Apart from offering you a simple and insight-rich report, flexibility is one of the main features carefully integrated into Zebra BI Cards. On each individual card, you have several options for customizing the visual: format the values on each KPI card, change the display of variances, adjust the icon shapes, pick the appropriate chart type, and more!
Formatting options for each card
When editing numerous KPIs at once, setting the number format can become troublesome when you want to present several KPIs with different units. Within Zebra BI Cards you have several options to format each KPI individually.
When you open Focus mode, you can change the value to a percentage or keep it as an absolute value. Furthermore, you can also customize the Unit (Auto, None, Thousands, Millions, Billions, Percent). Up to five decimals can be displayed on one card. Lastly, you can choose between the five major currencies ($, £, €, ¥, CHF) in the Symbol drop-down menu.
Background color
From the 1.3 update of the Zebra BI Cards visual on, you can customize the background color of all cards at once or change it only for a selected KPI.
To change the background color for all, go to the global toolbar > Design and pick your custom color. To further format the cards, you can also apply the global border color for all cards. You can also change the style of the cards and choose between the flat, elevated, or default style.
However, sometimes you want to highlight only specific KPIs to draw immediate attention to them. You can do that by opening the chosen card in the focus mode. You will see a setting ‘Background color’ in the top row. Click on it, choose your custom color, and click Save. Then go Back to the report and repeat the process for each card you want to individually highlight.
⚠ Friendly reminder: keep in mind that every color you use in your reports should have a meaning. Including too many colors that don’t mean anything will make your reports less actionable and harder to understand.
Axis break
If you want to track a difference in a KPI that has very small variations, you can break the axis to emphasize the changes in a specific time frame. The functionality can be turned on by clicking on the Axis break button. Or you can also enable this feature by going to the Settings > Card and switching on the Axis break button.
Change the chart type
As each card has integrated Charts visual, you can use the chart slider also with Cards. Simply click on the arrow on the side of the chart and select the most appropriate chart type for each KPI. Alternatively, you can also set it in the Settings menu under Card. This can be done both in the view and design mode.
Absolute or relative variance
Your cards will by default display variance compared to the previous year or other measures. Whether you are in the design or view mode, you can flip the display of variance from absolute to a relative by clicking on the element (icon). Moreover, both absolute and relative variance can be displayed at the same time.
Automatic current period detection
By default, each card will display the summarized value of the displayed categories. However, by simply clicking on the value, you can change it to the last available value for the specific KPI (e.g., showing the October revenue, instead of YTD revenue). Zebra BI will automatically detect which is the last value on each card separately.
Flexible design options
By opening the top toolbar, you can change the shape of the icons. You can select to use Circle, Circle with the arrow, or Triangle shape. No matter the choice, all icons are always scaled to ensure the size of the visualization corresponds to the actual data.
Additionally, you can also set the style of cards when opening the top toolbar. You have the option to make the cards flat, elevated, or use the default shaded style.
Ultimately, as with all Zebra BI visuals, you can also apply your own colors, fonts or even upload your custom JSON file so that the report page matches your custom theme.
Find out more about how to import and manage custom themes with JSON file.