Table of Contents

• Core Concepts
• Connections
• Data Sources
• Reports
• Dashboards
• Top Level Screens

Connections

You connect data into Easy Insight through Connections. There are a few primary types of connections:

• Connecting to other Software as a Service (SaaS) systems

  Amazon EC2, Basecamp, Batchbook, Constant Contact, FreshBooks, Google Analytics, Google Spreadsheets, Harvest, Highrise, Pivotal Tracker, Quickbase, Salesforce, Sendgrid, Zendesk

• Uploading a file to Easy Insight

  Excel Spreadsheets, CSV Files

• Client application publishing data into Easy Insight

  MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle clients

You establish these connections through the Connections page in the application. For connections to other SaaS systems, you'll typically be asked to enter some form of configuration and credential information. Wherever possible, Easy Insight follows the optimal security processes for the target SaaS system.

Based on the nature of the target SaaS system, the behavior of the connection may vary slightly. For some systems, there is no good way for Easy Insight to query subsets of information. In these systems, Easy Insight will synchronize key subsets of data from the target system into the internal data warehouse kept within the Easy Insight servers. Examples of this scenario are Basecamp and Highrise. For other systems, Easy Insight maintains a completely live connection to the target environment and avoids that synchronization process. Examples of this scenario are Google Analytics and Salesforce.

For flat files and client applications, the data will always fit into the first scenario--if you upload a spreadsheet, the data from that spreadsheet is stored in the internal Easy Insight data warehouse.

Once you define a connection, the result is a Data Source. Data sources are available to you under the My Data page for future reference.

Data Sources

Once you've created a data source in Easy Insight through a connection, all future use of that particular data comes through the data source. You can find your set of data sources under the Home page. For any data source in the Home page, clicking on that data source will take you to a screen specific to that data source, from which you can open up reports and dashboard associated to that data source, create new reports and dashboards, and take administrative actions on the data source.

Reports

Reports represent the core building block views into your data in Easy Insight. Reports can range from simple tabular lists with a few columns to interactive charts to annotated diagrams showing historical trends across a variety of metrics.

Dashboards

Dashboards combine one or more reports into a single view. You might add several reports together into a dashboard to create an overall view of your system with one chart showing high level status and more detailed line item reports showing specifics underlying that status.

Top Level Screens

In the Easy Insight user interface, there are the following top level screens:

• Home Page

  This screen contains your data sources, your reports, and your dashboards. If you only have one data source in your system, the Home page will automatically show you the screen specific to that data source. From this screen, you can open up existing reports and dashboards, create new reports and dashboards, and delete reports, dashboards, and data sources.

• Connections

  This screen is used to create new data sources. Click on the icon of the connection you wish to use, then follow the instructions on that screen to create the particular data source.

• Exchange

  This screen is your source for prebuilt reports. It contains a number of Recommended Reports created by Easy Insight, as well as a large number of additional reports contributed by other users.

• Scheduling

  This screen is used for scheduling the refreshes of cached data inside of data sources and the delivery of reports on a scheduled basis via email.

• Account

  This screen is used for account and user administrative activities.