chapter one

accessing content

SAS Visual Analytics has a central entry point called SAS Home, or in older releases, the Hub. You can think of it as the central access point. From SAS Home, you can open content or other tools within the application. What you can do from the homepage is based on the role that the administrator assigned to you. When you want to view a report, the content is displayed in the Report Viewer.

This chapter starts with the methods to access content and define the default roles. Then you are guided through the homepage features and some of the Report Viewer features. The information in this chapter is intended to provide a quick overview. SAS Institute has a collection of training videos in the SAS Visual Analytics Video Library at support.sas.com.

Methods of accessing content

Users can access SAS Visual Analytics content through a web browser on a PC or through a mobile device, such as an Apple iPad. A key feature of SAS Visual Analytics is its built-in web functionality. When users enter the application, they access the homepage, which provides access to the content and other product features. Your site can allow guest access through a public portal. A public portal or kiosk allows access to pre-determined content without requiring any credentials.

Accessing content with a web browser

Users can access SAS Visual Analytics from any of the popular web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari. Users might have access to all product features and content or limited access based on the permissions and capabilities assigned by the system administrator.

Accessing content through the public portal

You might want to make your data available to the public. The public can be anything from your customer base to the entire world. The United Nations has the ComTrade public portal that you can visit from the SAS Visual Analytics demo site. The site allows you to explore the data and analysis without entering any credentials. The following figure shows the UN ComTrade site.

Figure 1.1 SAS Visual Analytics in a public kiosk

You can also use this technique on your intranet where employees can access the reports and use the data discovery techniques without having an additional login. This is built-in functionality that can be configured. Your site administrator can customize the security to ensure that only the reports you want available can be seen. Refer to the SAS Visual Analytics Administrator’s Manual for more information.

Accessing content with the mobile bi app

You can also access reports from a mobile device. The mobile device management is built-in functionality. As an administrator, you can allow your users to access the portal either within a VPN or with just a login. You can adjust the mobile security to ensure the safety of your data. The data is only shown on the device when the user is connected to your network.

There are several example reports available when you download the free SAS Mobile BI app from iTunes store or from Google Play for Android. For SAS Visual Analytics 8.1, the mobile app became available for Windows 10. See the References section for additional information about features and administration.

Understanding roles

Your capabilities from SAS Home are based on the role the SAS Visual Analytics administrator assigned to you. The roles exist to define how users interact with the application. For example, a user assigned the consumer role reviews reports or analysis. In contrast, they don’t need to access the advanced functionality. While the report builders are creating content, they obviously require more permissions and capabilities. Here are the default roles with capabilities:

Consumer	Views the reports, analytics and dashboards for content. May use a desktop or mobile device to consume the reports. Consumers might be internal or external to the organization based on how SAS Visual Analytics is configured.
Content Builder	Creates content like reports, explorations, and dashboards for consumers. This role might produce the data sets or use those made available from the Data Administrator.
Data Administrator	Schedules and loads data tables into SAS Visual Analytics. Makes data from multiple data sources available to the application.
Platform Administrator	Manages the SAS Visual Analytics environment and platform which includes controlling the folder structure, user accounts, and access to the content.

Depending on the organization size, some users might fill more than one role. In a smaller organization, one person might be responsible for creating content and administering the system. In larger organizations, there might be entire departments devoted to each role.

For more information about managing roles and their capabilities, refer to the SAS Visual Analytics Administration Guide for your release.

Accessing SAS Visual Analytics

Users can access SAS Visual Analytics content and applications through the SAS homepage. You can think of it as a central entry point. From a web browser use the following URL to access the homepage, where server and port are specific to your site:

http://<server:port>/SASVisualAnalyticsHub

This URL is case sensitive. If you are unsure of the server and port, contact your SAS site administrator. In almost all cases, a login user ID and password are required.

Transformation of the homepage

Starting with SAS Visual Analytics 7.2, there were two versions of SAS Home. Between SAS Visual Analytics 7.1 and 7.2, the homepage went through a metamorphosis. The homepage was converted to use HTML5 from Adobe Flash. The new look, based on HTML5, was called Modern mode. The previous homepage was called Classic mode. The Modern mode does not support all the same features as the Classic mode.

Note: All of the following figures show how the homepage appears when accessed by a content developer who has data administration rights. This user can view reports, create reports, and explore data.

Figure 1.2 Classic mode homepage in release 7.3

Figure 1.3 Modern mode homepage in release 7.3

For SAS Visual Analytics 8.1, the homepage content was rearranged but contains the same functionality. This layout was introduced to make it easier for new users to understand. One difference was that the term collection changed to content tab.

Figure 1.4 Homepage in SAS Visual Analytics 8.1

Understanding SAS home

No matter which mode you are using, the homepage has the same basic functionality. The main areas of the homepage enable you to access applications within the product and to access content, which are described below. Here’s how the homepage appears when accessed by a consumer. This user can view reports.

Figure 1.5 Modern mode homepage in SAS Visual Analytics 7.3

	From the Menu Bar, you can see that the user logged in, searched content, accessed user documentation, and changed preferences. Click SAS Home from any other application to return to the homepage. In modern mode, when you click the icon, it reveals a side navigation menu.
	You can browse content, create shortcuts for quick access, and create collections. The colored icons are shortcuts to the areas that the logged-in user can access. This user created a shortcut called View Reports!
	You can manage the content in these areas. You can see recent content, create bookmarks for your favorite content, access links to external content, and access collections. Click the title to open the report in the Viewer.

The homepage is configurable. You can control which collections are shown, what items are in your favorites, and any shortcuts. Refer to the user documentation or training videos for more details.

Opening a report

If you need to find a report, exploration, or dashboard that is not showing on the homepage, you can find it by searching or browsing. If you know where the report is located, then you can navigate to it.

To navigate to a report called Casino Floor Performance Sample:

1.   Click Browse. The Open window appears.

2.   Navigate the folder structure until you find the report that you want to view. The report is located in SAS Folders ▶ Products ▶ SAS Visual Analytics ▶ Visual Analytics Samples.

As you select each folder, the contents appear to the right. In the following figure, you can see how each folder level opens. Notice that the path or breadcrumbs are shown in the upper left corner so that you know where you are.

3.   Click the object name to open the report in the Report Viewer.

Creating a shortcut

If a certain application is used more frequently, the user might want to create a shortcut. Shortcuts are shown at the top of the homepage and create quick access to the applications. To create a shortcut to the Report Viewer:

1.   Click Shortcut. The Add Application Shortcut window appears.

2.   In the Application drop-down list, select Report Viewer from the list.

3.   You can keep the default name or type a name that is meaningful to you. Examples might be View Reports! or View Content.

4.   Select the shortcut color.

5.   Click Save. The shortcut appears on the top.

Creating a collection or content tile

A collection enables you to organize similar content. Sometimes the folder structure can be difficult to navigate for consumers. As the number of reports and content grows, it is more confusing trying to provide the path or understand how to find related content that might be stored in multiple locations. You can create a collection that is displayed on the homepage for easy access. You can also choose to share your collections with others. The advantage to collections is that you can organize similar content spread across multiple folders in a convenient location. When organizing content for storage, a content builder might want reports organized by topic or department. A report consumer who is less familiar with the structure just wants an easy way to see the report and other similar information. A collection is an easy way to ensure that the content is easy to find.

While working on this book, we wanted to have the content examples available to all the authors. Each author had created example content, but it was spread across different folders. The solution was to create a collection called Final Examples. Here’s how to add a collection called Final Examples.

1.   Click Collections. The Collection window appears.

2.   To create a new collection:

a.   In the Name field, type a name for the collection. This name appears on the homepage but can be edited later.

b.   Use the Location drop-down list to locate where you want to store the collection folder. This is not where the content is stored, only the metadata object.

c.   Click the Publish this collection for all users check box to ensure that others can see this collection. If you want to keep it private, leave the check box empty.

d.   Click Save when finished. The collection card appears on the homepage. You can now add content to the collection.

3.   On the right side, click the card control icon and select Edit.

4.   Click the + sign to add content to the collection. When prompted, browse the folder structure to add the reports that you want. You can add as many reports, stored processes, or other items as you want. The link is just a shortcut to your content.

In this example, a link to the Your 1st Dashboard object was added to the collection. Notice that you can use the arrows to change the order. Select the object and click the trash can icon to discard the link.

5.   Click Save when you are finished editing the collection. This updates the collection on the user homepage.

Using the report viewer

The SAS Visual Analytics Report Viewer enables you to interact with reports and other SAS Visual Analytics content. When you open a report, the content opens in the Report Viewer. The Information panel on the right provides details about the objects. You can add or review comments. If the report has alerts set, you can subscribe to the alerts. The following figure shows a report opened in the Report Viewer. The Report Viewer is also used on mobile devices and works in a similar manner.

Figure 1.6 Report Viewer

As shown in the preceding figure, when you click on the button bar or drop-down control objects, SAS Visual Analytics immediately changes the data to reflect the new view. Some data objects control other objects, so if you click on a line chart dot, the bar chart and the map filters the data to show that view.

Navigating a report

You can use the Report Viewer options to navigate the report. This topic provides an overview of some of the features you can use.

Opening other sections

Click the arrow if you want to see reports you recently had open. If the report has multiple sections, you can click the Section icon to view the other sections. In later releases, the term section has been changed to page. Instead of a drop-down list as shown in the following figure, the pages are across the top.

Figure 1.7 Open other report sections

View additional report information

When viewing a report, the user might not understand the report purpose or what filters have been applied. In the following figure, you can see an example of a report with the Information panel displayed. The Information panel contains overall report information. When the user clicks on an object, it provides additional information about that object.

Click the Information icon to open the Information window. This window provides expanded information about the report and each object. Click an object to learn its name and view the description. If there are any display rules in use, you can view those. Open the Comments area to search, view, and add comments.

Figure 1.8 Use the information panel to view details

Other report viewer options

Click the Control icon for additional options. You can browse for other reports, edit the existing report, refresh the report content or print the report. If you want to email, click the E-mail… selection. A link to the report is added to an email message for the user.

Figure 1.9 Control menu

References

Bailey, David, I-kong Fu, and Anand Chitale. 2014. “Share Your SAS Visual Analytics Reports with SAS Office Analytics.” Proceedings of the SAS Global Forum 2014 Conference. Paper SAS27402914. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.

Nori, Murali. 2015. “HTML5 and SAS Mobile BI—Empowering Business Managers with Analytics and Business Intelligence.” Proceedings of the SAS Global Forum 2015 Conference. Paper SAS1722-2015. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc. Available at: http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings15/SAS1722-2015.pdf.

SAS Mobile BI Video Library. Available at: http://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/mobile_bi/videos.html.

SAS Visual Analytics Video Library. Available at: http://support.sas.com/training/tutorial/. [SAS Library Note: the actual link is to a tab (http://support.sas.com/training/tutorial/#s1=2) on the aforementioned URL]