Managing Live Dashboards

Create and maintain dashboards with Live Dashboards, a dashboard builder with numerous widget options and powerful Nexthink Query Language (NQL) for data visualization and drill-down possibilities.

Preparing for dashboard design

Understanding dashboard origin

The creation process of a dashboard in Nexthink depends on its origin—how the campaign was initially added to your environment. There are two types of campaign origins:

Built-in dashboards installed from Library

Nexthink offers a set of preconfigured dashboards that you can manually install from Nexthink Library. Go to the Nexthink Library module within your Nexthink instance to install, manage, and update predefined dashboards.

Custom dashboards

Creating a custom dashboard from scratch allows you to monitor specific types of data and application usage according to your own needs and use cases.

Defining dashboard purpose: operational vs. reporting

Nexthink recommends you first identify the general timeframe the dashboard requires and categorize whether the dashboard falls into the operations or reporting category. This affects the dashboard organization, the data it captures and the period over which the data is available.

Below are some useful questions to help you categorize your dashboard:

1. Will this dashboard primarily be used for troubleshooting or reporting purposes?

2. If it is for troubleshooting, how long does it typically take to identify and resolve an issue?

3. How frequently will dashboard viewers visit this dashboard?

You can integrate both operational and trend data into a single dashboard. For instance, you might wish to observe the total energy consumption categorized by device model, gathered from 30-days operational data, and juxtapose it with the annual trend of energy consumption on a line chart.

Creating a new dashboard

Installing a built-in dashboard from Library

To install a dashboard from Nexthink Library:

• Select Nexthink Library from the main menu.

• Search for the dashboard content you wish to install.

• Install the content. Refer to the Nexthink Library documentation for more information.

• Navigate back to the Live Dashboards administration page where you can edit and customize the library dashboard

• Publish the library dashboard when you are ready to use it.

You can update the previously installed library dashboards if a newer version is available.

Creating a custom dashboard

To create a custom dashboard:

1. Open Live Dashboards → Manage live dashboards from the navigation menu.

2. Click on Create a dashboard in the top-right corner of the empty Dashboards page.

3. Enter a meaningful name for the dashboard and click Save.

Editing dashboard content

To edit a dashboard, click on a dashboard’s name from the Live Dashboards main menu or navigate to the Dashboards page by clicking the Manage live dashboards button.

Use the action menu in the top-right corner of the page to activate the dashboard’s edit mode.

When you activate edit mode, the Nexthink web interface displays editable dashboard elements in light blue.

While in edit mode, you can modify the dashboard content:

• Add and manage widgets.

  • Optionally, Copy/paste widgets.

• Add and manage widget filters.

• Add and manage tabs and tab descriptions.

• Rename a dashboard and change its properties.

Adding widgets

To add widgets in edit mode:

1. Click on the + icon to add a new widget.

2. Select the widget type you want to add:

   • Visualizations to present data as a line chart, bar chart, gauge chart, table or other type of visualization.

   • Heading to enter the name of the new section or a group of widgets on your dashboard.

3. Optionally, Paste a widget that you've previously copied to the clipboard, for example from another tab or dashboard, to quickly reuse its configuration.

4. Fill in the visualization fields in the Add a widget pop-up and Save widget.

Filling in widget visualization fields

The following table displays the visualization widget fields and how to define them when adding new widgets.

Context-sensitive fields are not included in the table below as they vary based on the selected chart.

Refer to the Widget types documentation for more information on configuring fields specific to each widget type.

Visualization widget field

Description

Chart Type

Bar Chart Gauge Chart (Multi-metric) Gauge Chart (Single-metric) KPI Line Chart

Table

NQL query

An NQL query to retrieve appropriate data:

1. Hover over the button next to the NQL query to reveal a tooltip to write a query.

2. Click Fill in sample query in the popover to copy it to the NQL editor.

3. Modify the sample NQL query to meet your requirements for the appropriate table and metrics while maintaining the suggested query structure. Consider using the NQL as() data formatting function to simplify data interpretation.

See the screenshot above.

Title (optional),

Widget description (optional)

Enter a meaningful title and/or description for the widget.

The title applies to the Line Chart, Bar Chart and Table. On the other hand, KPI and Gauge Chart widgets use labels.

Data updates with

• Selecting Global timepicker overrides the time specification of widget's NQL query.

• Selecting Global filters allow you to select values from global filters and apply them to the widget.

Consider deselecting both Global timepicker and Global filters options when:

• You must keep the timespan constant.

• You wish to look at the inventory, e.g., all devices, users or binaries, and not just those active in the dashboard timespan.

• The query depends on a metric or threshoold based on a time duration. For example, 5 daily crashes.

Copying widgets directly in view mode

To Copy widgets directly from a dashboard in view mode via the widget action menu, you need at least one of the following permissions:

• A user role with Manage all dashboards permissions.

• Edit rights for another existing dashboard—where you can paste the copied widget.

Managing widgets

To manage widgets in edit mode, hover over an existing widget to open the action menu.

1. Select the Edit option to modify the visualization fields of the widget.

2. Select Copy widget to copy it to the browser clipboard and then paste it in any dashboard that you have edit permissions to. Use the add widget (the + icon) to paste it to your desired location. Note that the first time you try to paste, the browser will ask you to grant permissions to access the browser clipboard.

3. Select Delete to remove the widget.

4. Select Group with right/left/top/bottom option to cluster adjacent widgets under the same section or heading.

Click Exit edit mode to save changes.

Adding widget filters

Widget filters allow you to view a subset of the data, displaying values from a specific field. The system currently supports strings, enumerators, Booleans and versions as field types.

To add a widget filter in edit mode:

1. Click Add filter widget in the top-right corner of the page.

2. Fill in the Add filter widget popup to define the custom filter widget:

   • Filter label: provide a meaningful label for the filter widget.

   • Table and Field: select the NQL table and field to populate the filter’s drop-down menu.

   • User can select multiple values: tick this option to enable users to select one or multiple values from the filter's drop-down menu.

3. Save filter and Exit edit mode to use widget filters.

Managing widget filters

To manage widget filters in edit mode:

1. Hover over the top-right corner of the filter widget to open the action menu.

2. Select the Edit or Delete option.

3. Click Exit edit mode to save changes.

To change the position of a widget filter in the Nexthink web interface, delete the filter and then add it back into the desired position.

Adding tabs

Further organize widgets by adding tabs to the dashboard. Each tab can contain different sets of widgets and layouts.

To add tabs in edit mode:

1. Click on the + icon below the filter bar to add a tab.

2. Use the tab’s action menu to rename or delete a tab.

3. Click and drag on individual tabs to reorder them.

4. Click Exit edit mode to save changes.

When adding tabs to a dashboard, consider the following:

• The first tab you create takes on the layout of all existing widgets in your dashboard.

• Add up to 8 tabs in total.

• The system exclusively runs the NQL query of the currently selected tab.

• The timeframe picker and filters operate on a dashboard level and apply to charts in all tabs.

Managing tabs

To manage tabs in edit mode:

1. Hover over the tab and click on the action menu.

2. Choose the Rename or Delete option.

3. Click Exit edit mode to save changes.

When managing tabs, consider the following:

• Deleting the last remaining tab removes the tab, but keeps all widgets/visualizations.

• If there are multiple tabs, deleting a tab deletes all widgets on that tab and removes the tab.

Adding tab descriptions

Tab descriptions allow you to communicate the purpose of the dashboard to other users by providing details of how to interpret and use the data in a specific tab.

To add tab descriptions in edit mode:

1. Click on the question mark on the right side of the Nexthink web interface.

2. After the bar expands, click Edit to add text.

3. Save the tab description.

4. Click Exit edit mode to save changes.

When adding tab descriptions, consider the following:

• There is a rich text editor with the following features: font size, bold, italics, bullets, links.

• Descriptions are tab-specific.

Managing dashboards

To manage an existing dashboard, click on a dashboard’s name from the Live Dashboards main menu or navigate to the Dashboards page by clicking the Manage live dashboards button.

Use the action menu in the top-right corner of the dashboard page to:

• Edit dashboard content (edit mode).

• Duplicate dashboards.

• Export a dashboard as a file.

• Delete a dashboard.

Renaming a dashboard and changing its properties

To rename a dashboard or one of its properties in edit mode:

1. Hover and click on the action menu in the top-right corner of the page.

2. Choose the Edit properties option.

1. Fill in the fields in the Dashboard properties pop-up:

   • Name: This field allows you to rename the dashboard.

   • Default timeframe and graularity: This drop-down allows you to set the default timeframe and granularity to apply when a user opens and loads the dashboard. The global default timeframe is Last 7 days.

Duplicating a dashboard

To duplicate a dashboard, click on a dashboard name from the Live Dashboards main menu or select a dashboard from the Live Dashboards Manage live dashboards button.

From the specific dashboard page:

1. Click on the action menu in the top-right corner of the page.

2. Choose the Duplicate option from the action menu.

Duplicating a dashboard opens a new duplicate copy with an automatically generated name.

Exporting and importing an existing dashboard

Exporting an existing dashboard

The import and export functionality is restricted to those with the Manage all dashboards permissions.

To export a dashboard, click on a dashboard’s name from the Live Dashboards main menu or navigate to the Dashboards page by clicking the Manage live dashboards button.

From the dashboard page:

1. Click on the action menu in the top-right corner of the page.

2. Choose the Export option from the action menu. The system exports dashboards as JSON files

Importing a dashboard

Import custom dashboards previously exported from the Live Dashboards module, or pre-built dashboards from Nexthink Library.

To import live dashboards—in JSON—from your local device:

1. Click the Import button in the top-right corner of the Live dashboards → Manage live dashboards page.

2. Choose or drag multiple JSON files from your hard drive to import them into the system.

   • All imported items from local devices are listed as custom content.

Tagging dashboards

Tagging allows you to quickly sort dashboards. Open the Tags right-side panel to:

• Search for a specific tag at the top of the panel.

• Select one or more tags to filter the dashboard table.

To add one or more tags to a dashboard, from the Live dashboards → Manage live dashboards page.:

1. Hover over a dashboard to display the action menu and choose Manage tags.

2. From the Manage tags pop-up you can:

   • Type in a new tag or choose an existing one to add it to the dashboard.

   • Open the action menu of a specific tag item to Delete tag or change the tag color.

     • Deleting a tag only removes it from the dashboard it is associated with.

3. Alternatively, select multiple dashboards to Manage tags in bulks.

Sharing dashboards by granting View/Edit rights

The Live Dashboards navigation menu differentiates between private and shared dashboards, sorting each tab by tags.

• The Private tab displays dashboards you create and have not shared.

• The Shared tab lists dashboards that are shared with others, including those created by other users and built-in system dashboards.

Newly created, duplicated or imported dashboards are private by default and visible only to the creator—unless shared with others.

If you have Manage shared dashboards permissions, you can share specific dashboards with users who don’t have Live Dashboards access.

1. Navigate to Live Dashboards > Manage live dashboards.

2. Hover over a dashboard to reveal the action menu on the right side of the table.

3. Choose the Share option.

1. Fill in the Share dashboard pop-up:

   • Add the profile you wish to share the dashboard with.

   • Select permissions for the profile from the drop-down menu. The options are View or Edit.

   • Click Grant permissions to add them to the dashboard list.

Giving Edit permissions does not grant View permissions. Both permissions are required for editing rights.

Removing shared edit and/or view rights from a user role

In the Share dashboard pop-up, you can view the profiles with access to the dashboard. To remove permissions for a specific profile:

• Hover over the permissions column of a profile to reveal the action menu.

• Click Remove all permissions.

Access scenarios for shared dashboard permissions

Available actions by user role and shared dashboard permissions: Built-in dashboards

By default, the edit option for built-in dashboard is disabled.

Available actions by user role and shared dashboard permissions: Custom dashboards

By default, newly created custom dashboards are private and visible only to the creator—unless shared with others.

RELATED TOPICS

• Using Live Dashboards

• Widget types