Custom Dashboards 101

Custom Dashboards allow users of the Syniti Knowledge Platform with permissions granted by the Support Team to use QuickSight to harness metrics, milestones, schedules and more from data sources in the Knowledge Platform to create visualizations of reports as dashboards in the Knowledge Platform.

The following is a basic use case for setting up a simple custom dashboard in the Knowledge Platform. We included links to more advanced information and use cases, as well as links to the associated QuickSight documentation for our dashboard pros.

Refer to Custom Dashboards Overview for more conceptual information. Refer to Custom Dashboards 201 for more detailed information.

Watch the tutorial

To get Custom Dashboard Author permissions for your account, please open a Support ticket. Custom Dashboard Author permissions can be granted to users with Admin, Business Admin and Author permissions, but not those with Viewer permissions. Credentials provided for custom dashboard Authors will not work for other QuickSight features.

Note

If you are registered as a Custom Dashboard Author, do not change the email address you used to configure the user account for which your Custom Dashboard Author permissions are allowed. If you must change your email address for an author account, please contact Customer Success to update your credentials in QuickSight.

Note

Custom Dashboard Author permissions can only be granted to 10 users at a time per Knowledge Platform tenant.

Note

The user session timeout when using the Custom Dashboard Builder is 180 minutes. If you are logged in to the Dashboard Builder and are inactive for 180 minutes, your session ends and you are automatically logged out. You will lose any unsaved work.

Access the Syniti Dashboard Builder page

To create a custom dashboard:

1. Navigate to the Syniti Dashboards landing page.

2. Click the Dashboard Builder button; the Syniti Dashboard Builder page displays.

To exit the Syniti Dashboard Builder page and return to the Syniti Dashboards page, click the Exit Builder button.

Note

The Dashboard Builder button becomes the Exit Builder button on the Syniti Dashboard Builder page.

Note

The Dashboard Builder page may not display correctly in Chrome’s Incognito mode. For best results, access the Dashboard Builder page using the normal Chrome browsing mode.

Create a dataset

To create a dataset from a Stewardship Tier SQL data source:

1. Click the Datasets tab.

2. Click New dataset.

3. Under FROM EXISTING DATA SOURCES, click the data source you want to use for your new dataset.

4. Click Create dataset.

5. Select a database object from the list and:

   1. Click Select.

   2. Select Directly query your data.

   3. Click Visualize to create an analysis.

6. Enter a descriptive name for the analysis as it will become the name of your dashboard once you publish it. This name can be pretty long, so don’t shy away from describing filters, intended tasks, SDLC status, and so on in the name field. Sheet names can also be very long and should be as descriptive as possible.

Refer to Create, Copy and Modify Datasets for more detailed information.

Create an analysis

When you ‘visualize’ an analysis from a freshly created dataset, the first blank visual displays on your first sheet. For more information about adding new visuals and insights, check out the product help documentation.

Here’s an example of how to create a basic visual using a demo dataset:

1. Review the Field list and click Date and Billed Amount.

2. Click the arrow on the top right corner of the visual and select Maximize.

3. Expand the Field Wells section, use the arrow on the Date field and change aggregation to Month.

4. Use the menu in the upper right of the visual, click … and choose Add forecast.

5. Click Applyon the Forecast properties menu on the left.

   Note

   When you add or edit a forecast, you can choose to project the forecast backwards. It will show how the forecast compares to the actual values recorded for previous data points.

6. Rename the visual to Monthly Billing Trend.

Dashboards can be used to solve a myriad of problems and display tailored, concise information to the people who need it. A great way to make dashboards more visually cohesive and concise is to add filters.

Refer to Create Analyses and Add Visuals and Insights to Analyses for more detailed information.

Use filters

Filters are an excellent way to tailor information in datasets, visuals and dashboards to fit the needs of specific people, groups or tasks. Filters can help create customized views for dashboards, and they can allow dashboard viewers to drill into more granular information in a visual.

This sections contains the following subsections:

• Create a parameter

• Create a filter

• Add a control to a parameter

• Configure controls for a page

Create a parameter

Here’s an example of how to create a parameter that filter’s dashboard data by the customer’s name.

To create a new parameter:

1. Click the Parameters tab.

2. Click the + icon to add a parameter.

3. Enter a descriptive name for the parameter in the Name field.

   Note

   No special characters are allowed in this field, so we recommend using CamelCase to name parameters.

4. Select Single value.

5. Click Create.

6. Click Close.

Create a filter

To create a filter:

1. Click the Filter tab.

2. Click the + icon.

3. Select a field to filter. In this case I am selecting Customer Name.

4. Click the gray text under the filter name to configure the filter type.

5. Click the Filter type dropdown menu and select Custom filter.

6. Click the Use parameters check box.

7. Select C ustomerName from the parameters list box.

8. Click Apply.

Add a control to a parameter

To add a control to a parameter so that it can be applied to a sheet:

1. Click the Parameters tab.

2. Click the arrow next to the parameter to which you want to add a control.

3. Enter a descriptive name for the control.

4. Click the Style list box and select Single selectlist box.

5. Under Values, select Link to a dataset field.

6. Click the Select a dataset list box to select a dataset.

7. Click the Select a column list box to select the field value you want to apply to the control.

8. Click the Hide [ALL] option from the control values if the parameter has a default configured check box.

9. Click Add.

Configure controls for a page

Once a parameter is connected to a filter, and a control is added to that parameter, that control can be configured to apply your pre-configured parameters for a page (sheet) in your dashboard.

To configure controls for a page:

1. Select the sheet for which you want to configure controls.

2. Click the word Controls; filter dropdown menus with control options display.

3. Click the filter dropdown to select a value by which to filter all the data on the page.

4. Click the … icon next to a parameter to edit the controls that parameter has over the page.

5. Click Apply.

Refer to Use Filters for more detailed information.

Create the Syniti Knowledge Platform Theme

Refer to Create Themes for more information.

Publish a dashboard

You can publish any analysis as a dashboard to either everyone or to a limited set of users. When you are still drafting dashboards, identify the initial stakeholders that need preview access to the dashboard and share the analysis with those users directly. To avoid confusion when publishing different drafts of dashboards, we recommend that you use a naming convention for dashboards such as the prefix “For Review.” For example, “(For Review) Data Quality for Supply Chain.”

This section contains the following subsections:

• Publish a draft

• Replace an existing dashboard

Publish a draft

To publish drafts to specific stakeholders, save an updated copy of an existing dashboard as a review draft and share it with specific people before general publication.

To publish a draft:

1. Click Share in the page toolbar.

2. Select Publish Dashboard.

3. Select Publish new dashboard as and enter a descriptive name for the dashboard, including an indicator that the dashboard is a draft for review.

4. Click Publish dashboard.

5. Select the users you want to review your dashboard draft.

6. Click Share.

Replace an existing dashboard

To replace an existing dashboard with an updated version:

1. Click Share in the page toolbar.

2. Select Replace an existing dashboard.

3. Click the dropdown arrow to select an existing dashboard to replace.

4. Once you have chosen the existing dashboard to replace, you can click rename to enter a new name for the dashboard that is to be replaced.

5. To share the dashboard with everyone, check the Share with all users in this account checkbox.

6. Click Share.

Refer to Publish and Share Dashboards for more detailed information.

For more detailed information about the tasks in this topic, refer to Custom Dashboards 201.