Getting Started¶

Prerequisites¶

To access Dashboard Designer, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

• Editor or admin access to Dashboard Designer
• Asset data in your current set-up

User interface¶

When you open Dashboard Designer, the icons located at the top of the user interface (UI) are connected to various features. The below image shows the Dashboard Designer user interface and its available options:

① Navigation area: navigate dashboard sections or modules.
② Search bar: search dashboards, reports or data sources.
③ Options bar with the following functions: Settings, Selection of time range, Refresh dashboard and the option to enable or disable auto refresh
④ Main toolbar with the following options: Create a new dashboard, Help and details of the logged in user

The following table describes the functions of the icons in detail:

Dashboards¶

The Dashboards provide a single glance view of your data and allow you to monitor metrics through various visualizations. For more information, refer to creating dashboards.

Panels¶

Panels are the main component of dashboards, positioned as blocks on a grid. Each panel consists of a query and a visualization. The query defines the data and the visualization defines how the data is presented.

Data Sources¶

To use a dashboard, a data source needs to be added to the dashboard. For more information, refer to Prerequisites.

Dashboard Designer includes a predefined set of data sources provided by Insights Hub, as shown in below image:

A brief description of each available data source in Dashboard Designer8 is described below:

• IoT Time Series: Siemens IoT (Internet of Things) time series data
• Test Data: a built-in data source that generates test data
• Dashboard: a dashboard panel can pull results, datasets or annotations from another panel in the same dashboard
• Mixed: allows each query in a panel to access a different data source. One query (other than ‘Mixed’) must exist on the panel first before selecting “Mixed” for a subsequent query.
• Grafana: a built-in data source that generates random walk data, which helps test visualizations and run experiments, as it can poll Test Data data sources, list files and fetch other data from the app.

Adding and configuring data sources allows you to:

• Use the Explore feature to view data sources
• Create queries to read specific data for use in a dashboard panel
• Visualize data on dashboard panels
• Apply rules to generate alerts for a data source

Queries¶

A query retrieves specific data from the data source. The query editor enables you to select the specific data you want to use in your panel and add additional options such as aggregation, time overrides or transformations according to your objectives. The query editor allows you to explore data and configure queries to retrieve specific data for dashboard panels. Each data source’s query editor provides a customized user interface to assist you in writing queries. Due to the differences between query languages, each data source's query editor functions differently. Depending on your data source, the query editor might provide auto-completion features, metric names, variable suggestions or a visual interface.

An example of a query editor with an IoT data source is shown below:

After configuring your query, you can also customize your visualization. For more information on the query editor, refer to Configuring the query panel.

Visualizations¶

The Visualization panel provides tools for configuring and customizing the available visualization options. It offers multiple sections and settings for tailoring the appearance and behavior of visual elements to suit your analytical requirements. Visualization panel options include specifying all elements related to a dashboard virtually, from tooltips to value mapping and field overrides. You can instantly view the different visualization selections and the corresponding data representation. Additional options include linking to other Dashboard Designer data, setting thresholds and mapping values with text and colors.

The visualization options enhance data analysis capabilities and enable users to more effectively present, interpret and draw insights from their data.

An example of the visualization panel options is shown below:

Exploring Data¶

From the Home menu, select "Explore". A query panel is displayed where you can select your data source, apply configuration options and run the query. As you adjust panel settings, the graph reflects your changes. You can also switch between lines, bars, points, etc. on the graph. Dashboard Designer has many built-in keyboard shortcuts for general purposes, time range and panels. You can view them by clicking the question mark icon on the primary menu bar.