Build a Self Service Data Explorer with Omniscope Project Templates

Omniscope allows users to design a self-service data exploration experience for their audience. Report consumers can upload their data and instantly explore the results in an interactive web dashboard.

The entire experience is managed by the Omniscope administrator to ensure that only specific users have access to the template-creating facilities. Self-service reporting users are permitted to view and access only their folders, allowing them to create projects from a subset of templates relevant to their use case.

Let's consider creating a system where users from multiple client companies can upload their data and promptly view dashboards where that data is visualised and ready for interactive exploration. Users can view and access their respective company's folder with reports, but not other companies' folders or the template folder.

Note: The use case is based on the template functionality, which is currently exclusive to Enterprise users.

Detailed instructions on how to create templates and configure permissions can be found in this article.

HR use case

Here, we will explore a specific use case where we enable managers of different departments to upload their HR data and explore it without having to spend any time on data transformation and visualisation.

The mechanism we're developing will allow them to drag and drop one or more data files, and within a few seconds, they will see a dashboard visualising and analysing their department's data, in a true self-service UX style.

- Let's create a dedicated Template hosting folder, as per instructions - here called "PT Templates".

- Now, we can build a new Omniscope model in any folder, which contains the data workflow and a report block with a dashboard, then copy or move it to the template folder.

- We now need to configure this project to work as a reusable model by adding parameters and configuring the template settings options (from the workflow's 3-dot menu, as shown in the image above).

First, we'll configure a project parameter. In this case, the project parameter is used to reference the folder location where all newly-uploaded files will be stored and used as source by the new custom report workflow. We can assign it a temporary current value, pointing to a data source with the correct data schema, as expected by this model. 

In the above example it is :

/Users/visokio/omniscope-server/files/HR Global Report/Hr Report global files/UploadFolder/

This 'current value' will be replaced after every data upload and will be relative to the new project's folder location.

Now we will use this parameter in the Project template settings configuration.

Clicking on the 3 dot menu provides extra option to limit the upload to certain file formats, or to allow multiple file upload. Note: the multi-upload option is needed when using a Batch append block source.

In this case, in addition to the useful prompts for the user we are choosing the 'File upload' Type action, as our template model will rely on a new data upload.

We need to list the blocks in the workflow that will be refreshed (triggering execution of all upstream blocks in the workflow) - here the Dashboard report block. 

We also pick the option for this report to open immediately after execution.

Once the changes are saved our "Custom HR report" template appears on the sidebar and will be ready to serve as a model for some new reports.

Note: In the Parameters section, there is an option accessible from the 3-dot menu next to the parameter that allows the project creator to restrict the template's parameter values to a list of choices. Instead of typing 'London' in the Location prompt below, the user could select this option from a dropdown, thus eliminating potential typos or confusion on the user's side.

Application - The New User's Experience

Our first user is the global HR manager, who has access to data from multiple departments.

The Omniscope administrator will create a folder named 'Global HR report' and configure the permission settings to enable our user to upload their data and view reports.

Upon opening the target folder, clicking on the 'Custom HR report' template triggers an upload prompt. The user can then select and drag-and-drop one or more files onto the upload area. The text on this prompt's interface can be customised through the template settings interface (image above).

Upload prompt when the only param is file path: Prompt with parameter called "Location".

After the upload, our HR manager will find the custom report open, visualising their fresh data - ready for exploration. If the report is configured for sharing, and permissions allow this, the user can share access to this new report with others using the 'Share' option from the report's three-dot menu.

Behind the scenes, this upload has created a new report in the Global HR report folder and a data storage subfolder, which shares the report name.

Here is a template model IOZ - it also incorporates a data quality mechanism to flag any issues with the newly-uploaded data - see the last Dashboard tab.