How to Build a Basic Chart, Value Tile or Pie Chart in a Storyboard

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Prerequisites: How to build queries using the Define panel – read this article first

What you’ll learn

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to:

• Create a basic chart tile and configure it with metrics, dimensions, and time periods.
• Create a value tile for displaying a single headline metric.
• Create a pie chart for showing proportional breakdowns.
• Switch between chart and table views to verify your data.

Overview

The Basic Chart is the most common tile type in Storyboards. It covers column, line, area, area spline, and spline charts - the mainstay of any data visualisation. If you need to show a trend over time, compare values across groups, or display composition, a Basic Chart is where you start.

This article also covers two simpler tile types - Key Value Tiles and Pie Charts - which follow the same creation workflow but have fewer configuration options.

Before you begin

Confirm that you have the CanCreateStoryboard and CanExploreData permissions. Your Admin configures these in Admin > Application Role > Permissions. Without CanCreateStoryboard, the options to create a new Storyboard won’t appear.

To build tiles using the Define panel, you also need CanExploreData. To pin from the One AI Assistant, your organisation needs to have One AI enabled. See Roles and Permissions for full details.

Creating a basic chart

1. Enter Modify Mode by clicking on the pencil icon at the top right of the Storyboard title barand click the Add (+) icon.
2. Select Basic Chart from the tile type menu. The Define panel opens.
3. Add at least one Metric and one Time Period. Optionally add Dimensions to group the data (for example, by department or location).
4. Click Run & Preview Query. Toggle between the chart and Table tab to verify the data.
5. Click Insert to Storyboard. The tile appears on the canvas.
6. Enter a Tile Title, click Save, and Exit Modify Mode.

Once inserted, you can refine the chart’s appearance in the Design tab - change the series type, add stacking, adjust colours, or configure data labels. For a detailed guide to these options, see: Introduction to Chart Types in One Model and Basic Chart Options in Define.

Tip: If you’re unsure which chart type to use, start with a column chart. It’s the default series type and works well for most comparisons. You can always change the series type later in the Design panel without rebuilding the query.

Creating a value tile

A Value Tile displays a single metric value with minimal formatting. Use it for headline numbers like total headcount, overall turnover rate, or average time-to-fill – metrics where the number itself is the message.

7. Enter Modify Mode and click the Add (+) icon.
8. Select Key Value Tile from the tile type menu.
9. In the Define panel, add one Metric. Optionally add a Time Period or Filter.
10. Click Run & Preview Query to see the value.
11. Click Insert to Storyboard.

Key Value Tiles have limited Design settings - primarily font size, colour, and alignment. If you need period-over-period comparison with a change indicator and trend sparkline, use a KPI Chart instead. See: How to create and configure KPI charts in Storyboards.

Creating a pie chart

A Pie Chart shows how a whole breaks into proportional parts. It works best with a small number of categories (ideally 5–7) where the relative size of each segment is meaningful.

12. Enter Modify Mode and click the Add (+) icon.
13. Select Pie Chart from the tile type menu.
14. In the Define panel, add one Metric and one Dimension (the categories you want to compare).
15. Click Run & Preview Query.
16. Click Insert to Storyboard.

Note: Pie charts are effective for showing simple composition – gender split, employment type breakdown, or region distribution. For more complex compositions with many categories or time-based comparison, a stacked bar chart (Basic Chart with stacking enabled) is usually easier to read.

Pinning from the One AI Assistant

If your organisation has the One AI Assistant enabled, you can ask questions in natural language and pin the results directly to a Storyboard. This is a fast way to go from a question (“What’s our turnover rate by department?”) to a visualisation on a Storyboard without building a query manually.

1. Open the One AI Assistant from the navigation bar.
2. Enter your question using the suggested prompts or type your own.
3. Review the AI-generated result.
4. Scroll down and click Pin Result to…
5. Select Create New Storyboard (or choose an existing Storyboard to add it to).
6. Repeat with additional questions to build out the Storyboard.

For more on what the AI Assistant can answer and how to get the best results, see: What is One AI Assistant and what can it answer?

Note: Access to the One AI Assistant is controlled by your Application Access Role permissions. If you don’t see the One AI Assistant option, check with your Admin.

Using the Insight Library

The Insight Library is a personal collection of saved queries and visualisations. If you’ve been saving insights over time, you can assemble them into a Storyboard in seconds without rebuilding any queries.

1. Click the Insight Library icon in the Build Storyboard menu.
2. Use the checkboxes in the left column to select one or more Insights (or entire Categories).
3. Click Generate a New Storyboard.
4. The Insight Library closes and automatically creates a new Storyboard with one tile per selected insight, opens it, and places the newly created Storyboard in Modify Mode.
5. Rearrange, resize, and customize the tiles as needed. Add a Storyboard name and save.

You can also pin insights to an existing Storyboard instead of generating a new one. Select your insights, click Pin to an Existing Storyboard, choose the Storyboard and page, and save. For the full range of Insight Library features, see: How to use the Insight Library.

Note: If you’re already in Modify Mode on a Storyboard and click the global Insight Library icon, the action changes to Insert to Current Page – adding the selected insights directly to the Storyboard you’re editing.
 

Quick reference – which tile type to use

Next steps

Now that you’ve built a basic chart, you might want to explore:

• Introduction to Chart Types in One Model – series types, stacking, horizontal bars, and mixed chart configurations.
• Basic Chart Options in Define – data labels, percentage formatting, filtering, and diverging bar charts.
• How to customise Storyboard appearance – colours, fonts, legends, and axis settings.