Simple BI for everyone!

Back when I started developing extensions to SharePoint using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx), circa 2018, one of the first ones I built was a web part which acts as a wrapper for Chart.js to generate visualisation based on data stored in SharePoint lists (and document libraries).

I called it K-Charts, and it proved to be quite successful with my local customer base. It is probably in active service with a few dozen customers in Australia and allows them to build super-cool dashboards, like the one in the above screenshot, containing interactive charts and graphs galore.

I believe that K-Charts sits in the cool middle ground between the woefully inadequate standard Quick Chart web part and the all-conquering Power BI platform (with all that complexity and additional cost). Microsoft want you to buy into Power BI so (in IMHO) that’s why they don’t offer anything better than the Quick Chart web part with its lame choice of just 2 chart styles, paltry data limit, and long list of missing features.

There are plenty of scenarios where you might want to add some quick and neat visuals to a page, based on SharePoint data, including risk logs, product data specs and user feedback lists etc. Now you don’t need to be daunted by the prospect.

A unique (premium) feature of K-Charts is that it allows you to interact and update the data directly from the chart without the need to search through the back-end list. And it works cross-site too. Meaning that the source data can pulled from multiple locations and consolidated into a useful dashboard.

I always meant to update K-Charts it to a newer SPFx version and push it onto the world stage via the Microsoft Marketplace. It’s only taken me 5 years, but yesterday I got it over the line!

K-Charts is available for download from the either the Kaboodle Web Site at https://kaboodle.software/Solutions/K-Optics/K-Charts or from the marketplace.

Like all Kaboodle products, it has a freemium option which means you can just download it and use it, and you don’t even need to register. You only need a paid license to access premium features. The main constraint is that the freemium version is restricted to 25 data points (which is still more than twice as many as the standard Quick Chart). A paid license lifts that limit to 5K items

This is a really cool product that is so simple to use. In the 2-minute video below, you will see how to build a chart in 30 seconds – I kid you not!

And I support it with a detailed product guide which walks you through some typical use-case scenarios.

Anyway, please give it a go and tell me have any ideas or suggestions for improvements and promote it via your social media channels if you like (and don’t if you don’t). If are downloading it from the marketplace please add a (hopefully positive) review.