Put results in front of people

This tutorial takes your results out of DataMind OS in two ways. You build a presentation, email it on a schedule, and then send a table to another system with Writeback.

Before you start

You need a Lake or Warehouse table with data. From a source to your first query loads one from a database, and Model your data in the Warehouse builds one in the Warehouse.

Your administrator sets your permissions. For this tutorial you need:

• Add Deck, to create a presentation.
• Bind Slide Chart To SQL, to fill a chart from a query.
• Subscribe to Slides, to email a deck. To email other people, you also need Subscribe Others to Slides.
• View WriteBack Objects to see Writeback, and Add/Modify WriteBack Objects to set it up. To run a table you need Execute/Abort WriteBack Objects, and to run its workflow Execute WriteBack Workflow Objects.

An administrator must also have set up an email channel. Until then, saving a subscription fails with "No default email integration is configured. Ask an administrator to set one up first." See Notifications.

Create the presentation

1. Open Slides in the sidebar and click New presentation. You can also click + on the Slides card of the Dashboard's Playground and choose New presentation.

2. Leave Blank selected. The dialog opens with it selected.

3. In Title, replace Untitled presentation with a name for the deck. Choose the workspace for the deck, and a folder if you use them.

4. Click Create. The presentation opens in the editor.

5. Add a chart to a slide and bind it to a query, so its numbers come from your data:

   • Select the chart. In the Properties panel, under Chart, click Enter data.
   • In Chart data, switch the toggle to Live query and click Bind to a query.
   • Pick the Role the query runs as, and write the SQL. The query may read only that role's Lake and Warehouse databases, "<role>_Lake" and "<role>_WH".
   • Click Check query, then Run. Pick the Category column and the Series columns, and click Run and fill.
   • Choose when the numbers refresh in Refresh.

   Fill slides from your data explains each option.

Email the deck on a schedule

1. Open the deck from the Slides list.
2. In the deck header, click Subscribe. The Email subscriptions dialog opens and tells you the deck arrives as a PowerPoint file on a schedule.
3. If you already have subscriptions, the dialog opens on Existing. Click New subscription. If you have none, it opens on New subscription already.
4. In the Schedule panel, choose Weekly under Frequency, Mon under Day of week, and 09:00 under Time.
5. Keep Hidden (BCC) under Recipient visibility. Choose Visible (To) only if recipients should see each other's addresses.
6. Leave Myself selected to send the deck to yourself. To send it to others, choose Others, then add them under Recipients. Search for users and roles under Search users and roles, or type an address under Or an email address and click Add. Each recipient gets their own schedule in the Subscribing list.
7. Click Subscribe. With Others, the button shows how many people you are adding. A Subscribed message confirms it, and the Existing tab opens with your new subscription highlighted.

These are the schedule and recipient settings, with their defaults:

To pause, edit or test a subscription later, see Email subscriptions.

To give colleagues outside the deck's workspace access inside DataMind OS, publish the deck with Publish in the editor header. A deck with bound charts can be published only to people and roles that hold the role the charts run as. See Publish and share.

Send data to another system with Writeback

Writeback writes rows into a table that already exists in the destination. It does not create tables there, so create the target table in the destination first.

1. In the sidebar, click WriteBack, then click Add destination, or press Alt+N. Connect the system you want to write to, then click Test Connection and Add. Add and manage destinations explains the connection.
2. The destination's table picker opens. Select the tables you want it to fill, then click Import. To open the picker later, right-click the destination and choose View Destination. Import destination tables covers the list.
3. Open one of the imported tables. In General, under Source Configuration, turn on Table Selection. Choose a Table Type, Lake or Warehouse, then a Table Name. To write the result of a query instead, leave Table Selection off, write a SQL query and click Validate.
4. Under Workflow, check the workflow that runs the table. Adding a destination creates a workflow named after it, with (Standard) after the name, and imported tables go on it. Run, schedule and monitor Writeback covers runs and schedules.
5. Open the Columns step under Table and map each destination column to a source column, or move it to Skip Target Columns. Map columns explains each choice. When the mapping is complete, the banner "Please finish column mapping to enable this table" disappears. Click Next through Dependencies, then Finish.
6. Open the Settings tab. In the Sync Log, click Synchronize. In the Synchronize Table dialog, pick a date and click Synchronize to confirm.
7. Check the Sync Log. The run appears in its list. Then look at the table in the destination.

A table with at least one mapped column counts as Mapped on its destination card. A table without a primary key counts under Missing PK.

Check the result

The email arrives at the time you set, as a PowerPoint file. The table's run appears in the Sync Log. To catch failed runs early, follow Keep it healthy.

Questions, answered

Why can't I see Subscribe?

The button appears only if you have Subscribe to Slides. Without it, the button is not shown at all. Ask your administrator for the permission. Slides permissions lists what each one unlocks.

Why is Subscribe greyed out?

No presentation is open. Its tooltip reads "Open a presentation to subscribe to it". Open a deck from the Slides list, then click Subscribe.

Why can I send the deck only to myself?

Others appears only if you have Subscribe Others to Slides. Without it, a subscription goes to you alone. Ask your administrator for the permission.

Should I use Writeback or a subscription?

Use a subscription to deliver a deck to people, as a PowerPoint file on a schedule. Use Writeback to write rows into another system's tables.

Can I subscribe several people at once?

Yes. Choose Others, add each person, role or address, and click Subscribe with the count shown. Each recipient gets their own schedule and their own subscription. If some of them fail, the dialog reports how many failed and keeps your list, so you can review it.