Dashboards

Dashboards are where you add tiles to show data as tables or graphs, and where you configure monitoring.

Dashboards refresh once a minute.

This one minute video shows you how to add a data source and a data tile with a line graph visualization to a new dashboard using the dashboard designer:

Editing existing dashboards

SquaredUp comes with some sample dashboards and sample data to allow you to see the visualizations available. You can edit these dashboards and tiles, as you can with the sample dashboards installed with any data source.

1. To edit a dashboard click the Edit pencil button at the top of the screen.

2. Then to edit a tile click the Edit tile pencil button at the top of a tile.

   You can also select Clone tile or Delete tile.

Creating new dashboards

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want the dashboard, or create a new workspace by clicking + Create workspace after clicking on the dropdown next to the current workspace name on the left-hand menu.

2. Click the + next to Dashboards on the left-hand menu to create a new dashboard.

3. Rename the dashboard by overwriting the New Dashboard title.

Configuring a tile on a dashboard

There are three types of tile that you can configure:

• Data – visualize data on your dashboard, see Configuring a data tile

• Image – add an image to your dashboard, see Configuring an image tile

• Text – add text to your dashboard, see Configuring a text tile

Configuring a data tile

On the dashboard, hover where you'd like to place a visualization, and click the + that appears. Click on the Data icon, the tile editor will appear.

The tile editor allows you to configure the data from your data sources and display it in any way you wish. Steps may vary depending on which data stream you select. You can add a title and description for your tile at the top of tile editor.

Data Stream

The first step is to select which data stream you want to use. You will see a list of all available data streams for your indexed data sources. If you need to index a new data source, select the + icon next to Data Source filter.

You can search for data streams at the top, or filter data streams by Data Source, Data Stream Type or Object Scope.

For each data stream in the list of available data streams you will see:

• Name of the data stream

• Data source

• Data stream type (Scoped or Global)

• Object scope

• Whether the data stream is configurable – configurable data streams are represented by a cog icon. User-configured data streams are represented by a user icon.

Select the data stream that you want to use and then click Next.

Help with configuring data streams specific to your data source can be found in each specific data source article:

List of documentation for data source plugins available

Objects

The Objects tab of the tile editor allows you to scope the data stream to show particular objects. This will only need to be completed if you selected a Scoped data stream in the previous step. A selection of objects is also called a scope.

Your scope can be saved for use in other tiles in this workspace using the Save as button. Saved scopes will appear, and can be edited, from Scopes on the left-hand menu.

You will see a list of all available objects for the selected data stream.

You can search for objects at the top, or filter objects by Data Source or Type. To narrow results down further, additional filters can be used by selecting Add Filter.

For each object in the list of available objects you will see:

• Name of the object

• Data source

• Type

There are two types of scopes:

• Fixed scopes contain specific objects that you have manually picked. The objects in a fixed scope never change, except when you manually edit the scope.

• Dynamic scopes contain objects that match criteria defined by you. When objects that match those criteria get added to or removed from SquaredUp the number of objects in the scope can change. Tiles that use a dynamic scope will check which objects match the criteria every time they refresh.

When you are editing a tile, a panel shows the objects selected (as they may be spread across several pages of selectable objects). If you close this panel you can reopen it by clicking the x objects selected message by the Next button.

Once you have finished selecting objects, click Next.

Query

The Query tab of the tile editor will only need to be completed if you selected a Configurable data stream. Complete each field to configure the data stream how you wish.

Query fields will vary depending on which configurable data stream you selected.

Click Next.

Timeframe

Select a timeframe for the tile. By default, the timeframe is set to the dashboard timeframe.

Shaping

Filtering

Data can be filtered according to whether data in a column meets or does not meet specified text or numerical value conditions. Depending on the data you are filtering, available options include: Equals, Not equals, Contains, Doesn't contain, Less than, Greater than, Before now, After now, Is empty, Is not empty.

Dates can be filtered by Before now or After now (e.g. to show overdue orders). Text matching is case sensitive.

You are able to add multiple filter conditions. Available options are:

• AND – all conditions must be satisfied (e.g. Status-Equals-ClosedAND Type-Equals-Question).

• OR – any condition can be satisfied (e.g. Status-Equals-PendingOR Status-Equals-Closed).

Grouping

You can group and aggregate data by column.

For example, for AWS cost data you might Group bylabel, choose Aggregation typeTotal with Aggregation columnAmount, to show a table or bar chart of cost per label.

Which columns are available depends on the data stream you chose.

Configuring grouping will enable different visualizations to be displayed, such as bar chart and donut. For example, grouping tickets by channel will allow you to show a donut of how many tickets were logged by email vs web form.

Bucket by

If you group by a time column, and further grouping is possible, then the Bucket by dropdown will appear, which allows you to control how the time data is grouped, for example by hour, day, month etc.

Aggregation type and column

Using this dropdown you can choose how to summarize your data, for example as a count, average or total.

For example, for a Bar Chart of ticket data you might Group by Date created, choose Bucket byDay with Aggregation type Count, to show a line graph of tickets per day. Or for a Bar Chart of Azure Resource Group cost you might Group byTimestamp, Bucket byDay, Aggregation typeTotal and Aggregate columnCost.

Sorting

Data can be sorted by column in ascending or descending order. This sets the default sort order, but users can click on a column heading to sort data in a table on the fly.

Ticking Top and typing a number will show the top n rows of data.

Visualization

Select the visualization for your tile. Which visualizations are offered to you depends on the data available, for example Line Graph will only be offered if there is time series data.

Table settings

Configuration:

Rename	Click on the column name in the Configuration panel and type to rename it.
Sort order	Click and drag a column name to change their order.
Hide/show	Click on the Toggle visibility eye button to hide or show a column.
Row Link	Hyperlinks each row in the table to the URL in the selected column.
Resizing columns	On the table preview hover between column names and use the handle to change the width. Changes will be saved while in the tile editor or in dashboard edit mode.
Swap rows and columns	Transpose the table to show the headings as the left-hand column. Particularly useful for single row tables.

Filtering, grouping and sorting of the data can be configured in the Shaping section.

Reset - reverts to the default settings.

Scalar settings

Data Mapping:

Value

Choose the column to be used. The default is auto, where the column is chosen by the visualization.

Configuration:

Label	Enter a label, for example Tickets or ms.
Show formatted value	This shows a simplified value. Toggle to Off to show the raw value. (On by default).

Reset - reverts to the default settings.

Line Graph settings

Data Mapping:

X-axis	Choose which data to show on the x-axis. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you, usually a time field for the x-axis.
Y-axis	Choose which data to show on the y-axis. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you, usually a numerical field for the y-axis.
Series	Choose how the stack is split into segments, usually a label or a string.
Unit	Select the column that you want to use for the unit label.

Configuration:

Y-axis range	Auto - graph is fitted to the data automatically Percentage - shows 0-100 Fit to data from zero - shows from 0 to the data maximum Custom - allows you to specify the min and max
Data points	This shows where the data points are on the line. Useful to identify missing points, or detail for changing data.
Shading	Adds shading below each line.
X-axis label	Allows you to override the default and enter a label, for example Date or Time.
Y-axis label	Allows you to override the default and enter a label, for example Tickets or ms.

Bar Chart settings

Data Mapping:

X-axis	Choose which data to show on the x-axis. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you, usually a time field for the x-axis.
Y-axis	Choose which data to show on the y-axis. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you, usually a numerical field for the y-axis.
Unit	Select the column that you want to use for the unit label.

Configuration:

Y-axis range	Auto - graph is fitted to the data automatically Percentage - shows 0-100 Fit to data from zero - shows from 0 to the data maximum Custom - allows you to specify the min and max
X-axis label	Allows you to override the default and enter a label, for example Date or Time.
Y-axis label	Allows you to override the default and enter a label, for example Tickets or ms.

Blocks settings

Data Mapping:

State	Select the column that you want to use for the state color of each block. Available options will vary depending on the data stream that you have selected. By default, the State column is automatically selected.
Label	Choose the label for the block.
Sublabel	Choose the sublabel to be shown beneath the main block label.
Link	Select the column that you want to use for the link of each block. Available options will vary depending on the data stream that you have selected.

Configuration:

Columns	Set the number of columns the blocks are displayed in.
Manual height	Select this to be able to resize the blocks, larger or smaller.

Reset - reverts to the default settings.

Donut

Data Mapping:

Value	Choose the column to use for the value for each segment.
Label	Choose the label for each segment.

Stacked Bar settings

Data Mapping:

X-axis	Choose which data to show on the x-axis. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you, usually a time field for the x-axis.
Y-axis	Choose which data to show on the y-axis. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you, usually a numerical field for the y-axis.
Series	Choose how the stack is split into segments, usually a label or a string.
Unit	Select the column that you want to use for the unit label.

Configuration:

Type	Specify how to group bars, either stacked in a single bar or grouped as separate bars.
Mode	Percentage mode displays a series as a percentage of the overall bar, only available for Grouped charts.
Layout	Vertical or horizontal.
Y-axis range	Auto - graph is fitted to the data automatically Percentage - shows 0-100 Fit to data from zero - shows from 0 to the data maximum Custom - allows you to specify the min and max
X-axis label	Allows you to override the default and enter a label, for example Date or Time.
Y-axis label	Allows you to override the default and enter a label, for example Tickets or ms.
Grid lines	Select whether to include grid lines.
Annotation	Display an annotation showing the value for each series.

Gauge settings

The Gauge visualization shows a single value, often a percentage, in relation to minimum and maximum values. Monitoring can be added so the gauge color changes based on your configured parameters.

Data Mapping:

Value

Choose which column or count to use as the value for the gauge. Auto <column> shows the column which was selected automatically for you.

Configuration:

Range	Specify the min and max of the gauge.
Label	Add a label to be shown beneath the gauge.
Monitoring	You can configure Monitoring (from the Monitoring tab) and then the colors configured for the conditions will show on the gauge. Check that the Data chosen in the Visualization (e.g. count) and the Value (and Column where applicable) that you are Monitoring (e.g. count) are as intended.

These steps describe the simple tile editor. Advanced users might like to try the SQL Analytics editor see SQL Analytics (Beta).

You can also configure Monitoring and KPIs in the tile configuration:

• Monitors

• KPIs

Configuring an image tile

Image tiles can be used to display company logos on dashboards. You can also use Image tiles to add diagrams and additional context to your dashboard, e.g., Visio images. The Image tile allows you to enter the URL to an image hosted elsewhere. Select the Image icon to start configuring the tile.

1. Image URL

   Enter the URL of the image that you would like to embed.

2. Image Description

   Optionally, enter a description for the image. This will be shown to screen readers and if you hover over the image on the dashboard.

3. Click Save.

4. The image will be rendered to fill the tile (without stretching). You can resize the tile by dragging the bottom right corner of the tile. The image will automatically scale should you wish to resize the tile.

Configuring a text tile

Text tiles can be used to split the dashboard up into different sections. You may also want to use Text tiles to inform users who they should contact with an issue or what action they should take. Select the Text icon to start configuring the tile.

1. Content

   Enter the text that you would like to appear on your dashboard.

2. Fit to tile

   Select whether you would like your text to fit to the size of the tile. By default, Fit to tile is set to on.

3. Font size

   This is only required if you set Fit to tile as off.

   Select the font size that you would like your text to appear in.

4. Text alignment

   Select the alignment of the text within the tile. Available options are: Left, Center, Right.

5. Click Save.

6. You can resize the tile by dragging the bottom right corner of the tile. If you set Fit to tile as on, the text will automatically scale should you wish to resize the tile.

Dashboard Settings

Reorder dashboards

By default, dashboards appear in alphabetical order on the left-hand menu within a workspace. You are able to reorder the list of dashboards to suit your needs. You may want to do this if you are frequently using specific dashboards and want them to be at the top of the list of dashboards.

To reorder the dashboards, hover over the drag (hamburger) icon to the left of the dashboard name and then drag the dashboard to where you would like it to appear in the list. Changes are saved automatically.

Only members of the Admin group, users with Full Control or users with Editor permissions are able to change the order of the dashboards within a specific workspace.

Dashboard Timeframe

The dashboard timeframe is the current timeframe setting for a dashboard. Users can change the dashboard timeframe to see data for a different time span, for example, instead of showing data from "the last 12 hours" it can be changed to show data from "the last 7 days".

Tiles can be configured to:

• Use dashboard timeframe (default). For these tiles the data shown will change when the user changes the dashboard timeframe.

• Use a fixed timeframe from the options available. These tiles show a clock icon and hovering shows the fixed timeframe configured. The data will not change when the dashboard timeframe is changed.

Tip: Indicate with the name of a tile if the tile's timeframe can be changed. For example, naming a tile "Performance during the last week" tells users that this tile always shows data for the last week. Naming a tile just "Performance" indicates to users that changing the dashboard timeframe will change the data.

Share

The Share button is on every dashboard and allows you to share the dashboard URL with colleagues.

Ticking Collapse navigation appends ?hideNav=true to the URL to show the dashboard full screen without any navigation, which can be useful for wall monitors etc.

More options

The More options ellipsis button shows you buttons to:

• Clone – create a copy of the whole dashboard, for example, if you wish to copy the layout but change the information slightly.

• Edit JSON – for advanced editing.

• Delete – this permanently removes the dashboard and cannot be undone.