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Build a dashboard

Every month you present the state of the application portfolio to management: costs, applications to retire, ongoing projects. Rather than opening five screens, put everything on one page. A dashboard brings together several widgets, blocks that each show a figure, a chart, a view or some text. They all read the data live.

This guide takes five minutes.

Before you start​

1. Create the dashboard​

Open Visualizations, then Dashboards, and click Create dashboard. Name it, choose the Personal or Shared space, then the folder.

2. Switch to edit mode​

A new empty dashboard opens unlocked, ready for widgets. A populated dashboard opens locked to prevent accidental moves. If it is locked, click Unlock, the padlock in the toolbar, or press Ctrl+L (Cmd+L on Mac).

In edit mode, each widget has a handle to move it and buttons to replace or remove it.
In edit mode, each widget has a handle to move it and buttons to replace or remove it.

In edit mode, each widget has a handle next to its title to move it, a corner to resize it, and two buttons to replace or remove it.

3. Add widgets​

Click + in the toolbar. An empty widget appears at the bottom of the page. Click Choose what to display.

Choosing what a widget shows: search by name, or filter by kind with the icons.
Choosing what a widget shows: search by name, or filter by kind with the icons.

Type a name, or use the icons at the top to see only one kind of content: text, chart, view, nested map, diagram, impact analysis, asset or relationship. Click the item you want: the widget shows it.

For a title or an explanation, choose a Text widget. You format it like a document: bold, lists, headings, tables.

4. Arrange the page​

Drag the widgets by their handle to place them, and pull their corner to enlarge them. Put first what your audience must see first, for example a row of key figures, then the charts that explain them.

5. Save and lock again​

Click the save icon in the toolbar. A dot on this icon means there are unsaved changes. Then lock the dashboard again with the padlock: it goes back to reading.

If you leave the page without saving, Boldo asks whether you want to keep or drop your changes.

Key points​

  • A widget is a block of the dashboard: a figure, a chart, a view, some text.
  • The dashboard is unlocked to edit it, and locked again to read it.
  • All widgets read the data live.

Go further​