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Procedure documentationCreating and Editing Tiles

 

In Dashboard Builder, a tile is a part of a dashboard. It usually visualizes a single KPI in a single chart; it thereby contains the following information for the KPI and its visualization:

  • Information about the actual KPI (type and name of the KPI, description, and unit)

  • Information on the visualization of the KPI (chart type, tile size, displayed rows and columns, available filters)

  • Information on the data supply of the KPI (for example, data source, type of data source)

Note Note

The KPI is normally visualized as a tile and a detail view (see Creating a Drilldown View). For information about how to create a dashboard, see Creating and Editing Dashboards.

End of the note.

Procedure

Creating a Tile

If you want to create a custom tile for an existing dashboard in which you need to enter all property fields manually, proceed as follows:

Note Note

Alternatively, you can also display a standard KPI provided by SAP from the KPI catalog in a tile. For more detailed information on this, see Creating Tiles Using the KPI Catalog.

End of the note.

  1. Choose the dashboard.

  2. Choose the Custom Tile pushbutton (+) to open the tile configuration window. You are now on the screen Add New KPI.

  3. Fill in the following property fields of this tile.

    Attribute

    Description

    Name

    Subhead

    Description

    Enter a title, subtitle, and a short description for the tile. These properties are displayed when the tile is displayed.

    Visualization

    Size

    Unit

    Specify an appropriate chart type, a relative chart size (between 1x1 and 3x4), and the unit of the KPI.

    Note Note

    Depending on the chart type, the data source has to return a single number, a series of numbers, or a two-dimensional numerical table.

    End of the note.

    Data Source Type

    Data Source Name

    Here, you specify which infrastructure is to be used to determine the data to be displayed in Dashboard Builder. The following types of data source are supported:

    • BW Query

    • Function Module (for more information, see Using a Function Module as a Data Source)

    • Business Process Analysis

      You can use the business process analysis to monitor various key figures that provide an overview of the core business processes from all managed systems. Configuring connectors enables data in database tables or BW cubes to be extracted to SAP Solution Manager or called in real-time. For more information, see Using Data Sources of the Business Process Analysis.

    • Business Process Monitoring

      You can use the business process monitoring of SAP Solution Manager to detect and solve potential problems before critical situations arise. For the input field Data Source Name, use the search help to display a metrics catalog. This displays the active configurations of business process monitoring in a list, whereby you can filter according to different properties of the metrics. Select the desired metric from the list, and choose OK to confirm your choice.

      Note Note

      When using data sources of the type Business Process Analysis and Business Process Monitoring , you can enter multiple data sources in a tile to display multiple key figures in the tile.

      End of the note.

    • Business Add-In

      For this, SAP provides an enhancement spot, under which you can create your own BAdI implementations (for more information, see Using a BAdI Implementation as a Data Source).

    Detail Page Template

    The detail page is displayed when the user chooses the tile; it enables a more detailed analysis of the data displayed in the associated tile. You can select from the following templates:

    • Drilldown Views

      This template is composed of multiple views, which you can choose from a dropdown list, so that one visualization is always displayed. The details of the display depend on the implementation of the drilldown view (see Creating a Drilldown View).

    • Generic Analytics Application

      This detail view is possible for all tiles whose data is supplied via a BW query. It gives you the option of creating any drilldowns and filters from the query's fields and to output these visualizations as both a table and a chart (see Usage of the Detail View "Generic Analytics Application").

      The detail view Generic Analytics Application does not require any further configuration.

    • Smart View

      Compared with the detail view Generic Analytics Application, the Smart View has the advantage that you can use it for more than just the data source type BW Query; you also have more flexibility regarding the visualization of the measured values. For more information about using this detail view, see Usage of the Detail View "Smart View".

      The detail view Smart View does not require any further configuration.

    • None

      Choose this entry, if you do not want to display a detail page.

  4. After specifying the data source, choose Enter to activate the configuration view for the data source. Depending on the data source, the list of Available Fields is displayed. From this list, specify the fields to be displayed in Rows and Columns.

    For the characteristics in Available Fields, Rows, and Columns, you can set a filter value, by displaying the context menu of the characteristic, and choosing Start of the navigation path Filter Next navigation step Select Filter Value End of the navigation path. On the Define Filter Values screen, you can maintain the filter operator and the filter value.

    If the field for which you create a filter is a time value, you can choose between Static Value (the filter period always remains the same) and Template for Rolling Time Slot (the filter period shifts so that the relative time offset remains unchanged).

    You can also define a threshold value for key figures that are displayed in the Columns. To do so, call the context menu of the key figure and choose Start of the navigation path Threshold Definition Next navigation step Threshold Definition End of the navigation path. On the screen Define Threshold Value, you can define the threshold value.

    Note Note

    For more detailed information about filters and threshold values, see Usage of Filters and Threshold Values.

    End of the note.

  5. To save the tile configuration, choose Save. On a selection screen, you are asked to enter a transport request. Choose an existing transport request or create a new one, then choose OK (for more information, see Transporting a Dashboard).

  6. If you have selected the Drilldown Views template for the detail page, create the view. Select the newly created tile. This takes you to the template for the detail page. Choose the Add New Tile pushbutton and enter the properties in the configuration dialog box, in the same way as in the procedure above (for more information, see Creating a Drilldown View).

Editing Tiles

To edit the settings for an existing tile, choose the pushbutton at the top right-hand side of the tile (with two cogs displayed). This takes you to the Change KPI screen, on which you can change all of the tile properties mentioned above.

Result

You have created a new tile in an existing dashboard or edited an existing tile. The tile will be displayed when the dashboard is called.