Insights - Designs

Insights – Designs

The Designs feature within the Insights module provides a flexible analytical framework that allows users to build customized data visualizations, KPIs, tables, and calculated metrics.

A Design is a standalone analytical component that defines:

• Which data should be loaded
• How this data is processed or transformed
  • • How the results should be visually represented

Once created, Designs can be published or embedded into Dashboards, enabling advanced reporting and real-time insights across the organization.

Important Notes

All examples in this article — fields, filters, visual formats, and data structures — are illustrative.

Actual behavior depends on configuration under:

• Control Center → General Settings
• Control Center → Insights → Designs
• Data Source Definitions (entity availability, permissions and fields)

Access Path

Insights → Designs

1. Purpose of Designs

Designs serve as modular analytical units that allow organizations to:

• Select and combine data sources (e.g., Timesheets, Accounts, Opportunities).
• Filter, group, and preprocess data before visualization.
• Create custom computed fields using expressions.
• Produce charts, tables, KPIs, or other shareable insights.
• Reuse and assemble Designs into Dashboards.
• Share insights with specific users or across teams.

A Design acts as a reusable analytic “block” that can be adapted, shared, or embedded where needed.

2. Designs Landing Page

The landing page lists all existing designs with options for management and export.

Displayed Columns

• Name
• Type (Chart, Accumulation Chart, Table)
• Shared With
• Created By (if enabled)
• Updated By
• ...additional configurable fields

Available Actions

3. Creating a Design

Selecting Add Design opens a modal allowing you to define the initial settings.

Fields

Behavior When Importing

If a design is imported:

• All data sources, filters, custom columns, and visual settings are copied.
• The new design becomes independent — later changes do not affect the original.

4. Design Details Page

After creation, the system opens a configuration workspace composed of three main sections:

1. Select Data Sources

2. Custom Columns Configuration

3. Visual Configuration

These three layers collectively define:

• What data the design uses
• How the data is transformed
• How the output is displayed

Once created, the Design opens with three configuration sections:

4.1. Select Data Sources

This section defines where the data comes from.

Purpose

To connect the design to one or more system entities (e.g., Timesheets, Projects, Activities, Accounts, etc.).

Example Use Cases

• Only show Approved Timesheets
• Retrieve Projects created this year
• Filter Allocations by specific team or role

This section forms the foundation of the design—only imported data can be used in calculations or visualizations.

4.2. Custom Columns Configuration

This section enables creation of calculated fields based on the selected data.

Purpose

To define derived metrics that do not exist in the raw data.

Main Fields

Examples of Custom Columns

• Convert Effort to Days:
  Effort / 8

• Calculate Margin:
  (SellPrice - Cost) / SellPrice

• Detect Overtime:
  Effort - ExpectedEffort

Why it matters

Custom columns unlock advanced analytics, enabling KPIs and performance metrics tailored to the business.

4.3. Visual Configuration

This section defines how the design will be displayed.

General Settings

Each section is independent but collectively defines how the final insight is calculated and displayed.

4.4. Visualization Types

The selected visualization type determines how the data is presented.

Type = Chart

A standard chart visualization supporting:

• Column chart
• Accumulation chart
• Tabel

key Elements

Use Cases

• Effort per Month
• Timesheets by Status
• Revenue over Time

Type = Accumulation Chart

A visualization used to show progressive totals over time.

Example Scenarios

• Accumulated project hours 
• Cumulative revenue
• Running total of tasks completed

Comparison  

Type = Table

A tabular representation of raw or calculated data.

Properties

Use Cases

• Timesheets Listings
• Financial breakdowns
• Project task summaries

4.5 How All Sections Work Together

A design is complete only when all three layers are correctly set.

5. Select Data Sources

(Deep dive)

The first step in building a design is selecting the datasets it will use.

5.1 Add Data Source

Users select from available system entities:

Examples include:

• Timesheets
• Accounts
• Activities
• Opportunities
• Allocations
• Projects
• Financial Records
• ...

After adding a data source, it expands into its own configuration block.

5.2 Field Filters

For each data source, users can add filters to restrict which records are included.

Components

Filters are combined using AND logic inside each data source.

6. Custom Columns Configuration

(Deep dive)

Custom columns enhance flexibility by allowing:

• Mathematical calculations
• Transformations
• Conditional logic
• Standardized KPIs

Examples

7. Visual Configuration

(Deep Dive)

The final step defines how the design will be visualized.

7.1 General Settings

Same as section 4.3.

7.2 Axes Configuration (Charts Only)

Most chart types require defining:

Primary Axis*

Mandatory axis (e.g., X-axis). Used for the main dimension such as:

• Accounts - Name 
• Accounts - Anual Revenue
• ...

Secondary Axes

Optional axes (e.g., Y-axis datasets). Must include at least one measure.

Tertiary Axis

For advanced charts supporting multiple axes.

7.3 Visual Options

Visual configuration determines how the data is interpreted by end users.

8. Saving, Exporting & Deleting Designs

• Save — Commit changes
• Save and New — Save and create a new design
• Delete — Permanently remove design
• Export — Download configuration for migration or backups

9. Recommendations

• Start with data sources, then apply filters, then create visuals
• Use custom columns for reusable KPIs
• Limit data sets with filters for performance
• Name axes clearly
• Use Import From to replicate existing logic quickly
• Share designs only with required users

Related Articles

Insights – Dashboards
Insights – About
General Settings