Control reports

Control reports visualize data over time using standard deviations to show statistical likelihood and identify outliers.

Control reports display data as a series of connected points. The blue line at the center of the report is drawn at the mean. Upper and lower control limits, represented by red lines, indicate the thresholds at which activity is considered statistically unlikely. If the process is in control, all points are plotted within the control limits. You may want to investigate any activity outside these limits.

These reports use Z-scores to indicate statistical likelihood.

Z-score = (Observation - Mean) / Standard Deviation

The upper and lower green lines indicate plus and minus two times the Z-score. The upper and lower red lines indicate plus and minus three times the Z-score.

Note: When accessibility is enabled, this visualization includes a report that screen readers can interpret. For more information, see Enabling accessibility features.

Note: The mean is the sum of the data points on the Data Points line divided by the number of points. These values depend on the aggregation (Count, Average, Sum, or Count Distinct). This mean can differ from averages in other reports based on the same data if the other reports use different aggregations. For example, the mean number of incidents (Count) per month over a period is different from the mean Average duration of those same incidents.

Parent Topic:Report types

Create a control report

Create a control chart to determine whether a business process is in a state of statistical control.

Before you begin

Role required: itil, report_user, report_group, report_global, report_admin, or admin. To create a meaningful report, you must have the right to access the data you want to report on.

Procedure

1. Navigate to All > Platform Analytics > Library > Data Visualizations and select New.

2. On the Data tab, give the report a name that reflects the information being grouped.

3. Select the applicable source for the report.

1. On the Type tab, enter Control in the filter, select the report type, and click Next.

   The application shows a preliminary version of the report. To view the updated report at any time, select Run.

2. On the Configure tab, fill in the following fields and select Next.

1. Configure the sort order of the applicable fields in the report (column, row, Group by, Stack by or Trend by depending on the report type).

   Select the filter icon (

1.  In the Sorting Order list, choose the field you want to sort on and then choose **a-z** or **z-a** for alphabetical order or reverse alphabetical order.

    The list contains all possible fields from the report's source and fields on extended, or related, tables. The only effective values, however, are the fields chosen for the current report \(column, row, Group by, Stack by, or Trend by depending on the report type\).

    **Note:** On fields from dot-walked \(extended\) tables, you can only sort on date fields.

2.  Select the sort plus icon \(

3.  Select **Save**.
For fields of the type Choice list, sort order is not determined alphabetically based on Label, it is sorted based on the **Value** of the choice field. For multi-level pivot table and heatmap reports, sort order is determined by the sequence of the choices in the list.

1. To limit the information displayed in the report, select the filter icon (

To learn how to construct conditions, see [Condition builder](../../platform-user-interface/c_ConditionBuilder.md).

**Note:** In aggregated and list reports, language-dependent filter conditions may return zero results on localized instances.

1. On the Style tab, fill in the fields as appropriate to configure the appearance of the report.

2. Click Save to generate the report.

What to do next

• Select the Report info icon (

• Select the sharing icon (

Control report style options

Change the look of your control report.

When you create or edit a report, click the Style tab for options to configure the look of your report. The options are organized under two or more of the following tabs: General, Title, Legend, and Axis. To see how the report looks with the changed settings, click Save.