One of the many exciting features of IntelliBoard NEXT is the Visual Report Builder. Here you can create your own reports by adding columns, filters, and formatting to build a customized data story of your own. Further, you can create custom datapoints/columns by adding a formula! Some datapoints are not available in the LMS tables. We can easily create this custom datapoint and add a column to the report.
Let's look at the process of creating a formula! And for an example data story, Let's say we have courses in the LMS that are self-paced, maybe they are corporate training and the employee is required to complete the course within a designated time period, but because the course has a continuous enrollment there is no official end date in the LMS.
For this example we want to know when the course should be completed by. Our new datapoint/column will show us 90 days past the enrollment date. Let's start with a report that has some basic column information: User Name, Course Name, and Enrollment Start Date
- Click "Edit" in the top right of the report
- Click "Layout" tab in the builder menu
- Click "Add Field"
You will now see the categories for all of the datapoints available in your LMS. At the top of the column you will see "Add Formula," Select this option and a DOS prompt window will open where you can type in a custom formula. This works just like an Excel formula, so if you are familiar with Excel, then you should be comfortable here in the formula window of the builder.
Since the data point that we want to create is a specified period past the available data point “Enrollment Starts At,” let’s choose that data point from the list of available options: Enrollment Category>Enrollment Starts At.
You will see this datapoint added to the DOS prompt window. Now, we want to know when the course should be completed by—90 days past the enrollment date.
The formula is as follows: [Enrollment Starts At]+60*60*24*90
Here we need to tell the computer what the “90” means. So, the formula is specifying 60 seconds in a minute x 60 minutes in a hour x 24 hours in a day x 90 days.
Once you completed typing the formula, click "Save" in the top right of the prompt window. You will see a pop-up box asking you to name the column, let's call it Enrollment Ends. You will also be asked for a description--we recommend rewriting the formula here for future reference:
- Click "Submit"
You will now see your new datapoint/column added to the report, showing 90 Days past the Enrollment Start Date:
Click the "Save" button at the top right of the report--that's it you're done! You created a custom datapoint/column. Give it a try and see what custom datapoints you can come up with. Remember, we are here to help! If you need guidance just reach out to us at helpdesk@intelliboard.net