Scott Murray 08 October 2013

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Scott SQL Server Reporting

Murray Services Advanced
08 October
2013
Charting
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) has
88 evolved over the years to incorporate
many new data visualization capabilities.
135891 views
In this article, Scott Murray illustrates
19 how DBAs can use these tools to produce
reports that include Indicators, Embedded
Charts, Sparklins, and Chart overlays.

First released as an “add-on” in SQL Server 2000,

and fully integrated into SQL Server since
version 2005, SQL Server Reporting Services
(SSRS) is now a well-established web-based,
self-service, reporting solution. In 2007,
Microsoft acquired a set of reporting
components from Dundas, a company
specializing in data visualization and dashboard
software and solutions, and the 2008R2 release
of SSRS incorporated these and many other
impressive additions to our graphical reporting
and data visualization capabilities.

These new data visualization tools are not just

for the BI specialist. They can help any DBA
produce reports that allow users to go beyond
the numbers, and quickly spot trends, anomalies
and issues. In this article, I will explain, with
examples, how any DBA can start to use these
new tools, covering:

• Indicators – providing an instant visual

indication of the current state of key
business data, compared to a set of
criteria values

• Embedded Charts – how to embed charts

within a tablix or table; a very effective
technique for visually breaking out data
according to various criteria (such as sales
by region, year, and so on)

• Sparklines and Databars – small charts

that we can also embed within textboxes
to show trends and changes in data over
time, especially over many different
periods

• Chart overlays – a few nice overlay

techniques, incorporating use of range
charts and the chart’s secondary axis

Along the way, I hope to teach a few new

reporting and charting tricks and techniques,
such as the judicious use of tooltips to convey
information quickly and intuitively.

Why should DBAs care about

Eye Candy?
I know there may be a few DBAs reading this,
who are skeptical about the need for them to
take the time to learn data visualization
techniques. Since, you made it to the second
page, at least, I’ll explain why I believe most
DBAs will benefit from these charting
techniques. While working through their daily list
of tasks, many DBAs need to respond to
questions from their managers and supervisors,
such as:

• How many servers do we support?

• What is the trend in the number of support

calls over the past few years?

• Are there periods where the existing DBA

support tickets exceed our capacity to
meet our Service Level Agreements
(SLAs)?

• Can I see the support call aggregates

broken up by region and priority?

With a bit of effort, most DBAs could conjure up

a query to return the required data, and dump it
into Excel, but the results are likely to be messy
and the important trends far from obvious to the
report reader. In addition, it’s likely your
supervisor would much prefer to see the
questions answered visually and in a self-service
form.

You can create a much more powerful message

by showing the information in graphical manner.
If you’re overworked trying to stay afloat on the
sea of support tickets, and the trend is getting
worse, you don’t want there to be any chance
that your managers will miss this fact.
SSRS charts allow us to present a dramatic
picture of the results, no matter if we are
showing trending data, percentage of the total
data, or any other comparison of data points.

Getting Started
I developed and tested the reports in this article
using SQL Server Data Tools 2012; a similar set
of reports could be created in Report Builder 3
although the process of creating the various
objects, such as a dataset, would be somewhat
different

The examples all use the

AdventureWorksDW2012 database, freely
available on CodePlex, which provides sales
data that we can typically break out into various
categories and groups, such as sales regions
and financial year. For our purposes, we’ll
imagine that this database contains our Support
Call data and apply charting techniques to break
it out, visually, into categories and groups such
as country, priority, server model, and so on.

All the examples use the same shared data

source, and shared data set, so to build any of
the charts in this article, you’ll need to complete
some initial setup:

1. Create a blank report– the code download

bundle for this article provides a base
report (TribalSQL_Base_Report) upon
which you can build as you work through
the examples
 2. Create a shared data source – to the
AdventureWorksDW2012 database

3. Create a shared data set with the following

query:

SELECT TimeIndex ,
Amount ,
CalendarYear ,
Month ,
ReportingDate ,
Region ,
Priority ,
ServerTerritoryGroup ,
ServerTerritoryCountry ,
ServerRegion
FROM vTimeSeries_SupportCalls

Listing 1: Query to define the shared data set

The view, vTimeSeries_SupportCalls, is a

custom view, built on a slightly modified version
of the underlying vDMPrep view. The code
download bundle includes the scripts to modify
vDMPrep (don’t forget to back up the database
first) and create
vTimeSeries_SupportCalls.

Finally, the code bundle also includes a copy of

the completed report
(TribalSQL_Final_Report).

Indicators
Indicators offer a very quick, visual gauge of the
“state” of a specific data value, when compared
to another distinct value, a parameter, or
potentially a budget or service level agreement
threshold. For example, a green arrow indicator
could show you are beating your service level
times, a yellow circle that you are just meeting
them, and a big red X that you are failing to meet
them. Figure 1 displays the indicators currently
available in Report Services.

Figure 1: Indicator types in SSRS

For the first example, we will use red, yellow, and

green circle indicators to show the number of
support calls solved per calendar year; red
indicates 10,000 or less cases solved; yellow
indicates between 10,001 and 75,000 cases
solved, while a green light signifies over 75,000
cases solved. Of course, the business users and
management will need to help define the
indicator thresholds and change the colors as
needed.

Our first step (assuming you’ve completed the

prelims, described previously) is to add a tablix
to the body region of the report.
Matrix vs. table vs. tablix
A point of confusion is that in the toolbox you’ll
see a table and a matrix but tablix is notable by
its absence. However once you drag either the
table or matrix onto the report body, the “object”
becomes a tablix and the name of the object, or
the properties, will report that the object is a
tablix. To be consistent, I use tablix throughout
this article, but it is called a matrix or table in the
toolbox.
Next, drag onto the tablix the ServerRegion
and Priority columns, as row groups, and
CalendarYear as a column group. To
complete the tablix, add the Amount field
(number of support calls) to the data region and
finally add an indicator as a second column on
the data area of the tablix. Finally, run the report.

Without even looking at the raw figures, the

indicator lights quickly reveal the regions and
years that originated the most support tickets.
As shown in Figure 2, though, unfortunately
SSRS will stretch the aspect ratios of the
indicators when other columns, the
ServerRegion and Priority for this
example, in the tablix use multiple rows of text
to display a single data item.

Figure 2: Using indicators in a tablix data region

Although the indicators are correct, their sizing
and spacing look wrong, aesthetically and
proportionally. In order to prevent “the stretch,”
we can embed the indicator within a rectangle
object of fixed dimensions, as shown in the top
graphic of Figure 3. The bottom graphic shows
the results, with the indicators in the left
columns contained within the rectangle object
and those in the right allowed to stretch.

Figure 3: Preventing indicator “stretch”

We can use the same technique with other

objects, such as pictures.

In addition, we may want to add a data label that

will overlay the indicator used and display the
indicator’s related value as a numeric label. In
order for these figures to display at a size large
enough for a report consumer to see, the size of
the rectangle and inserted indicators must be
expanded to accomodate both the indicator and
its related data label, as shown in Figure 4. To
achieve this result, we first need to increase the
size of our rectangle and the indicator within the
rectagle from the previous step. Then, the
indicator properties can be modified to show
data labels, and finally, we neede to increase the
font of the data labels to display these values
clearly to the report consumer.
Figure 4: Overlaying the value of an indicator

As an alternative to using a numeric label to

display the indicator’s value, use of a tooltip to
display interactive values also works well. The
tooltip in Figure 5 displays the value related to
the indicator. Going back to our original
example, we can add the tooltip by selecting the
indicator and then right clicking and selecting
properties. In the ToolTip property, we add in
summation for the Amount field: SUM(Fields!
Amount.Value). In figure 5, I also formated the
value to display as a number with two places
beyond the decimal.

Figure 5: Using tooltips to display indicator values

Indicators make it easy and quick to compare

two data points; for example, a red stop light
standouts when pictured against a group of
green indicators. Making the same comparison
with just the discrete values requires a must
more detailed review of each figure.
In this example, we embedded our indicators
within a tablix. Next, we will explore the various
methods a report designer can use to embed
different report objects within a table, tablix, or
tablix.

Embedded Charts
Embedding charts within a tablix might seem
counter-intuitive, but it means that instead of
displaying numbers in the data area of the
control, we can display a chart. This method
allows a report developer to present many
charts with minimal effort.

For example, say your supervisor wants to see

the support calls broken out by country, for each
support region and for each calendar year. One
solution would be to create one chart for each
region and year combination, but this could
quickly add up to many charts.

By embedding the chart within a tablix, we

automatically get a chart for each group in the
table. In our example, shown in Figure 6, we
embed within the data area of the tablix a pie
chart to show the number of support calls
solved by country, by region, and by year. To
complete this chart, first we will want to add a
tablix to our report body area. Next, we add
ServerTerritoryGroup as a row group and
CalendarYear as a column group.
Subsequently, we drag a pie chart onto the data
area of the tablix; we use the Country field for
the series grouping, and the Amount field for the
values of the pie segments.

Figure 6: Embedding a pie chart in the data area of a

tablix

The report users would see a pie chart for each

server territory group and calendar year, similar
to Figure 7. Such an embedded chart provides
both a details component and trending
component. The detail component is revealed by
showing the country breakout on each chart and
the trend is revealed by comparing the pie charts
from year to year.

Figure 7: Pie Chart Embedded within a Tablix-Report

view

This method can also be very useful on a KPI

Report or other Dashboard page. Also, notice
that the pie chart makes use of the tooltips
functionality to display the exact percentage of
the total each slice contributes to the pie.

We can embed within both row and column

groupings of a tablix many types of charts and
graphs, including sparklines and databars, which
we discuss next.

Sparklines and Databars

Sparklines and databars are great for showing
trends and changes in data over time, especially
over many periods. A sparkline is similar to a
regular line chart, while a databar is comparable
to a column or bar chart. However, we generally
embed both sparklines and databars within a
textbox within a tablix. For best effect, report
designers must keep the display on these charts
as simple as possible, eschewing detailed
legends, titles, tick marks, and even x and y axes,
unless absolutely necessary.

Furthermore, we can embed, or nest, each

sparkline or databar into multiple row or column
groups within a tablix. Nested sparklines and
databars display the related graphic for each
intersection of the column groups and row
groups included in a tablix. However, the report
designer must understand how such a drill down
affects the resulting databars or sparklines.

In this example, we’re going to nest a sparkline

within the Country (i.e.
ServerTerritoryCountry) row group. This
nested sparkline will display the numbe rod
support calls (Amount field) by Year and then
Month. Nested graphics lend themselves
perfectly to analyzing trends in data.

To create this simple nested sparkline, first add

a tablix to the report body and then drag
ServerTerritoryCountry to the row group.
Next, add a new column group by clicking on the
column group area (lower right of the window)
and selecting Add Column Group.

Pull up the properties of the column group and

use a value of 1 for the column “group on” value.
This may seem confusing, but the fact is that all
tablixes must have at least one column and one
row group. In our example, we do not want to
group on any column value so we use the
dummy value of 1 for the column group,
meaning we will group together all the values
into a single column.

Figure 8: Grouping a Column Group under a Single

“Dummy” Value

Finally, add the sparkline based on the Amount

field and using the CalendarYear and
CalendarMonth as the series for the sparkline.
Figure 9 shows the results.
Figure 9: Sparkline Embedded within a Tablix

It is just as easy to add a databar, for example to

show each country’s support calls by priority. In
Figure 10, we use a databar instead of a
sparkline and instead of using the
CalendarYear and CalendarMonth as the
series, we use Priority. In the resulting chart,
the color of the bar distinguishes the priority of
the call, while the bars added together show the
total support cases.

Figure 10: Nested Databar by Country

We can also create a trended databar graph

using a technique similar to the one we used for
the previous sparkline example. Instead of
seeing a line graph for the Amount field, we will
use databars to display each month’s values, as
shown in Figure 11. In this example, I also added
a second column group for the ServerRegion.
Figure 11: Databar by Year and Month

Horizontal and Vertical Scaling

Issues with Databars
One issue that surfaces is that NULL values do
not appear within a sparkline or databar. This
situation causes spacing, alignment, and
proportionality problems for each databar or
sparkline on the chart.

In Figure 12, each databar represents 1 month,

but there is clearly a horizontal scaling problem
with the T1000 Pacific Server region, which
displays fewer, wider databars. As a result, we
do not know to which period each bar belongs,
making it very hard to compare between groups.

Figure 12: Nested databar with misaligned periods

To fix this problem, we can adjust a horizontal

axis property on the databar, accessed by right
clicking on the databars and then selecting the
Horizontal AxisProperties. We need to enable
the Align Axis option, as shown in Figure 13.
Figure 13: Horizontal Axis Properties Alignment Option

Having done this, the databars will have the

correct spacing and alignment from period to
period, even if a period has no data, as shown in
Figure 14. We can now reliably compare support
calls across periods and regions.
Figure 14: Databar Example with Horizontally Aligned
Axis

Note, however, that this graph is still visually

misleading in that it looks as if the number of
support calls (height of the data bars) are
roughly comparable between, for example, the
R750 and T1000 Pacific regions. In fact, in
Figure 14, the vertical scale is set within each
individual Server Region so we can’t directly
compare visually between server regions.

Just as we did for the horizontal axis, we can fix

this simply by setting the Align Axis option for
the vertical axis. Now, in Figure 15, we can
compare individual months both within a Server
Region and also between Server Regions.

Figure 15: Databar with both Horizontal and Vertical

Alignment

Sparklines and databars generally do not include

axis labels or titles so, once again, it is useful to
add tooltips to display the appropriate month on
our databar. Simply right-click on the databar,
select the Series Properties option, and enter
the appropriate values for the tooltip expression.
In Figure 16, we concatenate month and year in
the tooltip expression property.
Figure 16: Adding Year and Month Tooltip to Databar

Now the report consumer has an easy way of

gaining time period perspective without having
to display the month and year on the x axis, and
at the same time making our chart interactive.

Figure 17: Year and Month Tooltip on a databar

Handling Line Breaks in Sparklines

For sparklines, we can use the same horizontal
and vertical alignment settings as described for
databars. However, the NULL values cause a
third issue, namely line breaks in the sparklines.
Notice how, in Figure 18; the R750 North
America Server Region shows breaks in the line
graph.
Figure 18: Sparkline with Breaks in Line Graphs caused
by Null Values

To fix this problem, the report designer needs to

adjust the way SSRS displays Empty Points. The
EmptyPointValue property allows a report
writer to “fill in” breaks in the line using either an
average or zero value for the missing values.

To fill in the line, select the sparkline in the tablix,

right click and select properties, and then open
the Empty Point settings in the sparkline
properties dialog box by clicking the + sign.

We set the EmptyPointValue property to

Average meaning that the empty point value will
be replaced by the average of the values
immediately before and after the empty point.
Note that we also set the Color property to
match the color of the existing lines, DarkBlue in
our example.
Figure 19: Empty Point Properties

Figure 20 displays the final sparkline report.

Notice how the R750 Server Region now has a
solid line, with the empty points set to the
average of the previous and successive points.

Figure 20: Sparkline with EmptyPoints Property set to

Average
Multiple Data Perspectives:
Overlays and Secondary Axes
Secondary axis and chart overlays allow the
report designer to present multiple
“perspectives” on the data in a single chart,
often providing either summary level data,
budget thresholds, or average values for the
data being displayed in the primary area of the
chart.

For our support calls example, we could design

a column chart to display the support calls
solved by country, and broken out by priority.
Next, we could overlay a column chart to display
the total support calls per country. Finally, on the
original chart, a secondary axis could display as
a line chart the average number of support calls.

The first step in this process is to drag a Bar

Chart onto the report body area, then add
ServerTerritoryCountry as the category,
Priority as the series, and Amount as the
Values. Figure 21 shows the result.

Figure 21: Simple Bar Chart by Country and

Priority

Next, we’re going to overlay a second set of

data, which will summarize the number of total
calls for each country across all priorities (a
rollup of the priorities). To add this second data
series, click on the chart, and then click on the
green plus button in the Values area. We need to
create an expression that will aggregate support
calls by country, across all priorities, so we
scope the SUM aggregate expression by the
Country category group name,
Chart3_CategoryGroup2, as shown in Figure
22. We’re simply instructing SSRS to sum the
amount field again, but instead of summing the
amounts by priority, sum the amounts at one
grouping higher, at the country level.

Figure 22: Second Chart Value Totaled for Each

Country

Now, we have two sets of data for the chart. In

order for both sets of values to display properly,
we need to make two changes to the display of
the “rollup” series. First, we need to change the
chart type for the rollup series to a range
column, so right click on the rollup series and
select Change Chart Type, and select the Range
Column type, as shown in Figure 23.
Figure 23: Choosing a Range Column chart type for the
Rollup Series

Second, we need to set the fill color for the range

column overlay chart such that it does not
conflict with any of the colors used by the
individual priority bars. It also needs to display,
transparently but overtly, when contrasted with
the colors used for each individual priority. Right
click on the rollup series again, then select
Series Properties and then click on the Fill
option from the left hand menu. For this
example, I used a fill color of Khaki. Depending
on your needs, it also may beneficial to turn off
the legend for the Rollup series.
Figure 24: Rollup Series Fill Color

Figure 25 shows our new overlaid series so we

can now compare not only support call volume
per priority, for each country, but also the total
support calls for each country.

Figure 25: Bar Chart with Range Chart Overlay

Finally, we can add a secondary axis, comprising

a third series of values that will display the
average number of support calls per country.
Click on the chart, and then click on the green
plus button in the Values area. Next, add a new
set of values that will be based on the following
formula: AVG(Fields!Amount.Values,
"Chart3_CategoryGroup 2");
Figure 26 shows the average expression
(Expression) and ultimately the three sets of
values to be included on the chart (Chart Data).
These sets of values represent the three pieces
of our Chart: 1) the “rollup” total bar chart
overlay for each country, named Series 2) the
original bar chart data, named Cases and 3) the
average number of support calls, named
Average.

Figure 26: Chart Series Values for Average Number of

Support Calls

To add this Average Series as a secondary axis,

right click on it, and in the properties area select
the Axes and Chart Area option from the left
hand menu and select the Secondary option for
the vertical axis, as shown in Figure 27.
Figure 27: Setting Average Series to Use Secondary
Vertical Axis

Finally, we need to adjust the Average series

chart type to a line chart, so right click on the
average values series, select change chart type
and select line chart as the Chart type, as
illustrated in Figure 28.

Figure 28: Set Chart Type for Average Series to Line

Chart
Figure 29 shows the final version of Overlay and
Secondary Axis Chart. It provides three distinct
views of the data all in a single chart. Most
managers like to see multiple data points in one
place, and this type of chart fits that bill.

Figure 29: Final Chart with Overlay and Secondary Axis

Final Report
Finally, Figure 30 displays a report summarizing
all of our support call information (see
TribalSQL_Final_Report in the code
bundle). This report contains:

• An indicator tablix which quickly shows the

breakout of support calls by region,
priority, and year

• An indicator tablix with large data labels

• A pie chart tablix which shows support

calls by country, region, and year

• Databar and sparkline tablixes which show

support calls by country and server region

• A column chart which includes a

summarized country rollup of support calls
and a secondary axis which displays the
average support calls for each country.
These various charts, when pulled together,
create a good starting or even ending point for a
dashboard front end.
Figure 30: Final Dashboard Report

Conclusion
In this article, we reviewed some of the
advanced charting techniques available in SSRS.
Using the graphing functionality greatly expands
the visual “eye candy” available to DBAs and
report designers. We’ve covered how to:

• Use rectangles to control the sizing of

inserted indicator objects

• Embed or nest charts–including pie charts,

databar and sparkline within a tablix

• Utilize horizontal and vertical axis

alignment within databars and sparklines
to adjust for missing or NULL values

• Set empty point assignment to create a

smooth and consistent chart, which
ensures period relevancy

• Use chart overlays and secondary axes to

convey many pieces of information in a
single chart.
Wield these charting techniques with care, and a
proper appreciation of the chart detail
properties, and you can give your managers and
supervisors accurate information, in an easily-
understood, visually appealing report.

For additional charting tips and tricks, I

recommend both MSSQLTips.com
(http://www.mssqltips.com/sql-server-tip-
category/175/ssrs-charts/) and
SQLServerCentral.com
(https://www.sqlservercentral.com/categories/Reporting-
Services-SSRS).

Happy charting!