EfficiencySpring: Administrator's Help - Dashboard Administration

Dashboard Administration

EfficiencySpring's dashboard capabilities includes the ability to make dashboards that are centrally administered and shared by multiple users, and private dashboards that individual users can add their own selection of applets to.

Creating a Dashboard

Creating a Dashboard is straightforward in EfficiencySpring. When adding a dashboard, you will have the option to specify the following information.

Name	This is the name that will be displayed on top of the dashboard.
Columns	Dashboard applets are displayed in a column format. Applets within dashboards can be dragged into different columns. Usually, at least 2 columns should be specified.
Access Type	The type of access users have to the dashboard Shared - Users share what is on the dashboard, and cannot add or edit the applets unless they are part of the user group that has been configured as the dashboard's Owner Group. Every user sees the same dashboard. User - Every user has their own private instance of the dashboard. To add or edit applets, the user still needs to be part of the user group that has been configured as the dashboard's Owner Group.
Owner Group	The user group a user must belong to in order to add, update, and remove applets that are on the dashboard.
Section Homepage Display	If configured, this setting determines a Data Manager section whose homepage (home.aspx) will render the dashboard.

Dashboard Settings

Settings can be specified for a dashboard that are settable by the owners of the dashboard. These settings can then in turn be used by applets that can inherit the dashboard setting values into their own settings. The following can be specified for each dashboard setting:

Setting Name	The name of setting
Label	The name of the field as it is displayed in the applet's settings page.
Data Type	The type of data the setting collects: Text, Numeric, or Date.
Default Value	The default value for the setting which is set the first time an instance of the dashboard is initiated.
Display Type	The type of input interface a user sees for the setting.
Required	Whether a user must specify a value for the setting.

Creating Applets

Creating applets is somewhat more involved than creating dashboards. Applets are the small applications that can be added to dashboards by users. When creating them in the Applets administrative section, you will be asked to provide the following information:

Name	The name of the applet that will appear in the "Applet" drop-down list on the "Add Applets" dashboard page.
Section	This optional setting specifies the EfficiencySpring Section that the dashboard pulls its information from. If not specified, the applet will utilize information available in the same section the dashboard is rendered in.
Applet Type	This drop-down list is used to specify the applet code that is executed when the applet is rendered. The applets available are: Bar Chart - Renders a Flash bar chart from a section search query. Chat - Renders current chat activity inside the chatrooms Crosstab Grid - Renders a one-axis breakdown of data from a section search query. Favorites (Section Level) - Displays a user's object favorites for the local section Favorites (System-Wide) - Displays a user's object favorites for the entire system. Forum Update - Renders posting activity that is occuring in the forums HTML Display - Renders HTML from the querystring, a structure element, or a stored HTML template Image Rotation - Shows a list of images stored in a File Manager folder Image Slideshow - Presents a fade-in / fade-out slideshow of all the images in a FIle Manager folder. Lookup List - Displays a set of search links based on a structure element with a configured lookup table. My Recent Actions (Section Level) - Shows all of a user's recent recorded actions for the current section. My Recent Actions (System-Wide) - Shows all of a user's recent recorded actions for the entire system. My Tasks - Displays the tasks a user has assigned to him/her within the section. Pie Chart- Renders a Flash pie chart from a section search query. Process Status - Renders progress bars for all open processes within the section. Record Index - Displays the results of a search query, showing only the records' titles. Record Search - Displays a set of search fields that can be used to trigger a search query. Report List - Displays a list of reports that are available within the section. Results List - Displays the results of a search query, showing the results fields. RSS Feed - Displays news feed results from the Clippings section. Saved Searches - Displays the search configurations the user has saved for the configured section.
Additional QueryString	Applets can accept parameters via a querystring format. The Additional QueryString field can be used to set parameters for the applet that users of the applet cannot override via applet settings.
Refresh Rate (in seconds)	The number of seconds before an applet refreshes its contents. A value of 0 indicates that the applet never refreshes unless the entire dashboard is reloaded.
Applet Permissions	This setting determines the user groups that have the ability to add the applet to their dashboards; A user must belong to at least one of the checked groups.

Applet Settings

Settings can be specified for applets that are settable by the applet users. For each setting, you must specify:

Field Name	The name of variable as it is passed into the applet via querystring.
Label	The name of the field as it is displayed in the applet's settings page.
Data Type	The type of data the setting collects: Text, Numeric, or Date.
Default Value	The default value that the setting will be set to when an instance of the applet is created, that is unless the default value comes from an inherited dashboard setting.
Display Type	The type of input interface a user sees for the setting.
Required	Whether a user must specify a value for the setting for the applet to operate properly.
Dashboard Setting Name	The name of a dashboard setting whose value is automatically used to set the applet setting. This value is optional and often not set.
Allow Users to Override Dashboard Settings	If checked, users will be able to manually set the applet setting, even if a dashboard setting has placed a value in it. If the Dashboard Setting Name field has been set, and this checkbox has not been checked, then the applet setting will not be changable by the user of the applet.