Variables
The Variables feature provide a quick and easy way to add common and simple data points that will dynamically update with your destination. Namely, these reflect dates and the names of slide decks, but is being continually improved with additional functionality!
Adding a variable to your destination does not require any existing visualizations to be created. To create a variable, navigate to the Destinations page, open your desired destination, and click on the Add Variable button. After you click Add Variable, you will see a view similar to this.
You can add a Variable to your destination by following these steps:
Select the Variable type you want to add
Select the formatting settings you want (if the variable type includes any)
Click Save
Update the created Variable by ticking the box next to it and pressing the Update button.
Variables currently support 3 different types: Update date, Update date - 1 (minus one), and Destination name. The example previews of each of these types and their potential formats are displayed when selecting them.
- Update date
- This variable provides the date the last time this variable was updated.
- Granularity of the date can be day, month, quarter, and year.
- Each date granularity includes its own date formatting to choose from.
- Update date - 1 (minus one)
- This variable provides the date the last time this variable was updated, minus 1 period of time, as defined by the Date format.
- Granularity of the date can be day, month, quarter, and year.
- Each date granularity includes its own date formatting to choose from.
For example, say the last update ran on January 2025, then the resulting variable output in the destination would be December 2024.
Similarly, if the last update ran in Q1 2025, the resulting variable output would be Q4 2024.
- Destination Name
- This variable provides the name of the destination the last time this variable was updated.
- There are no other format options for this variable at this time.
The table below breaks down all the options for date formats.
Date Format | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Date | MM/DD/YYYY 01/30/2025 | DD/MM/YYYY 30/01/2025 | |
Month | MMMM January | MMMM YYYY January 2025 | MM/YYYY 01/2025 |
Quarter | [Q]Q Q1 | [Q]Q YYYY Q1 2025 | |
Year | YYYY 2025 | | |
Below are some use cases as highlighed by our customers.
- Using the Destination name to automatically title, brand, or watermark their slides, specific for their customer. This works for both regular destinations and variants created in collections!
- Using the Update date as a part of the title slide.
- Using the Update date to provide the date in the footer on each of their slides.
- Using the Update date - 1 to provide context in slides for data that may have come from last month, quarter, or year. This is especially powerful when working with destinations that you want to archive and update.
The variables feature is one of the newest features to Rollstack and will continue to grow, improve, and evolve based on your feedback! There have already been many requests for ways to extend variables and the Rollstack team is hard at work to continue to improve this feature.
