Let’s look at some advanced text-based widgets: tables. There are a range of different tables you can choose from. We’ll help you decide which is best for different use cases.
Static Table
This is a completely blank table, such as you might add to Microsoft Word or a Google Document. It can’t be automatically populated by your data in Planhat; rather, you can manually type into it (like a simple text widget). This widget type is quite basic and therefore rarely used.
Live Data Table
A live table, populated with data you have in Planhat, like you see it see in the Data Module - just a more specific, cut-down selection. As this is live data, if you edit data in a Data Table widget when viewing a Page, that update is reflected elsewhere in Planhat (e.g. in the Data Module).
To create a Data Table widget:
Choose a model - such as Company
Choose how many columns you’d like to show, which columns, and in which order - similar to configuring the columns of a filter in the Data Module
Choose how you would like to sort the rows - pick a property, ascending or descending (e.g. Companies by ARR in descending order, biggest at the top)
Choose if and how you’d like to limit the number of rows - Eg. you might say you only want to see your top 5 Companies.
Top List
This is a basic table visualisation for the “top x” records of a model - such as the top 5 Companies by ARR, similar to what we just saw in the Data Table widget.
So what’s the difference?
Like the Data Table, the Top List is populated with data you have in Planhat. The top list is a simpler widget though. It’s more specific in what it shows, the formatting is more basic, and you can’t edit data in the widget.
Note that this table is also very closely related to the Top List bar chart. The Top List Bar chart, however, can only be used to show one property, such as Company ARR, whereas you can add extra columns to the Top List table. The Top List bar chart makes relative sizes more obvious to see (e.g. if Company A has double the ARR of Company B) but can take up more space on the Page than a Top List table.
To create a Top List table:
Choose a model - such as Company
Choose which property you’d like to sort by - eg. ARR
Choose how you’d like to limit results - e.g. top 5
Stick with the default descending order (i.e. the biggest at the top), or switch to ascending order if you’d like to make a “bottom list” instead
Optionally add additional columns (properties), for extra context
Metric Table & Matrix Chart
Next up: two tables where you choose a property/category for the columns and another for the rows, with numerical data in the middle of the table where they intersect.
It’s easier to understand when you think it through with a practical example. Let’s say you want to view the count of Companies, with Phases as the columns and Owners as the rows. That way, you can easily gain insights such as who has the most Companies in Onboarding.
Other example use cases for these table types include:
The sum of ARR per Phase and Country
The sum or ARR per Industry and Health Score
The main differences between these two table types are that:
The Matrix Chart works like a heat map - cells with higher numbers are automatically coloured darker, making it easier to spot trends. You can even define custom colours based on number ranges. The Metric Table doesn’t have colours.
With the Matrix Chart, it’s possible to sort both of the categories (i.e. the column headers and the row names), making it easier to see rankings. You can’t sort Metric Table data in this way.
The Matrix chart is interactive: you can click on cells to open up a model with further information. This means you could get a list of the Companies that make up the total, and even click further to jump into a specific Customer 360 profile. It’s not possible to click into a Metric Table like this.
The Metric Table has the advantage of showing numbers on the columns and rows, in addition to the numbers in the middle of the table.
To configure either of these tables:
Choose a model - such as Company
Define the data in the middle of the table - either:
Count (e.g. number of Companies);
Sum/Average/Max/Min + a property (e.g. average CSM Score)
Choose the categories for the columns and rows (e.g. Phase and Owner)
👑 Pro tip: If you want to use a Matrix Table to plot text fields with lots of values, reach out to your CSM to enable the “Advanced matrix” permission for your tenant. This allows you to build heatmaps (up to 50 x 50) with custom text fields in both dimensions, calculating and sorting across an unlimited number of values.