View this page in the latest version of Appian. KPI Patterns Share Share via LinkedIn Reddit Email Copy Link Print On This Page Tip: Interface patterns give you an opportunity to explore different interface designs. Be sure to check out How to Adapt a Pattern for Your Application. Goal The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) patterns provide a common style and format for displaying important performance measures. This page explains how you can use this pattern in your interface, and walks through the design structure in detail. There are five KPI patterns to choose from: KPI in a Card KPI Overlay KPI with Chart KPI wtih Progress Bar KPI with Sparkline Each pattern displays one or more KPI components alongside other elements to highlight important metrics. Tip: Need help choosing a pattern? See the SAIL Design System for more information about displaying KPIs. KPI in a Card The main components in KPI in a Card are KPI components, rich text fields, card layouts, and column layouts. This pattern will display four KPIs on a single card. By default, the pattern does not populate with any data since the KPI component relies on a record type reference. The image below displays how the KPI in a Card pattern can look when configured with an Application record type. Pattern expression When you drag and drop the KPI in a Card pattern onto your interface, 86 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!richTextDisplayField( labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", value: { a!richTextItem( text: "University Admissions", size: "MEDIUM", style: "STRONG" ) }, marginBelow: "NONE" ), a!richTextDisplayField( labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", value: { a!richTextItem( text: { "2024 ", "Fall Semester" }, color: "SECONDARY", size: "SMALL", style: "PLAIN" ) }, marginAbove: "NONE", marginBelow: "STANDARD" ), a!columnsLayout( columns: { a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Applications" ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Admitted", trend: "NONE" ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Accepted", trend: "NONE" ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Enrolled", trend: "NONE" ) } ) }, alignVertical: "TOP", marginAbove: "EVEN_LESS", marginBelow: "STANDARD", spacing: "SPARSE", showDividers: true ) }, style: "NONE", shape: "SEMI_ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", marginBelow: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true, decorativeBarPosition: "TOP", decorativeBarColor: "ACCENT" ) } KPI Overlay The main components in KPI Overlay are KPI components, a billboard layout, a web image, and column layouts. This pattern will display four KPIs over a background image. By default, the pattern does not populate with any data since the KPI component relies on a record type reference. The image below displays how the KPI Overlay pattern can look when configured with an Application record type. Pattern expression When you drag and drop the KPI Overlay pattern onto your interface, 74 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 { a!billboardLayout( backgroundMedia: a!webImage( source: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1574950333594-f3e9a9446d0f?ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2250&q=80" ), height: "MEDIUM", marginBelow: "NONE", overlay: a!barOverlay( position: "BOTTOM", contents: { a!columnsLayout( columns: { a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Gifts Dollars to Target", icon: "gift", trend: "PERCENTAGE", template: "STACKED" ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Donors", icon: "user-friends", trend: "PERCENTAGE", template: "STACKED" ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Active Campaigns", icon: "bullhorn", trend: "DIFFERENCE", secondaryText: "vs last month", template: "STACKED" ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "New Donors to Target", icon: "user-plus", trend: "NONE", template: "STACKED" ) } ) }, spacing: "SPARSE", stackWhen: { "TABLET_LANDSCAPE", "TABLET_PORTRAIT", "PHONE" }, showDividers: true ) } ) ) } KPI with Chart The main components in KPI with Chart are a KPI component, card layouts, column layouts, and a column chart. This pattern will display a KPI and a chart on a card. By default, the pattern does not populate with any data since the KPI component relies on a record type reference. The image below displays how the KPI with Chart pattern can look when configured with an Application record type. You can examine the entire expression or jump down to the subsections below with referenced line numbers to see a detailed breakdown of the main components. Pattern expression When you drag and drop the KPI with Chart pattern onto your interface, 77 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 a!localVariables( local!fakeData: { a!map(month: "Jan", data: 100000), a!map(month: "Feb", data: 290000), a!map(month: "Mar", data: 330000), a!map(month: "Apr", data: 300000), a!map(month: "May", data: 400000), a!map(month: "Jun", data: 480000), a!map(month: "Jul", data: 520000), a!map(month: "Aug", data: 720000), a!map(month: "Sep", data: 680000), a!map(month: "Oct", data: 750000), a!map(month: "Nov", data: 950000), a!map(month: "Dec", data: 1000000) }, a!cardLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Revenue", icon: "file-invoice-dollar", size: "LARGE" ), a!cardLayout( contents: { a!columnChartField( label: "", categories: local!fakeData.month, series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023totalRevenue", data: local!fakeData.data ) }, xAxisTitle: "", yAxisTitle: "", yAxisMin: null, yAxisMax: 1250000, stacking: "NORMAL", referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine( value: 1.85E3, color: "#2E2E35", style: "SHORTDASH" ), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: true, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom( colors: { "#ffbc11", "#9d4de3", "#F3961F", "#18b4ab", "#F9CC00" } ), height: "SHORT", xAxisStyle: "STANDARD", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ) }, style: "#FAFAFA", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "LESS", showBorder: false ) }, height: "AUTO", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) ) [Line 1-15] Define local variables At the top of the pattern, local variables set up the data that will be used in the chart. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 { a!localVariables( local!fakeData: { a!map(month: "Jan", data: 100000), a!map(month: "Feb", data: 290000), a!map(month: "Mar", data: 330000), a!map(month: "Apr", data: 300000), a!map(month: "May", data: 400000), a!map(month: "Jun", data: 480000), a!map(month: "Jul", data: 520000), a!map(month: "Aug", data: 720000), a!map(month: "Sep", data: 680000), a!map(month: "Oct", data: 750000), a!map(month: "Nov", data: 950000), a!map(month: "Dec", data: 1000000) }, [Line 16-77] Use a KPI component and column chart component to display KPIs Here, we use a!kpiField() to define the source data and display style for the KPI. When you adapt this pattern for your application, replace the value in the data parameter with a reference to the record type you want to use as the source of the KPI. Then, we use a!columnChartField() to create a column chart. a!chartSeries defines the data used for the chart using the local variable we defined above. The rest of the pattern is used to customize the appearance of the column chart, including a!chartReferenceLine() to include a reference line and a!colorSchemeCustom() to apply custom colors to the chart. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Revenue", icon: "file-invoice-dollar", size: "LARGE" ), a!cardLayout( contents: { a!columnChartField( label: "", categories: local!fakeData.month, series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023totalRevenue", data: local!fakeData.data ) }, xAxisTitle: "", yAxisTitle: "", yAxisMin: null, yAxisMax: 1250000, stacking: "NORMAL", referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine( value: 1.85E3, color: "#2E2E35", style: "SHORTDASH" ), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: true, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom( colors: { "#ffbc11", "#9d4de3", "#F3961F", "#18b4ab", "#F9CC00" } ), height: "SHORT", xAxisStyle: "STANDARD", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ) }, style: "#FAFAFA", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "LESS", showBorder: false ) }, height: "AUTO", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) ) KPI with Progress Bar The main components in KPI with Progress Bar are KPI components, card layouts, column layouts, and a progress bar. This pattern will display three KPIs with a progress bar. By default, the pattern does not populate with any data since the KPI component relies on a record type reference. The image below displays how the KPI with Progress Bar pattern can look when configured with an Application record type. Pattern expression When you drag and drop the KPI with Progress Bar pattern onto your interface, 89 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 { a!columnsLayout( columns: { a!columnLayout( contents: a!cardLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Revenue", icon: "usd", iconStyle: "STAMP", trend: "NONE", secondaryText: "Target Revenue: $1,200,000", template: "ADJACENT" ), a!progressBarField( labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", percentage: 80, color: "POSITIVE", style: "THIN", marginAbove: "NONE", marginBelow: "NONE", showPercentage: false ) }, style: "TRANSPARENT", padding: "NONE", showBorder: false ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) ), a!columnLayout( contents: a!cardLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Visitors", icon: "walking", iconColor: "#FAA92F", iconStyle: "STAMP", trend: "PERCENTAGE", secondaryText: "vs 2023", template: "ADJACENT" ) }, height: "SHORT", style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) ), a!columnLayout( contents: a!cardLayout( contents: { a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Orders", icon: "shopping-basket", iconColor: "#EB4183", iconStyle: "STAMP", trend: "NONE", secondaryText: "vs 2023", template: "ADJACENT" ) }, height: "SHORT", style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) ) } ) } KPI with Sparkline The main components in KPI with Sparkline are KPI components, side by side layouts, card layouts, column layouts, and line charts. This pattern will display three KPIs with sparklines. A sparkline is a simplified line chart without axes that shows the movement of the metric over time. By default, the pattern does not populate with any data since the KPI component relies on a record type reference. The image below displays how the KPI with Sparkline pattern can look when configured with an Application record type. You can examine the entire expression or jump down to the subsections below with referenced line numbers to see a detailed breakdown of the main components. Pattern expression When you drag and drop the KPI with Sparkline pattern onto your interface, 162 lines of expression will be added to the section where you dragged it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 a!localVariables( local!fakeData1: { 2, 3, 5, 13, 20, 17, 23, 24, 22, 18, 12, 10, 3, 4, 2, 15, 16, 20, 26, 23, 27, 28, 30, 34, 33, 32, 30, 35, 40, 38, 59, 76 }, local!fakeData2: { 13, 15, 14, 12, 13, 12, 14, 15, 18, 25, 30, 35, 37, 40, 39, 46, 42, 52, 48, 53, 55, 56, 59, 67, 73, 77, 73, 75, 69, 64, 60, 55 }, local!fakeData3: { 22, 30, 45, 41, 35, 54, 98, 43, 95, 201, 258, 178, 395, 213, 234, 469, 378, 520, 634, 734, 674, 700, 1323, 1320, 1211, 1432, 1343 }, a!columnsLayout( columns: { a!columnLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!sideBySideLayout( items: { a!sideBySideItem( item: a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Orders", icon: "shopping-basket", trend: "PERCENTAGE", size: "STANDARD" ), width: "MINIMIZE" ), a!sideBySideItem( item: a!lineChartField( label: "", labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023 Total Revenue", data: local!fakeData1 ) }, referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine(value: null, style: "SOLID"), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: false, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, connectNulls: false, colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom(colors: { "#756BD1", "#5448C6" }), height: "MICRO", xAxisStyle: "NONE", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ), width: "AUTO" ) } ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!sideBySideLayout( items: { a!sideBySideItem( item: a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Sales", icon: "shopping-cart", trend: "PERCENTAGE", size: "STANDARD" ), width: "MINIMIZE" ), a!sideBySideItem( item: a!lineChartField( label: "", labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023 Total Revenue", data: local!fakeData2 ) }, referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine(value: null, style: "SOLID"), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: false, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, connectNulls: false, colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom(colors: { "#F47348", "#5448C6" }), height: "MICRO", xAxisStyle: "NONE", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ), width: "AUTO" ) } ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!sideBySideLayout( items: { a!sideBySideItem( item: a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Online Visitors", icon: "globe-alt", trend: "PERCENTAGE", size: "STANDARD" ), width: "MINIMIZE" ), a!sideBySideItem( item: a!lineChartField( label: "", labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023 Total Revenue", data: local!fakeData3 ) }, referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine(value: null, style: "SOLID"), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: false, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, connectNulls: false, colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom(colors: { "#F8B439", "#5448C6" }), height: "MICRO", xAxisStyle: "NONE", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ), width: "AUTO" ) } ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) } ) } ) ) [Line 1-4] Define local variables At the top of the pattern, local variables set up the data that will be used in the sparklines. 1 2 3 4 5 { a!localVariables( local!fakeData1: { 2, 3, 5, 13, 20, 17, 23, 24, 22, 18, 12, 10, 3, 4, 2, 15, 16, 20, 26, 23, 27, 28, 30, 34, 33, 32, 30, 35, 40, 38, 59, 76 }, local!fakeData2: { 13, 15, 14, 12, 13, 12, 14, 15, 18, 25, 30, 35, 37, 40, 39, 46, 42, 52, 48, 53, 55, 56, 59, 67, 73, 77, 73, 75, 69, 64, 60, 55 }, local!fakeData3: { 22, 30, 45, 41, 35, 54, 98, 43, 95, 201, 258, 178, 395, 213, 234, 469, 378, 520, 634, 734, 674, 700, 1323, 1320, 1211, 1432, 1343 }, [Line 5-162] Use KPI components and line chart components to display KPIs Here, we use a!sideBySideLayout() for each KPI and sparkline so that the value and chart display next to each other. Within each side by side layout, we use one a!sideBySideItem() to define the KPI, then a second a!sideBySideItem() to define the chart that goes with that KPI. For each KPI, a!kpiField() defines the source data and display style for the KPI. When you adapt this pattern for your application, replace the values in the data parameters with references to the record types you want to use as the source of the KPIs. Then, for each sparkline, we use a!lineChartField() to create a simple line chart. a!chartSeries defines the data used for the chart using the local variable we defined above. We use a!chartReferenceLine() to include a reference line for the charts. In this pattern, the value parameter for each reference line is null, so it will not be displayed. You can replace this value if you want to show a reference line on any of the sparklines. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 { a!columnsLayout( columns: { a!columnLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!sideBySideLayout( items: { a!sideBySideItem( item: a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Orders", icon: "shopping-basket", trend: "PERCENTAGE", size: "STANDARD" ), width: "MINIMIZE" ), a!sideBySideItem( item: a!lineChartField( label: "", labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023 Total Revenue", data: local!fakeData1 ) }, referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine(value: null, style: "SOLID"), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: false, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, connectNulls: false, colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom(colors: { "#756BD1", "#5448C6" }), height: "MICRO", xAxisStyle: "NONE", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ), width: "AUTO" ) } ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!sideBySideLayout( items: { a!sideBySideItem( item: a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Total Sales", icon: "shopping-cart", trend: "PERCENTAGE", size: "STANDARD" ), width: "MINIMIZE" ), a!sideBySideItem( item: a!lineChartField( label: "", labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023 Total Revenue", data: local!fakeData2 ) }, referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine(value: null, style: "SOLID"), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: false, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, connectNulls: false, colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom(colors: { "#F47348", "#5448C6" }), height: "MICRO", xAxisStyle: "NONE", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ), width: "AUTO" ) } ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) } ), a!columnLayout( contents: { a!cardLayout( contents: { a!sideBySideLayout( items: { a!sideBySideItem( item: a!kpiField( /* Select a record type for the data parameter */ data: null, primaryText: "Online Visitors", icon: "globe-alt", trend: "PERCENTAGE", size: "STANDARD" ), width: "MINIMIZE" ), a!sideBySideItem( item: a!lineChartField( label: "", labelPosition: "COLLAPSED", series: { a!chartSeries( label: "2023 Total Revenue", data: local!fakeData3 ) }, referenceLines: a!chartReferenceLine(value: null, style: "SOLID"), showLegend: false, showDataLabels: false, showTooltips: false, allowDecimalAxisLabels: false, connectNulls: false, colorScheme: a!colorSchemeCustom(colors: { "#F8B439", "#5448C6" }), height: "MICRO", xAxisStyle: "NONE", yAxisStyle: "NONE" ), width: "AUTO" ) } ) }, style: "#0F1C2E", shape: "ROUNDED", padding: "STANDARD", showBorder: false, showShadow: true ) } ) } ) ) Feedback Was this page helpful? 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