Sas BI Dashboard User Manual

SAS® BI Dashboard 4.3

User's Guide

SAS® Documentation

The correct bibliographic citation for this manual is as follows: SAS Institute Inc. 2010. SAS® BI Dashboard 4.3: User’s Guide. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.

SAS® BI Dashboard 4.3: User’s Guide

ISBN 978-1-60764-777-5

For a hard-copy book: No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, SAS Institute Inc.

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What's New in the SAS BI Dashboard 4.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

PART 1 Information for All Users 1

Chapter 1 • Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2 • General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 3 • Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Open the Portal and Log On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Create a Page and Add It to Your Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Add a SAS BI Dashboard Portlet to a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

PART 2 Information for Dashboard Users 13

Chapter 4 • Working with the SAS BI Dashboard Portlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Select a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Specify Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Print a Dashboard or Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 5 • Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Open a Dashboard or Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Navigate in the Dashboard Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Print a Dashboard or Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Create or Edit a Personal Indicator Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Manage Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Work with Favorites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

PART 3 Information for Dashboard Administrators 25

Chapter 6 • The Dashboard Designer Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Objects Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

The Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Properties Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

iv Contents

Chapter 7 • Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Indicator Data Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Stored Process Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Defining Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Create or Edit Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Chapter 8 • Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Create or Edit a Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 9 • Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Create or Edit an Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Indicator Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter 10 • Dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Dashboard Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Indicator Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Zooming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Create or Edit a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Manage Dashboard Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Set Up Indicator Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Controlling the Appearance of a Dashboard Using the Flow Containers . . . . . . . . . . 116

PART 4 Appendix 119

Appendix 1 • Indicator Role-Mapping Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Alphabetic List of Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

What's New in the SAS BI Dashboard 4.3

Overview

The SAS BI Dashboard 4.3 has the following enhancements and new features:

• features for dashboard users

• features for dashboard administrators

Features for Dashboard Users

• You can run SAS BI Dashboard in a separate window (the dashboard viewer) rather than in the SAS Information Delivery Portal.

When run in the dashboard viewer, the software offers more functionality than when displayed in the SAS Information Delivery Portal.

• You can zoom in and view details in a dashboard.

• You can display multiple columns in zoomed-out view.

• You can create comments for a dashboard.

• You can create and manage personal favorites.

• The software offers new display types, such as waterfall chart, vector plot, and spark lines in tables.

• The software can brush (interactively highlight) data within an indicator. Also, indicators can interact with each other.

Features for Dashboard Administrators

• You create a dashboard interactively using drag-and-drop to add indicators to a dashboard.

• The software saves files in a tree folder structure.

• You can search for existing dashboards and objects, and filter a search by a specific type of object.

• You can more easily customize and size each indicator in a dashboard, as well as the dashboard itself.

vi What's New

• The software offers the ability to set up indicators so that they interact with each other via events.

• You can open and view multiple dashboards on different tabs.

• You can optimize screen space when building indicators and dashboards.

• As you design a dashboard, you can preview different indicator display types to easily decide which display is most appropriate for the data to be displayed.

• You can customize fonts, font colors, and font sizes in a dashboard.

Part 1

Information for All Users

Chapter 1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2

General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 3

Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chapter 1

Introduction

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Overview

Audience

The SAS BI Dashboard enables users to use dashboards to monitor key performance indicators that convey how well an organization is performing. Dashboards include graphics, text, colors, and hyperlinks. Dashboards are created, maintained, and viewed through an easy-to-use Web-based interface. All content is displayed in a role-based, secure, customizable, and extensible environment. End users can customize how information appears on their personal dashboards.

As is true for many SAS®9 applications, the users of the SAS BI Dashboard can be grouped based on their skills and on whether they play a role in defining and managing the system. The following table shows the three types of users of the SAS BI Dashboard:

User Description Example

Dashboard user The ultimate audience of

dashboards. This role views dashboards and uses them as a launching point for further exploration and action.

Executives and employees presented with dashboards as part of their intranet home page.

4 Chapter 1 • Introduction

User Description Example

Dashboard administrator This role defines indicators

and dashboards. This role is responsible for setting user access to various dashboards and for controlling the extent to which dashboard users can personalize the dashboards. This role might also be responsible for extending the functionality of the SAS BI Dashboard by creating custom code.

IT support personnel This role installs the SAS BI

Dashboard and maintains its setup, configuration, and administration.

A business manager with some SAS technical knowledge, or a SAS consultant involved in the initial implementation or major overhauls of the SAS BI Dashboard who works with outside consultants and corporate developers.

An IT person who is responsible for supporting application deployment and maintenance on an organization’s computer network.

This guide is intended for dashboard users and dashboard administrators.

Chapter 2

General Information

The Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Dashboard Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Dashboard Administrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Workflow

Overview

Dashboard Users

SAS BI Dashboard has two aspects: the dashboard viewer (used by dashboard users) and the dashboard designer (used by dashboard administrators).

Generally, you access dashboards and SAS BI Dashboard from a SAS BI Dashboard portlet within the SAS Information Delivery Portal. (For more information, see Chapter 3,

“Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal,” on page 9.)

Your role (dashboard user or dashboard administrator) determines the functions that are available to you.

You can also start the dashboard viewer directly by using this URL within your browser:

http://<server>:<port>/SASBIDashboard.

As a dashboard user, you work with dashboards in the SAS BI Dashboard portlet.

6 Chapter 2 • General Information

For more information about the SAS BI Dashboard portlet and selecting a dashboard, see

Chapter 4, “Working with the SAS BI Dashboard Portlet,” on page 15.

You can also click (in the upper right corner of a dashboard) to work with dashboards in the dashboard viewer, which opens in a separate window.

Note: You might need to horizontally scroll within the SAS BI Dashboard portlet to see

the icon.

The dashboard viewer opens and displays the dashboard that was displayed in the SAS BI Dashboard portlet.

The Workflow 7

The dashboard viewer enables enhanced functionality. For more information, see Chapter

5, “Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer,” on page 17.

Dashboard Administrators

As a dashboard administrator, you manage dashboards in the dashboard designer of the

SAS BI Dashboard. To start the dashboard designer, click in a dashboard in a SAS BI Dashboard portlet, or click Manage Dashboards when displaying dashboards in the dashboard viewer.

When you start the dashboard designer using either of the previous methods while viewing a dashboard, the same dashboard is displayed in the dashboard designer so that you can quickly modify it.

8 Chapter 2 • General Information

When you start the dashboard designer using either of the previous methods while not viewing a dashboard, a default page is displayed in the dashboard designer.

For more information, see Chapter 6, “The Dashboard Designer Window,” on page 27.

Chapter 3

Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Open the Portal and Log On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Create a Page and Add It to Your Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Add a SAS BI Dashboard Portlet to a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Overview

The SAS BI Dashboard can be accessed from within the SAS Information Delivery Portal. This guide assumes that you are familiar with the SAS Information Delivery Portal. If you are not, see the online Help.

Open the Portal and Log On

To open the SAS Information Delivery Portal:

Open your Web browser and point it to the portal's URL address.

To obtain the URL, contact your portal administrator.

To identify yourself to the portal, log on with your user name and password.

If you do not have a user name and password, contact your system administrator to obtain them.

The logon procedure varies depending on how your organization has installed the portal. Use either the portal logon procedure or the Web server logon procedure, as appropriate.

If your organization uses the portal's logon feature, do the following:

a. Open your browser and point to the portal's URL.

Either a public page or the portal's logon page appears.

b. If a public page appears, click Log On in the banner.

c. On the logon page, enter your user name and password.

d. Click Log On.

10 Chapter 3 • Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal

Your personal portal opens.

If your organization uses a Web server to identify each user, do the following:

a. Use the Web server logon procedure specified for your organization.

The Web server logon procedure is different in each organization.

b. After you have logged on to the Web server, point your browser to the portal's URL.

Your personal portal opens.

Create a Page and Add It to Your Navigation Bar

To create a new page and add it to your navigation bar:

Click Customize ð Add Page.

The Add Pages to Profile page appears.

On the Create tab, enter descriptive information about the page:

Name

is a short name that appears in the page's tab in the navigation bar.

Description

is a short description that appears with the page title in search results.

Keywords

are single words that you or other users can use to search for this page. Use spaces to separate keywords from one another.

Note: To ensure efficient searching, develop a standard list of keywords and use

these keywords consistently.

Page rank

is a number that indicates the importance of this page as compared to other pages. The default value is 100.

This number determines the order in which pages are listed in the navigation bar. The pages are ordered by rank from lowest to highest. Pages with equal rank are listed in the order in which they were created.

Add a SAS BI Dashboard Portlet to a Page 11

Note: You can choose to override page ranks by explicitly defining the order of

pages.

Location (group) and Share type

are fields that appear only if you are a group content administrator. In these fields, you can specify a group with which the page is to be shared and specify the share type.

Click Add.

A message appears, indicating that a new page was added.

Click Done.

Add a SAS BI Dashboard Portlet to a Page

To add a SAS BI Dashboard portlet to a page:

Navigate to the page that you want to add the portlet to.

Click Customize ð Edit Page ð Edit Page Content.

The Edit Page Content page appears.

Click Add Portlets.

The Add Portlets to Page page appears.

12 Chapter 3 • Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal

From the Portlet type drop-down list, select SAS BI Dashboard Portlet.

Type the name for the portlet and, if desired, the description and keywords.

If you are a group content administrator, select a group with which the portlet is to be shared from the Location (group) drop-down list.

Click Add, and then Done.

On the Edit Page Content page, click OK.

The original page is displayed, with the new portlet added.

Select a dashboard or indicator.

For more information, see “Select a Dashboard” on page 15.

Part 2

Information for Dashboard Users

Chapter 4

Working with the SAS BI Dashboard Portlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 5

Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer 17

Chapter 4

Working with the SAS BI Dashboard Portlet

Select a Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Specify Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Specify the Dashboard Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Refresh the Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Print a Dashboard or Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Select a Dashboard

To select a dashboard:

Click .

The Edit Portlet page appears.

16 Chapter 4 • Working with the SAS BI Dashboard Portlet

From the tree, select a dashboard.

This list includes dashboards created by your organization.

Specify Display Options

Specify the Dashboard Dimensions

To specify the dashboard dimensions:

Click .

The Edit Portlet page appears.

Type values for the width and height.

Refresh the Contents

To manually refresh the contents of a SAS BI Dashboard portlet, click

To automatically refresh the contents:

Click .

The Edit Portlet page appears.

Next to Auto refresh interval, select the Refresh every check box, and then type a value in the box.

Print a Dashboard or Indicator

To print a dashboard, click in the upper right corner of the dashboard.

To print an indicator, select Print Indicator from the indicator's Options menu.

Chapter 5

Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Open a Dashboard or Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Navigate in the Dashboard Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Default View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Refresh the Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Overview

Print a Dashboard or Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Create or Edit a Personal Indicator Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Manage Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Work with Favorites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

You can display a dashboard or indicator in the dashboard viewer rather than in the SAS Information Delivery Portal. Displaying a dashboard this way enables you to do the following:

• create a larger dashboard with numerous interactive indicators

• personalize alerts

• add comments to an indicator

• create favorites

For more information, see “The Workflow” on page 5.

Open a Dashboard or Indicator

To open a dashboard or indicator, select File ð Open, and then navigate to the dashboard or indicator.

In addition to indicators, this list includes dashboards created by your organization.

18 Chapter 5 • Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer

Navigate in the Dashboard Viewer

After you open a second dashboard or indicator, the navigation controls appear below the menu bar.

These controls are also available when you select View ð Go To.

The navigation controls enable you to move backward and forward through the dashboards and indicators that you have opened. The down arrow (history list) enables you to select any opened dashboard or indicator, instead of moving through the opened items one at a time.

Display Options

The Default View

By default, the dashboard viewer displays the last dashboard or indicator that was displayed when the dashboard was closed. However, there might be times when you do not want to display this dashboard or indicator.

To display no dashboard or indicator when the SAS BI Dashboard is first started, clear the check box View ð Open the previously viewed dashboard by default.

Refresh the Contents

To manually refresh the contents of the dashboard viewer, click .

To automatically refresh the contents:

Select View ð Set the automatic refresh interval.

The Refresh Interval dialog box appears.

Select the Automatic refresh check box, and then specify the time interval.

Print a Dashboard or Indicator

Create or Edit a Personal Indicator Alert 19

To print a dashboard, click in the upper right corner of the dashboard.

To print an indicator, select Print Indicator from the Options menu.

Create or Edit a Personal Indicator Alert

If a dashboard administrator has enabled personal alerts for an indicator, you can define a personal indicator alert on the indicator. A personal indicator alert is sent only to you. This is different from an indicator alert, which is sent to a list of one or more alert subscribers.

A personal alert is in addition to any alerts attached to an indicator that was created by a dashboard administrator.

Note: The alerts shown on this page are only your personal indicator alerts. Indicator alerts

created by dashboard administrators are not shown.

To create or edit a personal indicator alert, from an indicator's Options menu, select Personalize Alerts.

20 Chapter 5 • Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer

Note: If Personalize Alerts is not available, then the dashboard administrator has not

enabled personalization. If the Options menu is not available, the indicator is not being displayed in a tile. Contact the dashboard administrator. For information about tiles, see “Tiles” on page 33.

The Edit Indicator Alerts dialog box appears in a new window.

To create a personal indicator alert:

Click New Alert.

Type the name of the alert.

From the Gauge definition and Trigger interval drop-down lists, select the gauge definition and the interval to trigger the alert.

Choose when to trigger the alert: Any gauge is in the interval or % of gauges are in the interval.

If you chose % of gauges are in the interval, type a percentage in the field next to the check box.

Select the delivery method for the alert: Alerts portlet or E-mail subscribers.

Note: You can select both.

(Optional) If you selected E-mail subscribers:

a. From the E-mail template drop-down list, select the e-mail template to use to

format the e-mail.

The items included in the list are controlled by the dashboard administrator.

b. Type the subject line and additional message to include in the e-mail.

To edit an indicator alert:

From the Alerts table, select an alert.

The properties of the alert appear on the left side of the dialog box.

Edit the properties.

To delete an alert, select one from the Alerts table, and then click .

Manage Comments

To manage comments, select Manage Comments from an indicator's Options menu.

Manage Comments 21

The Comments dialog box appears.

22 Chapter 5 • Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer

To start a new topic:

Click New Topic.

The New Topic dialog box appears.

Type the topic name and comment.

To attach a file, click Attachment, and navigate to the file.

To edit a comment, click , and then make changes to the comment.

To delete a comment, click .

Note: Only users in the Comment Administrator role can edit and delete comments.

To reply to a comment, click Reply, and then type a comment.

To sort and filter the comments, select an option from the Actions menu.

Work with Favorites

To easily return to a dashboard or an indicator, you can add it to your favorites.

To add a dashboard to your favorites, select Favorites ð Add Dashboard to Favorites.

To add an indicator to your favorites, select Favorites ð Add Indicator to Favorites ð <Name of indicator>.

To select a favorite, select one from the bottom area of the Favorites menu.

To manage your favorites:

Select Favorites ð Manage Favorites.

The Manage Favorites dialog box appears.

Work with Favorites 23

To create a folder in your favorites, click , and then name the folder.

To rename a favorite or folder, click the item's name, and then type the name.

To move a favorite or folder, drag the item.

Note: To drag an item into a folder, first expand the folder, and then drag the item into

the folder.

To delete a favorite or folder, click the item's name, and then click .

24 Chapter 5 • Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer

Part 3

Information for Dashboard Administrators

Chapter 6

The Dashboard Designer Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 7

Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 8

Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 9

Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chapter 10

Dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 6

The Dashboard Designer Window

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Objects Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

The Library View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

The Layout Templates View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Static Content View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Editing an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Manipulating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Overview

The Properties Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

The dashboard designer window contains three areas (from left to right):

• the Objects pane (see “The Objects Pane” on page 28)

• the workspace (see “The Workspace” on page 32)

• the Properties pane (see “The Properties Pane” on page 34)

28 Chapter 6 • The Dashboard Designer Window

CAUTION:

Do not refresh the browser window. If you refresh the browser window, any unsaved

dashboard content is lost.

The Objects Pane

The Library View

Overview

In addition to listing the dashboards, the Library view contains the objects that you combine to create a dashboard:

• indicator data (see Chapter 7, “Indicator Data,” on page 37)

• ranges (see Chapter 8, “Ranges,” on page 49)

• indicators (see Chapter 9, “Indicators,” on page 53)

It also contains additional objects to control the display of information within a dashboard and dashboards. For more information, see “The Layout Templates View” on page 32,

“The Static Content View” on page 32, and Chapter 10, “Dashboards,” on page 105.

You create a new object by selecting the type of object from the New drop-down list.

The Objects Pane 29

The Library view contains a library tree in which you store the objects. To refresh the list,

click . To limit the library tree to display only a certain type of object, select the type of object from the Show drop-down list.

To search for a saved object:

Click .

The Search dialog box appears.

30 Chapter 6 • The Dashboard Designer Window

Type all or part of the object's name, and then choose whether to include object descriptions and keywords in the search.

(Optional) Select the type of object.

Select the location, and then choose whether to include subfolders in the search.

(Optional) Specify the creation or last modified data, and then click the calendar icons to specify the date range.

Click Search.

Any objects that are found appear in the table to the right.

Select an object, and then click OK.

Organizing the Folders in the Library Tree

SAS BI Dashboard enables you to create folders and subfolders within the Library tree to organize SAS BI Dashboard objects. This ability to organize SAS BI Dashboard objects enables you to create folder structures that can be secured based on your business rules or needs.

SAS recommends that you carefully consider how SAS BI Dashboard objects will be stored, and then communicate that strategy to dashboard users.

The Objects Pane 31

One strategy is to create a folder for each department in your organization. Each department would then store their SAS BI Dashboard objects and other SAS objects (such as reports and information maps) within the folder. Within a department’s folder, you should consider how dashboard objects are related, and you should use a consistent folder structure that enables dashboard users to more easily understand how various objects are associated.

For example, you could create a folder structure like this for the Finance department:

A similar, and less complex, strategy is to create a folder for each type of SAS BI Dashboard object within each department:

32 Chapter 6 • The Dashboard Designer Window

The Layout Templates View

The Layout Templates view contains objects that control the flow of the indicators that are displayed in a dashboard.

The horizontal and vertical flow containers automatically flow (in the indicated direction) the indicators that they contain. Wrapping occurs when the indicators exceed the container's width or height.

The Static Content View

The Static Content view contains objects that display a label or an image. A label or an image can be a link. For more information, see “Manage Dashboard Contents” on page

114.

The Workspace

Overview

The workspace is the place where you interactively work with the objects that make up a dashboard. Each object is displayed on its own tab.

Tiles

The Workspace 33

You can maximize the workspace by selecting View ð Maximize Workspace. You return the workspace to its normal size by selecting View ð Expand Workspace Panels.

For a dashboard, which contains multiple objects, each object is displayed in a tile. When you move the mouse pointer over the tile, sizing handles appear around the tile's borders and a toolbar appears at the top left of the tile.

Editing an Object

Note: A dashboard administrator can choose to display an indicator without the tile.

To access the toolbar for an object, hover over the tile.

The toolbar buttons perform these actions:

Deletes the object.

Displays the object's properties.

Displays the indicator data properties. This button is available for indicators only.

34 Chapter 6 • The Dashboard Designer Window

Displays the range properties. This button is available for indicators only.

When you edit the contents of a flow container, the Edit Flow Container dialog box appears. From here you remove the objects within the container by moving the objects from the Selected items list to the Available items list.

To edit the dimensions of an object within a flow container, select the object from the Selected items list, and then edit the properties in the Properties area.

For more information about the flow containers, see “The Layout Templates View” on

page 32.

Manipulating Objects

To resize an object, drag the sizing handles that appear around the object's tile. You can also edit the width and height in the Properties pane.

To move an object, drag the border of the object. You can also edit the left and top positions in the Properties pane.

The Properties Pane

The Properties pane displays the properties for the selected object.

The Properties Pane 35

However, indicator data and ranges do not display their properties in the Properties pane. All of their properties are displayed on their tab.

36 Chapter 6 • The Dashboard Designer Window

Chapter 7

Indicator Data

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Indicator Data Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Stored Process Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Defining Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Data Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Information Map Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Overview

Create or Edit Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Define an Information Map Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Define an SQL Query Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Define a Stored Process Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Define a Table Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

The SAS BI Dashboard indicator data object associates a data source with an indicator. The core object is the indicator, and a dashboard is just a collection of indicators. An indicator never has more than one set of indicator data (and is rarely used without indicator data). Access to four types of data sources is supplied with the SAS BI Dashboard:

• SQL queries, which can access relational data

• information maps, which can access relational data and OLAP cubes

• tables, which can access data in a SAS data set that is registered in SAS metadata

• stored processes, which can access various types of data

Note: The SAS BI Dashboard administrator can add access to other data sources.

Before you create a dashboard, you must understand how to create indicator data. Understanding the data flow in the SAS BI Dashboard is the key to building enterprise dashboards that operate efficiently within your organization’s business intelligence system.

Unlike the flow of data in a report (which is usually relatively simple), the flow of data in a dashboard can be very different. Consider the dashboard in your car. Although you see a single representation of the state of the car, the state is actually a collection of different types of data received by the dashboard. The fuel gauge receives data from the fuel tank, the speedometer receives data from the wheels, the battery gauge receives data from the

38 Chapter 7 • Indicator Data

battery, and so on. Like your car’s dashboard, a SAS BI Dashboard can have disparate data sources.

Whereas a report created with SAS Web Report Studio might fill several screens with data from a single information map, a dashboard might render data in a small display that is the result of SQL and JDBC queries and information maps. A dashboard can also render the output of stored processes that produce static images.

By using information maps and SQL queries to retrieve data, you are unconstrained with how the data is laid out at the data set level. For example, you can use computed columns and grouping in the indicator data. After you have the data configured, the lack of constraints helps you to get initial dashboards set up quickly. But this same simplicity means that data structure is not enforced.

Indicator Data Rules

Here are several rules to help you to create quicker and more efficient indicator data:

• Plan the indicator data by considering the indicator display types that will be used with the indicator data and the required appearance of the desired end result.

For example, KPIs appear best with indicator data that produces summarized data with a limited number of data rows. Indicator data with significant amounts of data, when used to drive a KPI indicator display, causes the SAS BI Dashboard to try to produce one KPI graphic representation for each row of data in the indicator data. Other indicator display types, such as the bar chart, automatically summarize the data. In this case, it might be appropriate to use indicator data that produces a larger number of data rows.

• To display a single gauge in an indicator, the indicator data must return a single row of data.

• Create indicator data so that it executes quickly.

A single slow set of indicator data will slow the entire dashboard. Even when indicator data returns only a single row of data, if it must first join tables that each contain thousands of rows of data, the indicator data will not perform well.

• If the source data has too many rows, summarize the data.

Summarize data at the indicator data or data-model level. Do not rely on the indicator display to perform the summary.

For an SQL query, you can summarize data using aggregation functions such as AVG() and the distinct keyword.

Another summarization strategy is to summarize the data into a summary table. The summary table is then used as the basis for the SQL query or as the base table for the information map. The first illustration that follows shows the SAS BI Dashboard indicator data using a query that combines data from multiple tables. The second illustration shows the same two tables being summarized by an ETL program. The SAS BI Dashboard indicator data then uses this summarized table.

Product Returns

11.2%

Product Returns

11.2%

Indicator

Data

Summary Table

Data Tables

ETL

Indicator

Data

Stored Process Indicator Data 39

The first method is easier to set up and might result in more timely data, but the second method is more flexible and will probably be more scalable. You can use a similar strategy when creating information maps that will be used by the SAS BI Dashboard indicator data.

• To display multiple gauges or a graph in an indicator, each numeric value should be associated with a descriptive name.

After you define indicator data, you select the data fields to include in the indicator display. For every numeric data field displayed in the indicator, you can select a data field from the Category Label drop-down list to associate with the numeric value. This associated data field is displayed with the gauge or the category value in a graph.

Stored Process Indicator Data

Use these general steps to create a SAS stored process for use with SAS BI Dashboard:

Write the code for the stored process that does these things:

a. Creates a SAS data set in the SAS Work library

b. Publishes the data to a SAS Package file using the SAS Publishing Framework

c. Sets the macro variable _ARCHIVE_FULLPATH to the path of the archive file

that the stored process generates

In SAS Management Console, register the stored process in the SAS metadata, designate it as creating a package, and then specify the target data.

For more information about how to specify the target data, see the SAS Management Console online Help.

Save the stored process metadata registration.

40 Chapter 7 • Indicator Data

The stored process is now ready to use in indicator data.

Defining Indicator Data

Data Columns

When you define indicator data, part of the information that you specify is the display attributes for each data column that is retrieved.

When you define an SQL query data source, you create a query that retrieves data from the data source. After you create the query, you submit the query for validation.

If the query is incorrect, the list is empty, and an error message is displayed.

Here is an explanation of the fields:

Column Name

is the name of the data column. You cannot modify this value.

In each type of display, Column Name is used as the default value for the names of the Category Label, Label, and Property Alias.

Category Label

is the data column that contains the name that is displayed on a KPI gauge or graph.

Label

is the data column that contains the formatted value that is displayed. This format can be a simple numeric value of a label.

An SQL query does not require this field. To create a formatted label at the bottom of a gauge, create the label as a formatted string in the SQL query, and then define that formatted string as the Label attribute.

Here is how Label appears in each type of display:

Display Type Appearance of Label

All graphical displays Displayed below each gauge and in tooltip text (to the

right of the colon). For line and bar charts, displayed as the category for a given value.

Custom graph Not used.

Dynamic prompt Displayed in tooltip text.

Dynamic text Not used.

KPI Displayed below each gauge.

Spark table Displayed in the value column.

Defining Indicator Data 41

Hyperlink

is the data column that contains hyperlinks.

In each type of display, hyperlinks are embedded in gauges or individual data points in graphs.

Property Alias

is the text that replaces the value retrieved for Label.

Here is how Property Alias appears in each type of display:

Display Type Appearance of Property Alias

All graphical displays Displayed as the axis label and in tooltip text (to the left

of the colon).

Custom graph Not used.

Dynamic prompt Displayed in tooltip text.

Dynamic text Not used.

KPI Displayed as the axis label and in tooltip text (to the left

of the colon).

Spark table Displayed as the column heading.

Information Map Data Source

Overview

An information map data source easily aggregates data in such a flexible manner that a single information map can drive several different dashboard indicators.

OLAP Information Maps

The data returned from an OLAP information map is flattened into a two-dimensional table structure. You assign a role for each dimension when you define the data source. The roles are Column, Row, and Slicer.

Note: You must assign the role of Row to at least one data column.

For dimensions with the role of Row, the levels of each hierarchy are the data fields. The corresponding members of the level are the values of the data field, where the field name is the label for the level. The other data fields are the columns that are typically seen in an OLAP viewer. The field names for the data fields are the comma-delimited levels of the dimensions with the role of Column, in the order of the dimensions with the role of Row.

You can use the grouping feature of the bar chart with reference lines display with an OLAP information map to create a multi-dimensional display of data.

42 Chapter 7 • Indicator Data

Create or Edit Indicator Data

Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data

To create or edit indicator data:

Note: You can also create or edit indicator data when you create or edit an indicator. For

more information, see “Create or Edit an Indicator” on page 54.

In a dashboard portlet, click Manage Dashboards.

The SAS BI Dashboard appears in a new browser tab.

To create indicator data:

a. In the Library view of the Objects pane, select Indicator Data from the New drop-

down list.

The Create Indicator Data dialog box appears.

b. Type the name, and then click OK.

To edit indicator data, in the Library view of the Objects pane, navigate to a location that contains indicator data, and then double-click the name.

Note: You can choose to display only indicator data in the library tree by selecting

Indicator data from the Show drop-down list.

Create or Edit Indicator Data 43

Define a data source.

For more information, see one of the following, and then return to this task:

• “Define an Information Map Data Source” on page 43

• “Define an SQL Query Data Source” on page 44

• “Define a Table Data Source” on page 46

• “Define a Stored Process Data Source” on page 45

To associate a data point property with data columns in the data source, do the following for each data point property:

a. From the Column Name column, select the check box next to each data point

property that you want to include in the display.

b. From the Category Label drop-down list, select a data column in the data source

that contains the category label or group variable.

If the data source contains a Name data column, this data column is selected automatically for all data point properties.

c. From the Label drop-down list, select a data column in the data source that contains

the label for the data point property.

If you need a complicated label, such as one that concatenates data fields and static text, create a data column in the data source to store the concatenation. Then type the name to display for the data point property in the Property Alias field.

d. From the Hyperlink drop-down list, select a data column in the data source that

contains the hyperlink for the data point property.

e. In the Property Alias field, type the name to display for the data point property in

the column heading in the KPI table display.

Note: The KPI display ignores this value.

Define an Information Map Data Source

CAUTION:

The maximum number of rows returned by a relational information map data source is 1,000.If the source data contains more than 1,000 rows, the information

shown by an indicator that uses the relational information map data source is probably wrong. If possible, aggregate the data to reduce the number of rows to return.

To define an information map data source:

Perform the first three steps of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page

42.

From the Data source drop-down list, select Information map.

The fields to define an information map data source appear.

44 Chapter 7 • Indicator Data

Next to the Information map field, click Browse.

The Open dialog box appears.

Navigate to an information map, select it, and then click Open.

Move data columns and filters between the Available items list and the Selected items list by selecting one or more items and clicking the arrows between the lists.

A filter is moved under the Filters node. By default, a data column is moved under the Column node. If the information map is based on an OLAP cube, the Selected item list includes the nodes Row and Slicer. To use a data column in either of these roles, select Row or Slicer before moving the data column from the Available list.

Note: To make available a filter that contains a user prompt, the prompt must have a

default value specified in SAS Information Map Studio.

To move a data column between groups, click the name of a data column in the Selected items list, and then move it up or down by clicking one of the arrows that are next to the list.

When the data columns are set, click Apply Query Changes.

To view the data that is included in the indicator data, click the Query Results tab.

Continue with step 5 of the task “Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page 42.

Define an SQL Query Data Source

To define an SQL query data source:

Perform the first three steps of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page

42.

From the Data source drop-down list, select SQL query.

The fields to define an SQL query data source appear.

In the Query field, type the query code.

Click Submit.

Create or Edit Indicator Data 45

To view the data that is included in the indicator data, click the Query Results tab.

Continue with step 5 of the task “Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page 42.

Define a Stored Process Data Source

To define a stored process data source:

Perform the first three steps of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page

42.

From the Data source drop-down list, select Stored process.

The fields to define a stored process data source appear.

46 Chapter 7 • Indicator Data

Next to the Stored process field, click Browse.

The Open dialog box appears.

Navigate to a stored process, select it, and then click Open.

From the Published data set name drop-down list, select a data set.

(Optional) Choose to have the SAS log added to the server log.

Selecting this option enables you to review this information later.

Click Apply Changes.

To view the data that is included in the indicator data, click the Query Results tab.

Continue with step 5 of the task “Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page 42.

Define a Table Data Source

CAUTION:

The maximum number of rows returned by a table data source is 1,000.If the source

data contains more than 1,000 rows, the information shown by an indicator that uses the table data source is probably wrong. If possible, aggregate the data to reduce the number of rows to return.

To define a table data source:

Perform the first three steps of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page

42.

From the Data source drop-down list, select Table.

The fields to define a table data source appear.

From the Table tree, select a table.

Create or Edit Indicator Data 47

The data columns in the table appear in the Available columns table.

From the Available columns table, select the data columns to include in the indicator data by selecting the check box at the end of a row.

For each selected data column, select a method to summarize the data from the Summary column.

For each selected data column, choose whether to group the data by selecting the check box in the Group By column.

To specify additional filters, type the filter (using SQL syntax) into the Filters field.

Note: Do not type the key word where. This causes an error because where is

automatically supplied.

Click Apply Query Changes.

To view the data that is included in the indicator data, click the Query Results tab.

10.

Continue with step 5 of the task “Create or Edit Indicator Data” on page 42.

48 Chapter 7 • Indicator Data

Chapter 8

Ranges

Create or Edit a Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Start to Create or Edit a Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Define the Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Create or Edit a Range

Start to Create or Edit a Range

A range defines the measurement intervals by which a metric is evaluated, such as below target, on target, and above target.

To create or edit a range:

In a dashboard portlet, click Manage Dashboards.

The SAS BI Dashboard appears in a new browser tab.

To create a range:

a. In the Library view of the Objects pane, select Range from the New drop-down

list.

50 Chapter 8 • Ranges

Define the Range

The Create a Range dialog box appears.

b. Type the name, and then click OK.

To edit a range, in the Library view of the Objects pane, navigate to a location that contains a range, and then double-click the name.

Note: You can choose to display only ranges in the library tree by selecting Range

from the Show drop-down list.

To define the range:

If needed, type a description.

For each interval in the range, click Add Interval, type the interval value in the Upper bound field, and then click OK.

The interval is added to the table of intervals. You can add the values in any order; the software orders them correctly in the table.

Note: Valid input includes a sign, digits, and a locale-dependent decimal separator.

Create or Edit a Range 51

To define each interval:

a. For a static gauge, in the Code Interval column, select a code interval from the

drop-down list.

The available intervals depend on the gauge.

b. In the Relation column, select an operator from the drop-down list, and specify a

value in the adjacent Lower Value column.

c. In the Label column, type the label.

d. Click in the Color column and select a color.

To delete an interval, click next to the interval.

f. To preview how the range will appear, select a gauge type from the Dynamic gauge

type drop-down list.

You can control which users can use the range. For more information, see the SAS Management Console online Help.

52 Chapter 8 • Ranges

Chapter 9

Indicators

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Create or Edit an Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Start to Create or Edit an Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Define the General Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Define the Role-Mapping Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Define the User Personalization Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Set Up the Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Create or Edit an Indicator Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Indicator Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Bar Chart with Bullet Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Bar Chart with Reference Lines Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Bubble Plot Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chart with Slider Prompt Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Clustered Bar Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Custom Graph Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Dual Line Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Dynamic Prompt Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Dynamic Text Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Forecast Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Interactive Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

KPI Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Line Chart with Reference Lines Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Needle Plot Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Pie Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Range Map Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Scatter Histogram Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Scatter Plot Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Schedule Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Simple Bar Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Spark Table Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Stacked Bar Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Targeted Bar Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Tile Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Vector Plot Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Waterfall Chart Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Select a Gauge for an Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

54 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Overview

An indicator includes a title and a display. The display includes one or more data values, a hyperlink (optional), and one or more gauges, a graph, or an image. Here is an example of a KPI indicator:

The indicator title is Regional Sales KPIs. The names of the gauges, such as NW and NYC, are the values of the data column specified by the Category Label field when the data source was defined. The values, such as 10% and 35%, are the values of the data column specified by the Label field. The hyperlink is not shown. For more information about where these items of information appear in each type of display, see “Defining Indicator Data”

on page 40.

You select the display when you create or edit an indicator. For more information, see

“Create or Edit an Indicator” on page 54 and “Indicator Displays” on page 59.

Create or Edit an Indicator

Overview

There are six general steps to create or edit an indicator:

Start to create or edit an indicator. (See page 54.)

Define the general properties. (See page 56.)

Define the role-mapping properties. (See page 56.)

Define the user personalization properties. (See page 57.)

Set up the links. (See page 57.)

Create or edit an indicator alert. (See page 58.)

When you edit an indicator, you can perform any of the steps in any order.

Start to Create or Edit an Indicator

To start to create or edit an indicator:

Click Manage Dashboards.

The dashboard designer appears.

Create or Edit an Indicator 55

To create an indicator:

a. In the Library view of the Objects pane, select Indicator from the New drop-

down list.

The Create an Indicator dialog box appears.

b. Type the name.

c. Select the display type.

Other controls might appear below the Indicator data field, based on the display type that you select.

d. To select existing indicator data, click Browse next to the Indicator data field,

navigate to the indicator data, and then open it.

e. To create indicator data, click New next to the Indicator data field.

For more information, see step 2 of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data”

on page 42.

f. Click OK.

To edit an indicator, in the Library view of the Objects pane, navigate to a location that contains an indicator, and then double-click the name.

Note: You can choose to display only indicators in the library tree by selecting

Indicator from the Show drop-down list.

56 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Define the General Properties

Change the height and width by specifying values in the controls or by clicking the indicator and dragging the resize handles.

The height and width values are in intervals of five pixels.

Note: For an interactive summary chart and detail chart display or an interactive

summary chart and detail plot display, the minimum legible dimensions are 380 x 450 pixels.

These height and width settings apply only when the indicator is displayed by itself, not on a dashboard. When displayed on a dashboard, the indicator's height and width are specified in the Object area of the Properties pane.

Select the display type.

Other controls might appear, based on the display type that you select.

For information about gauges, see “Select a Gauge for an Indicator” on page 102.

To select existing indicator data, click Browse next to the Indicator data field, navigate to the indicator data, and then open it.

Note: You interact with range data, if available, in the same manner as the indicator

data.

To create indicator data, click New next to the Indicator data field.

For more information, see step 2 of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data” on

page 42.

To use existing indicator data, click Browse, navigate to the indicator data, and then double-click the name.

To edit the indicator data, click Edit.

For more information, see one of the following:

• “Define an Information Map Data Source” on page 43

• “Define an SQL Query Data Source” on page 44

• “Define a Table Data Source” on page 46

• “Define a Stored Process Data Source” on page 45

To create indicator data, click New next to the Indicator data field.

For more information, see step 2 of the task “Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data” on

page 42.

(Optional) Choose how to sort the displayed data.

Define the Role-Mapping Properties

The role-mapping properties determine which data is included in the display, how the data is grouped, how the data is summarized, and so on.

The role-mapping properties that are available depend on the type of display that you select.

For a list of the role-mapping properties, see Appendix A1, “Indicator Role-Mapping

Properties,” on page 121.

Define the User Personalization Properties

(Optional) Choose whether to allow users to manage alerts and whether to limit which email templates the user can select.

Set Up the Links

Click at the top of the Properties pane.

The Set Up Link dialog box appears.

Create or Edit an Indicator 57

Note: You cannot set up links for these indicator display types: chart with slider

prompt, dynamic prompt, and dynamic text.

From the Link type drop-down list, select the type of link.

From the Link target drop-down list, select a window in which to open the link target.

If you selected an external link, type the URL of the link in the Link field.

If you selected a type other than an external link, click Browse next to the Link field, and then select an item.

The available choices depend on the type of link.

(Optional) To specify the parameters for the URL specified in the Link field that supports parameters:

Click

The Name and Data point lookup controls appear.

Note: If you select Web Report for the link type, the Name column is renamed

b. Type the name of the parameter, and then select the data point lookup associated

with the parameter.

The name must match the expected name exactly, including case.

The data point lookup is the data column that contains the parameter values.

Displayed Text.

58 Chapter 9 • Indicators

c. Add as many parameters as needed.

To delete a parameter, select a row and then click next to the row.

e. To order the parameters, select a parameter, and then click the arrow buttons next

to the parameter table.

Create or Edit an Indicator Alert

Overview

To create an indicator alert, click at the top of the Properties pane.

Note: The trigger interval for an indicator alert depends on a range. Therefore, you can

create an indicator alert only for an indicator that uses a display type that supports a range.

The Edit Indicator Alerts dialog box appears.

To create an indicator alert:

Click New Alert.

Type the name of the alert.

From the Gauge definition and Trigger interval drop-down lists, select the gauge definition and the interval to trigger the alert.

Choose when to trigger the alert: Any gauge is in the interval or % of gauges are in the interval.

If you chose % of gauges are in the interval, type a percentage in the field next to the check box.

Select the delivery method for the alert: Alerts portlet or E-mail subscribers.

Note: You can select both.

Indicator Displays 59

(Optional) If you selected E-mail subscribers:

a. From the E-mail template drop-down list, select the e-mail template to use to

format the e-mail.

b. Type the subject and additional message to include in the e-mail.

Click next to the list of alert subscribers, and then select users and user groups.

For more information, see “Add Users and User Groups,” which follows.

To remove a subscriber, select one from the list, and then click .

Add Users and User Groups

e. Type the text to search for in the Search field.

Partial text is valid. Wildcards are not supported.

f. Select the category (or both categories) to search.

g. Click Search.

A table appears with all entries that match the search criteria.

h. From the table, select the check box next to each entry that you want to add.

Note: You can also drag an entry from the table into the List of alert subscribers.

To limit the number of alerts, select the Limit alerts on frequently changing indicators check box, type a value, and then select a time interval.

To edit an indicator alert:

From the Alerts table, select an alert.

The properties of the alert appear on the left side of the dialog box.

Edit the properties.

To delete an alert, select one from the Alerts table, and then click

Indicator Displays

Bar Chart with Bullet Display

Here is an example of a bar chart with bullet display:

60 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 61

Bar Chart with Reference Lines Display

The bar chart with reference lines display applies a range to a standard graph display such as bar chart or line graph. Here is an example of a bar chart with reference lines display:

62 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 63

For the best results, the indicator data should return only one value for each unique value in the Category Label data column. If the indicator data returns only one value, the bar chart with reference lines display does not need to aggregate the data. The category variable is specified by the data column selected for the Category Label field when the data source is defined.

If the bar chart with reference lines display does aggregate data, the bar chart with reference lines displays data points at the average interval for each data series. The indexes of the aggregated intervals are averaged to determine the interval to display and the color of the bar.

If the bar chart with reference lines display does aggregate data, the bar chart with reference lines does two things:

It displays data points at the average interval for each data series.

64 Chapter 9 • Indicators

It averages the indexes of the aggregated intervals to determine the interval to display and the color of the bar.

Here are some guidelines for using the bar chart with reference lines display:

• To display the average interval in a graph, the bar chart with reference lines is the easiest method to use.

• The tooltip for each data series indicates that the displayed value is the average interval.

• To prevent aggregation by the bar chart with reference lines display, aggregate the data at the indicator data level.

Bubble Plot Display

Here is an example of a bubble plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 65

Chart with Slider Prompt Display

Here is an example of a chart with slider prompt display:

66 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Clustered Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a clustered bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 67

Custom Graph Display

Overview

The custom graph display presents information from a variety of sources. The visual representation is an image. The output of the graph display is specified by an external URL.

When you specify an image in the URL, you have the choice of using a proxy.

• If you do not choose to use a proxy, the image file must be in the same network domain as the SAS BI Dashboard server.

Note: You can allow Adobe Flash to load images from other domains by creating a

• If you do choose to use a proxy, the image file must be accessible to the SAS middle tier. Ensure that the SAS middle tier has the proper user credentials to access the URL.

For more information, see “Use proxy” on page 130.

Here is an example of a custom graph display:

cross-domain policy file in the root of the Web server. For more information, search the Adobe Web site for “cross-domain policy file specification.”

68 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Stored Processes

You can use a stored process with a custom graph display to produce a graphical display that is not possible with the SAS BI Dashboard itself. To use a stored process, you must

create a stored process that is appropriate for inclusion in a dashboard and then derive the URL that renders the stored process output.

Use these guidelines to create a stored process:

• The output for the stored process must be set to streaming.

• The output should be small in size, perhaps no more than 300 X 300 pixels.

Conserving space in a dashboard is important so that dashboard users can get a broad overview of disparate metrics. Although a stored process that renders a graph might look good when it uses most of the window, the graph will displace all other information in the dashboard. If you cannot communicate the data in a small amount of space and users need to see other data in the same dashboard, consider using aggregation or another technique to reduce the amount of data that the stored process renders. Consider modifying the stored process in SAS Enterprise Guide to suppress the title and footnotes, and use the minimal template for output.

To determine the URL for a stored process, use the Stored Process Web application.

Choose to use a proxy so that the proxy server detects from the URL that the target is a stored process request. The proxy server then adds authentication for the current user to the middle tier.

Dual Line Chart Display

Indicator Displays 69

Here is an example of a dual line chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

70 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Dynamic Prompt Display

Here is an example of a dynamic prompt display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 71

CAUTION:

If you select Combo box with gauge for the prompt type, then you must select a range. If you select Combo box for the prompt type, then you cannot select a range.

Dynamic Text Display

Here is an example of a dynamic text display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Ensure that each menu value is unique.Duplicate menu values cause unexpected

behavior.

72 Chapter 9 • Indicators

With the dynamic text display, a range is optional. If you select a range, the range value's text is colored based on the range interval colors.

Forecast Chart Display

Here is an example of a forecast chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 73

Interactive Displays

Overview

The interactive displays enable dashboard users to interactively traverse large amounts of detail data by sliding along a summary chart. Detail data can be easily compared using two methods. In the first method, a column by which to group data is selected when the display is defined. In the second method, the user selects different detail slices to compare while viewing the display.

The interactive displays are as follows:

• the interactive summary and bar chart display

• the interactive summary and scatter plot display

• the interactive summary and targeted bar chart display

Setting up an interactive display is nearly identical to setting up a bar chart with reference lines display. However, an interactive display has more options and uses data in a more sophisticated way than the bar chart with reference lines display.

74 Chapter 9 • Indicators

For the best results using the interactive displays, the indicator data must meet these requirements:

• The indicator data must be suitable for a bar chart with reference lines.

Indicator data that returns a single row and that is suitable for a KPI display is not suitable for an interactive display.

• The indicator data must contain one low-cardinality grouping column that is used to summarize the data.

A low-cardinality grouping column is a column that has a small number of unique values to group by.

• (Optional) To enable an interactive display to express forecasting data to business users, the indicator data must contain a column for forecasted values, for lower confidence values, and for upper confidence values.

An interactive bar chart display can summarize either the detail data expressed in the detail charts or can summarize a different field of data.

At the indicator level, the setup of the interactive displays is essentially the same as for other bar chart with reference lines, except that the use of data for the interactive displays is more sophisticated. The only significant difference is that the interactive displays support the concept of dependent ranges. A dependent range takes the value of another range for the range definition. This scheme enables a data set generated by the SAS Forecast Server to be useful to the SAS BI Dashboard and the interactive displays without the need for complicated intermediary data transformations.

Interactive Summary and Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of an interactive summary and bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 75

Interactive Summary and Scatter Plot Display

Here is an example of an interactive summary and scatter plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

76 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Interactive Summary and Targeted Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of an interactive summary and targeted bar chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 77

KPI Display

Overview

The KPI display shows a single KPI or multiple KPIs. For a single KPI, the display shows the KPI associated with a single data value.

Here is an example of a KPI display:

78 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 79

For multiple KPIs, the display shows one KPI for each data point that is in scope. For the best results, aggregate related KPIs through a single set of indicator data so that a single indicator configuration controls the display of all values.

Dynamic Gauges

In addition to the static gauges that are displayed in the software, you can choose a gauge that is dynamic. A dynamic gauge is drawn by the software based on the type of gauge and the data values in the gauge.

Here are examples of the dynamic gauges:

• Dynamic bullet bar (horizontal and vertical)

•

80 Chapter 9

• Indicators

• Dynamic dial

• Dynamic slider (horizontal and vertical)

• Dynamic speedometer

• Dynamic traffic light (horizontal and vertical)

•

• Dynamic thermometer (horizontal and vertical)

• Radial thermometer

Line Chart with Reference Lines Display

Here is an example of a line chart with reference lines display:

Indicator Displays 81

82 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Needle Plot Display

Here is an example of a needle plot display:

Indicator Displays 83

Here are the properties that created the display:

84 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Pie Chart Display

Here is an example of a pie chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Range Map Display

Indicator Displays 85

The range map display shows graphs with results plotted on color-coded backgrounds that are based on range definitions.

Here is an example of a range map display:

86 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Scatter Histogram Display

Here is an example of a scatter histogram display:

Indicator Displays 87

Here are the properties that created the display:

88 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Scatter Plot Display

Here is an example of a scatter plot display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 89

90 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Schedule Chart Display

Here is an example of a schedule chart display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 91

Simple Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a simple bar chart display:

92 Chapter 9 • Indicators

Here are the properties that created the display:

Spark Table Display

The spark table display shows data points in a table form, with one gauge per table row. The table column headings are the names of the data fields.

SAS suggests that all non-numeric data columns are removed from the indicator data.

Here is an example of a spark table display:

Here are the properties that created the display:

Indicator Displays 93

Note: To display the column properties, select a column in the data table.

94 Chapter 9 • Indicators

If you have used SAS BI Dashboard in the past, the spark table display replaces the KPI table display and the bar and trend display.

Stacked Bar Chart Display

Here is an example of a stacked bar chart display:

Sas BI Dashboard User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

What's New in the SAS BI Dashboard 4.3

Overview

Features for Dashboard Users

Features for Dashboard Administrators

Information for All Users

Introduction

Overview

Audience

General Information

The Workflow

Overview

Dashboard Users

Dashboard Administrators

Getting Started: The SAS Information Delivery Portal

Overview

Open the Portal and Log On

Create a Page and Add It to Your Navigation Bar

Add a SAS BI Dashboard Portlet to a Page

Information for Dashboard Users

Working with the SAS BI Dashboard Portlet

Select a Dashboard

Specify Display Options

Specify the Dashboard Dimensions

Refresh the Contents

Print a Dashboard or Indicator

Working with Dashboards and Indicators in the Dashboard Viewer

Overview

Open a Dashboard or Indicator

Navigate in the Dashboard Viewer

Display Options

The Default View

Refresh the Contents

Print a Dashboard or Indicator

Create or Edit a Personal Indicator Alert

Manage Comments

Work with Favorites

Information for Dashboard Administrators

The Dashboard Designer Window

Overview

The Objects Pane

The Library View

The Layout Templates View

The Static Content View

The Workspace

Overview

Tiles

Editing an Object

Manipulating Objects

The Properties Pane

Indicator Data

Overview

Indicator Data Rules

Stored Process Indicator Data

Defining Indicator Data

Data Columns

Information Map Data Source

Create or Edit Indicator Data

Start to Create or Edit Indicator Data

Define an Information Map Data Source

Define an SQL Query Data Source

Define a Stored Process Data Source

Define a Table Data Source

Ranges

Create or Edit a Range

Start to Create or Edit a Range

Define the Range

Indicators

Overview

Create or Edit an Indicator

Overview

Start to Create or Edit an Indicator

Define the General Properties

Define the Role-Mapping Properties

Define the User Personalization Properties

Set Up the Links