Adding Advanced Dashboard Items to a Dashboard - Reporting Dashboards - Foundation 24.1 - Foundation 24.1 - Ready - OnBase - external

Reporting Dashboards

Platform
OnBase
Product
Reporting Dashboards
Release
Foundation 24.1
License

Dashboards are composed of different graphical representations of data returned from a configured data provider. The graphical dashboard items of a dashboard allow users to quickly identify relevant information and trends surrounding the data managed by the data provider.

The dashboard designer is used to configure how the data in a dashboard is displayed to the user. Dashboards can contain one or more dashboard items representing data from one or more data providers.

Note:

This section covers advanced dashboard items such as pivot tables, maps, and gauges. For basic dashboard items, see Designing a Basic Dashboard (Grid, Chart, or Pie Dashboard Item).

To add advanced dashboard items to your dashboard:

  1. Launch the dashboard designer. The designer can be launched in several ways:
    • The dashboard designer is automatically launched when the dashboard is first created.

    • From the Dashboard Gallery area, select the dashboard to design in the left pane then click the Design button in the Dashboard ribbon group.

    • From the Administration area, click Dashboards in the left pane and select the dashboard to design, then click the Design button in the Dashboard ribbon group.

    • From the dashboard Properties dialog box, click the Design button at the bottom of the dialog box.

    The dashboard designer is opened in a new user interface.

    • A: The Home ribbon, used to open various properties controls and add design elements to the dashboard.

    • B: The data provider pane, used to select the data provider to use for a design element.

    • C: The main design area, used to place, size, and configure the design elements.

  2. In the data provider pane, select the data provider from the drop-down list that returns the data needed for the dashboard item.

    For example, if you are designing a choropleth map that shows units sold for each location, select the data provider that includes the units sold and location columns.

    Note:

    To add, edit, or create a data provider, see Data Providers.

  3. Click the button in the Home ribbon that corresponds to the dashboard item to represent the data in the dashboard. One or more dashboard items can be added for one or more data providers.
    Note:

    This section covers advanced dashboard items such as pivot tables, maps, and gauges. For basic dashboard items, see Designing a Basic Dashboard (Grid, Chart, or Pie Dashboard Item).

    Button

    Description

    Pivot: Insert a pivot grid display. Pivot grid displays are a way to present multi-dimensional data in a two-dimensional grid display.

    Gauges: Insert a visual diagram of data representing a scale and a data point on that scale. For example, progress toward a sales goal.

    Cards: Insert a visual diagram of the difference between two values, presented as cards that show an absolute and percent-based variation.

    Choropleth Map: Insert a visual diagram of where on a map the data is relevant. Maps are colored by area based on the returned values to show geographical patterns surrounding the data. For example, sales figures by region.

    Note:

    Reporting Dashboards supports maps based on longitude and latitude; it does not support Cartesian coordinates.

    Geo Point Map: Insert visual callouts of specific data items on a map. For example, inventory counts by warehouse.

    Note:

    Reporting Dashboards supports maps based on longitude and latitude; it does not support Cartesian coordinates.

    Scatter Chart: Insert a visual diagram with two axes using the size of points on that diagram to indicate a third value. For example, margin averages, sales, and overall profits for a company's different product categories.

    Treemap: Insert a visual diagram that sorts data into nested rectangles as part of a whole. For example, various product lines can be visualized as a portion of a company's entire profit or sales.

  4. Drag-and-drop the columns from the data provider pane into the appropriate data item in the Data Items pane. The required columns for each dashboard item are described in the following table.

    Dashboard Item

    Data Items

    Pivot: Inserts a pivot grid display. Pivot grid displays are a way to present multi-dimensional data in a two-dimensional grid display.

    • Drag the columns used to calculate totals into the Values data item.

    • Drag the columns used as columns headings into the Columns data item.

    • Drag the columns used as row headings into the Rows data item.

    For example, if you are designing a grid that shows sales totals by year for each sales person by state and company, add the sales count column to the Values data item; the year column to the Columns data item; and the sales person, state, and company columns to the Rows data item.

    Gauges: Insert a visual diagram of data representing a scale and a data point on that scale. For example, progress toward a sales goal.

    • Drag the column for the progress toward the total into the Actual data item under Gauges.

    • Drag the column for the target total into the Target data item under Gauges.

    • Drag the column used to break the totals into separate gauges into the Series data item.

    For example, to show progress toward a sales goal for each product category, add the units sold (actual) and units sold (target) columns into the Gauges data item, and add the category column to the Series data item.

    Cards: Insert a visual diagram of the difference between two values, presented as cards that show an absolute and percent-based variation.

    • Drag the column for the current total into the Actual data item under Cards. The Actual value is subtracted from the Target value to establish the difference.

    • Drag the column for the target total into the Target data item under Cards.

    • Drag the column used to break the totals into separate cards into the Series data item.

    For example, to the difference between sales goals and actual sales for each product category, add the units sold (actual) and units sold (target) columns into the Cards data item, and add the category column to the Series data item.

    The size of cards can be changed by clicking on the settings button next to the Actual and Target values. To add a sparkline to the bottom of the cards (a visual representation of the values over time), drag the parameter that contains the value to track into the Argument data item under Sparkline.

    Choropleth Map: Insert a visual diagram of where on a map the data is relevant. Maps are colored by area based on the returned values to show geographical patterns surrounding the data. For example, sales figures by region.

    • Drag the column to group the total by into the Attribute data item.

    • Drag the columns for the total counts into the Maps data items.

    For example, to show the total number of customers for each country in the world, add the country column as the Attribute and the customer count as the Maps value.

    Note:

    Reporting Dashboards supports maps based on longitude and latitude; it does not currently support Cartesian coordinates.

    Geo Point Map: Insert visual callouts of specific data items on a map. For example, inventory counts by warehouse.

    • Drag the geographical latitude column of the location into the Latitude data item.

    • Drag the geographical longitude column of the location into the Longitude data item.

    • Drag the value column associated with geographical locations into the Value data item.

    For example, to show how many units of a specific product are in each warehouse, add the columns for the latitudes and longitudes of warehouses into the corresponding data items and add the inventory count for a product as the value.

    Note:

    Reporting Dashboards supports maps based on longitude and latitude; it does not currently support Cartesian coordinates.

    Scatter Chart: Insert a visual diagram with two axes using the size of points on that diagram to indicate a third value. For example, margin averages, sales, and overall profits for a company's different product categories.

    • Drag the column for the horizontal axis into the X-axis data item.

    • Drag the column for the vertical axis into the Y-axis data item.

    • Drag the data used to determine the size of the data points into the Weight data item.

    • Drag the data used to color and differentiate data points into the Argument data item.

    For example, to show the profit performance of different product categories for a store, add the total sales to the X-axis, add the margin average to the Y-axis, add the total profit to the Weight, and add the product category to the Argument.

    Treemap: Insert a visual diagram that sorts data into nested rectangles as part of a whole. For example, various product lines can be visualized as a portion of a company's entire sales.

    • Drag the column that determines the sizing of the rectangles into the Values data item. You can drag multiple columns into the Values data item to create multiple views within a single treemap dashboard item.

    • Drag the column that determines the larger categories to sort data by into the Arguments data item.

    • Drag the column that determines the sub-categories under each broader category into the Arguments data item.

    • Sub-categories can be grouped by their categories by clicking on the name of the category and selecting Group Tiles from the drop-down list. Grouping the sub-categories in this manner makes visual comparison between the broader categories easier for the user.

    For example, total profit and total sales could be used as Values to determine the sizes of rectangles. Product category (such as Technology, Furniture, and Office Supplies) can be used as the first Argument to determine the broadest grouping of data with product sub-category (such as Office Machines, Chairs & Chairmats, and Storage & Organization) as the second Argument to create sub-groupings.

  5. To change the scale of a column, move the cursor over the data item and click the arrow that is displayed, then select the scale from the menu that is displayed. Not all columns have scales that can be changed.
  6. To change specific design elements of a dashboard item, such as the shape of gauges or style of bar chart, click the Design ribbon to display the detailed design elements available for that dashboard item. Not all dashboard items have additional design elements.
  7. To change the column names in the display or the caption of a dashboard item in the dashboard, right-click anywhere in the dashboard item to edit and select Edit Names. The Edit Names dialog box is displayed with each parameter and the caption in editable fields.
  8. Update the Dashboard item name field to change the caption at the top of the dashboard item.
    Tip:

    To hide the caption, right-click anywhere in the dashboard item and select Show Caption from the right-click menu. This is a toggle option that shows/hides the caption.

  9. Update the remaining fields to change the display name of that parameter or column in the dashboard item. Not all parameter and column names are displayed in all dashboard items.
  10. Click OK.
  11. Click Save in the File ribbon group of the Home ribbon to save your dashboard design and continue working, or click Save & Close to save your dashboard design and close the dashboard designer.
    Tip:

    For details on other customization options, such as changing the title or currency settings of the dashboard, or adding images or informational text to the dashboard, see Additional Customizations.

    Note:

    For information on adding basic dashboard items, see Designing a Basic Dashboard (Grid, Chart, or Pie Dashboard Item).