Visualizing Insights: Unleashing the Power of the Grid Widget

Joshua Otieno Owuor
Bold BI
Published in
8 min readSep 22, 2023
Visualizing Insights: Unleashing the Power of the Grid Widget

Visualizing complex information has become increasingly crucial for effective decision-making in today’s data-driven world. Among the various data visualization tools available, the grid widget stands out for its ability to represent multivariate data clearly and concisely. This helps users’ ability to interpret and communicate data-driven insights. This blog will delve into the innovative world of a grid widget, explaining how to create them, their importance, and how they can enhance the user experience in applications.

What is a grid widget?

A grid widget is a container that helps to show table-like data in a neat and orderly way. It’s essential in making complex reports, using grids with fancy designs to make data easier to see and understand.

Benefits of using a grid widget for visualization

The Grid widget offers understanding that aids data users to learn from their work. This includes:

Better decision-making

The Grid widget allows users to understand complex data in a more visual and organized manner. It presents data in a tabular format, making it easier to compare and analyze. This aids in better decision-making for business growth.

Enhanced productivity

With the help of a grid widget, businesses can complete tasks more efficiently. They can quickly find the information they need and make updates directly within the grid, saving significant time and effort to enhance their productivity and yield more revenue.

Improving user experience

The Grid widget allows users to customize the view to fit their specific needs. They can choose which columns to display, adjust the order, and even change the color scheme. This level of customization can make the user’s job much easier and more enjoyable, thus improving user experience.

Cost-effective

The Grid widget allows firms to present data in a user-friendly manner, saving them from investing in complex data visualization tools. This enables streamlined allocation of resources to effectively display data, providing business insights and developing other company sectors.

When to use the Grid widget

The Grid widget is used on the following occasions:

  1. To display a large amount of data in a compact way.
  2. To compare multiple sets of data.
  3. To filter and sort data easily.
  4. To identify trends and patterns in the data.
  5. To analyze statistical information.

When not to use the Grid widget

  1. When using different layout managers for the same container.
  2. When you have continuous data.
  3. When showing a correlation between variables.
  4. When representing data distribution.
  5. When comparing time data.

How to configure the Grid widget

To configure the Grid widget, drag and drop it from the toolbox into the design panel, adjust the size, and then utilize the Properties icon in the configuration panel. Assign data from the existing source by dragging and dropping an element from the Measures or Dimension section to the Columns section. To learn more about this process, check here.

Features of grid chart

A grid chart is a valuable tool for organizing data. It helps visualize and communicate data, making data more accessible and understandable for users to make better decisions. This includes:

Filtering

Filtering in the Grid widget allows users to quickly narrow down the data displayed based on specific criteria, making it easier and faster to find relevant information. It enhances user experience by providing a more manageable view of large data sets and improves efficiency by reducing the time spent scrolling or searching manually.

Filtering in grid
Filtering in grid

Column alignment

Column alignment in the Grid widget enhances the visual organization of data, making it easier for users to read, interpret, and compare information. It also provides a cleaner, more professional appearance, improving user experience and interaction with the interface.

Column Alignment in Grid
Column Alignment in Grid

Linking

Linking in the Grid widget allows users to directly navigate to relevant webpages or resources, enhancing user experience by providing quick and easy access to necessary information. It also aids in better data representation and manipulation, as one can link related data across different pages or platforms.

Linking in the Grid
Linking in the Grid

Pagination

Grids can be paginated, meaning the data can be divided into multiple pages. This is useful when dealing with extensive datasets, preventing the need to load and display everything at once.

Pagination in Grid
Pagination in Grid

Key performance indicator (KPI)

A grid widget uses a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) to display specific data metrics in an organized and easy-to-understand manner, enhancing data analysis so it is easily customizable.

KPI in Grid
KPI in Grid

Background and foreground

This Grid widget for background and foreground sets the widget’s background and foreground colors, which significantly enhances the user interface by making it visually appealing and improving the readability of the content.

Background and Foreground in Grid
Background and Foreground in Grid

Conditional formatting

Value formatting

Value formatting in the Grid widget allows users to customize the data display, enhancing readability and understanding of the information presented.

Value Formatting in Grid
Value Formatting in Grid

Bar formatting

Bar formatting in the Grid widget allows visual representations of data, making it easier for users to comprehend and compare the information quickly.

Bar Formatting Panel
Bar Formatting Panel
Bar Formatting Results in a Grid
Bar Formatting Results in a Grid

Advanced formatting

Advanced formatting in the Grid widget allows users to customize the presentation of data, enhancing readability and data interpretation as per gradient or rules.

Advanced Formatting Panel
Advanced Formatting Panel
Advanced Formatting Results in Grid
Advanced Formatting Results in Grid

Enable alternative rows

The “enable alternative rows” feature in the Grid widget allows for easier data visualization by differentiating each row with alternating colors. This improves readability and data interpretation, especially in large datasets.

Enable Alternative Rows in the Grid
Enable Alternative Rows in the Grid

Summary rows

The summary rows in the Grid widget provide a quick overview of aggregated data, such as total or average, enhancing user data analysis.

Summary Rows in Grid
Summary Rows in Grid

Industrial performance using the Grid widget

Grid widgets have various use cases in industries to monitor and analyze performance. Here are some examples of how grid widgets can be employed in different industries to track and improve performance:

Finance

The “Invoice due details by customer” KPI displays the customer’s name, invoice number, due date, amount due, and due split colored for efficient tracking and analysis. This allows users to track and manage their accounts receivable effectively by ensuring timely payments, improving cash flow, and potentially identifying issues with specific customers who may frequently pay late or default on their payments.

Finance Grid
Finance Grid

Healthcare

This “patient feedback details” metric has been achieved by sorting the patient’s name, department, patient type, and feedback. It provides a clear and organized visual representation of patient feedback data. This allows healthcare providers to easily identify trends, patterns, and areas of improvement, ultimately leading to better patient care and satisfaction.

Healthcare Grid
Healthcare Grid

Human resources

This employee attendance summary metric has been achieved by enabling alternative rows to provide a quick and visual overview of employees’ attendance records. This benefits businesses by helping managers track employee punctuality, identify attendance issues, and make informed decisions regarding staffing and scheduling.

HR Grid
HR Grid

Marketing

In marketing, campaign performance overview KPIs have been used to show a variety of comparisons on campaign performance to help the marketers strategize to improve their campaign techniques to convert more leads. The foreground and background have enabled clear and concise visuals of the data points.

Marketing Grid
Marketing Grid

Education

In education, student details have been presented in a table, helping education stakeholders track students by ID, gender, campus, field of study, income level, special needs, and admission status. This provides a quick overview and easy access to all important information about a student to develop the learning performance of all students and institutions.

Education Grid
Education Grid

Agile

In Agile, the “task summary by resource” metric has been achieved by text wrapping, which is highly valuable to the Agile team, as it provides a clear visualization of work distribution among team members. It allows for quick identification of any imbalances or overloads, helping to ensure tasks are evenly distributed, and resources are optimally utilized.

Agile Grid
Agile Grid

Energy

In energy, power plant details have been presented with foreground coloring, which is incredibly useful to an energy company, as it provides real-time data about the plant’s performance, including output, efficiency, and any potential issues. This information helps in making strategic decisions to optimize operations, thus reducing costs and improving the overall reliability and sustainability of the energy production process.

Energy Grid
Energy Grid

Using grid widgets, your business can benefit from organized data visualization and performance optimization, thus empowering your users to gain insights and make informed decisions seamlessly.

By leveraging the Grid widget, you will display data in an intuitive way for your business. The Grid widget offers flexibility and customization options to cater to different users, which improves user experience, enhances website navigation, and increases overall tracking functions. Start now!

Originally published at https://www.boldbi.com on September 22, 2023.

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Joshua Otieno Owuor
Bold BI
Writer for

Technical writer and content reviewer at Syncfusion.