A client wanted to visualize a table of data with a dashboard where each chart represented specific information in the table.

I had two choices: 1) Develop a client-specific solution and charge the client the entire development cost, or 2) develop a more general solution, market it to a broader customer base and charge the client only for the integration of the software with their existing add-in.

I opted for the latter approach and the result is the TM PivotTable Dashboard add-in.

This add-in creates a dashboard from the contents of a PivotTable. Each chart in the dashboard shows the last of the row fields and the data field. Elements of the chart are customizable. The example below shows a PivotTable reporting on the number of annual scans of different types performed by each technologist at a radiology department with two locations (the 2011 data are projected scan volume). The PivotTable has 4 row fields (Year, Location, Modality, and Technologist) and 1 data field (Sum of Scan). The dashboard consists of 1 chart for each combination of Year, Location, and Modality with each chart showing the number of scans by technologist.

For more, visit http://www.tushar-mehta.com/excel/software/pivottable/

What might interest developers is how the UI allows one to specify a ‘template’ chart. Because the dialog box is shown modeless, one can select a chart and then click the appropriate button in the dialog box. This identifies the chart on which the add-in should base the dashboard charts.