Compared to a periodic storyboard, the time frame is more flexible. Instead of going by specifics (i.e. – Day-to-day or Month-to-Month), rolling storyboards give a more dynamic look. The goal of a rolling storyboard is to follow performances on an ongoing basis, validating the short-term impact of your actions, and observe tendencies.

1.) Time Period

The rolling storyboard measures your performance over a particular time period, and each time period includes three specific date ranges. All three of these date ranges are displayed in your visuals so you can follow your performance.

Optix Supports five different ranges for the rolling storyboard:

1. Short – Yesterday, Last 7 and 15 days
2. Medium – Last 7, 15 and 30 days
3. Long – Last 7, 30 and 90 days)
4. Long – Last 30, 90 and 180 days
5. Yearly View – Last 30, 180, and 365 days

The basic time unit for a rolling storyboard is determined by taking the present day as a starting point. This means that the data that corresponds to the last X amount of days – depending on your range choice – will change everyday.

This may sound confusing; to break it down, take say the date is February 29th and you choose the short range. The storyboard will display for yesterday (February 28th), the last seven days (up to February 22nd), and the last 15 days (up to February 14th). If you go back to this same storyboard the next day on March 1st, the storyboard will now account for yesterday (February 29th), the last seven days (up to February 23rd), and the last 15 days (up to February 15th).

Each visual will display data corresponding to the date range that you choose, so each visual will be updated automatically daily.

2.) Available Visuals

There are two available visuals to use for a rolling storyboard: rolling headline and rolling list. These visuals are added just as any other visual is added to a storyboard. You can learn how to add a visual by clicking here!

Rolling Headline

There are three parts to the Rolling Headline:

The rolling header displays a single metric. In this case, we chose to look at unique pageviews. Only one metric can be assigned to a rolling headline.

The graph displays a visual representation of the data from the longest period you chose from the storyboard to just before present day. In this case of a yearly view date range, we see a visual representation of the past 365 days.

The rolling header values by date range is composed of three columns in respect to the date range you choose. Within each column is two values, an integer value and a percentage. The integer value is the value of the rolling header in the past x amount of days, dependent on the column range. The percentage is a comparative; it compares the date range value to the previous date range value.

For example in the above image, the 365 days(s) column has an value of 235,474 and a percentage of 35% preceded by a downward arrow. This means that in the past 365 days, there were 235,474 pageviews. This amount of pageviews is 35% lower than the amount of pageviews from the previous 365 days.

Where as in the 30 day(s) column, the value is 23,655 and the percentage is 71% preceded by an upward arrow. This means that in the past there were 23,655 pageviews. This amount is 71% higher than the previous 30 days.

Rolling List

The rolling list is very similar to the rolling header. Only one metric can be assigned per rolling list, but now you can add a grouping to the list to distinguish data further.

This rolling list is composed of a similar structure; to the left is the rolling header split by a grouping. In this case, we are viewing the Unique page views in a yearly overview range by device. Following the grouping is the same three column-structure from a rolling header.

You will notice for each column, there are two sub columns labeled value and change. Value works the same as the integer value from the rolling header. Change works the same as the percentage.

For example if we look at the desktop unique views for the past 365 days, we see that the value is 235,365 and the change is -21. This means that in the past 365 days, there were 235,365 pageviews performed on desktops. This value 21% lower than the previous 365 days.

Where as if we look at the desktop unique page views for the past 30 days, we see a value of 23,645 and change of 72. This means that in the past 30 days, there were 23,645 unique pageviews performed on desktops. This value is 72% higher than the previous 30 days.

Now that you understand the ins and outs of the rolling storyboard, you’re ready to create one!

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