Dashboard design in Get Started with Datazen and Analysis Services

 

Applies To: SQL Server 2016

Now that you've completed both of the previous tasks for server configuration and data definition, you can move on to the last task: dashboard design.

This task requires the Datazen Publisher, which runs on a Windows client operating system. You will need a second computer running Windows client to perform this task.

Connect from Publisher

To get Publisher, download the version of Datazen Publisher that corresponds to your Windows client operating system.

1. Start Datazen Publisher.

2. Right-click anywhere on the Home page and then at the bottom of the screen, click Connect.

3. Enter the server name or address.

4. Enter the name of a domain user account that you previously registered on the Datazen server.

5. Clear the check boxes for Use Secure Connection. That option is used only when the Datazen Server uses a certificate from a trusted authority.

6. Click Connect.

   

Troubleshooting a Login failure

If logging in as a registered domain user fails, while logging in as Admin (a built-in Datazen account) succeeds, you might have an invalid AD configuration. Review the instructions for setting up AD against the values specified in the configuration file. Recall that the service needs to be stopped first, before you place the revised file back into the Program Files folder, and then restarted after the file is copied.

One technique for verifying whether the login failure is between your server and the domain controller is to log into the Datazen Control Panel as a registered user (for example, someone@adventureworks.com). If the login error shows up in the Control Panel, the problem is probably an invalid AD setting.

Start the dashboard and import data

1. Right-click anywhere on the Home page and then click Create at the bottom of the screen

2. Choose Start from an empty dashboard.

3. Click Data View | Add Data | Datazen Server. You should see the SSAS data source you just created.

   

4. Click the data source, click the check box by the data view, and then click Import.

Add the layout

In Layout View, drag the following controls to the design surface:

• Bubble map

• Category chart

• Selection list (3)

• Simple data grid

• Numbers (3)

Using the default simulated data, your layout should look similar to the following screenshot.

Configure controls and preview the results

1. Click Data View and select the first control, Bubble Map 1.

   

2. In Data Properties, change the dataset from simulated data to the dataset that provides your MDX query. Choose Country and Total Sales. The bubble map uses values from the Country attribute and the area of each bubble is determined by the aggregated values provided by Total Sales.

   

3. In Layout View, set visual properties to give the map a meaningful name. Change the Map type to WorldCountries.

   

4. Configure the Comparison bar chart:

   • In Layout View, name the chart Global Sales.

   • In Data View, choose the MDX dataset and change the coordinate to Category. The bars in the chart are based on product categories found in the Category attribute.

   • Keep Total Sales as the series data.

5. Configure the first Selection List (Month):

   • In Layout View, name the list Month.

   • Choose Allow Multi Select and Allow Select All.

   • In Data View, choose the MDX dataset and change the key to Month.

   • In Tables Filtered by Month, click the checkbox next to the name of the MDX data view. Choose the Month attribute as the basis of the filter.

6. Configure the second Selection List (Country):

   • In Layout View, name the list Country.

   • Choose Allow Multi Select and Allow Select All.

   • In Data View, choose the MDX dataset and change the key to Country.

   • In Tables Filtered by Country, click the checkbox next to the name of the MDX data view. Choose the Country attribute as the basis of the filter.

7. Configure the third Selection List (Category):

   • In Layout View, name the list Category.

   • Choose Allow Multi Select and Allow Select All.

   • Data View, choose the MDX dataset and change the key to Category.

   • In Tables Filtered by Category, click the checkbox next to the name of the MDX data view. Choose the Category attribute as the basis of the filter.

8. Configure the Simple Data Grid:

   • In Layout View, name the grid Sales Summary.

   • In Data View, choose the MDX dataset and select every column provided. You can skip the options.

9. Configure the remaining three Number controls:

   • In Layout View, give each control the following names: 2013 Total Sales, 2013 Internet Sales, 2013 Reseller Sales.

   • In Data View, choose the MDX dataset and then choose Total Sales, Internet Sales, and Reseller Sales for the main values.

10. Click Run Preview.

    Your dashboard should look similar to the one shown below. You can pick different values in the Month, Country, and Category selection lists to change the contents of Sales Summary. All of the other controls are unfiltered and contain static values as supplied by your query.

    

Next steps

After completing this 3-part walkthrough, you now have a server configuration and permissions that you can leverage to build more complex dashboards and MDX-based data views. As a followup, you might try retrieving data from a tabular data source. Tabular models can be queried through MDX so the skills you learned in this walkthrough can be applied to data retrieval from tabular mode instances.

Additionally, for more advanced SSAS scenarios, you can visit this link for details on using SSAS row-level security with Datazen dashboards: Implementing row level security for SSAS data views.

See Also

Applying filters in a Datazen report
Datazen video on cascading filters