Multi Forecasting Chart Widget
About the Multi Forecasting Chart Widget
The Multi Forecasting Chart widget helps you to compare the outcome from multiple product lines, segments, or plants simultaneously. To identify additional insights, you can also plot data measured using two different units (for example, production vs cost, inventory vs sales order, product mix vs market price). You can visualize the observed values and forecast values for multiple tags using your preferred Unit of Measurement (UoM). The following features are provided in the widget:
- Ability to define a secondary y-axis and specify the UoM for the primary and the secondary axis. The ability to include a secondary y-axis helps you to compare data recorded using different measures of scales on the same widget.
- Ability to define forecasts and specify the axis on which the data must be plotted. For each forecast configuration, the data from the tags are converted to the UoM selected for the representative axis (i.e., primary or secondary axis). Note: The data from the tags are converted only for charting purposes. The actual data is not affected.
- Ability to generate charts with smoother lines. The data from the tags sometimes contain very few datapoints between the selected date range in the chart, resulting in the chart appearing with straight lines and sharp points. If you want to view smoother chart lines, you can use the data smoothing ability in the widget to generate charts with smoother lines.
Example: Using the Multi Forecasting Chart Widget
Suppose that your organization has distributors located in different countries. A distributor located in New Jersey will record sales in Dollars, whereas a distributor located in Bangalore will record sales in Rupees. An analyst who wants to present a forecast analysis to an audience in India can use the Multi Forecasting Chart widget to plot the overall sales data in Rupees so that the audience can relate to the data. The analyst can select the UoM for the primary axis as Rupees, and then configure the forecasts for the tags associated with sales data to use the primary axis. This ensures that sales data from all tags are converted to Rupees while plotting the data on the chart.
On the same widget, you can analyze the trend of profit margin against the sales by plotting the profit margin on the secondary y-axis. The secondary axis can be configured to plot margin in percentage, and then you can configure the forecasts for tags associated with profit margin to use the secondary axis.
Configure the Multi Forecasting Chart Widget to Plot Tags
Before You Begin
- Ingest the input and output tags for which you want to plot data.
- Ensure that the input tag (that is, historical tag) contains observable data and the output tag (that is, forecast tag) contains the forecast data.
- Ensure that the Systems of Measure (SoM) and Units of Measure (UoM) are configured for the tenant. The possibility and accuracy of conversion is related to the tenant level configuration of SoM and UoM.
About This Task
Procedure
Add a Forecast Configuration
Before You Begin
- Ingest the input and output tags for which you want to plot data.
- Ensure that the input tag (i.e., historical tag) contains observable data and the output tag (i.e., forecast tag) contains the forecast data.
- Configure the Multi Forecasting Chart widget.
Procedure
Results
- In the chart, the x-axis represents the dates within the date range specified in the widget configuration.
- On the chart, the historical data is plotted using a solid line and the forecast data is plotted using a dashed line.
- The Target value appears as a horizontal, solid line and the Threshold value appears as a horizontal, dot-dashed line. The Target and Threshold values are plotted based on the UoM associated with y-axis in the forecast configuration.
- If the widget contains multiple forecast configurations, the chart for each forecast configuration appears in a different color. The Target and Threshold lines for each forecast configuration appear in the color in which the chart for the configuration appears.
- In the widget, the legend for the charts appear, displaying the legend keys for each forecast configuration, the Primary Axis UoM, and the Secondary Axis UoM. The legend keys are a set of a solid line pattern to represent the historical trend and a dashed line pattern to represent the forecast trend for each configuration. You can select the legend key to display or hide the trend for a configuration on the chart.
- When you hover over a data point, a tooltip appears, displaying the timestamp and value for the data point.
- Below the forecast charts, a pane appears, displaying the zoomed-in view of the charts for the configured time period. The pane contains a vertical bar on both the sides, which you can drag to view the chart only for the selected time period within the configured time period.