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Data Flow

To get a glimpse under the hood, please review the following comparison.

A visualization panel versus the Business Variable panel​

Below are two schemas for comparison. The first one highlights the data flow for any regular Grafana visualization panel. Usually, a panel requires a data source that would fetch the data for further display by the panel.

Data flow when working with a regular Grafana visualization panel.
Data flow when working with a regular Grafana visualization panel.

The Business Variable panel does not require a data source. It works with your dashboard variable which already is a set of values. So, in a way, the Business Variable panel uses your dashboard variable as a data source.

However, optionally, the data source can be used for two purposes:

  • First, for a color status next to your variable, you need a numeric value to evaluate using thresholds.
  • Second, for the TreeView format, ensure to provide node relation via the connected data source.
Data flow when working with the Business Variable panel.
Data flow when working with the Business Variable panel.