Creating dashboards by using PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer (PerformancePoint Server)

You can use PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer to create dashboards for your organization. A dashboard is essentially a collection of scorecard and report views that dashboard users can view in a web browser. Read this article to get an overview of PerformancePoint dashboards and links to additional information.

Tip: For more detailed information on how to create and implement a dashboard, see Plan, design, and implement a PerformancePoint dashboard to show organizational performance.

What is a PerformancePoint dashboard?

A dashboard is a collection of views that are displayed in a Web browser and are designed to give users the information they need at a glance. Dashboards enable you to easily access and explore up-to-date information. Dashboards vary in complexity and purpose. Some dashboards contain one or two simple reports that are designed to display basic information. Other dashboards contain a wide variety of reports and scorecards that are designed to enable users to dig into the data and see all the transactions that make up particular report values.

PerformancePoint dashboards are dashboards that are created by using PerformancePoint Services. PerformancePoint dashboards often include features and functionality that set them apart from many other kinds of dashboards. For example, you can configure a PerformancePoint dashboard such that information is displayed depending on what users click. You can connect scorecard items to other reports. You can also configure dashboard filters that can be reused across multiple dashboards and multiple pages in a dashboard. Most of all, you can create dashboards that display information from a variety of sources, including reports that are hosted on other servers and scorecards that draw on more than one data source to display information.

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What are some features of PerformancePoint dashboards?

PerformancePoint dashboards tend to be highly interactive and dynamically display up-to-date information. There are certain other features that PerformancePoint dashboards can include. The following table describes some of the features that are available:

Feature/Item	Description
Reusable dashboard items	You can include reusable items in your dashboards in several ways: You and other dashboard authors can create PerformancePoint dashboard items, such as views, filters, and dashboards that are saved to SharePoint lists and document libraries. Then, you and other dashboard authors can easily reuse those items in one or more dashboards. You can create a dashboard filter for a dashboard and then use the same filter in multiple pages. Then, when dashboard users select an item in the filter, the selection is applied to all the pages that use that filter. You can include views that are hosted on other servers, such as SQL Server Reporting Services reports and Excel Services reports.
Advanced filtering capabilities	You can create a variety of dashboard filters, such as filters that use Multidimensional Expression (MDX) queries, Time Intelligence expressions, or Named Sets that have been defined in a data source. You can also specify a connection formula to configure how those filters will work in your dashboard. For example, you can configure a filter to display just the top 10 items in a group whenever a dashboard user applies that filter to a report or a scorecard.
Time Intelligence	You can include Time Intelligence functionality in your dashboards in several ways: You can create dynamic time filters that are relative to the current date for your dashboard. For example, you can create a filter to show results for rolling time periods, such as "Last Six Months," or "Last Week." Or, you can create a filter that uses a calendar control to show results as of a particular date. You can create scorecards that include dynamic time periods, such as "Current Year" and "Previous Year."
Sophisticated scorecards	You can create scorecards that include advanced functionality in several ways: You can create KPIs that have multiple actual values. This means that you can have more than one metric for each KPI, all on the same row. You can create KPIs that are based on calculated metrics. For example, you can configure target values that are based on a calculation, such as a previous value multiplied by some number. You can put a dimension hierarchy in your scorecard and have expand/collapse capabilities automatically available.
Scorecard KPIs that are used as filters for other reports	You can connect key performance indicators (KPIs) that are in a scorecard to other reports in the dashboard page. Then, when dashboard users click a KPI, the reports that are connected to it automatically refresh to display information that is relevant to that KPI.
KPI Details reports	You can create a KPI Details report and connect it to your scorecards to provide dashboard users with additional information about the KPIs that are in a scorecard. Dashboard users click a cell in a scorecard and the KPI Details report automatically refreshes to display more details about the scorecard value.
Highly interactive reports	You can create highly interactive reports, such as analytic views (including pie charts, bar charts, line charts, and grids), scorecards, strategy maps, and more. Those views enable dashboard users to do the following: Easily explore data to view higher or lower levels of information Apply filters to view specific information Open a view in a new browser window Export a view to Microsoft PowerPoint or Microsoft Excel From an analytic chart or grid or a scorecard that uses data stored in SQL Server Analysis Services, launch a Decomposition Tree in a new browser window to see how members in a group contribute to a report value.
Customizable dashboard pages	You can customize your dashboard by configuring specific sizes of your dashboard zones and by specifying master page templates to use.
Dashboard pages that include PerformancePoint items along with other kinds of SharePoint items	You can create dashboards that combine reports, scorecards, and filters that you create by using Dashboard Designer with other items that you create by using Edit mode in a SharePoint site or by using SharePoint Designer.

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What is the process to create a PerformancePoint dashboard?

When you create a PerformancePoint dashboard, you typically use Dashboard Designer. At a high-level, the process you use is as follows:

Plan your dashboard. Consider the kinds of information that you want to display, where the data is stored, who the users are, and how to best provide those users with the information they need. For more information, see Plan your dashboard.
Create your dashboard items, including data connections, scorecards, reports, filters, and dashboard pages. Make sure to save each item as you create it. For more information, see the following resources:
Set up and assemble your dashboard pages. Configure the page layout that you want to use for each page, and add items to the dashboard zones that are in the page. For more information, see Assemble dashboard pages and link items together by using Dashboard Designer.
Connect filters to scorecards and reports. You do not have to connect a filter to each item on the page, but you can if you want. And, you can connect more than one filter to an item, provided that the filter you want to use will work with that item. For more information, see Connect a filter to a report or a scorecard.
Deploy the dashboard to SharePoint Server. For more information, see Deploy a PerformancePoint dashboard.
View and test your dashboard to make sure everything works correctly.
If you want, you can make changes to your dashboard items, and then redeploy the dashboard. Make sure to tell other users about the dashboard and train them on how to use it.

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