Storyboard Annotations (for Basic Charts)

Introduction 

Annotations are a powerful way to  make your charts and graphs not only more informative but also more engaging and accessible. Use annotations in Basic Charts to add commentary, provide context for a notable change in data, improve clarity and highlight focus areas for Storyboard users, designers and viewers.

1. Permissions

Since annotations are added when editing a Storyboard, the permission CanCreateDashboard is required. The user will also need Storyboard edit permission to make modifications to that Storyboard.

These permissions are accessed from Admin > Application Access Roles/Data Access Roles > Permission page and via Storyboard Settings > Sharing > Can View & Edit.

Once Annotations are added to a Storyboard, everyone who can view that Storyboard can also see the annotation. 

2. How to use Annotations

It’s easy to add context to a chart using annotations, follow these steps to add your annotations.  

1. Open the Storyboard and click on the Pencil Icon to enter Modify Mode.

2. Hover over a chart to reveal the tile menu and click on the color palette icon to open the Tile Setting panel.

3. In Tile Settings, Click on Describe to open up the new Describe panel
4. Click Add Annotation

5. Hover over the chart and click on your chosen datapoint. Notice how the cursor icon changes when you hover over a datapoint

6. The annotations box has a default reminder that the annotation will be visible to everyone who can view this chart and has the feature flag enabled. 

7. Delete the default text and add your comment. Notice how the annotation panel is highlighting the data intersection selected.

8. Click outside of the tile settings panel to see your annotation appear in the chart.

9. Drag the annotation around the screen to reposition as desired.
10. Repeat the process to add another annotation.

3. Who can view the annotation

In View mode, annotations will be visible to everyone who has access to the chart as long as the intersection is displayed. 

For example, if a filter is added or removed from the chart, the annotation may no longer be relevant.

In the example below, the original annotation does not hold true once the chart is filtered for a subgroup. In Storyboards that are shared with multiple users that all have different role based permissions and filters applied, only very generic annotations would be relevant to all users.

Annotations can also be added on a drilldown level for hierarchical dimensions where they will only be displayed once a user drills down into the data.

If the data intersection is filtered out, the annotation will not display in view mode. 

In modify mode, all annotations for that chart are displayed, even if the chart does not display the intersection. Annotations will also copy over or persist when the metrics or dimensions are changed. 

It is recommended to always review the annotations after copying or editing a chart. 

Still to come

• User experience improvements
• Resize Annotations bubble
• Hide Annotations
• Annotations for other chart types