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1 | =head1 Dashboards |
2 | ||
3 | RT's dashboard feature provides a convenient way to create your own pages | |
4 | focused on the tickets and charts you need. Dashboards are available right from | |
5 | the Home menu, can be set up individually or shared, and can even be sent out | |
6 | via email on a schedule. To show some of the dashboard features, we'll set up a | |
7 | dashboard and notifications to track outstanding invoice tickets. | |
8 | ||
9 | There are several different rights you can grant to allow users access to the | |
10 | features described here. These rights are described in L</"Dashboard Rights">. | |
11 | ||
12 | =head2 Creating a Personal Dashboard | |
13 | ||
14 | Saved searches and charts are the building blocks of dashboards, so to set up a | |
15 | new dashboard you first need to create and save a search that displays the | |
16 | ticket data you want. We want to view new and open invoice tickets and, for our | |
17 | example, assume we have an Accounts Receivable queue. On the ticket search | |
18 | page, we create a new search with this query: | |
19 | ||
20 | Queue = 'Accounts Receivable' | |
21 | AND ( | |
22 | Status = 'new' | |
23 | OR Status = 'open' ) | |
24 | ||
25 | We also want to modify the sort order of the search to use Due rather than the | |
26 | default id. In the Sorting section, we select Due for the initial sort, then | |
27 | add Created as the second sort value. Finally, we set Rows per page to | |
28 | Unlimited so we don't miss any invoices. | |
29 | ||
30 | =for html <img alt="Dashboard search sorting" | |
31 | src="images/dashboard-search-sorting.png"> | |
32 | ||
33 | =for :text [Search sorting F<docs/images/dashboard-search-sorting.png>] | |
34 | ||
35 | =for :man [Search sorting F<docs/images/dashboard-search-sorting.png>] | |
36 | ||
37 | Once you have those set, you can click "Add these terms and Search" or "Update | |
38 | format and Search" to see the results. If it's still not quite right, you can | |
39 | click "Edit Search" in the submenu and continue to refine things. | |
40 | ||
41 | When you're finished tweaking the search, return to Query Builder page again so | |
42 | you can save it. Under the "Saved Searches" box, type "Outstanding Invoices" | |
43 | in the Description box. For now, leave Privacy set to "My saved searches" and | |
44 | click Save. You now have a saved search you can use for your dashboard. | |
45 | ||
46 | To create the dashboard, select Home > New Dashboard. Type "Outstanding | |
47 | Invoices" for the name and leave the privacy set to "My Dashboards". Click | |
48 | Create and the new dashboard is created. | |
49 | ||
50 | Now we want to populate the new dashboard with the saved search we created. | |
51 | Click Content in the submenu to go to the content selection page. Dashboards | |
52 | allow you to put content in the main body or the sidebar, much like the default | |
53 | RT homepage, so you'll see a Body section and a Sidebar section to set the | |
54 | content. Find your saved "Outstanding Invoices" search, select it, and click | |
55 | the arrow to move it to the righthand box and add it to the dashboard. | |
56 | ||
57 | =for html <img alt="Adding dashboard content" | |
58 | src="images/dashboard-content-invoices.png"> | |
59 | ||
60 | =for :text [Adding dashboard content | |
61 | F<docs/images/dashboard-content-invoices.png>] | |
62 | ||
63 | =for :man [Adding dashboard content | |
64 | F<docs/images/dashboard-content-invoices.png>] | |
65 | ||
66 | Click Show in the submenu and you'll see your new dashboard. Click Home to | |
67 | return to the "RT at a glance" page and you'll see your new dashboard is in the | |
68 | Dashboards portlet on the right side of the page. | |
69 | ||
70 | On dashboard pages, you can click on the title of any section and go to the | |
71 | search results page for the saved search. This makes it easy to find the saved | |
72 | search and update it, or modify it ad-hoc for a one-off search based on the | |
73 | saved dashboard search. | |
74 | ||
75 | In this example we're only adding one search, but you can add multiple searches | |
76 | to each individual dashboard to track different types of interrelated | |
77 | information and see it at a glance. For instance, two queries, "outstanding | |
78 | invoices" and "overdue invoices," could form a dashboard called "all | |
79 | outstanding invoices." Software engineers using RT might combine three queries, | |
80 | "bug fixes," "feature requests," and "documentation," into a dashboard | |
81 | called "our new release." | |
82 | ||
83 | =head2 Charts in Dashboards | |
84 | ||
85 | You can also display saved charts in dashboards, creating a powerful visual of | |
86 | ticket data in a convenient page. To add a chart, start with a search, refine | |
87 | your query, then click Chart in the submenu in the Query Builder or Search | |
88 | Results page. Configure your chart as described in L<charts>, select a Privacy | |
89 | setting, name it "Outstanding Invoices", and click Save. | |
90 | ||
91 | Return to the dashboard, click Content, and you'll see a new "Chart: | |
92 | Outstanding Invoices" option in the Available column. Select it and click the | |
93 | arrow to add it to the dashboard. Now when you load the dashboard, the chart | |
94 | will be rendered right below the saved search. | |
95 | ||
96 | =for html <img alt="Dashboard chart" src="images/dashboard-chart.png"> | |
97 | ||
98 | =for :text [Dashboard chart F<docs/images/dashboard-chart.png>] | |
99 | ||
100 | =for :man [Dashboard chart F<docs/images/dashboard-chart.png>] | |
101 | ||
102 | =head2 Dashboard Menu Entries | |
103 | ||
104 | In addition to having dashboards available on the "RT at a glance" page, you | |
105 | can also add them to the Home menu. To modify the Home menu, select Home > | |
106 | "Update This Menu" or "Logged in as" > Settings > "Dashboards in menu". You'll | |
107 | see the Customize dashboard page which is similar to the Dashboard Content page. | |
108 | ||
109 | =for html <img alt="Customize dashboard menu" | |
110 | src="images/customize-dashboards-menu.png"> | |
111 | ||
112 | =for :text [Customize dashboard menu | |
113 | F<docs/images/customize-dashboards-menu.png>] | |
114 | ||
115 | =for :man [Customize dashboard menu F<docs/images/customize-dashboards-menu.png>] | |
116 | ||
117 | Select the dashboard you want, click the arrow to move it to the righthand | |
118 | column, then check your Home menu. You'll see your dashboard is now available | |
119 | from the menu. | |
120 | ||
121 | As an RT administrator, you can populate the dashboard menu for other users on | |
122 | the system. Find a user using Search > Users or Admin > Users > Select, then | |
123 | click on the user to open the modify user page. In the submenu, you'll see a | |
124 | "Dashboards in menu" option, and it works the same as the personal setting. | |
125 | ||
126 | =head2 Group Dashboards | |
127 | ||
128 | You're enjoying your new dashboard but it's time for some vacation and it would | |
129 | be nice for someone else in the accounting department to be able to use your | |
130 | dashboard while you're gone. RT makes this easy with group-level dashboards. | |
131 | ||
132 | As we've seen, the dashboard is based on a saved search, so you first need to | |
133 | make that available. Go to the ticket search page (Query Builder), find your | |
134 | saved search in the "Load saved search" dropdown, and click Load. If you are in | |
135 | a group, like the Accounting group, there will be an option in the Privacy | |
136 | dropdown called "Accounting's saved searches". Select that option and click | |
137 | Update to make the search available to the Accounting group. | |
138 | ||
139 | To update your dashboard, select it from the menu to view it, then click Basics | |
140 | in the submenu. Like on Query Builder page, you'll see your group listed in the | |
141 | Privacy dropdown. Assuming your group is Accounting, select "Accounting's | |
142 | Dashboards" and click Save Changes. | |
143 | ||
144 | Click on Content and you'll see a message that a query has been deleted and | |
145 | removed from the dashboard. This is because RT has detected that you have moved | |
146 | the saved search from personal to group privacy. Select "Outstanding Invoices" | |
147 | from the Available column and click the arrow to add the group-based search to | |
148 | the dashboard. | |
149 | ||
150 | All members of the Accounting group should now have access to your dashboard. | |
151 | They can now add it to their Home menu if they want. If other members can't see | |
152 | it, make sure you have granted sufficent rights to the group (see L</"Dashboard | |
153 | Rights">). | |
154 | ||
155 | =head2 System-wide Dashboards | |
156 | ||
157 | You can also set up dashboards for all users on your RT system. Follow the | |
158 | steps above for group dashboards, but for Privacy, select "RT System" for the | |
159 | saved search and dashboard. | |
160 | ||
161 | If you want to make sure everyone has the dashboard in their Home menu, you can | |
162 | set this globally as well if you are the RT administrator. The Admin > Global > | |
163 | "Dashboards in menu" opens a page similar to the personal dashboard menu page, | |
164 | but it puts the selected dashboards into everyone's dashboard menu. | |
165 | ||
166 | =head2 Dashboard Subscriptions | |
167 | ||
168 | RT's dashboard subscription feature allows you to email dashboards based on a | |
169 | schedule you set. These scheduled dashboards can be particularly useful for | |
170 | time-based reports that you want to see on a regular basis. | |
171 | ||
172 | To set up a subscription, go to the dashboard you'd like to have emailed and | |
173 | click on Subscription in the submenu. This will take you to the subscription | |
174 | page. | |
175 | ||
176 | =for html <img alt="Dashboard subscription" | |
177 | src="images/dashboard-subscription.png"> | |
178 | ||
179 | =for :text [Dashboard subscription F<docs/images/dashboard-subscription.png>] | |
180 | ||
181 | =for :man [Dashboard subscription F<docs/images/dashboard-subscription.png>] | |
182 | ||
183 | Select the frequency and timing you want and enter the email address the | |
184 | dashboard should go to. You can leave it blank to send mail to your RT email | |
185 | address. Click Subscribe and that's it, you'll start getting dashboards via | |
186 | email. | |
187 | ||
188 | This feature requires the F<rt-email-dashboards> script to be scheduled in | |
189 | C<cron> as described in RT's F<README> file. | |
190 | ||
191 | =head2 Dashboard Rights | |
192 | ||
193 | There are several rights you can selectively grant to allow users access to | |
194 | dashboard features. As with any RT rights, you can grant these to individual | |
195 | users (usually difficult to maintain over time), to system roles like | |
196 | Privileged, or to groups you define. | |
197 | ||
198 | Since dashboards rely on saved searches, you need to grant "Allow loading of | |
199 | saved searches" (LoadSavedSearch) for users to see the searches. You may want | |
200 | to also grant "Allow creation of saved searches" (CreateSavedSearch) to allow | |
201 | users to create their own and "View saved searches" (ShowSavedSearches) | |
202 | ||
203 | For dashboards themselves, there are See, Create, Modify, and Delete rights for | |
204 | each of personal, group, and system dashboards. This allows you to select the | |
205 | right combination of rights for users and groups on your system. For | |
206 | subscriptions, there is a "Subscribe to dashboards" (SubscribeDashboard) right. |