1. Unlock the Today page and click the Create a new Today Page icon. You can also click New from the Dashboard Designer.
2. Click the Catalog chevron to display a list of gadgets available for use in your design.

   The following image shows part of a sample Catalog.

   

3. Use the scroll bar directly to the right of the Catalog chevron to display the entire list of available gadgets. You can also search for a specific gadget by typing its name in the Search field.
4. Drag the desired gadget or gadgets onto the design canvas.

   PMF retrieves the default size for each gadget that you add to the canvas.

5. Perform the following actions to achieve the desired result.
   • To re-position a gadget on the canvas, click anywhere inside the gadget to display its title bar. Move the cursor inside the title bar of the gadget to display the move symbol. Drag the gadget to the desired location.

     Dashboard Designer automatically aligns the top edges of gadgets that are in proximity.

   • To resize a gadget on the canvas, click the Resize button in the lower-right corner of the gadget, and drag the borders of the gadget to the desired height and width.
   • To delete a gadget from the dashboard, click the Remove Gadget button on the title bar of the gadget.
   • To change the values used to display the data for a gadget, click the My Preferences for this Gadget button on the title bar of the gadget. Make your selections from the drop-down menus. For details, see Changing Dashboard Gadgets and Preferences.
   • On the ribbon, click Live at any time to display the dashboard as it will appear at run time. From run-time mode, click Design to return to design-time mode.
6. Optionally, click the Broadcast chevron to implement simultaneous run-time changes across multiple gadgets.

   For details on Broadcast, see Setting Up Broadcast on a Dashboard.

7. On the ribbon, click Save when you are satisfied with your design. When you are prompted, type a name for the new dashboard. If this option can be changed, indicate whether the dashboard is public or private.

   The following image shows the Save As panel.

   

   The following options are available:

   • Public Dashboard. Visible to all owners in PMF. Administrator access is required to create a public dashboard.
   • Private Dashboard. Visible only to the owner who created it. You can create a private dashboard with Edit or higher dashboard access.

1. In the Today tab in PMF, click the Edit the current selected Today page icon.

   The dashboard opens in the Dashboard Designer.

2. Edit the dashboard. On the ribbon, click Save when you are done.

You can make changes to a gadget when its title bar appears. To display the title bar, click anywhere inside the gadget.

The gadget controls include the following:

• Moving. You can position the anchor point of any gadget. To move a gadget, click inside the title bar and drag the gadget to the desired position.

  The following image shows the symbol that appears when you click a title bar to move a gadget.

  

• Resize button. You can interactively adjust the height and width of a gadget. A click-and-drag Resize button is located in the lower-right corner of the gadget. Click the button and drag the borders of the gadget to resize it as desired.
• Remove Gadget button. The Remove Gadget button removes the selected gadget from the canvas.
• Preferences button. A separate Preferences button exists for each gadget on a dashboard. The button opens a panel on which you can change the values used to display the data for that gadget. For more information on specifying preferences for a gadget, see Changing Dashboard Gadgets and Preferences.
• Refresh button. The Refresh button refreshes the gadget to the saved preferences.
• Renaming the gadget. You can change the default title of a gadget and rename it by going to the Dashboard Designer and clicking the title bar of the gadget. Enter the new title, as shown in the following image.

  

  To revert back to the default title, click the X in the field.

There is a built-in search capability in the Gadget Catalog which makes it easier to find specific gadgets for your dashboard.

To search for a gadget or a category of gadgets:

1. Click the Catalog chevron in the Dashboard Designer.
2. In the Search field, enter the first few letters of the gadget type or category, as shown in the following image.

   

3. Select the desired gadget from the list that appears. You can either select the listed category to view all gadgets related to your search, or select a specific gadget.

To clear the search and show all available gadgets, click the Clear Search button.

You can place draggable guidelines on your Dashboard designs that enable you to lay out your Dashboards more precisely. With the guidelines, you can set and lock vertical and horizontal positions along which gadgets can be placed.

Guidelines are only visible to the dashboard designer. A consumer will not be able to see the guidelines unless the consumer was given rights to use the Dashboard Designer.

Any dashboards that are saved either by using the Save or Save As functions are saved along with the guidelines in their exact positions and locked state. If you enter the Dashboard Designer at a later time, all guidelines display in their last known position and locked state.

Guidelines can be automatically placed on the Dashboard design based on the target screen size of the consumer. For example, if many of your users have a 1024 x 768 total screen resolution, your Dashboard designs can be targeted to display all onscreen with no scrollbars using this capability.

The Dashboard Designer allows you to perform multiple selection of gadgets, which enables you to move and position gadgets as a group.

The auto-snap feature in the Dashboard Designer can be turned off, which enables you to freely move gadgets on the dashboard with no constraints on positioning.

To turn snap grid control off:

1. Click the Properties chevron in the Dashboard Designer.
2. Clear the Snap Control check box.
3. Optionally, change the size of the snap grid by entering a different pixel value in the Snap Control field. The default snap grid size is 10 pixels.

Note: Saving the dashboard design will save with the state of the current snap control setting.

You can change the dashboard owner directly from the Dashboard Designer:

1. Click the Properties chevron from the Dashboard Designer.
2. Select the new owner from the Owner drop-down menu, as shown in the following image.

   

3. Click Save.

Gadgets can be added directly from the catalog in the Dashboard Designer. Gadgets that are added and configured from the catalog are immediately available to use in dashboard designs.

Gadgets can be registered directly from the catalog in the Dashboard Designer. Gadgets that are added and configured from the catalog are immediately available to use in dashboard designs.

Dashboard user preferences can be reset to the default preferences in the original dashboard design.

The dashboard preferences control settings a user sees, such as metrics and dimensional filters. Preferences are stored for each of the following:

• User
• Dashboard
• Scorecard in the system

Default preferences are stored for each dashboard in the system. These preferences are set during the dashboard design process in the Dashboard Designer.

Users can override preferences set for a dashboard by saving their changes in the Preference panel in the dashboard.

User preferences can be reset from many areas within PMF. Where the reset is performed determines the scope of where those preferences are overridden.

When you implement the Broadcast capability, run-time values specified by a user in the Preferences panel for a single gadget are applied to all the gadgets in a group. As a result, users can quickly compare similarities and differences among multiple dimensional areas, or compare different measures for the same dimensional areas.

You can also enable animation of the time range that appears in a Broadcast group.

To implement those capabilities for your users, use the Broadcast chevron in Dashboard Designer when creating a new dashboard or editing an existing dashboard.

For an example of a dashboard on which Broadcast has been applied, see What is Broadcast?.

1. Display the dashboard, for example, Metric Flex Mix - 01, as shown in the following image.

   

2. Click the heading of the top-left gadget on the dashboard, for example, Profit: Target over Actual by Quarter.
3. Click the My Preferences for this Gadget button. PMF displays the Preferences panel for the gadget, as shown in the following image.

   

4. In the Filters drop-down menu, select the one showing Time and change the Time Range selection from Last 9 Quarters to Last 5 Quarters, as shown in the following image.

   

5. Click Preview.

   The gadget you selected updates to show the last 5 quarters. This change automatically propagates to all the gadgets in the Broadcast group so they are all showing data from the Last 5 Quarters.

1. On the Today tab, run the dashboard for which Broadcast and time animation have been enabled.

   Your administrator must set up those capabilities.

2. Click the Explore Time chevron, as shown in the following image.

   

3. From the drop-down menu, click the time range that you want to display in the Broadcast group.

   When you select a time range, the view of the data in the group changes to reflect your selection.

4. Optionally, you can:
   • Click the left arrow and right arrow buttons on the chevron to move forward and backward in time.
   • Use the slider to adjust the speed of the time animation.

To change the look of a new or existing Dashboard, from the Today Page:

1. Click the Create a new Today Page icon or the Edit the current selected Today Page icon.

   The Dashboard Designer opens.

2. Click the Look chevron.
3. Select your desired changes and click Save.