Designing Gadgets

In this section:

Reference:

Gadgets are mini-graphs and data grids that display multiple metrics and can be placed together to create complex dashboard pages. Each gadget is designed to perform a specific type of business analysis, such as zoom or compare analysis. You can configure a gadget to display specific data for specific users, and PMF stores user preferences and applies them to each page. Users can select and save various parameters, determined by the gadget author, to personalize the gadgets on their pages at runtime.

To utilize gadgets in your PMF dashboard pages, you can select from the gadgets already available in PMF or create your own gadgets. When you create a new gadget, you also have to create a gadget. Overviews of all aspects of gadget design and implementation are provided in the sections that follow. For information about the forms used to design gadgets in PMF, see Manage Tab - Dashboards.

Designing a Gadget Procedure

To design a new gadget, you must first create a gadget procedure, which is usually a WebFOCUS reporting or graph procedure that reports on data from the PMF data mart (gadgets can also be designed to extract and report on data from other sources). All gadget procedures must have a name that begins with a gadget_ prefix.

When using a new or existing WebFOCUS report or graph procedure for a gadget, you can utilize standard WebFOCUS parameter names. There are three types of parameters gadgets can process: display fields, groupings, and filters.

Reference: Gadget Display Fields

Display fields, similar to PRINT or SUM fields in a WebFOCUS request, determine the data fields displayed in the gadget using parameters that indicate whether to display or hide these fields, or to use these fields as data feeds for a graph.

Each display field has the following three possible settings:

  • Not used. The field is not available to be displayed in the gadget.
  • Optional. The field, or the result of the field, can be displayed in the gadget if the user chooses to display it.
  • Required. The field, or the result of the field, must be displayed in the gadget.

The display fields you can choose to include in a gadget are listed and described in the following table:

Display Field

What it Displays

Actual

Actual measure value (raw data).

Target

Target measure value (raw data).

Pct_Reached

Percent reached for actual/target measures.

Pct_Used

Cumulative percent spent for project budget measures.

or

Cumulative percent completed for project schedule measures.

Indicator

Dashboard symbol that indicates the status of a measure, objective, or perspective. For:

  • Measures. Shows the Pct_Reached to be within or outside set tolerances.
  • Objectives. Shows the cumulative, weighted Pct_Reached for all linked measures to be within or outside set tolerances.
  • Perspectives. Shows the cumulative, weighted Pct_Reached for all linked measures and objectives to be within or outside set tolerances.

Indicator + Actual

Combines the actual value with the indicator.

Indicator + Target

Combines the target value with the indicator.

Indicator + Pct_Reached

Combines the percent reached value with the indicator.

Indicator + Pct_Used

Combines the actual measure value with the indicator.

Indicator + Actual + Pct_Reached

Combines the actual and percent reached values with the indicator.

Indicator + Target + Pct_Reached

Combines the target and percent reached values with the indicator.

High-Mid-Low: raw count totals

Shows a raw count of the total number of measures in High (Green), Mid (Yellow), and Low (Red) status for the selected grouping and filtering.

High-Mid-Low: percentages of totals

Shows a percentage of the total number of measures in High (Green), Mid (Yellow), and Low (Red) status for the selected grouping and filtering.

Reference: Gadget Grouping

Grouping involves both sorting and aggregating data values. Selected detail values are sorted using the classifications built into the group, then aggregated at the level implied by the sort.

Many sort groupings are affected by other groupings selected above them. For example, if you select to group by perspective first, and then by objective, the resulting gadget shows measure level details, the measure results are grouped first by perspective and then by objectives within each perspective, and the aggregations occur at the objective level. For each gadget, you can select up to three groupings.

Each grouping has the following two possible settings:

  • Optional. The gadget can use the grouping, and the gadget instance can include a default value for the grouping.
  • Required. The gadget must use the grouping, and a value must be specified for the grouping. Note that the default setting from the gadget instance is used, and users can optionally change the default.

The groupings you can choose to include in a gadget are listed and described in the following table:

Grouping Method

What it Does

Perspectives

Sorts results alphabetically by perspective name and aggregates field values at that level.

Objectives

Sorts results alphabetically by objective name and aggregates field values at that level.

Measures

Sorts results alphabetically by measure name and aggregates field values at that level.

User Specified Dimension

Sorts results alphabetically by level values within the dimension specified by the user and aggregates field values at that level.

User specified dimension drill downs are continuous by level, using a second drill-down on an individual value within a dimension to show data at the next dimension level.

Time

Sorts results alphabetically by level values within the time dimension and aggregates field values at that level.

Time dimension drill downs are continuous by level, using a second drill-down on an individual value within a time dimension to show data at the next time level, down to the lowest level.

Reference: Gadget Filtering

Gadget filters limit the displayed results to the values a user selects. For example, if a user specified the financial perspective as a filter, the results displayed would be limited to only the details linked to the financial perspective. For each gadget, you can specify up to five different filtering methods.

Each filter has the following two possible settings:

  • Optional. The gadget can use the filter, and the gadget instance can include a default value for the filter.
  • Required. The gadget must use the filter, and a value must be specified for the filter. Note that the default setting from the gadget instance is used, and users can optionally change the default.

The filters you can choose to include in a gadget are listed and described in the following table:

Filter

Limits the Output to ...

Scorecard

The default scorecard for the gadget. Enables users to select a default scorecard to display in the gadget. If not selected, the default selection is the default scorecard of the user.

Perspective

The default perspective for the gadget. Enables users to select a default perspective to display in the gadget. If not selected, the default selection is the PMF default perspective.

Note: Requires selection of the Scorecard filter.

Objective

The default objective for the gadget. Enables users to select a default objective to display in the gadget.

Note: Requires selection of the Scorecard filter.

Measure Series

The default measure series for the gadget. Enables users to select a default measure series to display in the gadget.

User Specified Dimension

The default level value for the gadget, for a selected dimension. Enables users to select a default dimension to display in the gadget.

Time

The default point in the time dimension for the gadget. Enables users to select a default time dimension value to display in the gadget.

Red and Yellow Indicators only

Only retrieve and display measure values, objectives, or perspectives, where the result is a very low or moderately low (red or yellow) condition. This filter blocks out any measure values with a high (green) condition.

Red indicators only

Only retrieve and display measure values, objectives, or perspectives, where the result is a very low (red) condition. This filter blocks out any measure values with a high (green) or moderately low (yellow) condition.

Creating a Gadget

How to:

For PMF to call a procedure and store parameters locally for a gadget, you must first create a gadget. The gadget enables PMF to manage the gadget. A gadget defines the input parameters for the gadget and controls how the parameters are saved for each user. The class also controls the parameters that each instance of the gadget can store and recall.

Procedure: How to Create a Gadget

Before creating a gadget, add all new gadget procedures to the WebFOCUS pmfgadgets application folder.

  1. In the Manage page in PMF, click the Gadgets panel button.
  2. Click New Gadget.

    PMF displays the New Gadget Designer panel. The following image shows the panel, with sample values in the fields.

    New Gadget Designer panel
  3. In the Name field, enter a descriptive name for the new gadget.
  4. From the Content Type drop-down menu, click the option that applies to the gadget. For details on the choices, see Adding Various Content Types as Gadgets.
  5. From the Content Display drop-down menu, click the option that applies to the gadget.

    For example, if the Content Type is PMF gadget focexec, the Content Display drop-down menu contains the names of all FOCEXECs that begin with gadget_ and are in the WebFOCUS pmfgadgets application folder.

  6. From the Scorecard filters drop-down menu, click one of the following options.
    • Use Current Scorecard, to apply the scorecard that is currently associated with this gadget.
    • Scorecard not used, to suppress the use of any scorecard with this gadget.
  7. From the Preview image drop-down menu, click the name of the .png file that supplies the preview image for the gadget.

    The preview image appears on the Catalog chevron in Dashboard Designer. If you do not supply a preview image of your own, you can use the default preview image, preview_na.png.

  8. Select the Receive Broadcasts or Enable Moonbeam check boxes to enable these features for the new gadget.
  9. In the Description field, optionally type a brief description of the gadget.
  10. From the available Display, Groupings, and Filters fields, select the applicable options for the new gadget.
  11. Click Save when you have finished creating the gadget.

    PMF displays a message saying the new gadget has been added. The Gadget Definitions navigation tree on the left is refreshed to display the new gadget.

Creating Gadgets With WebFOCUS InfoAssist

WebFOCUS InfoAssist can be used to develop new operational gadgets that display information from your operational data sources. A new property defines your custom-developed content as a PMF gadget, and allows you to optionally prompt to filter your content using PMF dimensions. For more information on how to use this, see the WebFOCUS InfoAssist User’s Manual.

Note: InfoAssist integration for setting up parameter receipt requires WebFOCUS 7.7.01 or higher. If you have an earlier version of WebFOCUS, you can still handle parameters in the report code. For more information, see Mapping Parameters to an Operational Report.

Creating Gadgets Using an Analysis Designer Template

How to:

PMF allows you to use existing Analysis Designer templates to create Gadgets. These Gadgets can display grids with indicators that show PMF metrics, strategic objectives, or themes dimensionally. Each data item in the grid contains drill downs to other related PMF content, and provides the same feedback, alerting, and task capabilities as pre-built content in PMF.

Procedure: How to Build a New Gadget From an Existing PMF Template

  1. In the Manage page, click the Gadgets panel button.
  2. Click New Gadget.

    The New Gadget Designer panel opens.

  3. Enter a name for the gadget.
  4. Select PMF Gadget focexec from the Content Type drop-down menu.
  5. Select one of the nine standard Analysis Designer templates from the Content Display drop-down menu. The templates are:

    Template