Configure widgets for breakdown dashboards

Configure each widget that goes on a breakdown dashboard. The configuration determines whether and how the widget follows the elements selected on the dashboard. For some widgets and indicators, you can select whether to show multiple element values separately or as an aggregate.

Before you begin

This task assumes that you are starting from an open breakdown dashboard.

Role required: pa_power_user, admin

Procedure

1. On the breakdown dashboard, click the plus sign () to put the dashboard in edit mode.
2. Point to the widget, then click the pencil icon ().
   The widget record opens.
3. Select Follow element in the widget record.

   Figure 1. Widget record showing options

   

   If you do not select Follow element for a widget, that widget does not follow any breakdown elements selected on the dashboard. The Followed breakdown and Show multiple elements as options are not visible.

   If the widget is for a formula indicator, all contributing indicators in the formula must support the selected breakdown source on the dashboard. Otherwise, no scores are displayed in the widget. In this case, a message displays to inform you of the situation.

   Important:

   Do not specify a breakdown and element on the widget record when you want the elements for that breakdown to be selected on a breakdown dashboard. The element on the widget record overrides any elements selected on the breakdown dashboard for that breakdown.
4. If more than one breakdown uses one of the breakdown sources on the dashboard, specify which breakdown applies to the widget in Followed breakdown.
   For example, the breakdowns Opened by, Requested by, Requested for, and Assigned to use the Users.Active breakdown source. If you add Users.Active to a dashboard, select the relevant breakdown in Followed breakdown for each of the widgets that you have on that dashboard. This option does not affect any other breakdown sources you may have added to the dashboard.
5. In the Show multiple elements as field, select how to show scores when a dashboard viewer selects multiple breakdown elements.
   Choose from two possibilities:

   • Aggregate, which shows a single, aggregate score of all selected elements.
   • Separate, which shows each selected element separately.

   Not all widget and indicator types support both views. Some types do not support selecting multiple elements at all. If it is not possible to select multiple elements for a widget/indicator combination, the field says Not available. For more information, see Showing multiple elements separately or aggregated.

Showing multiple elements separately or aggregated

When you select multiple elements on a dashboard, widgets that follow these elements can show their values either separately or as an aggregate.

On a widget form, use the Show multiple elements as field to set whether multiple elements are shown separately or as an aggregate. Widgets with the view type Separate show a different value for each breakdown element selected. Widgets with the view type Aggregate show a single value that represents the aggregated value of all selected breakdown elements.

The widget type logically determines whether an aggregated view, a separate view, or both are available. Also, formula indicators support the aggregated view only when the aggregated view is explicitly enabled on the indicator record. For example, a Score widget can only show an aggregated view. Without aggregated views being enabled, a Score widget for a formula indicator cannot be filtered on multiple elements. In this case, the Show multiple element as field displays Not available and is grayed out. For more information, see the section Indicators that support an aggregate of multiple elements.

Widget support of aggregate and separate views

• Time series widgets support aggregate and separate views.
• List widgets support aggregate and separate views.
• Score widgets only support the aggregate view.
• Breakdown widgets only support the aggregate view.

Note:

You cannot select multiple elements on workbench or text Performance Analytics widgets. If you try, all selected elements are ignored. This limitation does not apply to Platform Analytics data visualizations.

Indicators that support an aggregate of multiple elements

The following indicators support the aggregated view:

• Automated indicators that aggregate data as a Count, Sum, Minimum, or Maximum value
  Note:

  The word "aggregate" is used for two different things here: the aggregate view of multiple indicator scores, and the data aggregation that is set on an indicator.
• Manual indicators
• External indicators that do not use SQL AVG() or SQL COUNT(DISTINCT...) in their SQL statement
• Formula indicators that have aggregate element views enabled on their indicator records. For more information, see the entry on the Allow aggregation of multiple breakdown element scores field on the Other tab in Create a formula indicator.

Important:

• Indicators that aggregate data as an Average or a Count Distinct do not support the Aggregate view.
• The Show multiple elements as value applies to both the main widget and any indicator widgets. If Aggregate is selected but one of the indicator widgets does not support the Aggregate view, that indicator does not follow the elements on the breakdown dashboard. Instead, the indicator follows any first-level breakdown and element that are set in the widget configuration. The other indicators follow the elements on the breakdown dashboard and show an aggregate of their values.

Results when showing aggregate view

The aggregate view of multiple elements shows a different result depending on the indicator's data aggregation:

Automated indicator data aggregation	External indicator SQL statement	In a widget, what an aggregate view of multiple elements shows
COUNT	SQL COUNT()	A sum of the scores of the selected elements
SUM	SQL SUM()	A sum of the scores of the selected elements, which themselves are sums
MAX	SQL MAX()	Whichever element had the highest value at each time point
MIN	SQL MIN()	Whichever element had the lowest value at each time point

With the aggregate view selected, not all features are available on all widgets or when the user navigates from the widget to the Analytics Hub:

• Targets, thresholds, and comments are not available when you navigate to the Analytics Hub from a widget with multiple breakdown elements selected in an aggregate view. The breakdown selector and search functionality are also unavailable.
• Targets and thresholds are not available in time series widgets.
• Targets and bullet charts are not available in list widgets.

Widget indicators and breakdown dashboards

When a user selects breakdown elements on a breakdown dashboard, the breakdown and element names are appended to the widget indicator names. Widget indicator labels also have the breakdown and element names appended. The breakdown and element names are not appended to the widget indicator names and labels in the following circumstances:

• The widget shows an aggregate view of multiple elements, and the widget indicator does not support this view.
• The widget does not follow elements.
• The widget indicators do not support the selected breakdown elements.

Figure 2. Names and labels for widget indicators with multiple elements selected, separate view

Figure 3. Names and labels for widget indicators with multiple elements selected, aggregate view

Open incidents with aggregate and separate values for multiple elements

Consider a breakdown dashboard with the Incident.Category breakdown source and the three elements Inquiry/Help, Network, and Software selected.

The dashboard contains a time series widget called Open Incidents. This widget shows the Number of Open Incidents indicator, which has the Count aggregate. The widget follows the elements that are selected on the dashboard. Therefore, the widget can show multiple elements selected on the dashboard either separately or as an aggregate value. The Show multiple elements as field is set to Separate.

On the dashboard, a separate column is shown for each of the three selected elements for each day.

With the Show multiple elements as field set to Aggregate, a single, aggregate score is shown for the three selected elements.