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Creating and Configuring BI Dashboards
Who is this article for?Users who want to learn more about building dashboards.
BI Reporting access is required.
BI Dashboards consist of a collection of visuals (charts, tables, gauges, etc individual to each user. The widgets a user can add to the Dashboard is dependent upon restrictions on the individual widgets.
These visualisations are placed in dashboard panels and can be grouped on dashboard tabs individual to each user. This article will walk you through what options are available.
- Adding Dashboard Visuals
- Tab Settings
- Panel Settings and Placement
- Dashboard Filters
- Restricting Panels
1. Adding Dashboard Visuals
When first entering the dashboard or opening a new tab, the Visual Gallery will be displayed.
The Visual Gallery is a collection of all visuals that a user has permission to view. They can be identified by their thumbnail images, the titles and descriptions entered upon saving.
The Find control allows you to search the titles through all the widgets in the visual gallery.
The Sort control allows the display order of the visuals to be changed either by Newest, Oldest or Title (alphabetically)
There are two galleries which make up the visual gallery. Specific galleries can be looked at by selecting from the dropdown.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Standard Widgets |
These are widgets preconfigured by the Support Team. Allow drill through to the records within EQMS. Variables can be changed to configure the view of the widgets to the user’s requirements. |
| Shared Widgets |
These are widgets created and published by members of the Self-Service Module Admin (System Group). Variables cannot be altered; however, filters can be applied. |
Each visual has an Add button that adds it as a new panel to the dashboard. You can add several panels at a time and multiples of the same panel can be added. Once a visual has been added its button disappears and Added is displayed.
If the visual is not added to your dashboard and you are a Self-Service Module Admin the option to Delete From List is available, which deletes the visual from the gallery. This means that no other users will have the option to add this visual to the gallery.
2. Tab Settings
Dashboard tab settings are configured by selecting the Gear icon at the top of the active tab.
The options available allow the tab to be configured.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Add from Visual Gallery |
Will reopen the visual gallery to add additional visuals to the tab. |
| Add Global Filters |
Allows all panels on the tab to filtered by the same variable (as long as the variable is contained in the dataset behind the widget). |
| Change Layout |
Enables the layout of the tab to be changed. By default, the layout is set to three columns of equal width. Up to eight columns can be set in equal and unequal widths. Free-form allows panels to be in any arrangement, even overlapping. |
| Rename Tab |
Allows the title of the tab to be renamed. |
| Remove Tab |
Removes the tab from the dashboard and all widgets in the tab from the dashboard. |
3. Panel Settings and Placement
Each dashboard panel has its own settings icon, indicated by the Gear icon. The options allow you to Filter, Rename and Remove the widget.
Panels can be re-arranged by dragging their title bar areas. When selected the cursor changes to a drag cursor and the “drop zone” (the new location) is indicated by a yellow bar on the tab. If the “drop zone” is in above or between other panels, these will move when the panel is dropped. The tabs layout settings control where panels can be dropped (either in columns or free form).
When the cursor is hovered over a chart in a panel, a resizing handle will appear, which can be used to change the chart height and if the tab is set in free-form the panel’s width.
If the tab is not set in free form the width of widgets can be adjusted by adjusting the widths of the layout columns. To do this find the vertical space between the columns and the “Splitter bar” will appear, this can be adjusted to the left and right by dragging and dropping to change the width of the column. Panels will automatically readjust to the width of the column.
4. Dashboard Filters
Dashboard panels can be filtered individually or globally (filtering the whole tab by a single variable).
Filtering Individual Panels
By selecting the panels Gear icon, the option to filter will be presented. By selecting the option, the Panel filter pop-up will open.
Here the variable to be filtered on will be defined, the comparison and then the value to be filtered for. Once all these are set, click Add, and the filter will be applied to the panel.
Multiple filters can be applied to one panel and can be defined by ‘And/Or’ statements, parentheses and changing the order of the filters. Changing these will automatically filter the panel on the dashboard by the statement accordingly.
Adding a Global Filter
A global filter is a filter that affects all the panels on the same tab; it enables all panels to be filtered by the same variable.
To add a global filter, select the Gear icon for that dashboard tab and choose Add Global Filter. The global filter panel will be displayed, and the filters operate in the same way as filtering an individual panel.
Once a global filter is applied the visualisations whose data includes the filter’s data columns will be filtered. To identify the panels that have been filtered, the filter description will be displayed at the top of the panel. In addition to this, by hovering over the filter in the global filter panel all panels filtered by that variable will be highlighted.
By selecting the Gear icon on the global filter panel, you can collapse the panel to the simple panel view. This will enable global filters to be enabled and disabled by checking and unchecking their checkbox as required. By unchecking the checkbox, the filter is not removed but remains an indicator that is defined and available to be used.
Global Filtering using Chart and Data Points
If a panel has been created within the Analysis area of the tool, it can be used to produce global filters by selecting a data point in the chart. Much like a standard global filter additional panels will be filtered by the selected variable.
The selected variable will be indicated by the appearance of a filter description and the colour of the bar changing (if selected from a bar chart).
Additionally, global filter variables can be selected from the panel by dragging the cursor to select a range of values. This will create a global filter that includes the selected range of values.
5. Restricting Panels
When panels are first published to the visual gallery, they are automatically restricted down to user who are in either of the System Administrators and Self-Service Module Admin system groups.
Access to panels must be extended if users who are not member of the groups above are to be able to add the panels created to their dashboard.
Panel access within the visual gallery is controlled by the Group Access Settings.
To extend access of a panel to allow a standard user to add it to their dashboard a member of the System Administrator or Self-Service Module Admin group must access the Group Access Settings menu from the top right hand of their dashboard.
Navigate to the panel that requires access extending by changing to the “Custom Widgets” tab and selecting the visualisation from the dropdown.
Groups with access defines that members of that system or non-system group have access to add the defined panel from the visual gallery.
Groups without access defines that members of the listed system or non-system groups do not have access to add the defined panel from the visual gallery.
To add a group from groups without access to groups with access, find the group by using the search bar and then select the Link button next to the group.