Examples of report graphs

As well as producing reports from the report builder, you can also produce graphs to visually represent the data, which can often make it quicker and easier to digest. However it is also important to note that the graphical reporting functionality in Totara has not been designed to replace any dedicated graphical reporting packages. The reports produced are meant for inclusion in blocks and dashboards rather than as a comprehensive reporting tool.

The graphs below are designed as examples to inspire and demonstrate what is possible.

Course membership (donut graph)

You can produce a donut graph that shows the number of users per course. This allows you to quickly and easily see which courses have the most (and least) users. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to Quick-access menu > Reports (/totara/reportbuilder/index.php)

2. Click Create report

3. Under Report sources select Course.

4. Create a new report by choosing the Course membership report source and selecting Create and edit.

5. Under the General tab configure your Report settings.

6. Then, in the Columns tab, ensure there are the following columns: Course name (linked to course page) and User's Fullname (this may involve removing other columns or adding these in).

7. Set the aggregation for the User's Fullname to Count unique, but make sure you don't set any other aggregation.

8. Click Save changes before moving between tabs.

9. Then in the Graph tab, set the Graph type to Donut.

10. Set the Category to Course name and set the Data sources to Count unique values of User's Fullname. For now you can ignore all other settings.

11. Again, remember to Save changes before moving between tabs.

12. In the Filters tab, you can add or remove your filters as needed. For example add the filter Course type, you can than filter your data based on course type.

13. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

To view the donut graph click the link View this report, which is found just above the report title.

These settings will produce a graph that looks similar to this:

Certification completion status (pie chart)

You can create a report which displays a pie chart to represent learners' certification completion as a percentage. This allows you to easily see how many learners are certified, not certified, expired, or in progress. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to Quick-access menu > Reports (/totara/reportbuilder/index.php)

2. Click Create report

3. Under Report sources select Certification.

4. Create a new report by choosing the Certification Completion report source and selecting Create and edit.

5. Under the General tab configure your Report settings.

6. Then, in the Columns tab, ensure there is only the Status and User ID number columns (this may involve removing other columns or adding these in).

When Status is selected as a column for a report from a Certification report source, the Status data will show Not certified, Certified and In progress. You can also choose Not certified, Certified and In progress as separate columns or filters when creating and editing your reports.

7. Set the aggregation for the User ID number to Count.

8. Click Save changes before moving between tabs.

9. Then in the Graph tab, set the Graph type to Pie.

10. Next set the Category to Status and set the Data sources to Count of User ID Number. For now you can ignore all other settings.

11. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

12. In the Filters tab, you can filter the results by a range of metrics, for example by certification name, manager's name, or you can use date range filters.

To view the pie chart click View this report, which is found just above the report title.

These settings will produce this graph (based on arbitrary data):

Certification completion comparison (column graph)

You can also create a report which summarises data such as course completion data. This could include how many people have completed the different courses on the site.

1. Go to Quick-access menu > Reports (/totara/reportbuilder/index.php)

2. Click Create report

3. Under Report sources select Course.

4. Create a new report by choosing the Course Completion report source and selecting Create and edit.

5. Under the General tab configure your Report settings.

6. Then, in the Columns tab, ensure there are the following columns; Course name, Is complete and Is not complete (this may involve removing other columns or adding these in).

7. Set the aggregation for the Is complete and Is not complete to Sum, but make sure you don't set any other aggregation.

8. Click Save changes before moving between tabs.

9. Then in the Graph tab, set the Graph type to Column.

10. Next set the Category to Course name and set the Data sources to Is complete and Is not complete.

11. As there is more than one data sources (Is complete and Is not complete) you can select if you want the data in the column graph stacked or not.

12. Again, remember to Save changes before moving between tabs.

13. In the Filters tab, you can add filters such as Course name or a date range.

14. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

To view the bar chart, click View this report, which is found just above the report title.

These settings will produce this graph, note that the graph is displayed with the data shown as Stacked:

Site usage by month (line chart)

You can produce a line graph to show the number of users on the site each month. This could be helpful in analysing peak months where the site is most active.

1. Go to Quick-access menu > Reports (/totara/reportbuilder/index.php)

2. Click Create report

3. Under Report sources select Site and server.

4. Create a new report by choosing the Site logs report source and selecting Create and edit.

5. Under the General tab configure your Report settings.

6. Then, in the Columns tab, ensure the Time and User ID number columns are present (this may involve removing other columns or adding these in).

7. Set the aggregation for Time to Month of year (textual) and for User ID number to Count.

8. Click Save changes before moving between tabs.

9. Then in the Graph tab, set the Graph type to Line.

10. Next set the Category to Time - month of the year and set the Data sources to Count of User ID Number. For now you can ignore all other settings.

11. In the Filters tab, you can add filters such as User's Position(s), or User's Fullname.

12. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

To view the line chart, click View this report, which is found just above the report title.

The resulting graph might look something like this (produced using test data):

Next steps

• Create a user report

• Edit an embedded report