If you use Intelligent Advisor for reporting and want to track data trends over time, downloading your deployment statistics and building a chart in Excel that auto-updates as you add new data is a powerful way to visualize those changes and empower better decision-making.

Step 1. Download your chart data from Intelligent Advisor Hub

Downloading your chart data is easy. Simply find or create the deployment chart containing the data in Intelligent Advisor Hub, and select Download chart data from the Actions menu.

The Download chart data dialog in Intelligent Advisor Hub

The file will be downloaded as a CSV (comma-separated value) file. If you need further details, refer to Download Usage Data.

Step 2. Create a chart from the data in Excel

You now need to create an Excel chart from the data you downloaded. To do this:

  1. Locate the CSV file on your computer and open it in Excel.
  2. Select your data range, including your headers.
  3. Go to the Insert tab and select a chart type. For example, a Clustered Bar Chart. Excel will insert a chart using your selected data.
  4. Use chart formatting tools to adjust the chart title, axis titles and colors to best represent your data.

    An Excel column chart showing the number of sessions over 6 months
  5. Save your CSV file as a XLS file to ensure that your chart is saved in the file.

Step 3. Add new Hub data to Excel so the chart refreshes

You now need to set up your Excel spreadsheet so that new data can be added without rebuilding the chart. Using an Excel Table ensures the chart grows automatically as new data is added. To set this up:

  1. Select your data (including your headers) and press Ctrl + T (or Insert → Table).
  2. In the Create table dialog, make sure “My table has headers” is selected, then click OK.

    Creating a table in Excel from a selected dataset
    You will notice that the formatting of the data has been updated.

    An Excel Table with 6 months of data

Whenever you want to add new data simply:

  1. Download the data in your desired range from Intelligent Advisor Hub.
  2. Copy it into the rows immediately below the existing data in your Excel Table ensuring the column order and headers match exactly.
    An Excel Table with 12 months of data

     
    Your chart will dynamically update whenever new rows are added to your table. 

    An Excel chart showing the number of sessions over a 12 month period

Tips!

  • Intelligent Advisor chart data is also available using the Statistics REST API.
  • When choosing the best chart type for your data in Excel, the Recommended Charts option shows you previews of different charts for your data.
  • If you are working with large amounts of data, consider using a PivotTable in Excel. This allows you to rearrange rows, columns, and filters to view your data in various ways, “pivoting” the information to gain different perspectives. To use a PivotTable, in step 2 above you need to insert the PivotTable before you insert the chart. You should still format the original dataset as an Excel Table (in step 3). When you want to add new data you would paste it below your original dataset/table, then refresh your PivotTable and your chart will update automatically.