Defining flashboard variables to represent data and granting access

Variables specify the information you want to monitor from a single form. A variable represents the data, such as a slice of a pie graph, a bar in a bar graph, or a line in a line graph. For example, high-priority service requests, requests created within the last hour, or requests assigned to one employee could each be represented by a bar. Variables have unique names and can be associated with more than one flashboard.

Best Practice
To optimize display time, avoid using too many variables in your flashboard.

To create a flashboard variable

  1. Open Developer Studio.
  2. In Remedy AR System Navigator, expand serverName > All Objects.
  3. Right-click Flashboard Variables, and select New Flashboard Variable.
  4. In the New Flashboard Variable wizard, select the form from which you want to gather statistics, and click Finish.

  5. Use the following table to enter values in each field. 

    Fields used to create Flashboard variables

    Field

    Description

    Variable panel

    Drill Down

    Controls what happens when you click an item on a flashboard. The options are:

    • To View—Enter the form view that you see. For example, you might create a different view for managers that displays only information that will affect them directly.
    • Send Event—Enter the value that is entered if the $EVENTTYPE$ keyword is used in an active link that is triggered.

    This option is available only for real-time data (not historical or summarized data).

    (Optional) Qualification

    Search criteria (including field references, values, and arithmetical and relational operators) used to find a set of data that matches the conditions specified. For example, if Jane wants to create a variable that displays the total number of requests for each day, but she does not want to include Low priority requests, she might enter the following qualification: 'Priority' != "Low"

    To search for values that are null, use the $NULL$ keyword in the qualification.

    Operational panel

    • Count
    • Sum
    • Average
    • Minimum

    Statistical operation that the server performs on the data that the query returns. Examples include:

    • Select Average to display the average number of calls that Customer Support receives in one week.
    • Select Minimum or Maximum to display the lowest or highest number of calls received during the same week.
    • Select Sum to display the sum of all the calls received during the month.

    (Optional) Expression

    Definition of the type of operation to perform.

    An expression is required if the operation is Sum, Minimum, Maximum, or Average. It is optional for Count. An expression performs an operation on selected form fields and keywords.

    You can use expressions with operations that use numeric data types, but not with operations that use character or diary data types.

    For example, your Customer Support employees might receive many calls from an important customer, whose customer support identification number (Cust ID) is 25. You already have a form that collects all the calls to Customer Support over the course of one month. You might then create individual variables with each of the Average, Minimum, Maximum, and Sum operations selected in the Operation option. Each of these flashboards would contain the following expression: 'Cust ID' = "25"

    Your flashboards display the average, minimum, maximum, and sum of the number of calls from customer ID 25 over the course of one month.

    (Optional) Group By

    Displays statistics for the distinct values within a field. You can select a primary field and a secondary field.

    For example, if you group a Count operation by Status, the resulting flashboard is a graph of the counts of each individual status value, such as New, Assigned, or Closed.

    (Optional) Sort

    After selecting the primary and secondary fields for the Group by field, you can select any one of the following values for the Sort field:

    • No Sort (default)—Do not use the sort option.
    • By Value—Sort by value.
    • By Attribute—Sort by attribute. When you select this option, the Sort Attribute field is enabled. If the secondary Group by field value is an enum field, attribute values are listed in a drop-down menu. If the secondary Group by field value is a non-enum field, you must enter the attribute value in the text field.
    • ASC/DESC— You can change the sort order from ascending (default) to descending by clicking the radio buttons.

    (Optional) Data Collection panel

    Collect data

    Enables collection of the data you want to view in your flashboard. The server saves the collected information in the FB:History form. Ensure that Flashboard services are up and running.

    Summarize data

    Instructs the server to save the collected information in the FB:History Summary form. If you select this option, the Summary section of the Data Collection panel is enabled. The Summarize Data option is enabled if you select Collect Data.

    History subpanel

    Collection interval

    Sets the frequency at which the Remedy Flashboards server polls the Remedy AR System database for information that matches a query. You can specify intervals such as yearly, monthly, and daily. When setting the interval, consider how often the server group generates the type of data you are interested in, and how much database space the data requires.

    Expiration

    The intervalat which the Remedy Flashboards server deletes or expires data. The options are:

    • None—Data is not expired or deleted.
    • Expire—Data cannot be displayed and is disabled in the database after the period set in the After field.
    • Delete—Data cannot be displayed and is removed from the database after the period set in the After field. If you choose to delete data, you cannot retrieve the data.

    From the After field and drop-down list, set an interval of minutes to years. Consider how long you will need your data and how much database space is required.

    Summary subpanel

    Collection interval

    Sets the frequency at which the Remedy Flashboards server polls the Remedy AR System database for information that matches a query. Sets the frequency for how often data is collected to populate the flashboard. You can specify intervals in months and days. When setting the interval, consider how often and how much database space the data requires. For example, you might choose to view the total number of help desk tickets received in one hour, and summarize the average ticket count for each day at the end of the day.

    Expiration

    The interval at which Remedy Flashboards server deletes or expires data. The options are:

    • None—Data is not expired or deleted.
    • Expire—Data cannot be displayed and is removed from the database after the period set in the After field.
    • Delete—Data cannot be displayed and is removed from the database after the period set in the After field. If you choose to delete the data, you will not be able to retrieve it again.
      From the After field and drop-down list, set an interval of minutes to years. Consider how long you will need your data and how much database space is required.
  6. In the Properties tab, set the values for the following properties, as needed:
    • New Description (description for Change History)
    • Permissions
  7. Save the variable.

To modify a variable

  1. Open Developer Studio.
  2. In AR System Navigator, expand serverName > All Objects.
  3. Double-click Flashboard Variables.
  4. In the Flashboard Variables list, double-click the variable name.
  5. Modify the data as needed.
  6. Save the variable.

To delete a variable

  1. Open Developer Studio.
  2. In AR System Navigator, expand serverName > All Objects.
  3. Double-click Flashboard Variables.
  4. In the Flashboard Variables list, right-click the variable name, and select Delete.

To rename a variable

  1. Open Developer Studio.
  2. In AR System Navigator, expand serverName > All Objects.
  3. Double-click Flashboard Variables.
  4. In the Flashboard Variables list, right-click the variable name, and select Rename.
  5. In the New Name field, enter a name, and click OK.

Setting row-level security for variables

For real-time data flashboard grants access to statistical data based on user login information. 

For historical and summary data in multi-tenant environments, you can grant access to flashboards variables by implementing row-level security. If you do not set permissions for a variable, only the administrator who created the variable can see the information in the flashboard. 

This row-level security enables you to show and hide information based on a user's permissions. For example, if you place a flashboard on a Help Desk form, you can display one set of data to support representatives and a different set of data to requesters. 

When using flashboard variables for Remedy Smart Reporting KPI reports, by default, row-level security is not enabled.

To set row-level security for variables

  1. In Mid Tier, open the FB:User Privilege form in New mode.
  2. From the Variable list, select the variable.

  3. From the User list, select a user with group permissions to the data.

    Warning

    You can select any user in the group, but select a user that will not be deleted. If the user is deleted, permissions to the variable are lost, and you must select a new user in the FB:User Privilege form.

  4. From the Group list, select the group to which you want to give row-level security.
    You can enter more than one group in this field by selecting from the Group list multiple times.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Repeat these steps for each group.
    If you delete a variable, the corresponding records you created in the FB:User Privilege form are automatically deleted.

Where to go from here

Defining-flashboards

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*