Configuring dashboards, panels, and queries
To create a dashboard
As a tenant administrator or an editor, you can create dashboards.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Home page, click
and select New Dashboard.
- From the navigation menu, click Dashboards. Then click New > New Dashboard.
- On the Home page, click
On the New dashboard page, click Add visualization.
Alternatively, you can add an existing panel from the library panels. For more information, see Library panels.In the Query section, select a data source for your dashboard, and add a query for the data source.
Use Query Inspector to inspect and verify your query. For more information about queries, click Queries.In the Panel tab, expand Visualization to select a visualization type.
(Optional) For example, select the BMC Bar Chart visualization type. To use this visualization type, do the following tasks:
To use this visualization type, do the following tasks:- In the Display area, choose the display, mode, order and tooltip type for your panel.
- Select the settings for legends in the bar chart.
- Select the fields and units for the chart axes and data.
On the basis of the query data, the Suggestions tab will display the list of the suggested Grafana visualization plugins.
- (Optional) If you want to add a cross-launch to another dashboard or an external URL from the dashboard, do the following:
- In the Panel tab, expand Links and click Add Link.
Add a title and the URL for the link.
- Click Open in new tab and save the link.
- (Optional) Use other options in the Panel tab to further enhance your panel.
- Repeat these steps to add multiple panels to the dashboard.
- Save your changes.
The following video (2:57) explains how to create a dashboard.
To edit a dashboard
As a tenant administrator or an editor, you can edit dashboards. You can add a panel to an existing dashboard, edit an existing panel, or remove a panel from the dashboard.
- Open the dashboard that you want to edit.
- Do any of the following:
- Add a panel as follows:
- On the top right corner, click Add
and select Visualization.
- Click Add visualization.
- In the Query section, select a data source for your dashboard and add a query for the data source.
Use the Query Inspector button to inspect and verify your query. - Repeat these steps to add multiple queries to the panel.
- Save your changes.
- On the top right corner, click Add
- Edit a panel as follows:
- On the top right corner of a panel, click the Menu icon and select Edit.
Update the panel and save your changes.
- Delete a panel:
On the top right corner of a panel, click the Menu icon and select Remove.
- Add a panel as follows:
- Click Save
.
- (Optional) Select one of the following options:
- Save current time range as dashboard default—Select this option to save the current time range as default time range. This option appears after you change the time range in the dashboard.
- Save current variable values as dashboard default—Select this option to save the current filter values as default. This option appears after you change the filter values in the dashboard.
- Save the dashboard.
To configure the time range for a dashboard
As a tenant administrator or an editor, you can control the time range that is used in the dashboards to further refine your data. To change the time range:
- On a dashboard, click the Time Range icon
and select an absolute time range or a relative time range for your report.
For example, filter the data in the dashboard by days, months, year, fiscal quarter, fiscal year, and so on. To filter data on a dashboard by fiscal time ranges, perform the following actions:- Select the fiscal time range and click Change time settings on the Time Range pop-up window.
- Select the Fiscal year tab.
Select the fiscal year start month.
By default, January is selected. Based on this selection, the data in the dashboard is filtered by the fiscal time range.Example
Jordan, a tenant administrator, wants to view ticket resolution dates for the current fiscal year. He can filter the dashboard by This fiscal year to display tickets that have a resolution date within this fiscal year. However, if Jordan wants to see only those tickets that have a resolution date till date, he can select This fiscal year so far to filter the dashboard.
- Apply your time range.
The dashboard displays data for the time range that you selected.
To copy a dashboard
As a tenant administrator or an editor, you can copy a dashboard in a different folder with a different name. You can copy any out-of-the box dashboards and make your changes to the copied dashboards.
To copy a dashboard:
- Open the dashboard that you want to copy.
- Click the Dashboard Settings icon
.
- Click Save as.
- In the Dashboard name field, add a name for your dashboard.
- In the Folder field, select a folder for the dashboard.
You cannot create a folder from this dialog box. To create a folder:- From the navigation menu
, click Dashboards.
- Click New > New Folder.
- In the Folder name field, add a name and click Create.
- From the navigation menu
- If you want to copy the tags from this dashboard, select Copy tags.
- Save your changes.
To customize BMC Helix Dashboards home page
As a tenant administrator or editor, you can customize the home page of BMC Helix Dashboards. The home page of BMC Helix Dashboards is a dashboard with multiple panels that can be edited.
To customize the home page, do any of the following:
- Copy and edit the home page:
- Copy the home page of BMC Helix Dashboards. For more information about copying a dashboard, see To copy a dashboard.
- Access and edit the newly created copy of the home page. For more information about editing the home page, see To edit a dashboard.
- Set the the newly created copy of the home page as default. To set the default home dashboard, from the navigation menu
, click Administration > Default preferences and select this newly created home page under Home Dashboard list.
- Save and edit the home page:
- Click the
icon from the BMC Helix Dashboards home page and then edit the details and save.
- Access and edit the newly created copy of the home page. For more information about editing the home page, see To edit a dashboard.
- Set the the newly created copy of the home page as default. To set the default home dashboard, from the navigation menu
, click Administration > Default preferences and select this newly created home page under Home Dashboard list.
- Click the
To configure the default data source component
As a tenant administrator or editor, you can configure the default data source component for the BMC Helix data source. While configuring a panel, this default component is displayed in the Query type list.
To configure the default data source component, perform these steps:
- Open BMC Helix Dashboards.
- In the left pane, click Administration.
- Click Default preferences.
- Under Preferences, select the required query type from the Query Type list.
- Save the changes.
To delete a dashboard
As a tenant administrator or an editor, you can delete the dashboards you created. Do one of the following:
- To delete a dashboard from the Dashboards page:
- From the navigation menu
, click Dashboards.
- Select a dashboard.
If dashboards are arranged in folders, click a folder, and then select a dashboard from the list. - Click Delete.
- From the navigation menu
- To delete a dashboard from the dashboard settings:
- Open a dashboard and click the Settings icon
.
- On the General page, click Delete.
- Open a dashboard and click the Settings icon
To explore a query
As a tenant administrator or an editor, you can view query details from a panel or from the Explore page and troubleshoot any problems in the queries.
- Do one of the following:
- On the top right corner of a panel, click the Menu icon and select Explore.
- From the navigation menu
, click the Explore icon
.
- On the Explore page, view your query details and use the following buttons:
- Split
— To view queries in a split view for comparison.
- Time range — To change the time range in the query.
- Run Query — To run the query. You can specify a time interval at which the query runs automatically.
- Split
You can perform many other functions on the dashboards, such as annotate a point on a graph or view the history of a dashboard. To learn about these functions, click here.