Homeroom Dashboards - Data Admin: Dashboard Builder

INTRODUCTION

The Dashboard Builder is a new feature in Homeroom Dashboards that allows Data Admins to modify dashboards and spotlights in real time for their district. Note:The Builder is not available for an individual user to modify their own dashboards.

Potential uses include to relabel screenview tabs to align with district specific language, or to hide/show benchmark assessment data for a specific dashboard for a specific time period.  

Dashboard Builder changes take effect immediately in the dashboards or spotlights.  Changes are made at the district level.  

 

GETTING STARTED

To access the Dashboard Builder, log into Homeroom Dashboards.  In the left navigation menu, expand the Data Admin section and select Screen View Collections.  The Data Admin menu item is only visible if the user has the role of Data Admin.  For questions about your role, contact your district.  

A list of all the dashboards and spotlights available in your district will appear.  Note the list can be sorted and filtered as any list in Homeroom to find a specific dashboard or spotlight.

Once you have identified a dashboard or spotlight to modify, the Row Actions and Options gear at the far right of that dashboard title will allow you to select Edit Dashboard.

CAUTION: The Delete Dashboard option is a PERMANENT action.  It is strongly recommended that the dashboard be hidden, NOT deleted.  Directions for hiding are below.

 

MODIFYING DASHBOARDS AND SPOTLIGHTS

DASHBOARD/SPOTLIGHT EDITING

Once a dashboard/spotlight is selected for editing, a screen appears where changes can be made.  Each of the inputs determines if the dashboard/spotlight appears or not, in which category and for which roles.

Typical edits might be to change the label or hide/show the dashboard.  The changes take place in real time so if a user changes the name, it is immediately visible on the Homeroom Dashboards list.

Hide uses a check box.  An unchecked box means the dashboard is visible, a checked box means the dashboard is hidden.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the user is going to edit anything in a Dashboard, they must uncheck the "Is SDS Standard" checkbox.

                  

 

The first time a Spotlight is opened, the user will notice that there is a Validate button in the upper right corner.  The spotlight requires a Default Testing Targeted Thing selection.  Once selected, the Validate button will change to Save and the user can Save and move forward with the process.

 

CONTAINER EDITING

Switching to Containers will result in a list of containers in the specific dashboard/spotlight.  Again, the Row Actions and Options gear will allow for a number of options including Edit.

 

CAUTION: The Delete option is a PERMANENT action.  It is strongly recommended that the container be hidden, NOT deleted.  Directions for hiding are below.

Typical modifications might include updating the label of the container, hiding the container or adding a start/stop date so the container is visible only during a certain period of time.  This stop/start date part year visibility might be useful for a district that tested STAR assessments the prior year, but is moving to i-Ready assessments in the current year.  The STAR container could be visible during the start of the school year for previous year scores and then “turned off” and the i-Ready container would then become visible when fall benchmark testing had completed.

Hide uses a False/True toggle.  False means the container will be visible, True means the container is hidden.

 

CONTAINER CLONING

Containers can be cloned with or without the existing screenviews.  While users will typically only be modifying existing containers/screenviews, one instance where this might be appropriate is if the user would like to retain the SDS container but build out a similar container for another specific purpose.

Under the Actions and Options gear select Clone Screen View Container With Screen Views

The container will be cloned and labeled as COPY.  From here, the user will then be editing the copy as they would with an existing container.

CONTAINER CREATION

New containers can be added to a dashboard using the Add Container button.

The container input screen will appear and be completed as appropriate for the desired container.

 

And once the Add button is clicked, the container will now show on the container list.

From here, screenviews can be added to the container.

NOTE: You can not have two containers with the same name.  If a user tries to create a container where the name already exists, the user will receive an error message when saving.  Remember that the filtered list of containers the user sees may not include hidden containers.  Filter the list to show all containers to find if a duplicate container exists and then change the name as appropriate.

 

CONTAINER ARRANGING

There is a visual tool to use for resizing and rearranging containers. Select +Arrange Containers to access this tool.

On any container, the user can hover over the lower right hand corner to get access to the ability to resize and then resize as desired.  In this example, the container was made half of the default width.  The container contents are blank intentionally, as the user is manipulating the size and placement of the containers, not the content.

           

Save the changes with the OK button in the upper right corner.

New arrangements can be previewed with the View in new tab link found under the Gear on the top right of the Containers page.

 

SCREENVIEW EDITING

Using the drop down arrow at the far left to expand the container then makes the screenviews in that container visible.

Selecting the Row Actions and Options gear at the far right allows the user to edit, clone, and delete the existing screenview.

CAUTION: The Delete option is a PERMANENT action.  Screenviews can be easily replicated, but please think before deleting.

Typical editing tasks might be updating the start/end date or reordering the screenview.

 

Once a change is made, an Update button appears in the upper right of the screen to save the changes.

While the Builder minimizes the need to understand the code behind the dashboards and spotlights, it does not remove it completely.  The code is contained in the Input Selections and the user will encounter code strings that may need to be altered.  

One common task would be that a user might change the screenview tab label by carefully editing the code string.

In the example below of a performance level chart of STAR Reading scores the tab label is currently: “Gr 2 STAR Reading” and could easily be changed to “Gr 2 Reading” by just removing STAR from the title label.

 

 

BEFORE

AFTER

Other parts of this code string include the type of assessments being displayed and the student group and/or grade level being utilized.  

Different screenviews have different required Input Selections that include items like calling out the risk indicator being utilized, assessment being viewed or school year being displayed.

It is VERY important that a user CAREFULLY edits the Input Selections as even a single misplaced comma or space can render the screenview display as blank.  Note that many times the user is editing between quote marks or between parentheses.

 

SCREENVIEW CLONING 

Cloning a screenview allows the user to copy an existing screenview and then edit this.  Typical use examples would be to add an additional tab in a container to display a new assessment set, to add a new risk indicator,  to add a new chart of assessments or to add a new student data grid.  Cloning assumes that there is already a screenview of the same type in the container.

Below are hints for the changes required for any of the four scenarios above.

---

 

Screenview for Chart Display - requires changing the assessment list (using the test LABEL for each assessment) and the screenview tab title.

Screenview for Risk Indicator - requires changing the Risk Indicator used and the screenview tab title.

Screenview for Assessment Set - requires changing the assessment set used, the set owner, and the screenview tab title.

---

 

Screenview for Student Data Grid - requires changing the grid use, the grid owner and the screenview title tab.

 

SCREENVIEW CREATING

Screenviews can be added to containers by utilizing the Add Screen View item under the Actions and Options gear for the container.

Just like when editing a screenview, you’ll be presented with an input screen to complete.  First select the Screen View desired from the list available with the Select link.  Continue completing the remainder of the fields as appropriate.

Again, this does require the user to have familiarity with the input code.  Following are some sample Input Selections for several common Screen View

 

• Annual Performance Level Percentages on Multiple Assessments Chart View

Sample Input Selections: {"studentGroupid": "DeriveFrom(ApplicationUserId)","assessmentTestIdList": "DeriveFrom(STAR Early Literacy Gr 1 Fall - SS BMark,STAR Early Literacy Gr 1 Winter - SS BMark,STAR Early Literacy Gr 1 Spring - SS BMark)","assessmentschoolyearidlist": "DeriveFrom(StartYearOffset 0,EndYearOffset 0)","screenViewTitleOverride":"Grade 1"}

 

• Assessment Set View

Sample Input Selections: {"StudentGroupId":"DeriveFrom(ApplicationUserId)","AssessmentTestGroupId":"DeriveFrom(STAR Reading Gr K-5,jennifer.wright)","screenViewTitleOverride":"STAR Reading Scores"}

 

• Data Grid Viewer

Sample Input Selections: {"studentgroupid": "DeriveFrom(ApplicationUserId)","dataGridInstanceid": "DeriveFrom(Student Total Attendance,jennifer.wright)","screenViewTitle":"Total Attendance"}

 

• Risk Indicator Viewer

 

Sample Input Selections: {"studentGroupId":"DeriveFrom(ApplicationUserId)","riskIndicatorInstanceId":"DeriveFrom(Risk Index Missing Assignments,jennifer.wright)","screenViewTitleOverride":"Missing Work Risk Detail"}