The inmydata Dashboard Designer allows you to build live interactive Dashboards to quickly assess key performance indicators for your organisation, and drill into them to see more detail. 

To open the inmydata Dashboard Designer, select the inmydata Dashboard Designer icon from the start menu or the desktop.

Once open, the inmydata Dashboard Designer interface consists of two main areas, the ribbon across the top and the work area in the remain space.

The inmydata Dashboard Designer makes use of a Ribbon Interface as it's main interface element. The ribbon is formed as a panel that houses certain command buttons and icons; it organizes commands as a set of tabs, each grouping relevant commands. The Dashboard has four tabs, The File, Edit Dashboard, Application Settings and Help tabs.

You can hide the ribbon to give yourself more space in the work area by pressing the hide button on the right hand side of the ribbon.

The File Tab provides access to commands to manage the dashboard you have open in the inmydata Dashboard Designer client application. To open the file tab, click on it in the application header.

The File Tab is separated into two horizontal sections.

The commands section, on the left hand side, provides access to commands to manage the dashboard you have open in the inmydata Dashboard Designer Client application and are listed below.

The Recent Documents section provides a list of recently used documents. To Open a document in the list, simply click on it in the recently used documents list.

Create New Dashboard - Create a new dashboard in the  inmydata Dashboard Designer. For a detailed tutorial on creating a dashboard, see the getting started tutorial.

Open From File - The open existing dashboard command opens the File Open dialog to allow you to select and open an existing dashboard file.

Open From Server - The open existing dashboard command opens a screen showing the available dashboards on your inmydata tenant and allows you to select and open a published dashboard.

Save Dashboard - The Save Dashboard command allows you to save the dashboard currently open in the Dashboard Designer.

Save Dashboard As - The Save Dashboard command opens the save dialog box to allow you to save the dashboard currently open in the Dashboard with a new filename.

Properties - Opens the Dashboard Properties windows to allow you to specify the identity and refresh schedule of your dashboard.

Publish - The Publish command runs a process to publish your dashboard to inmydata.

If a Dashboard's properties are not set up the Dashboard Properties window will be opened.

Import Dashboard - The Import Dashboard command allow you to import the tabs and queries from one dashboard into the current Dashboard.

Close Dashboard - The close dashboard command closes the dashboard currently open in the application.

Exit - Exits the application

The Edit Dashboard Tab provides access to commands to edit the dashboard you have open in the DataPA Enterprise Dashboard application. To open the file tab, click on it in the application header.

Design Dashboard Tab - Changes the mode of the current dashboard  tab to design mode. This allows you drag items in the tab to re-arrange them. 

New Tab - Creates a new dashboard tab after the last existing dashboard tab. You can rename the tab by pressing the Change Tab Title button. You can re-order tabs by dragging them in the dashboard work area.

Delete Tab - Deletes the currently select tab.

Tab Selection List - Displays and allows you to select the currently selected tab. You can also change the title of the currently selected tab by typing in the text box.

Change Tab Title - Opens the Tab Title dialog box to allow you to enter the tab title.

Cut Dashboard Object - Deletes the selected dashboard tab object and copies it to the clipboard. The copied dashboard object is copied as both an image and a dashboard object, so it can be pasted back into a dashboard, or any application that accepts an image.

Copy Dashboard Object - Copies the selected dashboard tab to the clipboard. The copied dashboard tab is copied as both an image and a dashboard object, so it can be pasted back into a dashboard, or any application that accepts an image.

Paste Dashboard Object - Pastes a copied dashboard tab into the dashboard.

Add Dashboard Object - Opens a context menu to allow you to add a new object to the currently selected tab. You can also add objects to your tabs by dragging them from the toolkit. Once you have selected the type of object, either the Dashboard Object Definition, Gauge Editor, Pivot Table Editor, Treeview Selection Panel Editor or Control Panelwindow opens to allow you to specify the details of the object.

Edit Dashboard Object - Opens either the Dashboard Object Definition, Gauge Editor, Pivot Table Editor, Treeview Selection Panel Editor or Control Panel window to allow you to edit the details of the currently selected object, or the dashboard object you select in the drop down menu. You can also edit control panels, dashboard objects, pivot  tables and gauges by double clicking the left mouse button over them in the dashboard work area.

Delete dashboard Object - Deletes either the selected Dashboard Object (if you just press the button), or opens a drop down menu to allow you to select a dashboard object you wish to delete.

Cut Dashboard Object - Deletes the selected dashboard object and copies it to the clipboard. The copied dashboard object is copied as both an image and a dashboard object, so it can be pasted back into a dashboard, or any application that accepts an image.

Copy Dashboard Object - Copies the selected dashboard to the clipboard. The copied dashboard object is copied as both an image and a dashboard object, so it can be pasted back into a dashboard, or any application that accepts an image.

Paste Dashboard Object - Pastes a copied dashboard object on to the currently selected tab.

The Application Settings tab provides access to commands to allow you to modify the behaviour and appearance of the dashboard designer application. To open the Application Settings tab, click on it in the application header.

Full Screen - Enlarges the dashboard viewer to full screen. To exit full screen mode and return the application to a normal window, press the escape key.

Hide Tabs - When selected, causes the tabs at the top of the work area to be hidden. When the tabs are hidden, you can select which tab is visible in the work area using the tab selection list.

The Help provides access to help related commands. To open the Help tab, click on it in the application header.

Manual - Opens this online manual pages.

Getting Started - Opens the getting started tutorial in a web browser.

Remote Assistance - Opens a remote assistance request in a web browser.

Knowledge Base - Opens the inmydata Knowledgebase in a web browser.

Support Website - Opens the inmydata Support Website in a web browser.

Submit Ideas - Opens a web page where you can submit enhancement requests for the product.

Submit Bug - Opens a web page where you can submit a bug you have found product.

Check Updates - Check to see if there are any updates available for the version of DataPA you are currently running.

About inmydata- Open the about screen

The Title field will be used in DataPA Enterprise to display and search for your dashboard.

The Description field will be used in DataPA Enterprise to display and search for your dashboard.

The Category field will be used to categorise your dashboard in DataPA Enterprise.

The tab title window allows you to edit the title of a dashboard tab. To open the the Tab Title dialog box, select the Change Tab Title button on the Edit Dashboard Tab. To change the tab title, simply enter the new title in the text box and press OK.

The toolkit gives you a list of Data and Control objects you can drag on to the selected dashboard tab. Once an object has been dragged on to the dashboard tab, either the Dashboard Object Definition window, or Control Panel window opens to allow you to specify the details of the object.

See Adding dashboard objects to your Dashboard

Data and Control Objects

The Data and Control objects contain data listing and control objects which allow you to filter the data on the dashboard.

The control panel is a container object for labels, query parameters, filter parameters, images and refresh buttons. The control panel will be described in detail later in this lesson.

The tree view selection panel allows the user to apply complex filtering to a dashboard using a simple tree view interface. The tree view selection panel will be described in detail later in this lesson.

The pivot table is a tabular representation of data that can automatically sort, count, total or give the average of data quickly creating unweighted cross tabulations. The pivot table will be described in detail later in this lesson.

The data grid allows you to display a simple listing of data in a dashboard. It also gives the user the ability to group, summarise and sort the data. The data grid will be described in more detail later in this lesson.

Finally, the legend allows you to display a simple listing of data in a dashboard, with a colour key that can match the colours in a chart. The data grid will be described in more detail later in this lesson.

Charts

Charts can be define as Single series or Multi Series.

Single series charts are charts that display data visually by mapping a single set of textual values (series) against a single numeric value.

This is either in the form of a circular area chart (pie and doughnut charts), where the numeric values are represented by the area of segments in the circle, or two dimensional charts where the numeric values are plotted on a y axis against the textual values on the x axis.

Use this type of chart when you are interested in the value of a single variable across a single group. Two examples might be plotting the value of sales by sales representative, or the value of sales each month this year.

Multi series charts are charts that display data visually by mapping one or more sets of textual values (series) against one or more numeric values. This is in the form of a two dimensional chart where the numeric values are plotted on a y axis against the textual values on the x axis.

Use this type of chart when you are interested in the value of one or more variables across one or more groups. One example might be plotting the values of sales and the value discounted by sales representative. Another might be plotting the value of orders shipped, and the value of orders delivered in each month this year.

Stacked Charts

Stacked charts are a variation on multi-series charts that display data visually by mapping one or more sets of textual values (series) against one or more numeric values. This is in the form of a two dimensional chart where the numeric values are plotted on a y axis against the stacked textual values on the x axis, giving not only an indication of the individual values for each series, but also an indication of the summed values across all series.

Use this type of chart when you are interested in the value of one or more variables across one or more groups, but also wish to see the summed total of the different values. One example might be plotting the total order value for each month, but seeing the total order value broken down by the order status.

Combination Charts

Combination charts are a variation of multi-series charts and stacked charts that allow different types of values to be displayed on a single chart. The different types of values can be differentiated by giving them a different visual appearance, for instance displaying them as a column, line or area. In addition, different values that have a significantly different scale can be plotted on a second Y axis, allowing them to be scaled independently to fit neatly on to the chart.

A good example of a combination chart might be to plot the value of orders and quantity ordered each month.

Scroll Charts

Scroll charts are a variation on single series, multi-series, stacked and combination charts that cater for a large number of series values by scrolling or allowing zooming.

Gauges

Gauges are objects that show a single value. Gauges are useful when you have a single value that you want to be measured quickly against a particular range. Some gauges will allow you to show the value against a number of coloured ranges (such as a traffic light or dial), and others will allow you to show the value only against a total range (such as a cylinder or thermometer).

A good example of when a gauge may be useful is to show the total ordered value against the target, for a specific month or year.