By Brenda Millar

For those clients utilizing v4 dashboards, the Dashboard Management module may help in the analysis and administration of those dashboards. This module was first introduced in release 4.2.1008 and is a useful tool in managing user subscriptions, viewing sources contained on dashboards, and monitoring dashboard activity.

Dashboard Management can be accessed from the Administration tab if the user has the appropriate security rights to view the module. There are three tabs within Dashboard Management: Dashboards, Metrics and Data Sources.

Dashboards

• When entering the Dashboard Management screen, the first tab ‘Dashboards’ will be displayed. This will allow for the maintenance of dashboard subscriptions as well as information on dashboard activity.

• By clicking on the Metric Lists tab, the type of metric (Daily Monitor or KPI) along with the metric name can be displayed. By clicking on the summary button the total metric distinct count for the dashboard will be displayed.

• By clicking on the Dashboard Activity tab, information can be displayed on when the dashboard was accessed or modified. If the user clicks on Summary Only totals will be provided for times modified and accessed as well as the last accessed/last modified dates.

Metrics

The Metrics area of Dashboard Management provides a list of metrics and the associated dashboards. Specific information regarding the metric run history is also provided. This will help identify what data sources are running with the daily dashboard update and which may be taking longer than others.

• Click on one or more metrics to view the dashboards associated with those metrics.

• Click on the Metric Run History tab to view the information regarding the highlighted metrics. Information such as login, data source type, object name, search, status, start time, end time, and duration are displayed. Data for the last two weeks will be available.

Datasources

Broadcast Security is a security feature that allows for more efficient dashboard updates. Dashboard objects will be run as part of the daily load with a full result set returned. Data will then be filtered based on a user’s Group Values security settings. This may allow the dashboard updates to complete in less time.

• By default, Broadcast Security will be enabled for all data sources associated with dashboards. By default, Broadcast Security will be enabled for all fields associated with Group Value security. A user will only have to enter the Broadcast Management screen to disable or modify the default.

• Click on the Analyze button to compare the fields in the data sources to group values security. This will determine which data sources can be used with broadcast security. (Please note: the analyze process may take several minutes depending on the number of data sources and users that are set up in the system.)

Green arrows indicate that Broadcast Security is active for all users and is enabled. (The necessary fields in group value security are also in the object itself.)

Exclamation marks indicate that Broadcast Security is not active for ALL users. The likely reason is that there are fields in group value security that are not contained in the object.

Red arrows indicate that Broadcast Security could be active for all users – but has been disabled for that data source.

No icon indicates that the Broadcast Security feature is enabled but that the ‘Analyze’ process has not been run.

For more information on the Dashboard Management Module please see the detailed Release Notes for version 4.2.1008 or contact customer.care@precisionbi.com.