Power BI Dashboards allow you to pin key items from various reports and pages into one place, providing a focused view using either a web browser or a mobile device.
The only caveat, is that although the dashboards do not have to be from the same report, they do have to be in the same Workspace in Power BI Service. This means that even if you have more than one Connector type, you could combine the required items from whichever reports you wish.
It should be noted that although we are using Tugger reports, the same steps can be used to share items from other reports.
In this example we're going to use Cash and Simpro® reports; no matter the report type or types the principle remains the same.
Navigate to your Workspaces in Power BI Service (online).
Select a Workspace, in the example below, you will see I have 'Tugger Integrations', containing the listed reports.
1. The name of the Workspace.
2. The reports are listed, with the blue icon associated with them.
In this example, we're going to start with the report, 'Cash' (2a) followed by 'Simpro' (2b).
Enter your chosen report (Cash 2a in this example).
You will notice the selected page, highlighted towards the top left, just navigate wherever you wish, I am going to use a chart from this page.
Contracted and Completed Calls Revenue is the chart item I am going to add to a Dashboard (1 in the image).
You will need to hover over the chart as shown in the cut-out (2 in the image) for the options in the top right of the chart to become available; clicking on the chart will also make them visible.
Note: it is recommended that if you click on the chart, you do so in some white space, such as where the arrow (1 in the image) is situated.
The Pin option is the closest to the arrow (2 in the image).
... Click on it when ready.
After clicking on the Pin option, you should be presented with a screen similar to the one below.
The options highlighted (1 and 2 in the image can be left 'as is', presuming they are displayed as indicated, otherwise, ensure 'New dashboard' & 'Keep current theme' are selected.
Enter a name for your new dashboard (3 in the image), ours here is: 'Cash & Simpro Dashboard'.
... Then click on Pin (4 in the image).
Once you have clicked on Pin, you will see a popup in the top right (below 1 in the image); this gives you the options to go to the Dashboard you created, or to Create a mobile view.
(2. You may notice that the Pin option isn't showing; this can happen after pinning an item, but will appear again if you select something else then try again, or after accessing the page again.)
We're going to navigate to the Simpro report.
Just click on the workspace, as indicated by the arrow in the image above.
You should then see the reports (as previously) like our example below.
You should notice the new Dashboard created, with the 'Type' of 'Dashboard'; the coloured icon is green this time, differing from both the report and dataset.
At this stage we could go into the Dashboard, but as we are adding another item, we will just access the Simpro report, indicated further down.
Once you've entered the report, navigate to to what you want to pin; we're going to pin the two items indicated in the image below, and like previously, hovering should highlight the pin - as indicated in the image.
Pin the item(s) you want to add to the dashboard created previously (image below).
Like previously, we are presented with a Pin to dashboard popup.
1. This time we need to ensure Existing Dashboard is selected.
2. We're keeping the existing theme.
3. If the name of the Dashboard you require isn't already displayed, just select if from the dropdown option.
4. Pin when ready.
Repeat the above steps for any additional items required.
Each time you pin an item, you will be presented with the following, like previously, offering the option to Create a mobile layout, or to navigate to the dashboard (1 in the image below).
Although we could navigate using the popup, we're just going to navigate back to the workspace (2 in the image above).
This contains all our reports and displayed previously, but shown again below for clarity.
Clicking on the Dashboard (shown above), will take us into the dashboard created. If we had created more than the one dashboard, either by design or in error, they are displayed here; by navigating back to this view, we can confirm that we haven't created any additional dashboards in error.
On first entering the dashboard you will be presented with the items laid out as there were added. You are likely to want to arrange them in a particular manner. You may also decide an item is no longer required, which can be removed by clicking on the ellipse (3 dots) which will show more options when hovering over it (highlighted in the image below).
You will have noticed from previous actions that there is a mobile view option; this is accessible by the Edit dropdown, indicated by the arrow above. We will look at this later.
(You can navigate to the report the pinned-item came from, just by clicking on it.)
If you wish to move an item, click and hold, so you can drag the item about, as shown in the image below.
1. The item being dragged.
2. The grey area moves about as you drag the pinned item; it indicates where the item will be placed when you release the left mouse button.
The image below shows the items arranged as we require.
As alluded to previously, a mobile option is also available.
From the Edit dropdown (indicated above) select the Mobile layout.
You will be presented with a screen similar to the one below.
1. This allows us to switch back to Web layout.
2. This is an unpinned item, clicking on the pin will move it to the mobile layout (3).
3. The current mobile layout.
Although we can drag items about, unlike the web layout, we cant place them where we wish, they can only exchange places with another item.
Hovering over an item will highlight it, as the image below displays; it also shows that if we hover of the pin item (or Hide item), then that too, will be highlighted; clicking on it will move it to the unpinned area.
Once we have added and moved items as we require, the display now shows our completed mobile view (image below).
Once we're happy with the view, we can navigate back to Web layout (indicated by the arrow in the image above).
Finally, you can share the dashboard using the share option, highlighted in the image below. If you wish to view the how-to on this process, it is available here.
This concludes the How-To on creating a dashboard within Power BI service.