The Data-Driven Tales of One Project: Ways to Transform, Visualize, and Analyze Tables

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Hello, Atlassian Community!

There are many ways in which you can unleash, analyze, and transform project data.  Today, let’s look at how three project managers (Fiona, Chad, and Spencer) directly utilize their unique skills for table data processing, analysis, and visualization. So, let’s dive in.

Confluence Tables and SQL Mastermind

The sea of numbers and data is deep, so Fiona, armed with expertise in advanced table manipulation, is here to help and demonstrate that you can do anything (or most likely) everything with Confluence tables. 

Meet Table Transformer from the Table Filter, Charts & Spreadsheets for Confluence app. With its help, you can touch on the limitless possibilities of working with Confluence tables. 

Many companies use SQL for advanced data manipulation because of its time-saving and custom problem-solving benefits. With the help of the Table Transformer macro, you can solve complex and custom cases directly on the Confluence canvas. Some examples include: 

• Merging tables: If tables share the same columns, you can merge them with Merge Tables preset. Even if tables of interest share only one column, it is enough for the Lookup Tables preset to rescue you.
• Applying Conditional Formatting to Confluence tables  : With the Advanced table cells formatting capabilities, you can color code your table data and customize the look and feel of your tables. 
• Replacing column data easily: Last-minute requirement to replace customer names with customer IDs? SQL can solve this issue once you write a query. This way, you can adjust your report much quicker than manually. 
• Automating the process of working with dates: when planning recurring tasks, you can automatically display each task’s start date in your table with the help of an SQL query. The same is true for sprint planning, and the cool part is that you can add dynamic dates. For example, calculate the end date automatically by adding two weeks to the start date. 

Transforming tabular data into meaningful insights and communicating the findings clearly has become a vital skill in the modern world, and the ability to craft comprehensive reports and analyses brings a lot of value to the table across all organization levels.

Check out our blog post  for SQL syntax, helpful use cases, and more!

(Gantt) Chart expert and visionary storyteller

Next is Chad, the visionary project manager who works closely with Fiona. With a passion  for visualizations and charts, Chad transforms Fiona’s data into compelling narratives. He’s also known as the one who communicates the findings by creating effective dashboards and visual reports with the help of Table Filter, Charts, & Spreadsheets for the Confluence app. If you ask about his favorite visualization type, the answer is Gantt Chart. 

Through Gantt charts, key events, and timelines, Chad paints a vivid picture of project progress, milestones, and dependencies, guiding teams toward success with clarity and precision. That's why Gantt charts deserve all their hype! Here are five tips on how you can master the Gantt chart and utilize this powerful project management tool with ease, coming from our Gantt chart expert:

1. Start simple and build a Gantt chart in a few clicks. You only need a three-column table:  task type, start date, and end date. Congrats! You set yourself up for success and have everything it takes to build a Gantt Chart.
2. Spice it up to present information more effectively with descriptions and a completion bar. This will help you break down your project, build a bigger visual picture of what’s happening now, and elaborate on the background of the task type at hand.
3. Outline milestones. As milestones are key events in every project, they deserve their spotlight, which helps communicate when there’s the green light to proceed. 
4. Highlight critical events and activities. Every project has events your team needs to collaborate seamlessly on.  Tracking these events also helps to prioritize project activities swiftly.
5. Customize the look and feel of your chart. Color coding and color customization (i.e., color selection) for your charts and tables can do their magic to your report. Besides, custom visuals help you grasp the big picture in a glance.

Mastering your project timelines with visual tools like Gantt charts in Confluence is a piece of cake now. Add our blog post to your reading shortlist before visualizing your next project!

Spreadsheet-savvy superhero

Lastly, meet Spencer, our spreadsheet-savvy jack of all trades. Spencer thrives on organizing, analyzing, and manipulating spreadsheets - the more, the merrier. To create an Excel-like environment in Confluence, Spencer uses the Table Spreadsheet macro, which has key and basic spreadsheet functionalities: 

• Cell Formulas (including AI-powered formulas!)
• Conditional Formatting
• Pivots
• Charts and more 

Spencer’s superpower is the ability to share and reuse spreadsheet data in a focused and targeted way. Instead of writing how-to manuals on navigating the spreadsheet, Spencer reuses and mirrors key content and spreadsheet insights on multiple pages using Table Spreadsheet Include macro. As the dynamic updates are in place, Spencer maintains only the master spreadsheet.

This way, you can store, reuse, and present key calculations and insights right where you need them most - learn more about it here. For example, a project summary dashboard with custom table reports from Fiona, advanced visualizations from Chad, and Spencer’s spreadsheet excerpt highlighting the calculations behind the visualizations  can be the cherry on top!

Weaving Three Project Management Stories Together:

Despite different tools and devices, our mastermind, storyteller, and superhero collaborate seamlessly and combine their contributions to get the most out of the data at hand with each contributor’s unique expertise.

Fiona’s analysis provides the foundation, Chad’s visualizations add clarity, and Spencer’s spreadsheet wizardry brings the quantitative background behind the above.

Long Story Short

Multiple tools should be combined to unlock the full potential of tabular data in Confluence. Table manipulation, chart visualizations, spreadsheet calculations, and their combinations can all set you up for success and harness the power of data within Confluence.

Become a data mastermind yourself by utilizing the capabilities of Table Filter, Charts & Spreadsheets for Confluence, which is available on the Atlassian Marketplace with a free trial. Our team is always here to help and assist you through your journey.

Cheers to the data-driven journey,

Anastasia