How to calculate and aggregate fields

There are two types of data fields within BOATPro - dimensions and metrics. If you have used Google Analytics before then the principles will be familiar, but if not, this is how to distinguish between them:

Dimensions are text based fields of different values. Examples of dimensions are:

Metrics are numerical fields of values that can have mathematical calculations applied to them. Examples of metrics are:

You can apply different calculations to dimensions and metrics fields in order to change the data and organise it the way you want it for tables and charts. There are two simple rules to follow:

Let's look at some examples:

One way to get a count of total yachts (or units) is to select the 'Yacht Name' field:

Once you have added Yacht Name to a widget, hover over the right hand side of the column name and you will see an icon containing three dots. When you click on the icon you will see a popup menu. This menu shows you the different calculations you can do with this field:

Select 'Count' from the menu and you will see the field recalculate:

You can see the label above the column shows 'Count', showing you that the field is now being counted. This is now giving you a count of the number of yacht names we have in the database for each builder. For example, we have six yachts in the database for Riostar. 

Once you have counted a field, you can sort it using the arrow icon that appears in the column header when you hover over the column name:

One click will sort the column in ascending order, two clicks will sort the column in descending order. This is how the widget looks if you sort Builders by Yacht Name Count descending:

Now you can see the yards/builders with the most known yachts in the BOATPro database. 

Let's look at another example using a metric. This time, we will work out the average LOA for builders in the BOATPro database, and then work out the total LOA produced by each builder. Let's start by adding the Builder and Length Overall fields to a table or chart widget:

We have a default calculation for each metric, which is applied the moment you add the metric to a table. The default calculation is displayed above the column name, so here we can see that 'Average' was applied as a default calculation. Just like the Yacht Name Count example above, we can sort this column in ascending or descending order. This shows Builders sorted by Average Length Overall in descending order:

You can change the default calculation using the same navigation as above. Let's select Sum from the context menu:

Sort in descending order, and this gives us the total length produced by each yard:

You can apply different calculations to each column, and display a count of one or more dimension fields alongside calculated metrics. For example, you will usually want to see the total number of yachts that exist within a grouped dimension, such as Builders or Country of Build. You can do this by adding the required fields to your table and then applying a calculation for each one. The header above each column will tell you whether the field has had a calculation applied, and what it is. If we add Yacht Name back into the report above then it will not calculate the field by default, so instead we get one row per Yacht Name, with the builder and length overall:

If we apply the Count calculation to Yacht Name then we get a different result:

The data is now grouped by Builder only, with the sum of length overall and the count of individual yacht names as metrics.