Master Site Hierarchy for Scalable Dashboard Management in Bold BI

Introduction: The Need for Hierarchical Site Management

As organizations scale, managing dashboards, users, and data security across multiple business units, partners, and customers becomes a critical challenge. A well-structured site hierarchy enables businesses to:

• Isolate data securely while ensuring controlled access for partners and customers.
• Provide multi-level access where partners can manage their customers’ dashboards.
• Automate onboarding of thousands of partners and customers without manual intervention.
• Simplify role-based access management by leveraging sites, categories, and user groups.

Without an efficient site structure, companies may struggle with data duplication, security risks, and administrative overhead.

Bold BI’s Master Site Hierarchy approach addresses these challenges by allowing companies to combine Site-Based, Category-Based content managment along with Group-Based Access Control for a scalable and secure dashboard management system.

Real-World Example: A Cloud Communications Provider

Let’s consider BetaConnect, a global Cloud Communications Provider offering business messaging and VoIP services.

• BetaConnect partners with resellers, such as AlphaTel Solutions, GammaVoice Inc., and ZetaCall Partners.
• Some resellers serve their own customers, while others only require dashboards for internal use.
• Enterprise customers, such as DeltaBank and SigmaLogistics, require dedicated dashboards for their operations.

To manage this complexity, BetaConnect employs a Master Site Hierarchy, combining Sites and Categories with Group-Based Access Control within Bold BI.

Step 1: Structuring the Master Site Hierarchy

At the highest level, BetaConnect maintains an Admin Site for internal use. Below that, partner sites and customer sites are structured based on specific access requirements.

Example Site Structure for BetaConnect

Not all partners require a dedicated customer site; some can efficiently manage customer dashboards using Categories within a shared site. This approach reduces administrative complexity while still ensuring secure access control.

Step 2: Organizing Dashboards Using Categories Within Each Site

Categories help streamline content organization and access management within a single site. Instead of creating separate sites for every customer, partners can manage customer dashboards efficiently using Categories. This approach keeps dashboards well-structured while reducing administrative overhead. Additionally, Group-Based Access Management simplifies access control, ensuring that users only see the dashboards relevant to their role or organization.

Inside each site, Categories group dashboards logically, avoiding duplication and simplifying access control.

Example Category Structure in the AlphaTel Solutions Site

Step 3: Using Group-Based Access Control for Categories

To effectively manage user access without creating excessive sites, Bold BI allows you to configure Group-Based Access Management. This ensures that partners, customers, and internal teams have controlled access to the relevant dashboards.

Rather than creating a separate site for every customer, Bold BI allows permissions to be managed using Groups.

This approach reduces the need for excessive site creation, ensures secure access to the right dashboards, and simplifies both onboarding and long-term access management.

Example: Managing Access Using Groups in AlphaTel Solutions Site

Automating Site and Category Management

Managing thousands of sites and categories manually is impractical. Instead, Bold BI provides automation through REST API, enabling organizations to scale efficiently and minimize administrative effort.

Key Automation Capabilities

• Create Sites Automatically: Generate new sites for partners or customers without manual setup.
• Add Users Effortlessly: Add users to the right sites and categories using API’s.
• Customize Branding: Apply logos, themes, and colors for each partner or customer using APIs.
• Manage Categories & Permissions: Automate category creation, dashboard assignments, and access control.

Server API Reference: https://help.boldbi.com/server-api-reference/v5.0/
Site Administration API Reference: https://help.boldbi.com/site-administration/api-reference/v2.0/

Benefits of API-Based Automation

• Scalability – Easily manage thousands of customers and partners without increasing administrative complexity.
• Consistency – Ensure uniform site, category, and user configurations across all tenants.
• Efficiency – Reduce manual work by automating repetitive tasks like user onboarding and access control.

Bold BI provides comprehensive REST API support to manage sites, categories, users, permissions, and branding. Organizations can leverage these APIs to create, modify, and maintain a well-structured BI environment with minimal manual intervention.

Choosing the Right Approach: Sites, Categories, or Groups?

Conclusion: Implementing a Scalable Dashboard Strategy

By combining Sites, Categories, and Group-Based Access Control, companies can:

• Provide partners and customers access to relevant dashboards
• Maintain data security while keeping management simple
• Automate site/category creation for easy scalability
• Optimize performance by choosing the right content organization model

This structured Master Site Hierarchy ensures that partners and customers get the right data access without unnecessary complexity.

Additional References

• Effective Content Organization and Data Separation in Bold BI
• Create Sites API
• Add Users API
• Customize Branding API
• Manage Categories & Permissions API