Statement on Tools (R-Markdown)

[craig-shenton]

I have collated examples of R-Markdown reports from the Technical Group and all of the samples received are embedded HTML reports and are using interactive charts with Plotly (or similar). I had been working on the assumption that PowerPoint was still the default in the NHS (and thus using ggplot/images). Clearly, there are many advantages to the interactive reports and all the feedback relayed has been positive. However, I still feel there is pushback against their use, largely because there are not part of the MS ecosystem and people are worried about how it might be received.

Therefore, I would propose a statement for the Steering Group to agree, similar to the NHS-R community ‘Statement on tools’, endorsing the use of:

• HTML format reports (over PowerPoint)
• Interactive charts (Plotly)
• Quarto (available on UDAL VMs)

This would go a long way to giving NHSE managers the confidence to go with the best technology and move the org to a code-first / open-source way of working.

We could collaborate with the NHS-R community on this.

[craig-shenton]

I have started a draft 'statement on tools' page:

Link: https://nhsengland.github.io/nhs-r-reporting/1.6-statement-on-tools.html

Code: https://github.com/nhsengland/nhs-r-reporting/blob/main/docs/1.6-statement-on-tools.qmd