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Building Dashboards in Oracle Analytics Cloud

How to design compelling OAC dashboards that give decision-makers the right information at a glance — canvas design, KPIs, filters, and interactive drill-throughs.

Anurag Jangra · February 8, 2026 · 6 min read · ... views

Dashboard vs Workbook in OAC

In modern OAC, the primary canvas is the Workbook — a multi-page document where each page is a dashboard canvas. The older OBIEE-style Dashboards still exist for backward compatibility. New development should use Workbooks.

Starting a new workbook

New → Workbook → choose a dataset or subject area. OAC opens a blank canvas. Each canvas has:

  • A visualisation area for adding charts, tables, KPIs
  • A data panel on the left (dimensions and measures)
  • A properties panel on the right (formatting options)
  • A filter bar at the top

Choosing the right visualisation type

OAC auto-suggests a chart type based on what columns you drop. Override as needed:

  • Trend over time: line chart
  • Category comparison: bar/column chart
  • Part of whole: pie or treemap (for <7 categories)
  • Correlation: scatter plot
  • Geographic distribution: map
  • Single KPI: tile/KPI card
  • Detailed data: table or pivot

KPI cards for executive summaries

KPI cards show a single metric with comparison and trend indicator:

  1. Add a metric to the canvas → change to KPI type
  2. Configure: current value, previous period value (for change %), trend direction
  3. Set conditional formatting: green for above target, red for below
Current headcount: 1,247
vs last month: +23 (+1.9%)  ▲

Filters and context menus

Add a filter bar at the top of the canvas. Users click dimension values to filter all visualisations simultaneously. Right-click any chart element to add it as a filter or drill down.

Configure dashboard-level filters (affect all pages) vs canvas-level filters (affect only current page).

Set up drill navigation: clicking a bar in the department chart opens a detail page showing that department’s employees. Configure via: right-click visualisation → Properties → Interactions → Drill.

Add action links to navigate from OAC dashboards to Fusion Cloud transaction screens: click an invoice amount → open the invoice in Fusion Payables.

Sharing and embedding

Publish workbooks to a shared folder for team access. Embed in intranet portals or VBCS using the OAC embed URL. Schedule delivery via email using OAC Agents.

Think Beyond the Implementation

Questions worth sitting with after reading this

01

Why is this architecture appropriate for this specific context — and where would it be the wrong choice?

02

What assumptions did we make that aren't stated explicitly? What happens if those assumptions are wrong?

03

What would break first if the requirements changed — volume doubled, a third system was added, or the deadline halved?

04

What alternatives did we reject, and why? Was the decision made on evidence — or habit?

AJ
Anurag Jangra
Oracle Cloud PaaS Consultant · OIC & VBCS Specialist

4.5+ years delivering enterprise Oracle Cloud integrations and VBCS applications across manufacturing, IT services, and financial sectors. OCI Certified — writes about real-world OIC, VBCS, SQL, and BI Publisher patterns from production experience.

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