Dashboards

Applies to version 2020.1.3; author:  Wojciech Kołodziej

 

Introduction

A dashboard is a panel that allows you to prepare a dedicated page where you can add various elements (called widgets) such as reports, task counters, or HTML code. Widgets are used to build a personalized application page in WEBCON BPS Portal.

The ability to create your dashboards by using 10 widgets has been introduced in WEBCON BPS 2019. In version 2020, the list of available widgets was enlarged and grouped by sections to make it easier to find them. Also, from this version, you can replace the applications' system main pages with your dashboards.

This article shows how you can use widgets on dashboards. For our example, we will create two sample dashboards.  One would contain reports and data related to the service administration. The second one would display data for the rest of the employees, reports with their tasks, and buttons for starting new tasks. It is possible to add a dashboard to a SharePoint site - this will be described in the Adding a dashboard to a SharePoint site section.

 

Configuration

To add a dashboard from WEBCON BPS Designer Studio, go to the "Presentation" section -> Dashboards and enter the new dashboard's name.

Fig. 1. Adding a dashboard

 

You can also add the dashboard from the Portal level by clicking the edit button -> Add new -> Dashboard.

 

Fig. 1a. Adding a dashboard from the Portal level

 

It is possible to grant privileges for each dashboard separately. By default, the system inherits the application's dashboard privileges (you can change them if you wish).

 

Fig. 2. Privileges for the dashboard

 

The next step is to configure the added dashboard. After entering the "Configuration" tab in Designer Studio, you will see where you can configure the dashboard – click the “+” symbol and select the section layout.

 

Fig. 3. Adding sections to the dashboards

 

In our case, the "One-third left column" option will be selected. In each section, you can select the “+” symbol and add a widget in a given place.

 

Fig. 4. Adding a new element

 

Elements that can be added to the dashboard are grouped into four sections:

• Basic (Start, Report, Text)
• Reports (Report, Task counter, Report Tile, Power BI)
• Text, media, and content (Text, Image, Embedded element, HTML code)
• Miscellaneous (Refresher, Find instance, Application description, Recent activities, Application supervisor, Suggested reports)

 

Each of these elements can be properly configured after you add them.

 

Description and configuration of individual elements

 

Image

The first widget that can be added to the section is "Image." To display the image on the dashboard, enter the image URL address. The system also allows you to enter a page address (in the “Redirect URL” field) to which a user will be redirected when clicking the image. The alternative text is the text that will be displayed when you hover the mouse over the image. You can set the height and width of the image to be automatically adjusted or enter a value in pixels. The image alignment is possible in three categories – Center, Left and Right.

 

Fig. 5. The configuration of the Image widget

 

Report

After adding the Report widget, select the report you are interested in. You can enter the report name and select the appropriate view.

For more information about report configuration, see Reports - configuration, views, editing.

 

Fig. 6. The configuration of the Report widget

 

 

Start

After adding the "Start" element, select the starts buttons to be displayed on the dashboard. For more information about this widget, see How to create and configure start buttons in WEBCON BPS 2020 and 2021.

 

Fig. 7. The configuration of the Start widget

 

Text

After selecting the "Text" element, an editable window will be displayed, where you can enter any text and format it.

 

Fig. 8. The configuration of the Text widget

 

Embedded element

The embedded element allows you to insert an object into the website, e.g., a table with the HTML code, YouTube video, or RS report.

 

Fig. 9. The configuration of the Embedded element

 

Task counter

After adding this widget, the system will display three information about tasks from the application:

• New tasks
• Active tasks
• Overdue tasks

 

Fig. 10. The configuration of the Task counter widget

 

Report Tile

The "Report Title" widget displays the aggregated values from the selected field. In the configuration, select which report and view it applies to, which value is to be aggregated and set the widget formatting. The available options for the layout scheme are:

• Top accent
• Left accent
• Info
• Basic

After selecting the “Customize” option, you will see additional configuration to set the tile and value appearance and add a header and/or footer; you can also choose their formatting.

 

Fig. 11. The configuration of the Report Tile widget

 

HTML code

This widget allows you to add elements in the HTML language. After adding to the website, you can paste any HTML code in the configuration window. Thanks to this, you can extend the configuration of pages with additional elements such as tables or information for application users. If you want to add the embedded elements to this module, you must use the https protocol address.

 

Fig. 12. The configuration of the HTML code element

 

Find instance

The Find instance widget allows you to search for phrases in the application. The available search options are:

• Instance ID
• Instance number
• Instance ID and Instance number

 

Fig. 13. The configuration of the Find instance widget

 

Application description

The widget contains information about the application. You can decide what elements will be displayed:

• Task counter
• Details
• Title
• Application supervisor

 

Fig. 14. The configuration of the Application description widget

 

Application supervisor

The widget displays the supervisor of the application. You can change the name of the element and set the alignment – Center, Left, Right.

 

Fig. 15. The configuration of the Application supervisor widget

 

 

Refresher

After adding the Refresher widget, it is not visible on the dashboard for the user. It is used to refresh the dashboard periodically. The configuration allows you to refresh all elements on the dashboard as well as only the reports visible on it. “The interval between refreshes” option will enable you to set refreshing in a time interval:

• 1 minute
• 2 minutes
• 5 minutes
• 10 minutes
• 30 minutes

 

Fig. 16. The configuration of the Refresher widget

 

Power BI

This widget allows you to add the Power BI reports to the dashboard. To correctly operate the Power BI reports, you must provide the Application ID in the system configuration in Designer Studio.

For more information about BI Reports, see Embedding Power BI reports in EBCON BPS Designer Studio.

 

Fig. 17. The configuration of the Power BI widget

 

 

Suggested reports

This widget is used to display the elements that are most used by a user. You can change the title of the widget.

For more information about the suggested reports, see Suggested dashboards and reports.

 

Fig. 18. The Suggested reports widget

 

Recent activities

The element displays the user's recent activity. The configuration allows you to set the number of activities displayed on the main page and the set default views:

• My
• My subordinates
• All

 

Fig. 19. The configuration of the Recent activities widget

 

Adding a dashboard to the SharePoint site

You can also add a dashboard to the standard SharePoint site. To do this, enter the “Insert” tab -> Parts -> Web Part.

 

Fig. 20. Adding a dashboard to the SharePoint site

 

Next, select the WEBCON category -> Dashboard.

 

Fig. 21. Adding the dashboard to SharePoint

 

Now you can configure the newly added element – select the application, dashboard, and link opening mode.

 

Fig. 22. The configuration of a new dashboard element on the SharePoint site - 1

Fig. 23. The configuration of a new dashboard element on the SharePoint site - 2

 

The SharePoint site prepared in this way looks like this:

 

Fig. 24. The final result of the configured dashboard on SharePoint

 

Summary

The first dashboard contains the image with the WEBCON BPS logo, start button, task counter, report containing the active user’s settlements, report tile containing the sum of the user’s active settlements, text, and embedded element – the number of tasks.

 

Fig. 25. Dashboard 1

 

The first dashboard contains the ability to search the instance, the application supervisor, HTML code in which a YouTube movie is embedded, application description (with the title, task counter and short description), graphic report, and suggested reports.

 

Fig. 27. Dashboard 2

 

The new version of the WEBCON BPS system enables the simple and transparent creation of the user interface. In this way, you can create an interface for specific groups of people, such as administrators, employees, or a particular group that receives a task at a given step. Thanks to this, everyone can display the data that is most needed for them.