Filtering at the Data Source

There are two primary ways of filtering your data in Sintel BI.

Method 1 – Data Source Filters

Applying filters directly to the data source.

This is recommended for large data sets or when dealing with sensitive data.

Method 2 – Dashboard Filters

Applying filters to the components on a dashboard.

This is recommended for more dynamic filtering where you want to permit users to filter data as they need.

Method 1 – Data Source Filters

With this method, the filters are applied directly to the data source which means that the data is filtered before it’s presented on any dashboards.

Date Filter example

In this scenario, I have a data set which includes the price of McDonald’s BigMacs around the world, and the date the price was most recently changed.

For the purpose of my dashboard, I only want this data source to show me the countries where the prices were changed after 2021.

To do this I will apply a filter in the following way:

1. Navigate to the data source, click on the three does ‘…’ and click ‘Edit‘.
2. Select the filter button
3. Filter by ‘Date‘
4. Set Equals to ‘After’
5. Then select ‘Specific Date’ i.e. 31st January 2021
6. Click Apply
7. To see this being done in real-time watch the video below.
   

User Filter example

In this scenario, I have a data set that is made up of all of the travel expenses submitted. I want to create a dashboard wherein the user only sees travel requests that they have submitted. To do this I will apply a filter in the following way:

1. Navigate to the data source, click on the three does ‘…’ and click ‘Edit‘.
2. Select the filter button
3. Choose the field you wish to filter by, for me this was ‘requester‘
4. In the second box which appears type @me
5. Click Apply
6. Save & Exit
7. To see this being done in real-time check out the video below.

When you use this data source with components on your dashboard the information will be filtered to only show requests you have submitted.

When a different user is signed in, they will only see their requests.

Method 2 – Dashboard Filters

If you choose to implement filters on a dashboard you can choose from three types of filters:

1. Dropdown filters
2. Date Range filters
3. User filters

Once the filter control is added to a dashboard you can configure its options which include:

1. Data source (the specific data source it’s connected to)
2. Column (the specific field or column to retrieve its data from)
3. Components (the components the filter is connected to and thus controls the filtering of)
4. Default value (an optional default value this filter should apply to the components)
5. Use preset (available with the Date Range filter only)-17 different options available such as Last week, Next week, This Month, Next Quarter etc…
6. Range (available with the Date Range filter only)
7. Users (available with the User Filter only)-name or email address supported

Sintel BI Dashboard Filters