Online Help | Desktop App

Creating dashboards

To create a dashboard:

  1. In the General > Dashboard Management > Dashboards section, click New. The Dashboard Designer window opens.

  2. TIP: To base a new dashboard on an existing one, you can copy it and then modify the copy as needed.

  3. Under Properties, specify a name for the new dashboard.

  4. Configure the dashboard layout:

A dashboard layout is a grid of cells, i.e. a combination of rows and columns. You add widgets to the dashboard by placing them into layout cells. A newly created dashboard has a predetermined layout consisting of three cells. You can modify the dashboard layout manually, or you can apply to the dashboard one of reusable layouts.

  • To modify the dashboard layout, click Edit Layout. The Dashboard Layout Designer window opens.

  • To apply one of the reusable layouts, click Select Layout. The Select Layout windows opens.

    NOTE: Shared layouts must have been created prior to creating the dashboard. For instructions, see Creating layouts.

  1. Add widgets that will be displayed in the dashboard by default. To do this, just drag and drop widgets from the widget list to the layout cells. Likewise, you can grab widgets by the title bar and move them between the cells or remove them from the dashboard. To remove a widget from the dashboard, you can also click the button in the right corner of the widget's title bar and choose Remove.

NOTE: Widgets must have been created prior to creating the dashboard. For details, see Creating widgets.

    TIP: You can add multiple widgets to the same cell. In this case, it may be useful to limit the height of each widget to make them visible without having to scroll down the dashboard. For details, see descriptions of widget properties windows listed in Widget types.

  1. Optionally, specify widgets that will be available to technicians when they customize the dashboard in their Desktop App. To do this, select the necessary check boxes in the widget list. Or, you can right-click a widget in the list and choose Mark Available from the pop-up menu.

    NOTE: When you remove a widget from the dashboard, you are asked whether you want to leave it available or not. However, if a widget is used in the same dashboard several times, it remains available after you delete one of its copies.

When you mark a widget available, it appears on the Available tab of the widget list. Here, you can quickly review all widgets that are available within the dashboard. If necessary, you can make a widget unavailable by clicking x to the right of the widget name.

NOTE: To customize the dashboard in the Desktop App, technicians must have the Local Dashboard Customization security permission. For details, see Managing security roles.

NOTE: Currently, dashboard customization is not available in the Web App.

  1. Click Save, then click Close.

IMPORTANT: After creating a dashboard, you must assign it to particular security roles. Otherwise, the dashboard will be unavailable to users. For details, see Assigning dashboards to security roles.