How to Automate Tracker Reports in PowerPoint with SlideMap

SlideMap is a PowerPoint add-in that automates repeat reports, such as trackers and multi-audience studies. You set up a report once, then swap in new data each wave and every chart, table and sig test updates.

We introduced SlideMap in a live webinar on 21st October, with a demo from Ed on our team followed by a Q&A. The full recording is below, along with a summary of what we covered and answers to the best questions from the session.

Watch the SlideMap webinar

Why we built SlideMap

SlideMap started as an internal tool for our Reporting Services team. Populating client templates by hand is slow and repetitive, especially for trackers that come round every month or quarter.

We had automated some of these reports before, but each one needed custom code and specialist knowledge to keep it running. We wanted something better, and set three requirements:

• Simple. Anyone with a working knowledge of Excel formulas should be able to use it.
• Dynamic. It should cope when the data structure changes between waves, without someone rebuilding the setup.
• Inside PowerPoint. It should work directly in the client's template, so the whole team can share a deck and work on different slides at once.

Who SlideMap is for

If you can write SPSS syntax or build complex survey scripts, you can pick up SlideMap. That includes research ops teams and more technical researchers. You don't need to be a developer: Ed, who led the demo, describes himself as non-technical.

SlideMap works on both Mac and Windows. It uses aggregated data, such as crosstabs, rather than respondent-level data.

How to automate a tracker report in PowerPoint

1. Upload your data. SlideMap doesn't need a fixed data structure. You tell it how to split your file into tables, and you can upload as many files and sheets as your project needs.
2. Map your shapes. Each chart, table or text box gets a query that tells SlideMap where to find its data and how to transform it.
3. Download the report. You can download a single slide to check your work, or the whole deck at once.
4. Swap the data for the next wave. Replace the data source, download again, and every slide updates.

That last step is where the time savings come from. Updating a tracker by hand used to take our team a long time. Now it takes minutes. The same approach works for projects with several verticals. For one sports league client, we produce a report for every club each wave. We map one template, then swap in each club's data.

Features that keep every wave consistent

Global queries. Some text boxes, like the base size at the bottom of each slide, repeat throughout a deck. Write the query once and SlideMap sends the result to every text box with the same tag.

Reference by name or position. Pull a row or column by its label, so you get the right data even if the column moves between waves. Or pull it by position when you always want the first column, whatever it's called.

Variables. Set values that change each wave, such as the start and end months of a rolling 12-month view. Update the variable once and every query that uses it updates too.

Conditional formatting. PowerPoint has no conditional formatting of its own. SlideMap adds it, including heat maps, using the same syntax as Excel and Google Sheets. If your sorted table puts your client's brand in a different row each wave, it's still highlighted.

Significance testing. SlideMap can read sig results from your data or calculate them from values and bases. You can test at 90%, 95% or 99% confidence, and run more than one test on the same chart.

Calculations. Add, subtract, multiply or divide the results of different queries, or sum values. This covers things like percentage point change, and the calculation reruns whenever you swap the data.

Why our AI Agent writes queries, not reports

SlideMap includes an AI Agent that knows our query language and can see the data you've uploaded. Ask it for the data you want in a chart and it writes the query. Ask it to sort the results and it updates the query. You review it, accept it, and it's mapped.

So why not use an AI agent to repopulate the whole report each wave?

We tried that. Repeat reporting depends on consistency: the same tasks done in exactly the same way, every time. However carefully you instruct an agent, it can still drift. It might get the report right the first and second time, then decide to redesign a chart on the third. In a tracker, even a small deviation is a big problem.

One of the key benefits of automating reporting is that it limits the time required for quality control. If there is even the slightest possibility that your agent can go rogue, quality checks remain essential.

With SlideMap, the AI helps you write the query, but the query is what runs. Once it's written, it doesn't change unless you change it, or you update a variable. You know exactly what data it will pull and what it will do with it, every wave.

The agent's job is to make SlideMap easier to learn, and to speed up setup once you know it. It can also suggest how to split your data file into tables when you upload it.

Quick to learn

Alongside the AI Agent, two smaller features make queries easier to write:

• The / shortcut. Type a forward slash in the query box to open a menu of every operation and transformation. Pick one and SlideMap fills in a template query for you. It's also useful when you can't remember the optional arguments for a function you rarely use. The same menu gives you quick access to your variables.
• Built-in data viewer. Inspect your uploaded files while you write queries, without leaving PowerPoint.

You can also preview any query to check it's returning the data you expect, in the shape you expect, before you download a slide.

Quick Actions: what's new

Quick Actions is the other half of SlideMap, in a separate tab of the same add-in. Instead of mapping data, it lets you make one-off changes to your template in a click. Since our last webinar we've added:

• Sort data. Reorder chart data in ascending or descending order.
• Sig testing on charts. This previously worked on tables only. You can now also choose the symbols and colours used to show results.
• All vs all sig testing. Alongside testing against a control group, you can now compare every column against every other, with results shown as column letters.

We're still actively developing Quick Actions, so expect more soon.

SlideMap FAQs

Can I pull data from more than one table into a single chart?

Yes, even from different files. That means you can build a summary table, such as top 2 box across several questions, without one existing in your data.

Can I rename statements to match the chart?

Yes. A replace function lets you swap or trim label text from your data file so it matches the wording in your template. You can also map data to row and column labels.

Can I sort one chart by the order of another?

Yes. Combining transformations like sort and trim lets you match orders across charts, which we use for funnel charts.

Can I include source data for quality checks?

Yes. You can send data to cells outside the chart's visible range. It won't appear on the slide, but you can check it in the chart data.

Can I repeat a slide across several tables?

Not yet, but it's on the way. You'll be able to map one slide, then create copies that each point to a different table.

Get early access

SlideMap is currently in early access. If you'd like to test it with your team, book a short demo and we'll get you set up.

You can also find more details on the SlideMap page.