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System Administration / ARCHIBUS System Administrator / Add-in Manager / Dashboard Definition Wizard

Using the Dashboard Definition Wizard

ARCHIBUS offers a wide variety of reports and charts, but users typically need a limited number that are vital to their daily work. A dashboard enables quick access to data by presenting multiple views on one screen. You can use the Dashboard Definition Wizard to create Web dashboards targeted to users performing specific roles in your organization. After creating the dashboard you assign it to the users whose role requires the views included in the dashboard. See Assigning Dashboards to Users.

Dashboards have two rows of tabs. The first row tab contains the name of the ARCHIBUS application selected for the dashboard. The second row can have one or more tabs that are the processes or roles for the dashboard. Selecting a second-row tab loads the views defined for this process.

Note: The Dashboard Definition Wizard is a substitute for working with the"Tasks by Process and Application" view in ARCHIBUS Client/Server.

Note: If you have v17.1 dashboards, you can use the dashboard enhancements in your own project by using the Update Project Wizard to update the ARCHIBUS Processes table which holds the Dashboard View Name and Dashboard Layout. You can then use the Dashboard Definition Wizard to place your existing views into new dashboard processes.

The Dashboard Definition Wizard enables you to add views to Web processes or to create new Web dashboard processes to which you can assign any view. See Setting Up Dashboards (Overview).

If you have dashboards that were created in V17.1, you can use the Dashboard Definition Wizard to migrate these dashboards to V17.2. See Migrating V17.1 Dashboards to V17.2.

Step 1: Select the Application Tab

1. Select the following:

   • System Administration/Add-in Manager/Run Dashboard Definition Wizard.

   The Dashboard Definition Wizard Select Application screen shows active applications (applications for which the Active? field is set to Yes) for which you are licensed.

2. To see only Dashboard Applications, click Show Only Dashboard Applications. See About Dashboard Applications.

   Note: If you select an application that is not a dashboard application, you can create the dashboard process for it in Step 2.

3. Select the Application or first level tab for the dashboard, and click Continue.

Step 2: Select the Process Tab

The dashboard processes are the second-row tabs for the dashboard. These tabs organize the dashboard views by process or role. Step 2 shows the processes associated with the application selected in Step 1. You can only select processes that have a type of Web Dashboard. You can create a We Dashboard process if one does not exist for the application.

To create a new Web Dashboard process for the application:

1. Select Add a New Process Tab.
2. Type a name for the tab in the Process or Role field. This is the text that appears on the tab.
3. Enter a display order. The display order must be unique for the application. Lower numbers appear to the left of higher numbers.
4. Select the License Level (Self-Service, Process Owner, Analysis, and so on). The wizard then restricts the list of views to just those of that license level or below to ensure that users assigned to that license level can access all of those views. Even if you have Application Control Point (ACP)-style licensing. you can use the License Level option to filter the dashboard views to just those appropriate for your chosen user level.
5. Click Save.
6. The process now appears in the top panel.

From the top panel you can

• Change the display order for the process using the Up and Down buttons. Display order numbers automatically update when you use the buttons.
• Delete a process by clicking Delete in the row for the process. The dashboard process and its associated views are removed from the application,

Select the process and click Select and Continue.

Step 3: Select the Dashboard Layout

In this step, you choose the pattern of panels that will hold your dashboard. In the next step, you will choose a view to go into each panel. The panels of each dashboard are labeled A, B, C, etc. You can choose any style of layout and use it as a dashboard. Typically, you will use a dashboard style layout that is designed to show a number of views side-by-side in report-style proportions. However, all of the standard layouts are provided in the wizard for completeness' sake. For example, you can also use a Form style layout -- which has taller panes designed to hold data that scrolls vertically. Or, you can use a Console style layout, that has a horizontal pane at the top to hold a restriction console.

Generally, dashboards are organized into one, two, or three columns, each with a number of rows. A 3-2-3 pattern has three columns with three rows in the first column, two in the second, and three in the third. A 3-2-0 pattern has no third column. A 2x1 pattern has one column split evenly between two rows. Some dashboards have their center column split to get four columns. These dashboards actually have a nested layout in this center column.

The layout defines the panels into which the selected views of the Dashboard will fit. Select a layout that has the correct number of panels for the views you want the dashboard to include.

Note: To see examples of dashboard layouts, go to Solution Templates/System Integrator Views/Dashboard Views. Load these views to see examples of different layouts.

Select the option button for the layout, and click Select and Continue.

Step 4: Select Dashboard Views

You now select the views to include in the dashboard. Any view associated with an application for which you have a license can be included in a dashboard. The lower panel, Available Dashboard Views, includes all of the ARCHIBUS Process Tasks (afm_ptask) table records. The upper panel, Organize and Save Dashboard Views, shows the views (or tasks) associated with the selected process. As you add views from the lower panel they appear in this upper panel .

To add views:

1. From the lower Add Available Dashboard Views panel, select the views for the dashboard process. Use the mini-console to search for the views you want to add. You can search by application, process or role, task, or task file.
2. Click Add in the row for the view to add it to the dashboard. Select a view for each panel in the layout you selected in the previous step.
3. If needed:

• Use the Up and Down arrows to place the views in specific panels.
• Click Delete to remove a view from the dashboard process.

4. To preview the dashboard in a pop-up window, click Preview Dashboard.
5. To save the dashboard, click Save the Selected Views and Dashboard Layout.

   A message gives the path and file name for the dashboard you defined. Dashboard view files are saved in the\schema\per-site folder. You assign this process view file to users so that they can access this dashboard. See Assigning Processes to Users.

When you click Save, the Dashboard Definition Wizard:

• Deletes any existing ARCHIBUS Process Tasks for this Dashboard application and process, and replaces them with the tasks you select using the wizard.
• Saves a new view file in the per-site folder. For example, if you create a dashboard for the Projects process for the Dashboard Department application, a file called\schema\per-site\AbDashboardDepartment\Projects\ab-dashboarddepartment-projects-dashboard.axvw is created.
• Saves the name of this view in the ARCHIBUS Processes Dashboard View field, that is to the afm_processes.dashboard_view field.
• Saves the layout you selected to the ARCHIBUS Processes record, that is, to the afm_processes.dashboard_layout field.

Dragging and Dropping Views onto the Dashboard 

Users can customize their dashboards and drag and drop their favorite views onto the dashboard.

For dragging and dropping views onto the dashboard, you will get the best results with views that you have defined using the View Definition Wizard and placed on the Process Navigator. These views follow all of the conventions required for dashboard views. Views that are created by hand may not follow these conventions. For instance, hand-created views may not have unique IDs for all panels in a view -- these unique IDs are a requirement if multiple views are combined in one dashboard layout.

When dragging and dropping views, you cannot drop view 1.0 views (from V.17.1 and earlier) onto a dashboard pane that hold a view 2.0 view (from 17.2 and later). The reason is that the Dashboard Definition Wizard creates an iFrame around any View 1.0 view. This iFrame enables View 1.0 views work inside of the newer dashboards. The Dashboard Definition Wizard doesn't create this iFrame around View 2.0 views because it is not necessary and because it makes the views load more slowly.