Analyses

An analysis is the main MacroLens workspace. In it you put together one or more time series, apply operations and calculations to them, look at the results as a chart, a table or a statistical analysis, and save everything. A saved analysis opens with the latest data — if the source has updated the series, all calculations are recomputed automatically.

Saved charts and tables are analyses whose main view is a chart or a table.

Creating an analysis

• Choose Analyses in the left-hand menu and create a new analysis, or
• on a series page choose Add to analysis.

Drafts

"Compare in a new analysis" and "Open in a new analysis" (in search and on series pages) open a draft. A draft is saved automatically but is not shown in the library, the analyses list, the report and presentation pickers or the Excel add-in. To keep it, click "Save" in the banner and give it a title. Recently opened drafts are listed under "Recently opened drafts" on the analyses page. Drafts not opened for 30 days are deleted automatically.

Series list

The left part of the analysis shows the list of series. Each series has:

• a formula name (a short name, e.g. s1, s2 or one you choose, e.g. gdp). It consists of lower-case Latin letters, digits and underscores and starts with a letter;
• a name shown in chart and table that you can change (e.g. “GDP, current prices”);
• an operation chain — the operations applied to this series;
• a visibility switch and style settings (colour, line).

You can change the order of the series; the legend and the table use the same order.

Adding series

You can add three kinds of series:

1. A database series — through the search dialog (it works like the search).
2. A formula — a calculated series, e.g. gdp / pop * 1000 or yoy(s1) - yoy(s2). Formulas can use other series of the same analysis by their short names, any database series with S("key") and your user series with U("code"). See Formula language.
3. A user series — a calculated or edited series you saved earlier (see Library).

Operations

Select a series, click Add operation and pick the operation from the list (you can also search it by name). Operations are grouped: frequency conversion, lag and lead, aggregation, changes, indices, trend, cycle, seasonal adjustment, smoothing, arithmetic, etc. When you choose an operation, its parameter form is shown with default values.

Several operations form a chain and are applied one after another: for example “Convert frequency to quarterly (average)” → “Year-on-year change, %”. Order matters — converting first and then calculating the change gives a different result from the opposite order. You can edit or remove any step of the chain.

All operations are described with examples in Operations and the Function reference.

Editing values and adding future values

You can change past values and add future values (e.g. your own forecast). Choose the series action Edit values, change the values you need or add future periods and enter their values (you can also add a note, e.g. the source of the forecast).

• Edits apply to your analysis only — the database data does not change.
• Edited values are marked, and the series shows how many values were changed and how many were added.
• Edits are applied before the operation chain, so, for example, the year-on-year change is also calculated for the added forecast values.
• You can save the edited series as a user series.

Common frequency

If the analysis contains series of different frequencies (e.g. monthly inflation and quarterly GDP), you can set a common frequency — all series are then converted to it automatically, by the kind of indicator: when reducing the frequency, flows (e.g. GDP, exports) are summed, end-of-period stocks (e.g. debt) take the last value and rates, indices and other indicators are averaged; when increasing it, flows are distributed equally and other series are interpolated linearly. The method applied is shown with each series. If you need another method, add a frequency conversion operation to the series.

Order of calculation

Each series is calculated in this order:

1. the base series (database series, user series or formula result);
2. value edits and future values;
3. the operation chain;
4. the common frequency (if set).

Formulas that use other series of the analysis are calculated after them. If formulas refer to each other in a circle, a circular-reference message is shown. An error in one series does not affect the others — it is shown next to that series with an explanation of what to fix.

Views

• Chart — see Charts.
• Table — see Tables.
• Statistics — correlation, regression, VAR, PCA, unit root tests, etc. See Statistical analysis.

Saving and sharing

• Save (Ctrl+S) — the analysis is saved in your workspace with a title and (optionally) a folder. You can reach it from the library on any computer. Later changes to a saved analysis are saved automatically.
• Save as… — lets you choose whether the library shows the analysis as a chart or as a table, and which view it opens with.
• Save as a copy — creates a copy of the analysis (e.g. for another set of countries).
• Share with colleagues — other MacroLens users of your organisation can view the analysis (under Shared by colleagues); they cannot change it but can Copy to my analyses.
• Save as my series — saves a calculated series separately so that you can use it in other analyses (U("code")) and in the Excel add-in.

An analysis is always calculated from the latest data. To freeze values at a certain date (e.g. for a report), export the table or save the series as a user series without automatic recalculation.

Export and printing

Charts and tables can be downloaded in common formats (PNG, SVG, XLSX, CSV), copied and printed, and several analyses can be combined into a report or presentation.