User Guide to Dashboards

Dashboards have an intuitive interface that is easy to learn and use.

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your dashboards.

Topics on This Page

Navigate Dashboards

• Click the dashboards breadcrumb pulldowns to quickly navigate between dashboards and dashboard collections.

  

• Alternatively, click the Dashboards menu button to browse a list.

  

• Click on charts, KPIs, links, or buttons to drill down to detail levels or drill across to other dashboards, if available and depending on how the chart was designed.  
• Hover over a chart to see the drill icon. Click on the chart to drill down to another level of detail, or to another dashboard. Notice how other charts with related data will also update to the new drill level.

  

• For some dashboards, when you drill to other levels, the drill path shows in a navigation bar. Click on the parts of the bar to change the drill again, or click Original to go back to the beginning.

  

• If you don't want to see the drill path, you can toggle it off.

  

• The link icon shows that a KPI Key Performance Indicator, a measurement of performance. Organizations measure activities related to successfully meeting their objectives, such as profitability or acquiring new customers. or button links to another dashboard. Hover over the KPI Key Performance Indicator, a measurement of performance. Organizations measure activities related to successfully meeting their objectives, such as profitability or acquiring new customers. to see the name of the linked dashboard and click the link icon to open it.

  

• If you get a bit lost in the data, just click Reset to go back to the original state of the dashboard.

  

• Use the Main menu to go back to the main MasterControl menus or to log out.

  

View Dashboards

• Hover over charts to see more detailed information in a pop-up.

  

• Maximize a report by hovering over it and clicking Maximize. The report expands to fill the screen.

  

  Click Minimize to restore its original size.
  Tip: Maximize is particularly helpful for viewing map reports.
• If enabled for a report, you can change report types by hovering over a report and clicking Dashlet Actions → View Selector. The options reflect the type of charts that most closely match the data.

  

  Tip: The Table view is a convenient way to see the data in a column/row format.
• Some reports let you choose what attributes or measures to show. Click Dashlet Actions → Column Selector to choose those attributes and measures.

  

• Alternative attributes or measures display in the Column Selector list. When you choose another one, the report updates with the new data.

  

• For some tabular reports, you can toggle row and column parent headers. Click the table menu icon and then click the toggle button.

  
  

• For some tabular reports, you can immediately create a percentage calculation column from a numeric column. Click the column menu and select Percentage Of..., then select either subtotals or grand total. Subtotals and grand totals are available based on the data in the report.

  

  Notice that the table automatically resizes to fit in its panel when you add the new column.

  

  To delete the percentage column, click the column menu and select Remove.

  

Filter Dashboards

Dashboards can have standard or embedded filters that let you explore subsets of the data.

1. Click Filters at the top right of the dashboard page to use the standard filters.

   

   Which filters are available, if any, depends on how the dashboard was set up.

   

2. Check the filters and operators you want, then click Apply.
   Tips: Check the box to the left of the search box to toggle select or deselect all options. Click the icon on the right of the search box to toggle showing all or only selected options.

Filtering Tips

• You can toggle filters off. In a dashboard, when a filter is toggled off, it maintains its state, but it is not applied to the dashboard.

  

• To hide the filter drawer without applying new filters, click on the Filters menu button again.
• Filter cards for the filters you select appear along the top of the dashboard. Hover over them to see the name of the filter and its current filter values.

  

• If there are a lot of filter values, you can search on them to narrow down your selection.

  

  You can also check the All box to select them all.

  

• Undo filters by clicking the X on the filter card.

  

• Some filters are based on dates and use a calendar. For those types of filters, click the filter card to see the date picker, and select the dates. Use the operator buttons to refine the your selection criteria.

  
  

• Some standard filters are set up as hierarchical groups. You can also toggle them on or off.

  

  Traverse filter groups to see different levels of the hierarchy.

  

• Some filters are embedded on a page so you can easily see them and click to change them. The filter cards for embedded filters work the same as for standard filters.

  

  Embedded filters have a search bar so that you can more easily find a value when there are many values.

  

  

• Some filters let you type in partial text using the Contains operator. Always use the percent sign (%) as a wildcard in these fields.

  

• You can drag-select a part of a chart to visually filter to that level.

  

  The chart, and any chart using the same filter, updates to show the details. A filter card appears at the top. You can delete the filter card to return to the previous view.

  

Sort Dashboards

You can use the sort option in some tables and crosstab reports. Hover over the titles on either axis to see and click the sort icon. Click to change the sort order, and click again to set it back to the original order.

• X axis sort:

  

• Y axis sort:

  

Export Dasboards

To export an entire dashboard to PDF or PowerPoint, click Export from the top menu.The Export toggle (with Details) option provides the collection name, dashboard name, report names (Visualizer reports only), a timestamp, and lists any filters that were applied at the time of export and page numbers. The export downloads immediately.

Export a Single Report

To export a single report, click Dashlet Actions and then Export As.

Enabling the Export As toggle adds a tab or page that includes the name of the report, its dashboard and collection, and the timestamp.

The export options that are available from the menu will depend on the type of report, size of the report, the space's Email Export Threshold, and your security permissions. For information on modifying a space's Email Export Threshold, see .

• The user sees Data to Excel if,
  • The user only has the Enable Download permission;
  • The user has the Email Export and Enable Download permissions, and the report's number of cells is equal to or less than the Email Export Threshold.
• The user sees Email Export if,
  • The user only has the Email Export permission;
  • The user has the Email Export and Enable Download permissions and the report has more than cells than the space's Email Export Threshold.

Export a Collection

1. Select the dashboard menu icon that pivots the view of collections and pages.
2. At the top of the menu, click the ellipsis button and select the export type.

   

3. Select the desired dashboard collection to export. The toggle includes the details of the collection name, dashboard name, report names (Visualizer reports only), a timestamp, and lists any filters applied.

   

   Note: The file is attached and sent by email to the user’s email address.

Configure Print Settings

You can use the Print Report option to configure the print settings of your embedded Visualizer report. If the Visualizer report has a Save Configuration, the print settings on the Visualizer report will be used as the default print settings for the embedded dashlet on the dashboard. These settings can be modified when using Print Report. Note: The Print Report option is only available to users with the Enable Download ACL. The following chart types do not support Print Report: Spline, Areaspline, Points, Semi-donut, and Geomap.

1. Select the Dashlet Actions icon from the dashlet and select Print Report.
   
   
2. From the Print Preview screen, you can set the print parameters for the report include page size, page orientation, page width, page height, and margin size. As you make changes to the settings, you will see the changes reflected on the preview image.
   
   
3. Select Print. A PDF of the report will download to your computer.

   

Share Dashboards by Email

If enabled for your user account, you can create a notification that emails a report or a dashboard to one or more email recipients.

1. Share a report by clicking Dashlet Actions - Create Notifications.

   

2. Click Add and type the name of the notification, email addresses, frequency, time, and time zone.

   

   Tip: Separate email addresses for multiple recipients with a semicolon and no spaces. For example: MyBoss@myCo.com;Me@myCo.com
3. Optionally, change the default PDF attachment format for a report/dashlet.

   

   Note: Dashboards can only export as PDFs. Toggle it on and select another format such as CSV, PPT, Excel, HTML, or RTF/Word. The type of available format depends on the type of chart.
   • If enabled for your account, and if the report is a large Visualizer table, the Bulk Export option lets you export up to the maximum number that the Administrator configured for your account rows.
   • The Include Details option adds a tab or page called "Metadata" that includes the collection, dashboard, and report names, the timestamp, and the applied filters if any. For example, here is a PDF details page:

     

4. Save the notification, then click Done. A summary of the report notification information displays in the Notifications panel.
5. Click Back to leave the summary. Click Notifications in the top menu bar to close the panel.

   

   Tip: To see and edit any of your notifications, click Notifications.
6. To share a dashboard, click Notifications, then click Add in the Notifications Center.

   

7. Type the name and email addresses, then set the frequency, time, and time zone. You can type a title for the email subject line and format text to go within the email. If your Administrator has set up any variables for you to use, add them with the V{variable_name} syntax.

   

8. Select the attachment format options and whether you want the report to add details such as the collection name. These are similar options to a simple report export, as previously described.
9. Click Save → Back→ Notifications. Insights sends a dashboard notification to the email addresses at the specified time.
   • The Notification Center lists all the email notifications that you have set up.

     

   • The single bell icon indicates a report notification, and the bell with a paper behind it indicates a dashboard notification.
   • To share multiple dashboards in one email, it's easiest to start with an existing notification, as described above. Then navigate to the second dashboard and go back into the Notifications panel, and select Action → Add Dashboard. The new dashboard is added to the list at the bottom.

Create Deep Links (For Reports or Dashboards)

You can copy a dashboard URL and include the link in a crafted email. The recipient of the email will be directed directly the dashboard if they are already logged into the environment. If they are not yet logged in, they will be directed to the login screen and then they will be taken directly to the dashboard.

Please note that this feature is only available if users are authenticated via Insights Login Page or via SP-Initiated SAML mode (SSO). This is not available for Custom SSO (Single Sign On) authentication modes.

1. Click Link in the Dashboard menu:

   

2. In the dialogue box, click Copy URL to copy the Dashboard Bookmark URL.

   

   Note: Copying the Bookmark means that any filters you apply to the dashboard at the time you copy the URL will be in place when the user clicks on the link you email them.
3. To share a direct link via email to a Visualizer report, click Copy URL.
   Note: You must be in the Visualizer module to copy the URL. The user you are sharing the report link with must have access to ad-hoc (Visualizer) reports to open the report in Visualizer.

   

   

Use Bookmarks

Use bookmarks to save a view of your dashboard so you can easily find it again later. This is particularly helpful if you have a few favorite filters that you like to apply.

1. On a dashboard that you want to save, click the bookmarks icon in the top menu bar.

   

2. Click Add to create a new bookmark, name it, then click the check box to save it for later retrieval. Insights saves the state of the dashboard at the time you create the bookmark.

   

3. To retrieve a bookmark, click the bookmarks button and select it from the list. The dashboard refreshes to the view that was saved as a bookmark.

Explore Dashboards in Visualizer

Users with the Dashboard Visualizer Exploration permission can open a report in Visualizer and further explore the data. You can then save your changes in a new report.

1. From the dashboard, click the Dashlet Actions icon.

   

2. Select Explore in Visualizer.

   

3. Make your modifications to your report.

   

4. If you want to save the modified report, click Save As.
5. Select a folder and click Save As again. Save As will create a new report. It will never overwrite an existing report.

   

   Tip: If Save As icon is disabled, a report with the same name already exists in that folder. Either select a new folder to save the report or rename the report.
6. When you are done in Visualizer, click the red Exit icon to return to the dashboard.