Documenting dashboards

Overview

Write relevant information for users of your dashboards within the dashboards themselves. For instance, write dashboard descriptions to explain how to:

• Interprete the dashboard content.

• Incorporate the dashboard into a business process.

• Configure Nexthink to get proper results in the dashboard.

Only dashboards of basic modules, that is, those which are built with widgets based on metrics, may have accompanying descriptions.

Reading descriptions

The description of a dashboard is found on the right-hand side of the dashboard itself as a retractable panel. When retracted, the panel is reduced to a small square, similar to a page marker, with the typical letter i (for info) inside.

Click the letter i to expand the panel and read the description of the dashboard. Once you are done reading, you can retract the panel back by clicking either the i letter again, or the cross sign at the top right of the description panel.

If the dashboard has no description yet, neither a panel nor an i letter are visible in the dashboard. Edit the dashboard to add a description as explained below.

Writing a description

To write a description of a dashboard:

1. Log in to the Portal as a user with the right to create dashboards.

2. Open or create a dashboard based on metrics.

3. Click the menu icon on the right-hand side of the dark blue ribbon.

4. Under the DASHBOARD section, select Edit content.

5. Click the letter i on the top right-hand side of the dashboard to expand the dashboard description panel. Even if the i was not visible during reading mode (because of the absence of a description), it becomes visible when editing the dashboard.

6. Write a description for the dashboard inside the description panel. To format the output, see the section below.

7. Click the check mark that appears on the right-hand side of the blue ribbon (in place of the menu icon) to finish editing the dashboard.

A description can contain up to 10 000 characters.

Formatting your description

To make your dashboard descriptions visually more appealing, give them format according to the following markup rules:

Formatting	Type in	Rendered
Normal text	Plain text	Plain text
Title	# Big title	Big title
Italic text	*Text in italics*	Text in italics
Bold text	**Text in bold**	Text in bold
Bulleted list	* item1 * item2	item1 item2
Numbered list	1. item1 1. item2	item1 item2
Hyperlink	[Link text][1] ... [1]: http://example.com	Link text
Referenced hyperlink	[Link text][1] ... [1]: http://example.com	Link text
Horizontal rule	Text before --- Text after	Text before Text after

Blocks

To emphasize specific parts of your description, four types of predefined blocks are at your disposal: configuration, process, tip, and warning.

To define a block, enclose your text between two lines of a three-colon sequence (:::), where the first sequence is followed by the name of the block, which must be one of the four predefined block types. See below an example of a block, where you have to substitute [block_name] for one name of the predefined block types:

::: [block_name]
Text within the block.
:::

The content of a block is highlighted from normal text, being displayed in the dashboard description panel inside a box with lighter background. The name of the block, preceded by an associated icon, appears as the title of the block:

Type in	Rendered
::: configuration :::
::: process :::
::: tip :::
::: warning :::

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RELATED TASKS

• Creating a dashboard

• Following the evolution of a metric