MindTouch Charts

MindTouch Charts Introduction

Previously, charting within MindTouch was accomplished via either the Visifire extension or third-party chart app (such as Google). While both of those solutions have their strong points, the drawbacks associated with them sometimes prohibit their use in the enterprise.

The Chart extension is a Flash-based charting package that gives users the ability to create flexible, dynamic charts while keeping all of the business data behind the firewall. This means that data can be safely surfaced from internal sources such as a CRM or accounting system and visually interpreted inside MindTouch.

Powerful Charting

MindTouch Charts ships with a vast repository of charts, gantt charts, and even maps to give users a powerful graphing solution for almost any situation. Over 60 chart types are available out of the box!

In addition, the charts themselves are extremely extensible. The charts are created using easily-understandable XML, and provide mildly-technical business users with the option to modify their chart to fit their needs. Options like background gradient fill, borders, and animation make these charts not just informational, but visually appealing as well.

Users can interact with the charts as well. Mousing over sections of the charts can display more detail about the data or location, and URLs can be assigned to individual data points so that a user is taken to a different page for further information when they click on them. With certain chart types, users can even click and drag dials or sliders to recalculate data on the fly for "what-if" scenario generation! Users don't even have to reload the page to see the results.

This dynamic functionality becomes even more useful when combined with MindTouch's broad library of extensions. Data from other systems that change rapidly can be monitored in a dashboard with no end-user interaction at all. For example, sales managers could use MindTouch to query their CRM system for campaign results throughout the day, and display incoming quote requests in a heat map. Support Center directors could utilize MindTouch to retrieve current call volume and average wait from a support center database system, and display it as a gauge. Financial gurus can see real-time valuations presented as a financial chart to help make informed up-to-the-second decisions.

These dynamic charts can also be "snapshotted" to allow users to collaborate around a dataset from a specific point in time. Simply right-clicking on a chart gives the viewer the opportunity to save or even print the chart directly from the browser.

How Do I Use MindTouch Charts?

MindTouch Charts is available as an add-on to MindTouch Standard or Enterprise. After the updated license has been applied to the MindTouch installation, it must be activated by a system administrator in the control panel.

When activated, the AnyChart extension can be called using the following DekiScript code block:

AnyChart(CHART_XML, HEIGHT, WIDTH, ID);

Currently, the CHART_XML is primarily taken from the AnyChart chart gallery, changing parameters and data points to reflect the user's needs. While the sheer granularity of MindTouch Charts can lend itself to using a long XML parameter, it's fairly straightforward when taken a piece at time. Several MindTouch tutorials are available to help get acquainted with Charts, and the AnyChart website has excellent and user guide and XML documentation for power users to refer to. Lastly, templates are currently under development to create basic chart types without the need to enter the XML; non-technical users who don't need to customize charts will be able to simply enter the data and chart type.