demands and being the supplier to those needs will help you achieve your retail business goals. Bold BI enables you to analyze your business data and track your important KPIs within your software applications. Adopting the right embedded analytics in your business software helps you break down the data and find the insights that empower you to make timely decisions that benefit the growth of your business. In this blog post, I will give you an overview of embedded analytics and why it is so important. Then, we’ll talk about how embedded analytics helps you achieve your business goals. Here is our agenda:

• What is embedded analytics?

• Benefits of embedded analytics in the retail industry.

• How to embed analytical tools into retail domain apps.

• Bold BI’s retail solution dashboard examples.

What is embedded analytics?

Embedded analytics is integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into a software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. It also enables you to reduce dependency on IT teams and delivers all the insights you need to improve administrative and workforce outcomes.

Benefits of embedded analytics in the retail industry

Using embedded analytics helps you uncover the challenges present in the retail industry and enables you to devise strategies to overcome them. Deploying an embedded analytics program will help you in improving inventory management, customer retention, and more. These are the key areas in which embedded analytics helps improve retail business:

• Optimized inventory management.

• Enhanced in-store operations.

• Increased customer retention rate.

• Improved performance and increased revenue.

Optimized inventory management

(photo by Tiger Lily on Pexels)

Harnessing embedded analytics in your software application helps you actively monitor inventory management metrics such as inventory turnover ratio, stock availability, average inventory value by product category, top-selling items, and more. Monitoring these metrics helps you know about market fluctuations, top-selling goods, and more, which gives you insights into the product demands and enables you to stock up the products that are needed most. Also, managing inventory based on market demands gives you an edge over your competitors.

Enhanced in-store operations

(photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels)

In-store operations play a vital role in retail. Providing a better experience to your customer will help you earn higher profits. Embedded analytics helps you monitor metrics such as total visitor count, average basket size, and more. Using these metrics, you can get insights on the maximum customer visits per day and recruit additional staff accordingly to avoid congestion at checkout. In addition, you can use these insights to make decision about decorating stores and design better marketing campaigns to help you attract more customers, which in turn delivers more revenue.

Increased customer retention rate

(photo by Daria Sannikova on Pexels)

The needs of a customer change every day. Predicting customer needs and catering to them help you gain more customers and retain them for a longer period. Embedded analytics enables you to predict customer needs by analyzing purchase patterns, determining average basket value, and recommending specific products. Also, launching a customer loyalty program and providing unique rewards will attract more customers and help you increase the customer retention rate.

Improved performance and increased revenue

(photo by Monstera on Pexels)

Embedding analytics helps you improve your business’s performance by tracking key metrics like sales per square foot, average unit retail, sales volume by store, and more. Using these metrics, you can learn about your industry’s actual performance and devise strategies like expanding stores in prime locations, providing competitive offers to customers, making timely and faster deliveries, and more. This will help you increase performance and eventually increase the revenue of your business.

How to embed analytical tools into retail domain apps

Let’s see how analytics can be embedded into retail web applications. Bold BI helps you embed your dashboards in more than 10 web app platforms, including ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. In the remainder of this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into your Angular applications. Consider a scenario where your retail company has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample Website of a Retail Company

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboards successfully.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server in your local machine and create an enterprise-grade dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment steps here.

Step 1: Creating an Angular application

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, you need to create an Angular application. To do that, first, you need create a new Angular project in Visual Studio Code and add the necessary TS files to the project as shown in the following image.

Adding necessary TS files

For more guidance, refer to the sample code in the Bold BI documentation.

In this demonstration, the Angular application acts as a client, and an ASP.NET Core application acts as a server. You need to add several properties in the app.component.ts file as shown in the following table and screenshot.

Adding Required Variables in the app.component.ts File

After adding these properties, we need to create the Bold BI instance.

Step 2: Create a Bold BI instance

We create a Bold BI instance to help us communicate between the server side (any web application) and the client side (the new Angular application), which allows us to embed a Bold BI dashboard in the Angular application.

Step 3: Create an authorization server to authenticate the Bold BI server

Every application that embeds a Bold BI dashboard or widget must be authorized with the Bold BI server, and this authentication step requires sending confidential information to the Bold BI server, such as user email, group data, and embed signature. So, in your server application, implement this authentication flow and provide the URL for connecting to your server in the Bold BI instance.

Step 4: Running the Angular application to view the embedded dashboard

In the Angular application, update the authorization URL and dashboard URL that were defined in the ASP.NET Core application. Finally, you can see that the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application.

Dashboard Embedded into an Angular Application

To learn more about embedding dashboards into your Angular applications, refer to this blog. You can also download the sample code used in the previous steps from our documentation.

Bold BI’s retail solution dashboard examples

Retail Store Performance Dashboard

By embedding the Retail Store Performance Dashboard, the store managers and sales managers can analyze key performance indicators and metrics that are helpful in evaluating how a store has performed in the last month. This helps track the health of the business over time.

Retail Store Performance Dashboard

Key metrics and KPIs

Average units in retail: Shows the average amount spent for a particular type of item. It is calculated by dividing the total sales by the number of sold items.
Average basket size: Shows the average number of items sold in a single purchase.
Total visitor count: Shows the number of buyers and non-buyers in the stores.
Average basket value: Shows the average value spent per customer per transaction in the store.
Sales and gross profit by category: Shows the product category’s sales volume and gross profit value.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard demo, refer to the Retail Store Performance dashboard example.

Retail Inventory Management Dashboard

By embedding the Retail Inventory Management Dashboard, you can track the retail store’s inventory management. Aiming to help inventory managers and store managers, this dashboard shows key performance indicators that are helpful in identifying the right products and proper inventory in each department. This dashboard also lets you track orders placed and returned goods.

Retail Inventory Management Dashboard

Key metrics and KPIs

Inventory turnover ratio: Shows the inventory turnover ratio which is calculated by dividing the COGS (cost of goods sold) by the average inventory.
Gross margin return on investment: Shows the company’s ability to turn inventory into cash above the cost of the inventory.
Average inventory value by product category: Shows the average inventory value which is calculated by averaging the starting and ending inventory values over a specific time period.
Top selling items: Shows the number of items which are sold the most.
Returned items by product category: Shows the number of items that customers have returned in each product category and their reasons.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the Retail inventory Management Dashboard demo.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, Vue with ASP.NET Core, and more, seamlessly. It will save you time and prevent you from doing redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope now you have a better understanding of Bold BI and how it can help businesses in the retail industry be more successful. You can create a dashboard any way you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ supported data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

A rising number of institutions, professors, and administrators are seeing the potential of better using their learning management system’s massive and ever-growing data collection. This data is frequently left underutilized on servers and databases, despite the fact that it has the ability to advance a variety of practical and theoretical needs for a number of stakeholders.

Embedding analytics solutions in your applications helps you to use your data collection properly. Bold BI enables you to break down the data silos and monitor strategy outcomes, allowing you to improve students’ learning process, leading to better grades, track student and teacher attendance, and track their performance over time. In this blog post, I will give you a walkthrough on embedded analytics and how an analytics dashboard will help make educational institutions smarter.

What is embedded analytics?

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into a software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. It also enables you to reduce dependency on IT teams and pick out the data patterns you need to improve academic, administrative, and workforce outcomes.

How embedding analytics benefits educational institutions

A well-managed analytics platform can help educational institutions increase administrative effectiveness and efficiency, academic performance, and the experience and satisfaction of students and teachers.

Course analysis and personalized learning experience

Embedded analytics makes it easier for professors and administrators to analyze the performance of their programs within their websites. It helps them to evaluate the quality of the courses by comparing them using various charts, drilling down to details like specific staff, students, and course-level data. Administrators can use embedded analytics to learn which classes are the most interesting to students, find out the root causes of poor results, and examine student qualities or participation patterns linked to program retention using various key metrics such as average subject score and examination results by branch. Professors can tailor their courses, if necessary, to improve the learning experience for students.

Leading academic outcomes

Embedding analytics helps administrators monitor key metrics like faculty-to-student ratio, exam results, and student attendance, which enable them to identify student preference and performance patterns over time. It allows professors to modify a curriculum and subject to improve student results and retention rates. Administrators can monitor student enrollment trends over time and predict the upcoming year’s enrollment with the help of predictive analytics. They can identify an institution facilities’ shortcomings and take preventive measures like arranging adequate transportation and boarding facilities.

Administrative effectiveness

Embedded analytics helps administrators track important KPIs such as administrative spending per student, enrollment details, and yearly operating budget. Using these metrics, administrators can analyze their spending habits, marketing campaigns’ performance, etc. They can devise plans to reduce unwanted expenses, preplan their budget, initiate new schemes, recruit new staff, and attract more admission applications.

Better workforce management

Running an educational institution is not easy, as it involves various tasks such as maintaining the university campus, grounds, dorms, class schedules, labs, admissions, and so much more. Embedding analytics into your application helps you effectively monitor day-to-day operations, recruit adequate staff, and schedule their work times. It will create a positive environment for students and professors, which in turn increases performance and course completion rate. It will also help as passive marketing. Therefore, the admission rate will eventually increase.

How to embed analytics tools in your educational domain application

Let’s see how these analytics can be embedded into your application. Bold BI helps you embed dashboards in your apps in 12 web platforms, including React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, and Vue with ASP.NET Core. In the remainder of this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into your Angular applications. Consider a scenario in which your company has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample website of an educational institution

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboard successfully in an Angular application.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server in your local machine and create a dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment steps here.

Step 1: Create an Angular application.

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, you first need to create an Angular application. Create a new Angular project in Visual Studio Code and add the necessary TS files to the project, as shown in the following image.

Adding necessary ts files

For more guidance, refer to the sample code in the Bold BI documentation.

In this demonstration, the Angular application acts as a client, and an ASP.NET Core application acts as a server. You need to add several properties in the app.component.ts file, as shown in the following table and screenshot.

Adding required variables in the app.component.ts file

After adding these properties, we need to create the Bold BI instance.

Step 2: Create a Bold BI instance.

After the Angular web application is created, you need to create a Bold BI instance to communicate between the server side (any web application) and the client side (the Angular application), which allows us to embed a Bold BI dashboard in the Angular application.

Step 3: Create an authorization server to authenticate the Bold BI server.

Every application that embeds a Bold BI dashboard or widget must be authorized with the Bold BI server. This authentication step requires sending confidential information to the Bold BI server, such as users’ email addresses, group data, and embed signatures. So, in your server application, implement this authentication flow and provide the URL for connecting to your server in the Bold BI instance.

Step 4: Run the Angular application to view the embedded dashboard.

In the Angular application, update the authorization URL and dashboard URL that were defined in the ASP.NET Core application. Finally, you can that see the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application.

Dashboard embedded into an Angular application

To learn more about embedding dashboards into your Angular applications, refer to this blog. You can also download the sample code used in the previous steps from our documentation.

Bold BI’s educational dashboard examples

Student Performance Dashboard

By embedding the Student Performance Dashboard, you can visualize the various aspects of a student’s details that are helpful for professors and administration. The metrics include attendance details, performance with respect to various subjects, average subject scores, etc.

Smarter educational analytics—Student Performance Dashboard

Key metrics and KPIs

• Avg. subject score: Shows the average score in each subject earned by students.

• Student count by grade and gender: Shows the number of students based on grade and gender using drill down.

• Examination results by branch: Shows the examination results of students by academic branch.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard demo, refer to the Student Performance Dashboard example.

Higher Education Enrollment and Retention Dashboard

By embedding the Higher Education Enrollment and Retention dashboard, you can visualize the critical KPIs related to your university students’ enrollment based on their ethnicity, courses, gender, and age. You can monitor the metrics that include student attendance, course completion rate, freshman retention rate, teacher-to-student ratio, and more.

Smarter educational analytics—Higher Education Enrollment and Retention Dashboard

Key metrics and KPIs

• Student attendance percentage: Shows the percentage of overall student attendance.

• Course completion rate: Shows the percentage of students who successfully completed their courses.

• Freshman retention rate: Shows the percentage of students retained in the same institution.

• Teacher-to-student ratio: Shows the number of students divided by professors in an institution.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the Higher Education Enrollment and Retention Dashboard demo.

School Performance Dashboard

By embedding the School Performance Dashboard, you can monitor important KPIs related to attendance details of faculty and students, details about faculty, academic performance, retention rate of students and faculty, faculty-to-student ratio, student enrollment details, and more.

Smarter educational analytics—School Performance Dashboard

Key metrics and KPIs

• Students retention rate: Shows the percentage of students who will continue their education in this same school next year consecutively.

• Faculty retention rate: Shows the percentage of Faculty who will continue their work in this same school next year consecutively.

• Student enrollment details: Shows the student enrollment details (number of students) by academic year.

• Mode of transit—students: Shows the count of students based on their mode of transit to come to the school.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard demo, refer to the School Performance Dashboard example.

K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

By embedding the K-12 Enrollment Dashboard, you can easily track enrollment trends, student-to-faculty ratios, top 5 districts for enrollment, student acceleration, and the operating budget of each school. This gives a comprehensive view of the performance of each institution and student body. You can also forecast enrollment for the next three years.

Smarter educational analytics—K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

Key metrics and KPIs

• Faculty-to-student ratio: Shows the ratio of teachers available for students.

• Enrollment trends: Forecasts the enrollment for the next three years based on previous years’ enrollment.

• Top 5 school districts by enrollment: Shows the top 5 enrolling school districts.

• Students in acceleration program: Shows the count of students taking advanced courses by year.

• Operating budget per year: Shows the operating budgets for the schools by year.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the K-12 Enrollment Dashboard demo.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. It will help you save time and prevent you from doing redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards in your application, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope now you have a better understanding of Bold BI and how it will help educational institutions act smarter. You can create a dashboard as you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

Embedded analytics helps you integrate your dashboards and business intelligence tools into your business applications to enhance your analytics and give you a comprehensive look at your metrics. Bold BI enables you to embed your interactive dashboards in your own business application. It’s fast and easy, with features like prebuilt data connectors, calculated metrics, and engaging data visualization. In this blog, I am going to explain how to create a dashboard with Google Drive data and how to embed that dashboard in your business application. I’ll show you:

• How Google Drive data is represented.

• How to connect to Google Drive.

• How to integrate Google Drive data with other data sources.

• How to create a dashboard using the Google Drive data.

• How to schedule data refreshes for a Google Drive dashboard.

• How to embed a Google Drive dashboard in your application.

How Google Drive data is represented

Google Drive is a cloud-based storage solution developed by Google which helps you to save, store, and collaborate files anywhere from any devices.

Structured Google Drive data

How to connect to the Google Drive

With Bold BI, you can easily connect your Google Drive data from your Google account to the dashboard designer. All you need to do is open the Data Sources configuration panel and then select Google Drive.

Data sources listing page

Once you have clicked the Google Drive data source, the connection window will open, as shown in the following image.

Google Drive configuration window

Now, you need to enter your Google account credentials to sign into the account. Then, choose your Google account from the window, as shown in the following image.

Google account window

Now, you need to select the required CSV or JSON file from your Google Drive and give the name for the data source in the configuration window.

CSV or JSON file selecting window

Here, we are using a CSV file. After selecting the file, you will find a list of tables in the preview window.

Table preview

Select the desired tables and then click Connect. Your data will be moved to the intermediate database reserved for your tenant. Then, you will be navigated to the Bold BI’s data source designer. In the data source designer, you can view your data schema in a tree view.

Data source editing window

Drag and drop the table that you want to analyze and save the data source by clicking Save in the top-right corner of the data source designer.

Saving the data source

How to integrate Google Drive data with other data sources

Shared tables—data source editing window

You can add multiple data sources if needed. In the Shared Tables panel at the bottom of the data source designer, use the join-table option.

Shared tables—data source editing window

How to create a dashboard using Google Drive data

After successfully creating the data source, you can build a dashboard by dragging the 35+ widgets available in Bold BI. To create an interactive dashboard, first, you need to define your metrics and KPIs based on your data.

Please refer to this help documentation for more details on creating a dashboard. You can also refer to this blog on creating business dashboards online with Bold BI. To learn more about Bold BI features, please refer to this blog.

Widget panel

You can create a dashboard from scratch by dragging widgets into the dashboard designer. By creating a sales performance dashboard, for instance, you can gain financial insights from the visualization of company sales information and make decisions to increase revenue and sales.

Google Drive Dashboard Embedding Example – Sales Performance Dashboard

This sales performance dashboard helps you monitor key metrics, such as:

• Total revenue: Shows the total earned through all channels.

• Days inventory outstanding: Shows the average number of days a company holds inventory before turning it into sales.

• Inventory turnover percentage: Shows the percentage of inventory sold or consumed in a given time period.

• Revenue by product: Shows the income earned with respect to the products.

Additionally, you can track the products sold, store orders, online orders, order comparison, sales distribution, product expiration details, and percentage of products returned by customers.

How to schedule data refreshes for a Google Drive dashboard

To get meaningful insight from looking at your data, it needs to be up-to-date data. By scheduling refreshes, you can keep your data up to date. You can schedule data refreshes in two ways:

• Refresh settings while connecting your data source to Bold BI.

• Refresh settings in the data source editing page.

Once you have selected Refresh Settings, the following configuration window will open.

Refresh Settings window

In this Refresh Settings configuration panel, you can schedule the data refreshes hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also select recurrence, refresh starting time, and refresh end time.

Refresh Settings—disabled

You can also disable the data refresh by turning off the Enabled toggle.

Data updated using Data refresh

In the previous screenshot, you can see the data is updated every five minutes. To learn more about this Sales Performance dashboard, please refer to this live demo.

How to embed a Google Drive dashboard in your application

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into a software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics.

Let’s see how these analytics can be embedded into your application. Bold BI helps you embed dashboards in your apps for 12 web platforms, including React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, and Vue with ASP.NET Core. In the remainder of this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into your Angular applications using Bold BI.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server in your local machine and create a dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment steps here.

Step 1: Create an Angular application.

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, you first need to have an Angular application. Create a new Angular project in Visual Studio Code and add the necessary TS files to the project, as shown in the following image.

Adding necessary ts files

For more guidance, refer to the sample code in the Bold BI documentation.

In this demonstration, the Angular application acts as a client and an ASP.NET Core application acts as a server. You need to add several properties in the app.component.ts file, as shown in the following table and screenshot.

Adding required variables in the app.component.ts file

Step 2: Create a Bold BI instance.

After the Angular web application is created, you need to create a Bold BI instance to communicate between the server-side (any web application) and the client-side (the Angular application), which allows us to embed a Bold BI dashboard in the Angular application.

Step 3: Create an authorization server to authenticate the Bold BI server.

Every application that embeds a Bold BI dashboard or widget must be authorized with the Bold BI server. This authentication step requires sending confidential information to the Bold BI server, including users’ email addresses, group data, and embed signatures. So, in your server application, implement this authentication flow and provide the URL for connecting to your server in the Bold BI instance.

Step 4: Run the Angular application to view the embedded dashboard.

In the Angular application, update the authorization URL and dashboard URL that were defined in the ASP.NET Core application. Finally, you can see that the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application.

To learn more about embedding dashboards in your Angular applications, refer to this blog. You can download the sample code used in the previous steps from our documentation.

You can see how to embed your dashboards in various web platforms by referring to our videos for ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, and more.

Sales Performance Dashboard Embedded in an Angular Application

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. It will save you time by helping you avoid redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our documentation. You can create a dashboard any way you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 130+ supported data sources.

I hope you now have a better understanding of creating and embedding a dashboard with Google Drive data. If you have any questions on this blog, please feel free to post them in the following comment section. Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can also contact us by submitting your questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

Over the past decade, the dynamics of business methods have changed. Instead of just manufacturing a product and selling it on the market now, many businessmen are keen to learn ahead of time what customers want from their products. Companies also want to form more accurate expectations about who needs their products in order to customize the products for those customers. Surveys help them rectify the issue of getting customer feedback. Surveys play a key role in every department, giving insight into customer needs, satisfaction, retention, and more.

Embedded analytics helps you visualize the data from all the surveys in your software applications. You can easily evaluate the survey analysis results in the application you usually work with and then implement any changes needed your product. In this blog post, I am going to give you an overview on what a survey analysis is and why it is so important. Then, we’ll talk about how embedded analytics helps you achieve your business goals, and we’ll create and embed an example dashboard.

What is embedded analytics?

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into a software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. It also helps you reduce dependency on IT teams and lets you pick out the patterns in your data you need to improve academic, administrative, and workforce outcomes.

What survey analysis is and how it can benefit from embedded analytics

The process of analyzing the answers given in surveys is known as survey analysis. You can get quantitative and qualitative insights from survey analysis data.

Deploying an embedded analytics program in your organization will help you in a number of ways in improving your product quality, inventory management, customer satisfaction, and more. I am going to discuss the key areas in which embedded analytics helps improve your business:

• Enhanced product development

• Better market research and handling

• Improved customer satisfaction and improved business

• Improved productivity and employee training

Enhanced product development

Enhanced product development

Surveying customers using various domains helps you get honest reviews about your products and their usage. With embedded analytics, you can monitor all the key metrics such as product usage frequency, customer’s interest based on net promoter score, customer satisfaction level, product improvement opinion based on feedback from users, and more in your business applications. Using these metrics, you can see the issues with, usage of, and demand for your products, and keep improving them based on customer needs to help you grow.

Better market research and handling

Better market research and handling

Before introducing new products to the market, all businesses want to analyze that market, consumer preferences, and competitors’ performance using the data acquired from surveys across various platforms. Embedded analytics helps managers easily organize, breakdown, and analyze the data in their own software applications. It gives them more time to plan their raw material acquirement, distribution among factories, logistics handling, marketing strategy, and more.

Improved customer satisfaction and improved business

It is hard for many companies to process all the survey results collected from various types of customers. Analyzing and categorizing them in order to visualize the data and glean insight from it can be a long process requiring remarkable manpower if you don’t have the right tools.

Embedded analytics helps you analyze large data sets and prepare better visualizations in a short span of time. It enables users without technical knowledge to gain insight from their data. This helps managers make good decisions. Companies can also reduce the time they spend responding to customer questions by collating pain points in surveys to solve issues. This results in increasing the time spent on new customers, improving the count of onboarding customers and companies’ retention rate.

Improved productivity and better employee training

Improved productivity and better employee training

Many companies are connecting with their customers for surveys using text messages, emails, or calls. Using these methods is time-consuming: reporting the responses and documenting the interactions is a tedious process. Embedding analytics helps to organize the data in one place, make visuals based on the data, and further helps to analyze the survey results and extract meaningful insights.

You can also compare the survey data acquired before and after training phases using employee learning frequency, employee job satisfaction, and other metrics. Monitoring these employee data metrics and KPIs help you to understand the quality of the training you offer and make changes in your training programs. This will improve employee performance over time.

Bold BI’s Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard example

Bold BI’s Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard shows the 2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey details with these sections: basic information, education, work, career, technology and tech culture, and demographic information. Based on the survey results, you can see technical people’s interest in learning new skills, how they rate career importance, and their satisfaction level. This information helps define strategy for the development teams to improve their productivity.

Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard in Bold BI

Total Responses

Total responses in Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard

This number card showcases the total number of survey responses received. Knowing the total number of responses helps viewers understand the rest of the dashboard more easily.

Employee Job Satisfaction

Employee job satisfaction in Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard

If a company surveys the satisfaction level of its own employees, managers can use this pie chart widget to display the results. Based on the results, managers can understand the employees’ opinion about their jobs and whether there are issues. If so, management can take necessary actions to resolve the struggles faced by the employees by asking actual opinions from them. This decision-making helps to retain employees with better satisfaction in future.

Importance of DevOps Usage in Software Development

Importance of DevOps usage in software development in Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard

This chart showcases the perception among developers about the importance of practicing DevOps for software development. Asking their own employees this question, managers at software companies can know the likeliness of their employees to be using DevOps for software development.

Survey Respondents by Country

Survey respondents by country in Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard

This map showcases the proportion of respondents who responded to the survey across various locations. Using similar data collected from customers, managers can see their customers’ locations and determine where to focus marketing campaigns.

Developer learning frequency

Developer learning frequency in Stack overflow developer survey 2020 dashboard

This chart showcases the developers’ frequency in learning a new language or framework. Tracking this data within a software company enables managers to know whether to instruct their developers to take a learning course periodically. Broadening employees’ knowledge helps them provide quality work and products.

Organization Size

Organization size in Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard

This graph showcases organizations’ size based on the number of their employees. We can identify whether our customers are large or small companies by the number of people currently employed there.

Formal education level

Formal education level in Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard

This doughnut chart showcases the respondents’ formal education qualifications.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard demo, refer to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 Dashboard example.

How to embed Bold BI’s Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard into your Angular application

Let’s see how analytics can be embedded into your web applications. Bold BI helps you to embed your dashboards in more than 10 web application platforms including ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. In this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into your Angular applications. Consider a scenario where your company has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample website of a survey analysis department

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboard successfully.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server in your local machine and create an enterprise-grade dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment steps here.

Step 1: Creating an Angular application.

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, you need to create an Angular application. First, you need create a new Angular project in Visual Studio Code and add the necessary .ts files to the project as shown in the following image.

Adding necessary ts files

For more guidance, refer to the sample code in the Bold BI documentation.

In this demonstration, the Angular application acts as a client, and an ASP.NET Core application acts as a server. You need to add several properties in the app.component.ts file, as shown in the following table and screenshot.

Adding required variables in the app.component.ts file

Step 2: Create a Bold BI instance.

After the Angular web application is created, you need to create a Bold BI instance to help you communicate between the server side (any web application) and the client side (Angular application), which allows us to embed a Bold BI dashboard in the Angular application.

Step 3: Create an authorization server to authenticate the Bold BI server.

Every application that embeds a Bold BI dashboard or widget must be authorized with the Bold BI server, and this authentication step requires sending confidential information to the Bold BI server, such as user emails, group data, and embedded signatures. So, in your server application, implement this authentication flow and provide the URL for connecting to your server in the Bold BI instance.

Step 4: Running the Angular application to view the embedded dashboard.

In the Angular application, add the authorization URL and dashboard URL that were defined in the ASP.NET Core application.

Dashboard embedded into an Angular application

Finally, you can that see the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application.

Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 dashboard embedded in an Angular application

To learn more about embedding dashboards into your Angular applications, refer to this blog. You can also download the sample code used in the previous steps from our documentation.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you to integrate dashboards in your applications written in React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, Vue with Core, and more, seamlessly. It will help you save time and prevent you from doing redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope now you have a better understanding of Bold BI and how it will help the a company’s survey analysis department to be more successful. You can create a dashboard as you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

A company’s financial metrics show its stability and performance, so the role of the finance department is vital. How a company’s money flow is registered and managed determines its growth and credibility. Balance sheets are used to register all monetary activities of a company. They show analysts the spending and revenue trends over time.

Embedded analytics helps you to extract financial insights from a company’s historical data, letting you make better-informed decisions about the company’s future. Finance leaders can use embedded analytics to collect data from internal and external sources, perform analysis, and track key performance indicators (KPIs) in your own business applications. In this blog post, I am going to give you an overview of how embedded analytics helps financial analysts to achieve their business goals using the following topics:

• What is embedded analytics?

• Benefits of embedded balance sheet dashboard

• Bold BI’s Balance Sheet dashboard example

• How to embed Bold BI’s balance sheet dashboard into your application

What is embedded analytics?

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities in any software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. This helps you to reduce your dependency on IT teams and glean all the insights you need to improve administrative and workforce outcomes.

Benefits of embedded balance sheets for finance departments

A balance sheet is a key accounting instrument for a company’s financial management that gives an overview to administrators of how well their organization is performing and what areas they need to improve. It shows the gradual growth of a company by incorporating every record since its beginning. It can help evaluate the company’s assets, liabilities, and equity.

A proper balance sheet enables financial analysts to monitor their key metrics and KPIs and helps them answer the following questions:

• Does the business have a positive net worth?

• Does the company have the ability to meet its obligations with cash and short-term assets?

• Is the company more heavily indebted than its competitors?

Embedded analytics helps improve financial health of your company through:

• Effective risk management

• Efficient revenue and balance sheet management

• Better workforce and inventory management

• Managing cashflow and operational efficiency

Effective risk management

Closely monitoring your company’s balance sheet provides you insights into its financial health. It helps you identify the risks and mitigate them with proper decisions.

Embedded analytics reduces time spent flipping among a company’s financial software and other applications simultaneously, correlating information manually. Managers can track financial performance in their own business application, tracking key metrics such as current ratio, quick ratio, cash balance, and liquidity ratio. By monitoring a comprehensive view of the organization’s credit and market risk, they can devise strategies that help them to weather the market’s slowdowns in the long term.

Efficient revenue and balance sheet management

Managing financial account data and analyzing it can be a tedious process for many accounting teams. Deploying embedded analytics in your software application helps you analyze contextual data such as the debt-to-asset ratio, debt-to-equity ratio, and working capital. It can provide visual analytics within operations, financial, and accounting systems. Managers now have access to detailed variance reporting as well as the capacity to deconstruct and analyze the data that underlies the balance sheet. The insights gained from those metrics assist the key decision-makers in compiling risk assessments as investment opportunities arise.

Better workforce and inventory management

Embedded analytics in your work environment collects all day-to-day data such as shipment departure time, shipment arrival time, and employee workflow management into one place. You can track other metrics such as the inventory-to-sales ratio, inventory turnover, days sales in inventory, and days inventory outstanding, which can help shed light on the company’s inventory management. Using these insights, the managers can study the market trends, restock the bestselling products, and set competitive prices that help the company grow.

Managing cashflow and operational efficiency

Embedding analytics enables managers to use the predictive analytics feature to forecast future AR and AP, cash balance, and the cash-to-cash cycle, which help you monitor cash flow. You can also analyze the company’s financial ability to pay back its liabilities and gain insights into the company’s operational efficiency, liquidity, profitability, and solvency. Monitoring these metrics helps managers to improve the growth of the company in the upcoming quarters and strategize their moves according to market fluctuations.

Bold BI’s Balance Sheet dashboard

Bold BI’s Balance Sheet dashboard shows the financial state of a company’s accounts through the key financial metrics provided. It can track the financial performance for a particular period of the year.

Balance Sheet Dashboard in Bold BI

With this dashboard, you can learn about these metrics and KPIs that enhance your company’s balance sheet:

• Working capital

• Current ratio

• Liquidity ratio

• Quick ratio

• Debt-to-asset ratio (DAR)

• Debt-to-equity ratio (DER)

• Inventory to sales

• Inventory turnover

• Days sales in inventory (DSI)

• Cash balance

• Days sales outstanding (DSO)

• Days inventory outstanding (DIO)

• Days payable outstanding (DPO)

• Cash-to-cash cycle (CCC)

• AR turnover vs. AP turnover

• Overall financial statement

Working capital

Working capital is the amount of assets available to a company minus its liabilities.

Working Capital in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Working capital = Current Assets – Current Liabilities

Current ratio

Comparison between the company’s current assets and current liabilities is known as the current ratio. It can be calculated by dividing the current assets by current liabilities.

Current Ratio in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current Liabilities

Liquidity ratio

A liquidity ratio is a financial measure used to assess a company’s ability to meet its short-term loan obligations. The metric is used to determine if a company’s current assets, or liquid assets, can cover its current liabilities.

Liquidity Ratio in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Current Liabilities/Current Assets

Quick ratio

The calculation of a company’s liquid assets versus its current liabilities is known as the quick ratio. The greater the quick ratio, the better the company’s position.

Quick Ratio in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Quick Ratio = (Current Assets – Inventory)/Current Liabilities

Debt-to-asset ratio (DAR)

The debt-to-asset ratio, also known as the debt ratio, is a leverage ratio that shows how much of an asset’s value is financed with debt. The larger the ratio, the more leverage and financial risk there is.

Debt-to-Asset Ratio (DAR) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Debt-to-Asset Ratio = Total Debt/Total Assets

Debt-to-equity ratio (DER)

The debt-to-equity ratio calculates the value of total liabilities to total equity.

Debt-to-Equity Ratio (DER) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Total Liabilities/Shareholders’ Equity

Inventory to sales

The inventory to sales number measures the amount of inventory you possess against the number of sales you’re fulfilling.

Inventory to Sales in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Average Inventory/Net Sales

Inventory turnover

Inventory turnover shows the cost of goods sold against the average inventory within the same time period.

Inventory Turnover in Balance sheet dashboard

Formula:

Inventory Turnover = COGS/Average of Inventory

Days sales in inventory (DSI)

The average time taken by a company to turn their inventory into sales is known as days sales in inventory.

Days Sales in Inventory (DSI) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

Days Sales in Inventory = Inventory/COGS x 365

Cash balance

Cash balance shows the difference in the value of total assets and current assets.

Cash Balance in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Days sales outstanding (DSO)

Days sales outstanding shows the number of days a company takes to collect its accounts receivables.

Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

(Receivables/Revenue) x 365

Days inventory outstanding (DIO)

Days inventory outstanding (or days sales of inventory) indicates the average number of days a company can keep its inventory before selling.

Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

(Inventory/COGS) x 365

Days payable outstanding (DPO)

Days payable outstanding is an efficiency ratio that shows how many days a company takes to pay its suppliers.

Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

(Accounts Payable/COGS) x 365

Cash-to-cash cycle (CCC)

The cash-to-cash cycle shows the amount of time it takes a company to convert its investments in inventory to cash.

Cash-to-Cash Cycle (CCC) in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Formula:

CCC = DIO+DSO-DPO

AR Turnover vs. AP turnover

This column chart shows the difference between AR turnover and AP turnover where AR turnover shows the ratio of total purchases to average accounts receivable and AP turnover shows the ratio of total supplier purchases to average accounts payable.

AR Turnover vs. AP Turnover in Balance Sheet Dashboard

Overall financial statement

This grid shows the financial statement of assets, liabilities, equity, etc. of a company over a period of time.

Overall Financial Statement in Balance Sheet Dashboard

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the Balance Sheet Dashboard demo.

How to embed analytics tools into financial apps

Let’s see how analytics can be embedded into your finance web applications. Bold BI helps you embed your dashboards in more than 10 web platforms, including ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. In this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards in your ASP.NET MVC applications. Consider a scenario in which your finance department has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample Website of a Finance Dept.

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboard successfully.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server on your local machine and create an enterprise-grade dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment instructions here.

Step 1: Creating an ASP.NET MVC application.

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, first you need to create an ASP.NET MVC application. Open Microsoft Visual Studio and click New Project. Then choose ASP.NET MVC Web Application, enter the project name, and click OK.

Step 2: Configure embed properties.

After the ASP.NET MVC web application is created, you need to create a Model class called EmbedProperties under Models and provide the dashboard RootURL, SiteIdentifier, Environment, UserEmail, and EmbedSecret.

Step 3: Generate embed secret.

You have to set the EmbedSecret for authentication. You can get the embed secret from the Bold BI server. Then, navigate to the Settings icon in the left navigation bar and click the Embed tab. Click Enable embed authentication and then click the Generate Secret button to generate the embed secret. On clicking the button, a secret key will be generated, and you can paste it into the application. To learn how to do this in more detail, you can refer to this documentation link.

Note: Save the secret key, as it cannot be retrieved again. If you do not save it, you will have to generate a new one using the Reset Secret option.

Step 4: Create authorization server.

You need to implement an authorization server in the ASP.NET MVC application to get authenticated before embedding the dashboard from the Bold BI server. You can also configure the single sign-on (SSO)-based authorization server, which is an authentication endpoint that enables users to securely authenticate multiple applications using unique embed secrets. This prevents the need for the user to log into different applications separately.

Step 5: Create Bold BI instance.

Finally, create a Bold BI instance to load the dashboard using a JavaScript file. Reference required script files and CSS files in the HTML pages.

Step 6: Run the application to embed the dashboard.

After successfully creating the ASP.NET MVC application, you need to run it. It will be launched successfully with the dashboard details. Finally, you can that see the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application.

Dashboard Embedded into an ASP.NET MVC Application

By following the previous steps, you can successfully embed your dashboards into your ASP.MVC application.

Balance Sheet Dashboard Embedded into an ASP.NET MVC Application

To learn more about embedding dashboards into your applications, please refer to this blog. You can also download the sample codes mentioned in all these steps from our documentation.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you to integrate dashboards in your applications written in React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, Vue with Core, and more, seamlessly. It will help you save time and prevent you from doing redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope you now have a better understanding of Bold BI and how it will help the finance domain to be more successful. You can create a dashboard as you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we do business. Many companies are striving to find solutions to running their businesses successfully. These circumstances have already pushed many industries to change their organizational culture, data and labor practices, business models, and ecosystems. With pressure on oil and gas prices and demand, the potential value buried in today’s improved connectivity for exploration and production is more crucial than ever. Selecting the right technology could give players in the industry opportunities that are worth a fortune.

Many businesses are adopting embedded analytics to leverage data within their organizations to gain a competitive advantage over their peers. In this blog post, I am going to give an overview of embedded analytics, and how Bold BI will help enhance business in the oil and gas industry.

What is embedded analytics?

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into a software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. It also helps you reduce dependency on IT teams and lets you pick out the patterns in your data you need to improve academic, administrative, and workforce outcomes.

Benefits of embedded analytics in the oil and gas industry

All companies have data flowing across various departments of their organizations, but only some of them are able to visualize their data and derive insights in real-time. Embedding analytics in your business applications makes it easy for departments that aren’t tech-based to showcase their data with visualizations that highlight data patterns. With this knowledge, managers of all departments will make more efficient and effective decisions that help the company to increase its profit margins.

Efficient lifecycle management and use of equipment

Modern methods of oil exploration involve machines with a large number of sensors that produce an enormous amount of data. Managers can extract valuable insights from this data by breaking it down. With embedded analytics, you can monitor the damages, breakdowns, and failures of the equipment over time. This tracks the depreciation rate and predicts when to service or replace the faulty equipment. You can thus reduce downtime and improve the lifecycle of the equipment.

Reducing production costs

Predictive analytics methods used in embedded analytics helps you find potential drilling sites where you can get resources like oil and gas based on the previous oil well’s soil, rock mineral structure, and seismic data. Examining this data helps executives reduce drilling time and prevent potential failures. It will help them manage production cost-efficiently and make a positive balance sheet.

Increasing logistics efficiency

Embedding analytics helps you monitor weather patterns across various locations and move oil and gas products efficiently. Sensor data from pipelines, such as vibration intensity, temperature, and flow rate, aids in the detection of pipeline erosion rates and pipeline cracks, and the prevention of pipeline accidents. It helps you increase performance by establishing best practices across the whole oil and gas supply chain, from oil exploration to refining.

Enhanced monitoring and decision-making

Embedding analytics in your company’s software applications makes your team’s data analysis much easier. All the key metrics you rely on are in one central location. You can track how many barrels of oil have been extracted and the emerging market trends, as well as compare both daily operations and trends that occur over longer periods of time. Monitoring these indicators provide a complete picture of the company’s performance to managers and helps them to make better decisions that improve the growth of the company.

How to embed analytics tools into oil and gas domain apps

Let’s see how analytics can be embedded into the web applications of fossil fuel companies. Bold BI can embed your dashboards in more than 10 web platforms, including ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, and Ruby on Rails. In the rest of this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into your Angular applications. Consider a scenario in which your company has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample website of an oil and gas company

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboard successfully.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server in your local machine and create a dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment steps here.

Step 1: Create an Angular application.

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, you first need to create an Angular application. Create a new Angular project in Visual Studio Code and add the necessary ts files to the project ,as shown in the following image.

Adding necessary ts files

For more guidance, refer to the sample code in the Bold BI documentation.

In this demonstration, the Angular application acts as a client, and an ASP.NET Core application acts as a server. You need to add several properties in the app.component.ts file, as shown in the following table and screenshot.

Adding required variables in the app.component.ts file

After adding these properties, we need to create the Bold BI instance.

Step 2: Create a Bold BI instance.

After the Angular web application is created, you need to create a Bold BI instance to communicate between the server side (any web application) and the client side (Angular application), which allows us to embed a Bold BI dashboard in the Angular application.

Step 3: Create an authorization server to authenticate the Bold BI server.

Every application that embeds a Bold BI dashboard or widget must be authorized with the Bold BI server. This authentication step requires sending confidential information to the Bold BI server, such as users’ email addresses, group data, and embed signatures. So, in your server application, implement this authentication flow and provide the URL for connecting to your server in the Bold BI instance.

Step 4: Run the Angular application to view the embedded dashboard.

In the Angular application, update the authorization URL and dashboard URL that were defined in the ASP.NET Core application. Finally, you can that see the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application.

Dashboard embedded into an Angular application

To learn more about embedding dashboards into your Angular applications, refer to this blog. You can also download the sample code used in the previous steps from our documentation.

Bold BI’s oil and gas solution dashboard examples

Oil and Gas Production monitoring dashboard

By embedding the Oil and Gas Production Monitoring dashboard, you get an analysis of oil and gas production in BOEPD units across different wells. Values in this dashboard are represented as BOEPD (barrels of oil equivalent per day). One barrel of oil is equal to 159 liters of crude oil, and one barrel of gas is equal to 5800 cubic feet of natural gas.

Oil and Gas Production monitoring dashboard embedded in an Angular application

Key metrics and KPIs

Oil BOEPD: Shows the oil BOEPD units produced in the current week, compared with the previous week’s average units.
Gas BOEPD: Shows the gas BOEPD units produced in the current week, compared with the previous week’s average units.
Total production by state: Shows the total production as BOEPD units of both oil and gas in each state. The dark color indicates more production in that state.
Total production in last four weeks: Shows oil and gas produced over the last four weeks in BOEPD units.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard demo, refer to the Oil and Gas Production Monitoring dashboard example.

Oil and Gas Wells Summary dashboard

By embedding the Oil and Gas Wells Summary dashboard, you get the complete summary of the wells managed by the operator(s).

Oil and Gas Wells Summary dashboard embedded in an Angular application

Key metrics and KPIs

Total wells: Shows the total number of wells owned by the selected operators.
Well count by purpose: Shows number of wells for each purpose.
Wells by status: Shows the status of the wells such as Active, Suspended, Cancelled, Abandoned, and capped.
Gross vs. net well count: Shows the gross well count and net well count over the last six months.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the Oil and Gas Wells Summary dashboard demo.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, VueJS with Go, VueJS with Core, and more, seamlessly. It will save you time and prevent you from doing redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope you now have a better understanding of Bold BI and how it will help the oil and gas industry to be more successful. You can create a dashboard as you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

The real estate industry has always attracted investors because of its potential for high returns, as real estate values tend to increase over time. As with any investment, there is a level of risk, which real estate investors manage by analyzing trends, and monitoring their portfolio, and making sensible judgments. However, analyzing data and gaining insight into it has become a major interest for many institutions. Applied to business, embedded analytics helps maximize profit and minimize risk. With embedded analytics, you can quickly compile and analyze data in your own business applications, illuminating business insights in real time, which helps you stay one step ahead of your competitors. In this blog post, I am going to give you an overview of embedded analytics, and how Bold BI can help you enhance your real estate business.

What is embedded analytics?

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into any software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. It also helps you reduce dependency on IT teams and delivers all the insights you need to improve administrative and workforce outcomes.

Benefits of embedded analytics in the real estate industry

Embedding analytics in your company software helps you identify the essential trends within your market data and enables you to gain insight into important key metrics easily without any professional assistance in a more cost-effective and efficient way. On this topic, I am going to discuss the areas in which embedded analytics can improve your real estate firm. The key areas are:

• Improved operational reporting and analytic capabilities.

• Gain a competitive advantage.

• Increased revenue with proper financial administration.

• Ease the sales process with enhanced marketing techniques.

Improved operational reporting and analytic capabilities

Embedded analytics assists in budget analysis, expenditure tracking, property maintenance schedules and updates, and periodic sales, rent, and lease operations comparisons. Monitoring these metrics closely helps you optimize overall operations, cut down unnecessary spending, and increase profitability. You can also get timely alerts whenever a preset threshold limit is reached in any metric. All of these tools work together to help you track important performance KPIs and motivate your team to achieve their targets.

Gaining a competitive advantage

To gain an advantage over you competitors, your approach to customers should be more appealing by using attractive advertisements, providing periodic discounts, and more. To keep up with evolving client expectations, you’ll need to make sure your analytics solution can consistently evolve and receive valuable enhancements swiftly. Embedded analytics helps you track your customers’ interest using metrics like the average number of visits per property, customer behavior, purchasing trends, feedbacks, and more. Using these insights, you can provide special offers to customers, which helps you close more deals over your competitors while growing your company.

Increased revenue with proper financial administration

Embedding analytics in your company app helps you monitor income earned via sales and rentals, the average time spent in calls and meetings with customers, the average number of days to sell a property, the number of inquiries and referrals, and gives you insight into your company’s financial activity in real time. Also, you can monitor the cash flow of the company, money spent on closing deals, agent payroll details, and more. Tracking these metrics helps you assess operational costs, identify top performing agents, and work with specific agents to help them to achieve the targets. With this data, you can also uncover more sales opportunities, increase referrals from satisfied customers, and more.

Easing the sale process with enhanced marketing techniques

When it comes to marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all concept. Embedding analytics in your applications enables you to track key metrics like advertisement and promotion costs, property sales and rentals per agent, and sales versus targets that help you obtain insight on customer purchasing patterns, regional property values, and more. From this information, you can introduce custom marketing campaigns specific to regions based on customer interest, and in turn boost your property sales. You can also forecast market trends using predictive analytics and set market-competitive prices, which not only helps you close more purchases, but also improves your marketing campaigns.

How to embed analytical tools into real estate apps

Let’s see how analytics can be embedded into real estate web applications. Bold BI helps you embed your dashboards in more than 10 web application platforms, including ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, and more. In this blog, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into ASP.NET MVC applications. Consider a scenario where your real estate company has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample Website of a Real Estate Company

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboard successfully.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server in your local machine and create an enterprise-grade dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment steps here.

Step 1: Creating an ASP.NET MVC application

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, first you need to create an ASP.NET MVC application. So, open Microsoft Visual Studio and click New Project. Then choose ASP.NET MVC Web Application, enter the project name, and click OK.

Step 2: Configure embed properties

After the ASP.NET MVC web application is created, you need to create a Model class called EmbedProperties under Models and provide the dashboard RootURL, SiteIdentifier, Environment, UserEmail, and EmbedSecret.

Step 3: Generate embed secret

You have to set the EmbedSecret for authentication. You can get the embed secret from the Bold BI server. Then, navigate to the Settings icon in the left navigation bar and click the Embed tab. Click Enable embed authentication and then click the Generate Secret button to generate the embed secret. On clicking the button, a secret key will be generated, and you can paste it into the application. For more details on how to do this, you can refer to this documentation link.

Note: Save the secret key, as it cannot be retrieved again. If you do not save it, you will have to generate a new one using the Reset Secret option.

Step 4: Create authorization server

You need to implement an authorization server in the ASP.NET MVC application to get authenticated before embedding the dashboard from the Bold BI server. You can also configure the single sign-on (SSO)-based authorization server, which is an authentication endpoint that enables users to securely authenticate multiple applications using unique embed secrets. This prevents the need for the user to log into different applications separately.

Step 5: Create Bold BI instance

Finally, create a Bold BI instance to load the dashboard using a JavaScript file. Also, reference the required script files and CSS files in the HTML pages.

Step 6: Run the application to embed the dashboard

After creating the ASP.NET MVC application, you need to run it. It will be launched successfully with the dashboard details. Finally, you can see the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your web application, as shown in the following image.

Dashboard Embedded into ASP.NET MVC Application

To learn more about embedding dashboards into your applications, refer to this blog. You can also download the sample code mentioned in all these steps from our documentation.

Bold BI real estate dashboard example

Real Estate Management dashboard

This Real Estate Management dashboard demonstrates a dashboard that helps real estate company admins monitor their sales on a monthly basis with important metrics such as properties for sale, properties for rent, average visits per sale, average days on market, average meetings held, and average calls made per property sale, properties sold and rented by real estate agent, sales by region, and advertisement and promotion costs. Also, it shows property inquiry details, property inquiry referrals, and real estate agent sales summary.

Real Estate Management Dashboard Embedded in an ASP.NET MVC Application

Key metrics and KPIs:

Average days on market: Shows the average number of days a property remains in inventory.
Average number of visits: Shows the average number of times agents show a property to buyers.
Sales vs. target: Shows the difference between actual and target sales numbers for property sales.
Sales: Shows the total income earned through property sales.
Rent: Shows the total income earned through rent.
Sales by region: Shows the sales of properties by region (in U.S. states).

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the Real Estate Management dashboard demo.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, Vue with ASP.NET Core, and more, seamlessly. It will save you time by helping you avoid redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your application, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope now you have a better understanding of Bold BI and how it can help companies in the real estate industry to be more successful. You can create a dashboard any way you like with Bold BI’s 35+ widgets and 150+ supported data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. You can contact us by submitting questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.

The unexpected change of events in the world affected almost everyone in every walk of life. Since the pandemic started, internet usage has skyrocketed across all aspects of life—commerce, communication, education, government, and so on. Since so many activities are now conducted online, every industry is flowing with data. For educational institutions in particular, these new challenges further cement the need to do more while spending less.

With embedded analytics, schools are empowered with tools to identify potential challenges, improve student outcomes, and increase education sector productivity. Learning analytics data is now being used by educational administrators to make key decisions to improve the effectiveness of online learning. Admins can quickly begin to observe the implementation of digital learning programs at a larger scale with embedded analytics. In this blog, I am going to walk you through how Bold BI helps administrators gain insight from their data and then use it to enhance K-12 education-related decision-making. The topics I’ll cover in this blog are:

• What is embedded analytics.

• What is K-12 education and how it can benefit from embedded analytics.

• Bold BI K-12 enrollment dashboard example.

• How to embed Bold BI’s K-12 Enrollment Dashboard into your application.

What is embedded analytics

Integrating analytical solutions and data visualization capabilities into any software application’s user interface to improve data comprehension and usability is known as embedded analytics. Bold BI helps you easily embed an analytics solution into your everyday work applications using a JavaScript SDK and server application. It also helps you reduce dependency on IT teams and delivers all the insights you need to improve academic, administrative, and workforce outcomes.

What is K-12 education and how it can benefit from embedded analytics

K-12 education is a term used to describe education from kindergarten to 12^th grade used by several countries such as the USA, Canada, Singapore, India, Japan, and more. Many educational institutions are proactively turning to business analytics solutions to simplify management and uncover critical information about their operations. Embedded analytics has tremendous potential for improving students’ learning outcomes by giving educators and administrators deeply informative visuals at a quick glance that make decision-making easier.

Deploying an embedded analytics program at schools allows administrators to have constant access to reports while meeting reporting requirements faster and more easily. It builds a culture of accountability and data-driven decision-making. Let’s see some of the benefits.

Efficient teacher hiring and quality learning

Monitoring every student’s performance is a tedious task for teachers. Appointing more teachers based on student headcount helps teachers focus on every student’s progress and enables them to help students who are in need. With embedded analytics, administrators can readily access information about the teacher-to-student ratio, hire more teachers as needed, and find out students’ strengths and weaknesses and help them accordingly.

Better decision-making and increased growth

Embedding analytics helps administrators compare larger trends over time so that they can see admission patterns, retention rate, underused resources, and more. Monitoring these data points in one place provides an overall picture of an educational institution’s current state and progress toward various goals. These points help the administrators make decisions about investing in modern technologies, improving infrastructure, and selecting funding that result in continued growth of their institutions.

Identifying roadblocks and personalized learning

Embedded analytics helps educators monitor both academic and non-academic data. It can measure student engagement so that teachers can strategize to improve the quality of the learning experience. Tracking student’s skills and progress helps teachers and administrators better understand the abilities of their students. By grasping students’ abilities, teachers can customize their learning plans to suit each student. By tracking students’ reports and assessments, teachers can see gaps and weaknesses and modify their curriculum accordingly.

Increase enrollments using predictive analytics

Educational administrators can analyze past years’ data on student enrollment and performance (test results and assignment grades) using predictive analytics. By analyzing this data over years in a single page, they can forecast future enrollment trends and be prepared for them with adequate facilities, staff recruitment, and more. Further, teachers can use predictive analytics to track students’ attendance, progress on their courses, and assist them to complete their coursework with better grades, which encourages more student enrollment.

Bold BI’s K-12 Enrollment Dashboard example

The K-12 Enrollment Dashboard helps you track enrollment trends, student-to-faculty ratios, top school districts based on enrollment, students in accelerated learning programs, and the operating budget of each school. This dashboard provides a comprehensive view of the performance of each institution and student body. With this dashboard, you can also forecast enrollment for the next three years.

Bold BI’s K-12 Education Enrollment Dashboard

The steps to embed the dashboard are explained in the next section in detail. Here are some of the key metrics and KPIs of the K-12 Enrollment Dashboard:

• Faculty-to-student ratio.

• Enrollment trends.

• Top 5 school districts by enrollment.

• Students in accelerated learning program.

• Operating budget per year.

Faculty-to-student ratio

Faculty-to-Student Ratio in K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

The ratio of the number of teachers available for the number of students enrolled in a school is known as the student-faculty ratio. This card widget shows the ratio.

Enrollment trends

Enrollment Trends in K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

Administrators can easily track changes in enrollment each year using the Enrollment Trends line chart. This widget also helps forecast enrollment for the next three years, allowing administrators to plan ahead and spend resources appropriately.

Top 5 school districts by enrollment

Top 5 School Districts by Enrollment in K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

This column chart shows the top five school districts based on enrollment, which helps administrators focus on key areas such as improving infrastructure, building out transportation facilities, adopting new learning methods, and more.

Students in accelerated learning programs

Students in the Accelerated Learning Program in K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

This line chart shows the total number of students who took advanced courses each year. Tracking this data helps administrators find the number of students who do not take advanced courses, identify the causes of dropping out of advanced classes, and make plans to provide incentives that encourage more students to take advanced courses.

Operating budget per year

Operating Budget per Year in K-12 Enrollment Dashboard

This spline chart shows the funds used each year to operate schools. Using this data, administrators can monitor spending trends, reduce unwanted spending, and channel resources where they are needed.

To learn more about the metrics and KPIs used in this dashboard example, refer to the K-12 Enrollment Dashboard demo.

How to embed Bold BI’s K-12 Enrollment Dashboard into your application

Let’s see how analytics can be embedded into your educational web applications. Bold BI helps you embed your dashboards in more than 10 web application frameworks, including ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, and more. In the remainder of this blog post, I am going to explain how to embed dashboards into ASP.NET Core applications.

Consider a scenario where your education institution has a website like the one shown in the following image.

Sample Website of an Educational Institution

You can embed dashboards easily using Bold BI and avoid building an analytics or BI solution yourself. Follow these steps to embed your dashboard successfully.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Bold BI server on your local machine and create an enterprise-grade dashboard. You can find the installation and deployment instructions here.

Step 1: Creating an ASP.NET Core application

To successfully embed a dashboard in your application, first you need to create an ASP.NET Core application. So, open Microsoft Visual Studio and click New Project. Then choose ASP.NET Core Web Application, enter the project name, and click OK.

Step 2: Configure embed properties

After the ASP.NET Core web application is created, you need to create a Model class called EmbedProperties under Models and provide the dashboard RootURL, SiteIdentifier, Environment, UserEmail, and EmbedSecret.

Step 3: Generate embed secret

You have to set the EmbedSecret for authentication. You can get the embed secret from the Bold BI server. Then, navigate to the Settings icon in the left navigation bar and click the Embed tab. Click Enable embed authentication and then click the Generate Secret button to generate the embed secret. On clicking the button, a secret key will be generated, and you can paste it into the application. For more details on how to do this, you can refer to this documentation link.

Note: Save the secret key, as it cannot be retrieved again. If you do not save it, you will have to generate a new one using the Reset Secret option.

Step 4: Create authorization server

You need to implement an authorization server in the ASP.NET Core application to get authenticated before embedding the dashboard from the Bold BI server. You can also configure the single sign-on (SSO)-based authorization server, which is an authentication endpoint that enables users to securely authenticate multiple applications using unique embed secrets. This prevents the need for the user to log into different applications separately.

Step 5: Create Bold BI instance

Finally, create a Bold BI instance to load the dashboard using a JavaScript file. Also, reference the required script files and CSS files to the corresponding HTML pages.

Step 6: Run the application to embed the dashboard

After creating the ASP.NET Core application, you need to run it. It will be launched successfully with the dashboard details. Finally, you can see the dashboard created in the Bold BI server is embedded in your ASP.NET Core web application.

Dashboard Embedded into an ASP.NET Core Application

By following the above steps, you can successfully embed your dashboards into your ASP.NET Core application.

K-12 Enrollment Dashboard Embedded into an ASP.NET Core Application

Here, we have successfully embedded the K-12 Enrollment Dashboard into an ASP.NET Core web application. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your ASP.NET Core applications, please refer to this blog. You can also download the sample code mentioned in the provided procedure from our documentation.

Conclusion

Bold BI helps you integrate dashboards in your applications written in React with ASP.NET Core, React with Go, WinForms, Node.js, Vue with Go, Vue with ASP.NET Core, and more, seamlessly. It will save you time and prevent you from doing redundant work. Click this link to explore its features. To learn more about embedding dashboards into your applications, refer to this blog and our help documentation.

I hope now you have a better understanding of the K-12 Enrollment Dashboard and how it helps administrators and faculty improve the growth of educational institution. Bold BI helps create precisely the dashboards any business or industry needs with its 35+ widgets and 150+ data sources.

Get started with Bold BI by signing up for a free 15-day trial and create more interactive business intelligence dashboards. If you have any questions concerning this blog, please feel free to post them in the comment section below. You can also contact us by submitting your questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in to submit your support question.