IT Analytics Solution Tutorial: Create and Publish Charts Using Report Builder

Report Builder is a component of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services that allows ad-hoc reporting functionality enabling end users to build their own reports and charts. Users can then publish these charts into Reporting Services where they can be accessed and viewed. This can be integrated with IT Analytics to expose custom charts built with Reporting Services inside the Altiris console.

In this exercise we will create a pie chart that displays the breakdown of closed incidents by priority for this quarter.

1. Select the New report icon in the Report Builder toolbar.
2. Select Incident as the source.
   
   

   Click to view.

3. Select the Chart radio button in the Report layout section and click the OK button.
   
   

   Click to view.

4. Right click on the chart and select Chart Type>Pie>Exploded Pie.
   
   

   Click to view.

5. Right click on the chart again and select Chart Options.
   
   

   Click to view.

6. Select the 3D Effect tab and check the "Display chart with 3-D visual effect" and click OK.
   
   

   Click to view.

7. In the Entities box select Closed Incidents and then drag and drop the Closed Incident Count from the Fields box to the "Drag and drop data value fields" section of the chart.
   
   

   Click to view.

8. In the Entities box select Priority and drag and drop the Priority attribute from the Fields box into the "Drag and drop category fields" section of the chart.
   
   

   Click to view.

9. Right click on the pie chart and select Chart Options.
10. In the Chart Options window select the Titles tab and change the Chart Title to "Q1 2008 Closed Incidents by Priority".
    
    

    Click to view.

11. Select the Legend tab and change the following:
    
    1. Change the Layout from Column to Table.
    2. Change the Position from Right Center to Bottom Center.
12. Select the Chart Type tab and click the Format Plot Area button.
    
    1. On the Border tab change the Presets from Outline to None.
       
       

       Click to view.

    2. Select the Fill tab and change the color to white.
       
       

       Click to view.

13. Click OK and then OK to get back to Design Mode.
14. Click the Filter icon in the Report Builder toolbar to launch the filter window.
15. Select the Date Created from the Entities box and then double click the Quarter Name attribute from the Fields box to add the Quarter Name as a filter.
16. Enter "Q1 2008" into the text box as shown below and click OK:
    
    

    Click to view.

17. Right click on the Chart and select Data Series > Format Data Series.
    
    

    Click to view.

18. Check the box labeled "Show point labels" and click OK. This will display the number of closed incidents inside the pie slice to make the chart more user-friendly.
    
    

    Click to view.

19. Click on the Title textbox at the top and press the delete button to remove this title as we have already embedded the title in the chart itself.
20. Preview the report by clicking the Run Report button in the toolbar and make any other adjustments.
21. Click the Save icon in the Report Builder toolbar to save this report to Reporting Services.
22. To link this report into the Altiris Console navigate to the Reports > IT Analytics menu item.
23. Right-click on the reports folder and select New>Report.
    
    

    Click to view.

24. In the Report Name dropdown box locate and select the report you just saved and click the Apply button.
    
    

    Click to view.

25. Refresh your browser and expand the Reports folder.
26. Locate and select the report you just added.
    
    

    Click to view.