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Overview

Oxford Economics Excel Data Workstation has proved to be immensely popular with customers for automating downloads of economic forecast data from Oxford Economics’ various data services platforms.

In this post I want to introduce you to Mondrian Dashboards Version 3.0 - a new set of compelling examples of high quality dashboards built for Excel Data Workstation.

Mondrian Dashboards v3.0 has the following features:

• 44 high quality charts in five dashboards of key economic forecast indicators.
• Dashboards available for both annual and quarterly data series.
• Dashboards cover all locations and 36 indicators in all measurements.
• Retrieves forecast data series from either Global Data Workstation orGlobal Model Workstation.
• On-demand refresh of data using built-in automation of Excel Data Workstation commands.

 

Mondrian Dashboards v3.0 reproduces all the built-in dashboards of the new Global Model Workstation and Global Data Workstation:

• Forecast/Scenario Overview
• GDP and its components
• Inflation and its determinants
• Trade and balance of payments
• Labour market

 

You can download the Excel workbooks and get going immediately. Of course, you need the latest version of our Excel add-in but the dashboards themselves run OOTB - out-of-the box! We placed the big dashboard refresh button in a more obvious position and improved the styling of pivot charts so they display properly across all supported Excel platforms, regardless of the number of data series being plotted. Thanks for your feedback which helped greatly.

(Mondrian Dashboards v3.0 uses the latest Excel Power Query and Power Pivot technology in Excel 2013 and Excel 2016. If you don’t have access to this, then please look at Version 1.0 and Version 2.0 which support Excel 2010 and lower.)

Global Data Workstation Dashboard

Data Source

Global Economics Databank

Location Mnemonics

All Locations available for both Quarterly and Annual data. This can be changed in the configuration worksheet.

Variable Mnemonics

Level Values | PY | P | GR | DY : GDP, C, CPI, PSH, UP, RLG, RCB, WCR, BCU%, GB%, GGDBT%, IF, GC, IS%, DOMD, X, M, PGDP, ER, ERREAL, PROD, WC, RX, WPO, WPC, XG, MG, XS, MS, WT, BVI%, BCU%, ET, LS, PART, POPW

Prerequisites

Important - Please Read

1. You have installed Oxford Economics Excel Data Workstation (>= Version 2.5).
   This is a free add-on to any Oxford Economics data subscription.
   Please go here for more details: https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/techlabs/excel-data-workstation-v2-0-excel-plugin
2. You are using at minimum Excel 2013
   - Excel 2013 64-bit is recommended, but it should work with Excel 2013 32-bit, however will run slower or run out of memory
3. You have installed Excel Power Query matching the bitness of your installed version of Excel
   - Power Query is included in Excel 2016
   - You can install Excel 2013 64-bit & 32-bit Power Query from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=39379
   Please note, since we use Power Query together with Power Pivot’s data model, this workbook is not compatible with Excel 2010 and lower.
4. You have enabled Power Pivot functionality in Excel (via Options | Add-ins | COM Add-ins)
5. You have a subscription to Oxford Economics Global Economics Databank
6. You have installed Oxford Economics Global Data Workstation.
   You do not require a subscription to all countries and region aggregates and the dashboards will automatically adjust to accommodate this.

 

Chart Definitions

ID	Dashboard	Chart Title	Location Mnemonic(s)	Variable Mnemonic(s)	Frequency	Measurement	Chart Style
D1.1	Forecast/Scenario Overview	GDP	All	GDP	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D1.2	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Consumer spending	All	C	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D1.3	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Fixed investment	All	IF	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D1.4	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Unemployment rate	All	UP	A | Q	L, DY	Bar
D1.5	Forecast/Scenario Overview	CPI	All	CPI	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D1.6	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Central Bank policy rate	All	RCB	A | Q	L , DY	Line
D1.7	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Bond yields	All	RLG	A | Q	L , DY	Line
D1.8	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Equity prices	All	PSH	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D1.9	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Competitiveness	All	WCR	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D1.10	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Current account balance (% of GDP)	All	BCU%	A | Q	L, DY	Line
D1.11	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Government balance (% of GDP)	All	GB%	A | Q	L, DY	Bar
D1.12	Forecast/Scenario Overview	Government debt (% of GDP)	All	GGDBT%	A | Q	L , DY	Bar
ID	Dashboard	Chart Title	Location Mnemonic(s)	Variable Mnemonic(s)	Frequency	Measurement	Chart Style
D2.1	GDP and its components	GDP	All	GDP	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D2.1	GDP and its components	Consumer spending	All	C	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D2.3	GDP and its components	Fixed investment	All	IF	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D2.4	GDP and its components	Government Consumption	All	GC	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D2.5	GDP and its components	Stockbuilding (% of GDP)	All	IS%	A | Q	DY, L	Bar
D2.6	GDP and its components	Domestic demand	All	DOMD	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D2.7	GDP and its components	Exports	All	X	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D2.8	GDP and its components	Imports	All	M	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
ID	Dashboard	Chart Title	Location Mnemonic(s)	Variable Mnemonic(s)	Frequency	Measurement	Chart Style
D3.1	Inflation and its determinants	Consumer Price Index	All	CPI	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.2	Inflation and its determinants	GDP deflator	All	PGDP	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.3	Inflation and its determinants	Average earnings	All	ER	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.4	Inflation and its determinants	Productivity	All	PROD	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.5	Inflation and its determinants	Unit labour costs, whole economy	All	WC	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.6	Inflation and its determinants	Effective exchange rate	All	RX	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.7	Inflation and its determinants	World oil price $pb	All	WPO	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D3.8	Inflation and its determinants	Non-oil commodity prices	All	WPC	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
ID	Dashboard	Chart Title	Location Mnemonic(s)	Variable Mnemonic(s)	Frequency	Measurement	Chart Style
D4.1	Trade and balance of payments	Exports of goods, volumes	All	XG	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D4.2	Trade and balance of payments	Imports of goods, volumes	All	MG	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D4.3	Trade and balance of payments	Exports of services, volumes	All	XS	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D4.4	Trade and balance of payments	Imports of services, volumes	All	MS	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D4.5	Trade and balance of payments	World trade	All	WT	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D4.6	Trade and balance of payments	Relative unit labour costs	All	WCR	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D4.7	Trade and balance of payments	Visible trade balance (% of GDP)	All	BVI%	A | Q	L , DY	Bar
D4.8	Trade and balance of payments	Current account balance (% of GDP)	All	BCU%	A | Q	L , DY	Bar
ID	Dashboard	Chart Title	Location Mnemonic(s)	Variable Mnemonic(s)	Frequency	Measurement	Chart Style
D5.1	Labour market	Total employment	All	ET	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D5.2	Labour market	Labour supply	All	LS	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D5.3	Labour market	Unemployment rate	All	UP	A | Q	L , DY	Bar
D5.4	Labour market	Participation rate	All	PART	A | Q	L , DY	Bar
D5.5	Labour market	Productivity	All	PROD	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D5.6	Labour market	Average earnings growth	All	ER	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D5.7	Labour market	CPI	All	CPI	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line
D5.8	Labour market	Population of working age	All	POPW	A | Q	PY, P, GR ,DY ,L	Line

 

Dashboard

Excel File: Global Data Workstation Dashboards v3.3.xlsm

Example below shows: GDP and its components dashboard – GDP chart is zoomed | Quarterly data series values | Different measurements | 5 years forecast | Four countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany and United States)

 

Dashboard Configuration

A handy configuration sheet is provided which contains a form and data tables which enables you to configure data measurements and locations to download. The dashboards adjust themselves automatically.

 

Global Model Workstation Dashboard

Data Source

Desktop Model Databases

Location Mnemonics

All Locations available for both Quarterly and Annual data. This can be changed in the configuration worksheet.

Variable Mnemonics

Level Values | PY | P | GR | DY : GDP, C, CPI, PSH, UP, RLG, RCB, WCR, BCU%, GB%, GGDBT%, IF, GC, IS%, DOMD, X, M, PGDP, ER, ERREAL, PROD, WC, RX, WPO, WPC, XG, MG, XS, MS, WT, BVI%, BCU%, ET, LS, PART, POPW

Prerequisites

Important - Please Read

1. You have installed Oxford Economics Excel Data Workstation (>= Version 2.5).
   This is a free add-on to any Oxford Economics data subscription.
   Please go here for more details: https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/techlabs/excel-data-workstation-v2-0-excel-plugin
2. You are using at minimum Excel 2013
   - Excel 2013 64-bit is recommended, but it should work with Excel 2013 32-bit, however will run slower or run out of memory
3. You have installed Excel Power Query matching the bitness of your installed version of Excel
   - Power Query is included in Excel 2016
   - You can install Excel 2013 64-bit & 32-bit Power Query from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=39379
   Please note, since we use Power Query together with Power Pivot’s data model, this workbook is not compatible with Excel 2010 and lower.
4. You have enabled Power Pivot functionality in Excel (via Options | Add-ins | COM Add-ins)
5. You have a subscription to Oxford Economics Global Economic Model
6. You have installed Oxford Economics Global Model Workstation.
   You do not require a subscription to all countries and region aggregates and the dashboards will automatically adjust to accommodate this.

 

Please note, you must be connected to Global Model Workstation and have the View & Download Data application open in order to refresh the model dashboards.

 

Chart Definitions

As above.

Dashboard Configuration

As above.

Dashboard

Excel File: Excel File: Global Model Workstation Dashboards v3.3.xlsm

Example below shows: GDP and its components dashboard | Annual data series values | 5 years forecast  | Two scenario bases (Base_Jan16 and Fed_Jan16) | Three of four countries have been selected (United Kingdom, France and Germany)

 

Download

Mondrian Excel dashboards are packaged as ZIP files and are available for download in the Oxford Economics website archive.

1. Go to the archive: https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/archive
2. Click the Globe icon
3. Type Excel Dashboard in the left hand search box.
4. Click the search icon or hit Enter.
5. Choose Version 3.0 of the specific dashboard(s) to download.
   -- Databank users should choose Excel Dashboard for Global Data Workstation – Version 3.0
   -- Model users should choose Excel Dashboard for Global Model Workstation – Version 3.0
6. (You will also see links for Version 1.0 and Version 2.0)

 

 

ZIP files should be “unblocked” before their contents are extracted. After you have downloaded a Mondrian Dashboard ZIP file right-click it in Windows Explorer, choose Properties from the context menu, click the Unblock button in the lower right-hand corner of the resulting dialog, and hit OK.

 

 

Installation

LOOKING FOR MONDRIAN 2.0 – PLEASE GO HERE.

 

Please note: Dashboards are distributed with randomised forecast data. To load data you must have a trial or full subscription to Oxford Economics Data Services. Please contact us for more information.

Global Data Workstation

Download the zipped Excel File ‘Mondrian Global Data Workstation Dashboards v3.3-20160520.zip’, unblock it as described above, and then extract ‘Global Data Workstation Dashboards v3.3.xlsm’.

Open it. You may need to enable macros.

Go to the Overview worksheet tab and please ensure you satisfy all prerequisites.

Click ‘Refresh Dashboard’. You will be advised to login if you are not already logged in, and to install the latest version of Excel Data Workstation if you don’t have it.

Global Model Workstation

Download the zipped Excel File ‘Mondrian Global Model Workstation Dashboards v3.3-20160520.zip’, unblock it as described above, and then extract ‘Global Model Workstation Dashboards v3.3.xlsm’.

Open it. You may need to enable macros.

Go to the Overview worksheet tab and please ensure you satisfy all prerequisites.

Go to the Config worksheet tab to configure measures and locations you wish to download.

Click ‘Refresh Dashboard’ on any dashboard worksheet or the Config worksheet. You will be advised to login if required, and to install the latest version of Excel Data Workstation if you don’t have it.

That’s it… it really is as simple as that!

Implementation

Power Query and Power Pivot functionality

The dashboards are created using standard Excel Pivot Charts capabilities. The raw data is manipulated using the Power Query tool, and the Pivot Table data model is built using the Power Pivot tool. The combined use of Power Query and Power Pivot is not compatible with Excel 2010 and lower. Excel 2013 64-bit is recommended, though it should work with Excel 2013 32-bit as well, but will perform more slowly and could run out of memory.

Automation

Although the dashboards leverage a comprehensive Excel Data Workstation VBA automation interface, only interested users and those who want to make breaking changes will ever need to look at the code.

All the code is available to inspect and reuse as you wish, but most of it is encapsulation of Excel Data Workstation’s interop interface and shouldn’t be touched by the end-user.

The ‘Refresh Data’ command is implemented in the Main module. Other useful code is in Miscellaneous and ZoomCharts modules.

Performance

Although Power Query and Power Pivot technologies greatly minimise the memory footprint required to produce these complex dashboards in Excel, if you have other applications running at the same time they can negatively impact dashboard performance.

The dashboard for Global Data Workstation is refreshed via a script executed by Excel Data Workstation in the raw data sheet. This script has a predefined set of indicators, period, data measures, and locations. Any changes to the script which results in an increase of the amount of data downloaded, will affect performance.

The limits of your Excel application performance depends on your PC environment, so please contact your local IT support to increase computer memory, upgrade to 64-bit Excel 2013, or simply restrict the number of countries and/or measurements in the Config worksheet.

The settings in the Config worksheet create a download script under the covers. For example, instead of this script which downloads all quarterly data for all locations and all measures:

get @level, @pach, @pch, @pchy, @diff from db.Desktop where Indicator in GDP, C, CPI, PSH, UP, RLG, RCB, WCR, BCU%, GB%, GGDBT%, IF, GC, IS%, DOMD, X, M, PGDP, ER, PROD, WC, RX, WPO, WPC, XG, MG, XS, MS, WT, BVI%, BCU%, ET, LS, PART, ERREAL, POPW and Year from @now - 1 to @now + 4 with Frequency = Quarterly

… you can use the Config worksheet to create a much more conservative script like this for just two locations in two measures. When this script is run it will replace all data in the data worksheets:

get @level, @pch from db.Desktop where Location in USA, GBR and Indicator in GDP, C, CPI, PSH, UP, RLG, RCB, WCR, BCU%, GB%, GGDBT%, IF, GC, IS%, DOMD, X, M, PGDP, ER, PROD, WC, RX, WPO, WPC, XG, MG, XS, MS, WT, BVI%, BCU%, ET, LS, PART, ERREAL, POPW and Year from @now - 1 to @now + 4 with Frequency = Quarterly

Note, the script uses db.[Global Economics] instead of db.Desktop when connecting to Global Data Workstation.

You will definitely get better performance using 64-bit Excel with lots of computer memory. To free memory, close as many applications as you can before starting Excel.

Maintenance

As each dashboard is in a separate worksheet, it adds to the complexity of the Excel workbook and could pose a maintenance overhead if you’re not careful when making changes.

Support

If you encounter any problems with Excel Data Workstation, please contact Oxford Economics for support via email at support [at] oxfordeconomics.com, but before you do so, please attach a copy of the Log file. You can find the Log file by following the instructions in the User Guide (Oxford Economics Menu | General | Arrow | User Guide).

Oxford Economics can provide support and training to help you create your own dashboard customisations. Please contact your nearest sales representative.

 

Arvindra Sehmi is Chief Information Officer and Director of IT at Oxford Economics.
Shweta Das is Technology Marketing and Support Analyst at Oxford Economics.