Best Practices for Utilizing Prebuilt Dashboards
Understanding Prebuilt Dashboards in Bold BI
Prebuilt dashboards are ready-to-use visualizations designed to meet the specific needs of various industries, departments, or business functions. They allow users to quickly analyze data without the need to create dashboards from scratch, thus saving valuable time and effort in data analysis and reporting.
Use Cases for Prebuilt Dashboards
A robust prebuilt dashboard migration feature enables customers to easily transfer their existing dashboards between servers or sites using various methods, such as direct publishing, downloading and uploading, or automated deployment during site creation. This functionality supports multiple migration methods, ensuring flexibility and efficiency in managing business intelligence (BI) workflows.
Best Practices for Using Prebuilt Dashboards in Bold BI.
In the Bold BI application, there are three primary methods for utilizing prebuilt dashboards:
1. Deployment Dashboards
Deployment dashboards allow users to transfer one or more dashboards from the master site to each internal site during the deployment process. This feature is essential for ensuring that all relevant dashboards are available across different sites within the Bold BI application. For detailed instructions on adding deployment dashboards, refer to the Deployment Dashboards Guide.
2. Publish Dashboards
The Publish Dashboard option enables users to transfer newly created and existing dashboards from one site to one or more other sites. This feature is useful for sharing dashboards across internal and external sites, ensuring that all stakeholders have access to the necessary data visualizations. For more information on how to publish dashboards, consult the Publish Dashboards Guide.
3. Download and Upload Dashboards
Bold BI also supports offline migration of dashboards. Users can download dashboards from the source site and then upload them to the destination site. This method is particularly useful in scenarios where internet connectivity is limited or when manual transfer of dashboard files is preferred. For guidance on downloading dashboards, refer to the Download Dashboards Guide, and for uploading dashboards, refer to the Upload Dashboards Guide.
The technical differences among these three approaches are as follows:
| Feature | Deployment Dashboards | Publish Dashboards | Download/Upload Dashboards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Use Case | Moving prebuilt dashboards from the master site to new sites during site creation. | Transferring a single dashboard to multiple sites, with synchronization capabilities. | |
| Transfer Mode | Both source and destination sites must be in online mode. | Both source and destination sites must be in online mode. | Only one server needs to be online at a time. |
| Synchronization of Changes | If you make any changes on the dashboard of a master site, then it will not be reflected in the same dashboard on other sites. | Changes on published dashboards can be synchronized across sites. | Changes on the dashboards require manual re-download and re-upload. |
| Multi-Site Transfer | Yes, transfer to multiple sites during new site creation. | Yes, publish a single dashboard to multiple sites simultaneously. | Yes, multiple dashboards can be uploaded/downloaded at once. |
| Version/Server Requirements | Dashboards are deployed to other internal sites only. | Source and destination must be on the same Bold BI version. | Dashboards created in a lower version of the Bold BI application can be uploaded to the same or a higher version but cannot be uploaded to a lower version of the Bold BI application. |
| Process Speed | Quick for new sites but cannot be used for already created sites. | Fast for multiple sites; changes will be reflected through synchronization. | Slower due to manual nature, especially with large numbers of dashboards. |
| Intermediate Database Compatibility | Supports both live and extract mode connection data sources. | Supports both live and extract mode connection data sources, but extract mode connections must use the same intermediate database type. | Supports both extract and live mode connection data sources, even with different intermediate databases. |
| Dashboard Editing Lock | You can allow or disallow the privilege of editing options for the dashboard and data source. | You can allow or disallow the privilege of editing options for the dashboard and data source. | Since there are no restrictions on the downloaded dashboard, you cannot prevent users from editing the dashboard and data source. |
