You can save a dashboard at any point by clicking the Save button. To return to the Dashboard List, click Close. You can continue configuring your dashboard at any point by selecting it on the Dashboard List and choosing Actions > Edit.
If you have completely configured the dashboard and wish to view it, click Save & View (or View, if there were no changes made). The dashboard is displayed in the Dashboard Viewer.
Summary of order of operations/terminology:
Dashboard output is displayed in the Dashboard Viewer. Each component (report) in the viewer has its own container, which includes an Actions menu on the top-right corner that allows you to perform different actions on the report output. See Report container menu.
Once you view a dashboard, it is cached for two hours. If you click dashboard View (or double-click) again within the two hour period, cached version is displayed. Also, when you do a browser refresh (F5) to a dashboard within the two hour period, cached version is displayed. To force the dashboard to be rerun, first click View to run the dashboard, then from the dashboard viewer select Actions > Rerun as Owner/User. This will force all components on the dashboard to rerun.
After you view/run a dashboard, you can choose to rerun the dashboard against the permissions of the dashboard owner (if not the current user) or against your own permissions (current user). Rerunning a dashboard always refreshes the data.
The Dashboard Viewer has an Actions menu that contains commands that apply to the dashboard as a whole, and are described in the table below. Note that on a published dashboard, the only action you will see is Actions > Refresh, which reruns/redraws the screen.
Action |
Description |
|
---|---|---|
Rerun as Owner |
Reruns all of the dashboard's reports with the viewing permissions of the dashboard owner. Must be logged in to PPM Pro to see this option. |
|
Rerun as User |
Reruns all of the dashboard's reports with the viewing permissions of the current user. This allows you to see information relevant to you, rather than the dashboard owner. Must be logged in to PPM Pro to see this option. |
|
Print with details |
Sends the current dashboard to the printer. Prints the dashboard as well as the underlying details of each component on the dashboard. The details appear in a table at the bottom of the page. On IE, the details appears after a page break. |
|
Edit
|
Brings up the Dashboard wizard editor for the dashboard. Only the dashboard owner can edit dashboards. If you are not the dashboard creator but wish to edit the dashboard, make a copy of the dashboard, rename it, and then edit that version. |
|
Delete |
Deletes the selected dashboard; you will be prompted to confirm the delete. Only the dashboard owner can delete a dashboard. |
|
Copy |
Makes a copy of the dashboard and invokes the Create New Dashboard wizard. By default the dashboard Title is prefixed with "Copy of:" You can make a copy any dashboard visible to you. |
|
Unlink |
Unlinks the currently linked dashboard. Command not available if the dashboard is not linked. |
|
Export to Excel
|
Exports dashboard components to Microsoft Excel. The first sheet of the file contains details about the dashboard. Subsequent sheets contain the dashboard data, one sheet for each report. All report data is presented in list format. |
|
Unpublish |
Unpublishes a previously published dashboard. Command not available if the dashboard is not published or if user not on Admin Publishing team. |
|
Publish or Republish |
Publish - Publishes a dashboard. Command not available if the dashboard is already published (Unpublish and Republish will be active). No Publish commands are available if you are not on the Admin Publishing team. Republish - Publishes the dashboard, over-writing the previously saved dashboard. If the dashboard has not been published, command will be Publish |
You can display a table that lists useful information about each component on the dashboard, including the name of the report, filter name (if any), and the target report was run against. You can view this information by selecting Actions > Print Details. The details table appears at the bottom of the page.
Before you can view a published dashboard, you need to publish it! There are many publishing options - please see Publishing Dashboards.