The options available under Relative Periods in the Charts Module of dhis2 version 2.5 and earlier versions include a very useful option named ‘Reporting Month’. I noticed this option is absent in dhis2 from version 6 upwards. Instead, the Periods options in the data visualizer (DV) - which is a replacement for Charts - has as its options: Last month and Last 12 months as the only two options under “Months”.
The absence of ‘Reporting Month’ as an option under periods in DV makes it a bit difficult to create nice looking charts with data that are collected on monthly basis (I may be wrong). In our project, data is reported into our dhis2 database by our partners on monthly basis. With dhis2 version 2.5, I can create a data element by period chart and then select ‘Reporting month’ as my relative period and the chart comes out neatly with the values of the data element for each of the months I have data in the database plotted.
This is not the case in dhis2 version 7. Here, I am limited to ‘Last month’ and ‘Last 12 months’. So let us assume I have data for April, May, June, July and Aug in my database (because our partners started reporting in April). Let us also assume we currently are in the month of September. Now, I need a bar chart showing my data (represented by five bars) from April to August and nothing more. Which of the options under Periods in DV will I select in order to have this bar chart showing my data from April to August? I am asking this question because if I select ‘Last month’ as the period, it obviously will not show all the five bars I want to see. Likewise, if I select ‘Last 12 months’ as the period, DV will plot my five bars quite all right but with additional periods Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar (in order to make up to 12 data points) and all the additional (unwanted) months will have zero data values (because there is no data in the database for these months). Or, must I do things differently to have my five bars in the bar chart? If yes, then I would appreciate some help with this. If not, then if it is possible to bring back ‘Reporting month’ as an option under periods in DV, then we need ‘Reporting month’ as urgently as last month!
John.
Senior Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor
Action for West Africa Region (AWARE II)
Accra, Ghana.
Mobile: +223 544334105
Email: jojo@aware2.org
Please note that the relative period "Last month" is the same as the
old "Reporting month" - it is just a slight change in labeling. So you
can use "Last month" in the same way you used "Reporting month".
What we have removed in DV from the old chart in user interface is the
ability to insert custom, fixed periods. The thinking behind this is
that fixed periods have a big drawback in that they will quickly
become outdated and you will constantly have to update your chart as
time goes by. But we realize the need for it and we have got this
feedback from other sources too so we will make a function for it,
hopefully for 2.8 if not for 2.9.
In the meantime, if you urgently need a specific chart you can resort to
1) in DV select period as the "series" dimension and select "Last 12
months" as the period. After generating the chart you can click on the
series labels to remove the series (periods in your case) you don't
want.
2) create a report table, select indicators/org units as usual, click
"Toggle fixed periods" and select the specific periods you want. Then
generate the report table, pull the report table JRXML into iReport
and design your chart there.
Please note that the relative period “Last month” is the same as the
old “Reporting month” - it is just a slight change in labeling. So you
can use “Last month” in the same way you used “Reporting month”.
What we have removed in DV from the old chart in user interface is the
ability to insert custom, fixed periods. The thinking behind this is
that fixed periods have a big drawback in that they will quickly
become outdated and you will constantly have to update your chart as
time goes by. But we realize the need for it and we have got this
feedback from other sources too so we will make a function for it,
hopefully for 2.8 if not for 2.9.
In the meantime, if you urgently need a specific chart you can resort to
in DV select period as the “series” dimension and select “Last 12
months” as the period. After generating the chart you can click on the
series labels to remove the series (periods in your case) you don’t
want.
create a report table, select indicators/org units as usual, click
“Toggle fixed periods” and select the specific periods you want. Then
generate the report table, pull the report table JRXML into iReport
and design your chart there.
