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Getting Started with Analytics

Analytics gives users a flexible workspace for exploring Yarken data across spend, assets, consumers, budgets, forecasts, consumption, recommendations, chargeback, license usage, and custom reporting.

Most Analytics pages use the same reporting layout. Once you understand the common workspace, you can move between Analytics items with the same basic pattern: select fields, choose a visualization, apply filters, and save the report for reuse.

Use this page to understand the shared Analytics experience before working with individual Analytics pages.

What Analytics is used for

Use Analytics to answer questions across technology spend, planning, FinOps, TBM, chargeback, and operational data.

Analytics helps teams:

  • Explore spend across financial, operational, and TBM dimensions

  • Compare budget, forecast, and actual values

  • Review asset cost and total cost of ownership

  • Analyze consumer-level cost accountability

  • Investigate cloud consumption and FOCUS-based cost data

  • Review recommendations and potential savings

  • Build custom views for finance, technology, and business stakeholders

  • Save recurring reports for review cycles

Analytics works best when master data, spend data, planning data, and reporting structures are already configured.

Analytics menu items

The Analytics menu includes reporting areas for different data domains.

Available Analytics items include:

  • Spend

  • Consumer Spend

  • Asset TCO

  • Budgets & Forecasts

  • Consumption Data

  • Companion Metrics

  • Recommendations

  • Business Case

  • Forecasts

  • Chargeback

  • License Usage

  • Multi Cube

  • Custom Dashboards

Each item opens a reporting workspace with a common layout. The available fields change based on the selected Analytics area.

Custom Dashboards has a different layout, unlike the rest.

Common Analytics layout

Most Analytics pages are organized into the same core areas:

  • Fields

  • Visualization

  • Filters

  • Report canvas

  • Report actions

This common structure helps users move between Analytics pages without learning a new workflow each time.

Fields panel

The Fields panel contains the measures and dimensions available for the selected Analytics item.

Use the search box to find fields quickly, then drag fields into the report builder.

Field groups vary by Analytics page. Examples include:

  • Metrics

  • Spend

  • Planning

  • FOCUS Metrics

  • Recommendations

  • Companion Metrics

  • TBM Taxonomy

  • Solution Offering

  • Consumers

  • Cost Centers

  • Vendors

  • Entities

  • Timeline

The fields available in each Analytics item depend on the cube or dataset behind that page.

Measures and dimensions

Analytics fields generally fall into two groups.

  • Measures are numeric values used for analysis. Examples include spend, budget, forecast, variance, asset count, potential savings, realized savings, billed cost, and consumed quantity.

  • Dimensions describe how measures are grouped, filtered, or compared. Examples include time, vendor, account, cost center, consumer, entity, asset, provider, service, and TBM taxonomy.

A useful report usually combines both: one or more measures, plus dimensions that explain where those values belong.

Visualization panel

The Visualization panel controls how results are displayed.

The default view is usually Data Table. Data tables are useful when users need detailed rows, column-level analysis, and clear financial review outputs.

Depending on the Analytics item and available configuration, users may also build other visual views.

The Visualization panel includes drop zones such as:

  • Values

  • Sort Order

Drag fields into these areas to define what the report displays and how the output is ordered.

Filters panel

The Filters panel limits the report to the data needed for a specific question.

Many Analytics pages include a default Month filter set to the current month.

Filters can be used to narrow reports by:

  • Month

  • Year

  • Entity

  • Vendor

  • Cost Center

  • Account

  • Consumer

  • Asset

  • Provider

  • Service

  • TBM Taxonomy

  • Status

Good filters reduce noise and keep reports aligned to the decision being made.

Report canvas

The report canvas displays the output of the selected fields, visualization, and filters.

When no fields have been added, the canvas prompts users to drag and drop fields from the Fields panel.

After fields are added, the canvas updates to show the report output.

Use the canvas to review results, validate the report structure, and adjust fields or filters before saving.

Report actions

Analytics pages include common report actions in the top right of the workspace.

Common actions include:

  • Save to keep the current report configuration

  • New to start a new report

  • Open to load an existing saved report

  • Import to bring in a saved report configuration where supported

Saved reports help teams reuse standard reporting views for recurring reviews, month-end analysis, governance meetings, and executive reporting.

Pre-aggregations

The Pre-aggregations toggle controls whether Analytics uses prepared datasets where available.

Pre-aggregations improve performance by serving data from optimized reporting structures instead of recalculating each query from base data.

Keep pre-aggregations enabled for most reporting workflows, especially when working with larger datasets or recurring reports.

Unsaved changes

When a report has been changed, Analytics displays an unsaved changes message.

Save the report if the configuration should be reused later.

Discard changes only when the updated fields, filters, or visualization are no longer needed.

Build a basic Analytics report

To build a report:

  1. Open the required item from the Analytics menu

  2. Search or browse the Fields panel

  3. Drag the required measure into Values

  4. Add dimensions to shape the report output

  5. Apply filters to narrow the dataset

  6. Add sort fields where needed

  7. Review the output in the report canvas

  8. Save the report for future use

Start with a specific question. Then choose the fields and filters that answer it.

Example report patterns

Use these examples as starting points.

Analytics item

Example question

Suggested structure

Spend

Where is current month spend concentrated?

Spend, budget, forecast, and variance by vendor, cost center, entity, solution offering, or TBM taxonomy

Consumer Spend

Which consumers are driving spend, budget, or forecast movement?

Consumer spend, consumer budget, consumer forecast, and variance by consumer, solution offering, entity, or timeline

Asset TCO

What is the cost profile of assets or services?

Spend, asset count, and asset unit spend by asset, hosting type, vendor, service, application, or TBM taxonomy

Budgets & Forecasts

How does current planning compare with baseline or previous forecast?

Planning amount, baseline, previous forecast, YTD spend, remaining forecast, and variance by cost center, vendor, account, entity, or project

Consumption Data

Which services or providers are driving usage and cost?

FOCUS cost, consumed quantity, pricing quantity, unit price, provider, service, team, timeline, and consumption attributes

Companion Metrics

How do operational metrics compare with financial movement?

Actual, planned, target, rate, amount, value, and variance by metric category, metric date, and timeline

Recommendations

What savings opportunities are available?

Potential savings, realized savings, recommendation status, category, source, asset, cloud resource, and recommendation date

Business Case

Which initiatives have the strongest financial case?

Business case cost, benefit, savings, status, owner, timeline, entity, and investment category

Forecasts

How is forecasted spend changing over time?

Forecast amount, previous forecast, variance, spend category, cost center, vendor, account, entity, and timeline

Chargeback

How should technology costs be allocated to consumers?

Chargeback spend by consumer, solution offering, consumer ID, TBM taxonomy, entity, and allocation period

License Usage

Which software licenses are underused or over-assigned?

Total licenses, active users, usage rate, unused licenses, product, tenant, user, department, and timeline

Multi Cube

Which cross-domain questions require more than one cube?

Measures and dimensions from multiple Analytics cubes, such as spend, budget, forecast, consumption, assets, and consumers

Custom Dashboards

Which saved reports should be grouped for recurring review?

Saved reports arranged into a dashboard view for finance reviews, executive updates, chargeback review, or optimization tracking

Choosing the right Analytics item

Select the Analytics item based on the type of question you need to answer.

Use Spend for actual spend analysis.

Use Consumer Spend for consumer-level cost accountability.

Use Asset TCO for asset cost and unit cost analysis.

Use Budgets & Forecasts for planning, budget, forecast, and variance reporting.

Use Consumption Data for cloud usage, FOCUS metrics, provider activity, and consumption-level analysis.

Use Companion Metrics for non-financial or supporting metrics used alongside financial data.

Use Recommendations for optimization opportunities, savings, and recommendation status.

Use Multi Cube when a report needs fields from more than one Analytics cube.

Use Custom Dashboards when saved reports need to be arranged into a tailored dashboard view.

Analytics and TBM 5.0

Analytics supports TBM-aligned reporting by allowing users to analyze data through financial, operational, and service-oriented dimensions.

Users can review cost and performance across structures such as:

  • Cost centers

  • Accounts

  • Vendors

  • Consumers

  • Solution offerings

  • Assets

  • Entities

  • TBM taxonomy

  • Timeline

This helps technology, finance, and business teams work from a shared view of cost, ownership, and operational context.

Analytics connects with several Yarken workflows.

Use Analytics after data has been loaded, mapped, and structured through administrative and planning processes.

Analytics can support:

  • Month-end reporting

  • Finance review cycles

  • Budget and forecast analysis

  • Chargeback review

  • FinOps cost analysis

  • TCO analysis

  • Optimization reviews

  • Executive reporting

  • Governance reporting

The quality of Analytics output depends on the quality of source data, mappings, and model configuration.

Use these practices when working in Analytics:

  • Start with the business question before selecting fields

  • Use filters to keep reports focused

  • Combine measures with dimensions for useful context

  • Save reports that support recurring decisions

  • Keep naming conventions clear for saved reports

  • Use pre-aggregations for larger reports

  • Validate totals before sharing reports externally

  • Use Multi Cube only when a single Analytics item does not provide the required view

Clear report structure improves decision quality and reduces manual analysis.

Common troubleshooting checks

If a report does not show the expected results, review the following:

  • Confirm the correct Analytics item is selected

  • Check whether required fields are added to Values

  • Review active filters, especially Month and Entity filters

  • Confirm source data has been loaded for the selected period

  • Check whether the selected field belongs to the expected cube or dataset

  • Refresh or rebuild the report if the configuration was changed

  • Save changes before leaving the page

If the report still does not show expected data, confirm that the source data, mappings, permissions, and relevant models are configured correctly.

When to create a saved report

Create a saved report when the same view will be reused by a team, shared across review cycles, or used as a source for dashboards.

Saved reports are useful for:

  • Monthly finance reviews

  • Cost center reporting

  • Vendor reporting

  • Budget and forecast reviews

  • Chargeback review

  • Optimization tracking

  • Executive summaries

  • Dashboard inputs

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