Creating Analyses and Building Dashboards ( part 6 )

Lab 5: Building Dashboards

In this topic, you learn about My Dashboard view and how to create and edit a shared dashboard, adding a saved analysis that you have created previously. Dashboards provide personalized views of corporate and external information. Based on your permissions, you can view preconfigured dashboards or create your own personalized views. Users with administrative privileges can create shared dashboards for groups of users with common responsibilities or job functions. The ability to create and edit dashboards is controlled by the Manage Dashboard privilege, which is managed by the administrator.

You can view your personalized views by selecting My Dashboard from the Dashboards drop-down list. You can also set My Dashboard as your default dashboard. Preconfigured dashboards appear in the Dashboards drop-down list. They can be created by administrators and shared with groups of users with common responsibilities or job functions.

Exploring and Editing My Dashboard

My Dashboard, a personalized view, is a dashboard page that you create and save as your default, personal starting page by using the Preferences tabbed page in My Account dialog box. To open My Dashboard, perform the following steps:

1 .	Click the Dashboards link on the global header and then click My Dashboard. An empty My Dashboard page appears. When you open a dashboard, including My Dashboard, the content appears on one or more dashboard tabbed pages. Pages contain the columns and sections that hold the content of a dashboard, and  every dashboard has at least one page. Multiple pages are used to organize content. This example shows an empty My Dashboard page with no content. Hover over the Edit icon to edit the dashboard and add content. Note: If you have chosen or if your company has setup My Dashboard as your default, then you use dashboard template pages to populate your personal dashboards (My Dashboard) when you first log in as a new user. This allows you to see one or more dashboard pages with content, rather than an empty dashboard. It also gives you a starting point to build your own dashboard pages.
2 .	Click the Edit icon () to add content to your empty dashboard page. The Dashboard Builder appears and automatically creates page 1 of your dashboard (the first tabbed page). Using the Dashboard Builder, you can add pages and objects to a dashboard and control the page layout. The Dashboard Builder is composed of the following: Dashboard Toolbar: The toolbar allows you to perform tasks such as adding or deleting pages, previewing, saving, and so on. Dashboard Objects pane: Items that are used only in a dashboard. Examples of dashboard objects are sections to hold content, action links, and embedded content that is displayed in a frame on a dashboard Catalog pane: Items that you or someone else has saved to the Catalog (for example, analyses, prompts, and so on). On a dashboard, the results of an analysis can be shown in various views, such as a table, graph, and gauge. (The results of an analysis are the output that is returned from the Oracle BI Server that matches the analysis criteria.) Users can examine and analyze results, save or print them, or download them to a spreadsheet. Page Layout pane: This is a workspace that holds your objects, which are displayed on the dashboard. In the Dashboard Toolbar, the Tools toolbar button provides options to set dashboard properties, set page report links, and so on.
3 .	As mentioned above, the Dashboard Objects pane provides you with a list of objects to add as content to a dashboard page. You will have to drag the object to the Page Layout pane on the right. Columns are used to align content on a dashboard. (sections within columns hold the actual content.) You can create as many columns on a dashboard page as you need. Sections are used within columns to hold the content, such as action links, analyses, and so on. You can drag and drop as many sections as you need to a column. Alert Section is used to add a section in which you display Alerts from Agents, if any. ( Agents dynamically detect information-based problems and opportunities, determine the appropriate individuals to notify, and deliver information to them through a wide range of devices such as e-mail, phones, dashboard alerts, and so on.) An Alert section is added by default to the first page of My Dashboard if you do not manually include one. You cannot disable the appearance of an Alert section on the first page of My Dashboard. You can add an Alert section to an additional dashboard page so that section will then appear on both dashboard pages. Drag the Column object onto the Page Layout pane. The Column object appears on the Page Layout pane.
4 .	a. In the Catalog pane, navigate to the folder where you saved your analyses. b. Drag the Regional Revenue analysis to Column 1. Regional Revenue appears in the column. Observe that a Section is automatically created for you. You can also drag an analysis directly onto an empty Layout Pane without first creating a column. The Dashboard Builder automatically creates the column for you. You can then add sections automatically to that column by dragging analyses below the existing sections. c. Click the Save icon () to save the dashboard page and then click the Run icon . My Dashboard appears with the selected analysis Regional Revenue.

Creating a Dashboard

To create a new dashboard, perform the following steps:

1 .	Select New > Dashboard in the global header. The New Dashboard dialog box appears.
2 .	a. Enter Customer Detail in the name text box. Notice that you can also enter a description of your choice. b. Navigate to your Regional Revenue folder and select it as the Location. If you receive a warning message, click OK to close it. Note: If you save the dashboard in the Dashboards subfolder directly under the /Shared Folders/first level subfolder, the dashboard will be listed in the Dashboard menu on the global header. If you save it in a Dashboards subfolder at any other level (such as /Shared Folders/Sales/Eastern), it will not be listed. If you choose a folder in the Dashboards subfolder directly unde rthe /Shared Folders/first level subfolder in which no dashboards have been saved, a new Dashboards folder is automatically created for you. For example, if you choose a folder named /Shared Folders/Sales in which no dashboards have been saved, a new Dashboards folder is automatically created and the Location entry changes to /Shared Folders/Sales/Dashboards. A new Dashboards folder is not automatically created if you choose a folder at any other level. c. Accept the default to Add content now. The New Dashboard dialog box should look like this: Observe that a Dashboards subfolder was automatically created inside the Regional Revenue folder. d. Click OK. The Dashboard Builder appears.
3 .	a. Navigate to the Customer Discounts by Region analysis and drag it from the Catalog to the Page Layout pane. b. Save and run the dashboard. The Customer Detail dashboard appears. As mentioned above, because this dashboard was not created in a Dashboards subfolder directly under /Shared Folders/first level subfolder, the dashboard will not be listed in the Dashboard menu on the global header. To open the dashboard, navigate to it in the Catalog, or open it from the Recent list on the Home page or in the global header's Open menu.

Editing a Dashboard

Dashboard editing, which is performed by using the Dashboard Builder (as explained above), is allowed for users with the appropriate privileges. In this subtopic, you enhance My Dashboard.

To begin enhancing My Dashboard, perform the following steps:

1 .	a. Select Dashboards > My Dashboard. b. Click the Page Options icon ( ) and select Edit Dashboard.
2 .	Give the existing tabbed page a more meaningful name. Click the Tools button and select Dashboard Properties. The Dashboard Properties dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can do the following: Change the Styles (Styles control how dashboards and results are formatted for display, such as the color of text and links, the font and size of text, the borders in tables, the colors and attributes of graphs, and so on) Add a description (Descriptions are displayed when Oracle BI Administrators use the Catalog Manager) Add hidden prompts, filters, and variables Specify the links that will display with analyses on a dashboard page Rename, hide, reorder, set permissions for, and delete dashboard pages
3 .	Select page 1 in the Dashboard Pages section. The Dashboard Page Control toolbar is enabled. Using the toolbar, you can do the following: Change the name of your dashboard page. Add a hidden prompt. Hidden prompts are used to set default values for all corresponding prompts on a dashboard page. Add permissions for the dashboard. Delete the selected page. Dashboard pages are permanently deleted. If more than one dashboard page is in this dashboard, the arrange order icons are enabled (up and down arrow icons).
4 .	a. Click Rename icon ( ).The Rename dialog box appears. b. Enter Regional Revenue in the Name text box and click OK. The Dashboard Properties dialog box reappears with the new dashboard page name.
5 .	a. Click the Edit icon for Dashboard Report Links to set the report links at the dashboard level. Report links can be set at the dashboard, dashboard page (click Page Options> Page Report Links), or analysis level (click the properties icon for the specific analysis within the Dashboard Builder and then select Report Links). b. Select the check boxes as indicated in the image below: c. Click OK and then click OK again to return to the Dashboard Builder. The Dashboard Builder should look like this:
6 .	a. Click the Add Dashboard Page icon ( ). The Add Dashboard Page dialog box appears. b. Name the dashboard page Customer Detail and click OK.
7 .	In the Catalog pane, navigate to the Customer Discounts by Region analysis and drag it to the Page Layout pane on the right.
8 .	Edit the properties of the column. a. Click the Column Properties icon. The Column Properties dialog box appears. Using the Column Properties dialog box, you can change the appearance of the cells, border, width, height, and so on. You can also apply a custom style sheet.
9 .	a. Select the drop-down list for Background Color within the Cell area and choose light green. Click OK, then click OK again to close the Column Properties dialog box. b. Click Preview to preview the dashboard. After previewing close the Window.
10 .	Edit the properties of the section. You use the Section Properties drop-down list to do numerous tasks: Format Section: Use this option to display the Section Properties dialog box, where you specify the properties for the section, such as cell alignment and border color. Rename: Use this option to display the Rename dialog box, which allows you to rename the section. Drill in Place: Use this option to specify how the results appear when a user drills in an analysis. If a check mark appears in front of the “Drill in Place” option, the original analysis is replaced when the user drills (the section will automatically resize to fit the new analysis). If the check mark is not present in front of “Drill in Place,” the entire dashboard content is replaced. Use this option for prompts that are created for hierarchical columns. Note: You can use the back button in the browser to view the original analysis. Collapsible: Use this option to specify whether the user can expand and collapse this section on a dashboard page or whether the section is always expanded. If a check mark appears in front of the Collapsible option, you can expand and collapse the section. Show Section Header: Use this option to specify whether  to display the header for the section, which initially includes the title of the section. You can hide the title using the Show Section Title option. Show Section Title: Use this option to specify whether to display the title of the section. When you have more than one analysis within the section, you can also align the analyses by using the vertical and horizontal alignment icons. a. Click the Properties drop-down list for the section and select Condition. The Section Condition dialog box appears. You use conditions to determine the following: Whether sections and their content appear on the dashboard page Whether agents deliver their content and execute their actions Whether action links appear on dashboard pages. Conditions are evaluated based on a Boolean expression; in other words, the condition is either True or False. b. Set a condition that determines whether the analysis appears on the dashboard. Click the New Condition icon ( ). The New Condition dialog box appears. Select Analysis to base the new condition from the drop-down list.
11 .	Browse the Catalog and select the Customer Discounts by Region analysis.
12 .	a. In the "True If Row Count" drop-down list, select is less than and enter 25 in the text box to the right. The New Condition dialog box should look like this: b. Click Test. Previously, your analysis returned more than 25 records. Therefore this test should evaluate to False. c. Your results are verified. Click OK. To further verify your results, then click OK and click OK again to return to the Dashboard Builder. Preview the dashboard page now. The dashboard page is empty. All that appears within the dashboard page is the column color. d. Close the Preview window. Click the Properties drop-down list for the section and select Condition. The Section Condition dialog box appears. e. Click the More icon and select Remove Condition to remove the condition so that the section displays. e. Click the OK.
13 .	You will rename the section. a. Click Properties (within the section) > Rename. The Rename dialog box appears. b. Enter Customer Discount Percentage in the text box. c. Click OK.
14 .	a. Click Properties (within the section) > Show Section Title. b. Preview the dashboard page once again to see your changes. c. Save the dashboard.
15 .	Override the default dashboard report links at the analysis level. a. Click the Properties icon for the Customer Discounts by Region analysis, and select Report Links. b. The Report Links dialog box appears. c. Select the Customize radio button and then select all check boxes. d. Click OK. e. Save and run the dashboard page. You are now able to export and copy this analysis from the dashboard.
16 .	a. Edit the dashboard in the Dashboard Builder again and further edit the Customer Detail tabbed page. b. Edit the section properties for the analysis and select Drill in Place. Drilling allows you to view additional levels of detail for the specific column. Drill in Place means that the current browser is refreshed with the new data. To return to the previous view, simply click the back button on your browser. c. Save and run the dashboard page.
17 .	a. Drill down on Customer Name, Diego Link. The Customer's Order Status column appears. b. Drill down on the column header, R1 Order Status. The Order Number column R0 Order Key appears.

Saving a Customized Dashboard

To save a customized dashboard and set preferences, perform the following steps:

1 .

Create a personal, customized view of your dashboard page. Saved customizations allow you to save and view dashboard pages in their current state with your most frequently used or favorite choices for items such as filters, prompts, column sorts, drills in analyses, and section expansion and collapse. By saving customizations, you do not need to make these choices manually each time you access the dashboard page. a. Select Page Options > Save Current Customizations. b. The Save Current Customization dialog box appears. Name your customization Customer Order Status and click OK. c. You can apply the saved customization to a dashboard page. Click Page Options > Apply Saved Customization > Customer Order Status.