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Lesson 15: Basic Charting – Nonbillable Expenses by Year

The objective of this lesson is to create a bar chart that compares non-billable expense by type for two years. We will also look at the breakdown by office.

Create a Basic Chart

Right-click on the Expense Analysis (Line Item/Matter) object and select NEW > CHART.

Add a Dimension and a Measure

  1. Add Header (Segment) – LineItem (Segment) - LineItemType (Segment) – Expense (Field) to the X-Axis. This will list every expense type on the X-Axis. Later we can explore how to deal with having too many expense types.
  2. Add Header (Segment) – LineItem (Segment) - LineItem_Matter (Segment) – Amount (Field) as the Measure. Since we will filter by matter later, we need to be sure to get the amount from LineItem_Matter (segment) rather than LineItem (segment).

Add the Transaction Year as a Series

We are interested in seeing how expenses changed over a two-year period. So add the Header (Segment) - LineItem (Segment) - TransactionYear (Field) as a Legend (Series).

Add a Filter to Include Only Non-billable Matters

  1. In the Data tab, in the Filter group, select FILTER.
  2. Build a Where condition.
  • Set the <Field> as Header (Segment) - LineItem (Segment) - LineItem_Matter (Segment) – Matter (Segment) – IsBillable (Field).
  • Condition is Equal to.
  • Set the < Value > constant to 0. In the sample database this indicates that the matter is non-billable. In your data, you may have other criteria (e.g. the GLAccount is blank).

Change the Chart Appearance

  1. Since we have a lot of expense types, we need to change the position of the X -Axis expense labels to make them fit better in the window. In the Format tab, in the Labels group, select the Axes drop-down menu.
  2. Select Horizontal Axis > Rotate Horizontal Labels > 45.

Change the Theme and Add a Title

  1. In the Home tab, in the Report group, select the Header & Footer drop-down menu. Add a page header of Non-billable Expenses.
  2. In the Home tab, in the Report group, select Theme. In the window, click Libraries > Templates. Choose the ENgradient_combine.sty and click OPEN.

Create a Chart for Each Office

  1. First, run the report for the whole firm.
  2. Now we can create a chart for each office, based on the expense owner's "Office" entity. To do this we will use Header (Segment) – OwnerFlat (Segment) – OwnerFlatEntity (Segment). This segment was created to simplify the access to person entity information.
  • Drag the Header (Segment) – OwnerFlat (Segment) – OwnerFlatEntity (Segment) - OFFICE (field) to the Multi-graph field container.

Save and Run the Chart

  1. In the Quick Access Toolbar, click the SAVE button. Save the chart in this location: Content > [Your Company Name] > My Content.
  2. Name the report “Lesson 15 - Basic Charting - Nonbillable Expenses by Year."
  3. In the Quick Access Toolbar, click the RUN button. There will be a separate chart for each office.

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