The Trend component

The Trend component detects either upward or downward changes in data values over a length of time.

The length of time is divided into equal periods. A mathematical function (such as sum or average) is applied to the data collected for each period. The calculated result is evaluated against a specified value to determine whether the values of the period are either consistently increasing or consistently decreasing by a certain percentage. If the percentage change of the values is consistently above the specified value for all of the periods, the component evaluates to true.

To detect a trend, you specify a field in the data source on which to do the trending. You also specify the time period over which the evaluation is done and the percentage increase or decrease you are looking for. The data values all come from a designated field in a pre-populated Container or Select component.

The trend groups data values by fixed time intervals within the specified period. For example, if a period spans three calender months beginning January 1 to the end of March, the data values are grouped into intervals for the months of January, February, and March.