Eye on the ArcGIS Business Analyst Update

It's here! The newest release of  ArcGIS Business Analyst  has arrived and we couldn't be more excited to share it with you. With the onset of COVID-19, the Business Analyst team shifted to remote work in March 2020. In the last year, we've all realized the importance of needing streamlined workflows so we can work better together — even at a distance.

With this release of  Business Analyst Web and Mobile Apps  and ArcGIS Community Analyst, we've been focused on making it even easier to share your analysis with your teams.

There are many exciting new features and awesome updates included in this release. Here are new features in the Q2 2021 release of Business Analyst that will be covered in this article:

• New ArcGIS Dashboards workflow
• Improved Custom Data Setup
• Curating content
• Export data to Microsoft Excel from infographics
• Dark mode in Business Analyst Mobile App
• Data updates

Ready to try these new features, understand your customers, optimize and grow your business, and create beautiful infographics? Sign up for a  21-day free trial of ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App .

Ready to share your analysis interactive dashboard in just a few clicks? Now you can share your sites, maps, and infographics via  ArcGIS Dashboards . The process is simple — select ArcGIS Dashboards via the Share Results option under the Maps tab.

After choosing ArcGIS Dashboards to share your work, a guided workflow will walk you through the process. With the first release, you'll have two layout choices — Side Layout and Main Layout.

Once you're finished with the workflow, you're ready to share your work! You can choose to either share the dashboard URL directly with your team or you can further edit and customize the dashboard directly within ArcGIS Dashboards.

Below you can find an example of what infographics look like in both the Side Layout and the Main Layout.

Working with proprietary data is vital.  Custom Data Setup  in Business Analyst gives you the power to use your own data alongside  Esri Data  — a global location data portfolio that's been thoroughly vetted for accuracy. After using Custom Data Setup, you can use your data in a variety of tools in Business Analyst Web App like  infographics ,  Color-Coded Maps ,  Smart Map Search ,  Suitability Analysis , and more.

Previously, you were only able to add or remove variables via drag-n-drop. We realized that this could be frustrating if you needed to move hundreds of variables. With this release, you can search for specific variables then add or remove them by selecting multiple rows.

In Business Analyst, users have always been able to add  Web Maps and Layers  from ArcGIS Online and  ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World .

But some members of your team only need a curated dataset rather than access to all available data. As an administrator, you're now able to do precisely that — grant access to specific data for specific members of your organization. This helps to prevent some users from getting overwhelmed or even lost when searching for the data they need for their analysis.

After clicking on the Preferences icon (small cog in the upper right corner), here's how to do it:

1. Under the Organization tab, click on Add Data from ArcGIS.
2. Select an  ArcGIS Online group  and then enter your new data tab's name.
3. Choose where in Business Analyst you want the new curated dataset to be available.
4. If you'd like, you can even filter the content by map extent.

Once you've set up the curated data set and your users select that they want to add data, they'll see the custom tab wherever administrators have designated.

Here's how your users will see the enhancements:

1. Name of the custom data tab.
2. Ability to filter by map extent.
3. Content categories from ArcGIS Online (read more about this feature  here ).
4. Browse the content of the ArcGIS Online group that the Administrator selected.
5. Add multiple selections at once (NOTE: this feature is available for all users, not solely administrators).

One of the most frequently requested features from customers — "Can we export data from our infographics to Excel?" You made the request. We've delivered with this release.

After running an infographic, simply click the export icon, choose to export as Excel, and then explore your data in Microsoft Excel.

Here's how to do it:

1. Click on the Export icon in the upper right corner of the infographic window.
2. Under the Export as section, choose Excel.
3. Click Create Excel.
4. Open the Excel file that was downloaded as a result of this workflow.

Personally, I prefer dark mode in every application or operating system that offers it. After speaking with customers, we learned that you feel the same way. For those who prefer the aesthetics of dark mode on their phones, Business Analyst Mobile App now supports this on both iOS and Android.

With the Q2 2021 release of ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App, we’ve made updates to the data available both for the United States and many countries around the world. Here are the data updates now available in Business Analyst:

• USA and Puerto Rico American Community Survey.
• USA business locations and traffic data updates. (NOTE: Infogroup, one of our business data providers, has officially changed its name to  Data Axle . Both the data quality and content remain the same.)
• Michael Bauer Research international countries and regions to year 2020 data, Netherlands 4orange.
• New Thailand points of interest data available for use in  Business and Facilities Search ,  Void Analysis , and the use of competitor locations in  Suitability Analysis  in Thailand.

If you'd like to read more about these recent data updates, please visit the  ArcGIS Business Analyst Data documentation page  and check out our What's New in Esri Demographics blog.

We're so happy to share this release of ArcGIS Business Analyst Web and Mobile Apps. The full list of updates included in this release of Business Analyst Web App can be found  here , but I've also included additional links below that you may find useful.