Sharing Dashboards with anyone - Open Access

This article covers:

What is Open Access?

The Open Access feature allows you to share your dashboards with anyone, even if they are not a licensed SquaredUp DS user. It creates an Open Access version of the original dashboard that can be accessed via its own URL without the need to login. Open Access dashboards are perfect for embedding them in user portals like Sharepoint, pushing them to wall monitors or using them as high-level reports for managers.

Since there's no authentication needed, viewing Open Access dashboards does not consume Named User licenses which means you can share your dashboards with unlimited users.

Creating an Open Access version of your dashboard doesn't change anything about the original dashboard. The original version can still be accessed by logged in users.

How do Open Access dashboards work?

An Open Access dashboard is a less interactive version of the original dashboard.

Less interactive means viewers of the dashboard can hover to see graph figures and labels. If your dashboard contains links to external tools, for example linked rows in a grid, vierwers can click those links.

You might like to watch this 2 minute introduction to Open Access:

What do I need to use Open Access?

Memory recommendations

Check the Server Spec and Sizing Guidelines (see Server Spec and Sizing) for information about memory recommendations for running Open Access.

Do I have to enable Open Access before I can use it?

Open Access is enabled by default during the installation of SquaredUp DS.

How to share a dashboard via Open Access

Who can share dashboards via Open Access?

That depends on where the original dashboard that you want to make available via Open Access is located:

  • Globally viewable dashboards can only be shared by administrators
  • A dashboard that is in a Team Folder (see Team Folders) can be shared by administrators and users with author or owner permissions on the Team Folder.
    Note: Remember that Open Access means that anyone who knows the URL can view the dashboard. The Team Folder permissions and restrictions do not apply to the Open Access version of the dashboard.

How to share a dashboard via Open Access

  1. Go to the dashboard or pinned perspective you want to create an Open Access URL for.
    Note: If you want to create an Open Access URL for a pinned perspective, you need to be on the pinned perspective, not a general perspective that is not pinned. You can make sure you are on the pinned perspective by clicking on the name of the pinned perspective on the navigation bar. If you are on a perspective that is not pinned, you'll see a message that this perspective needs to be pinned first.
  2. Make sure the dashboard or pinned perspective is already published. If it is still a draft, publish it first.
  3. Click on the share this dashboard button. If you can't see the button, check if you are still in edit mode since this button is only visible when you are not in edit mode.
  4. You'll see the following sharing options:

Sharing options

Normal

The sharing option Normal creates a link to the normal dashboard or perspective, meaning as a fully interactive version. Accessing the dashboard or perspective requires authentication with a SquaredUp DS user license. The link is based on the dashboard's or perspective's ID and does not change when the dashboard or perspective is renamed.

Normal: Just the URL based on the ID.

Full-screen:The URL based on the ID, but with ?display=fullscreen appended. This will hide the navigation bar.

Embed: The URL based on the ID, but with ?display=embed appended which will hide the navigation bar and page title.

If the URL already uses a ? then you will need to append & first, for example, &?display=embed

Open Access

The Open Access feature allows you to share your dashboards with anyone, even if they are not a licensed SquaredUp DS user. It creates an Open Access version of the original dashboard that can be accessed via its own URL without the need to login. Open Access dashboards are perfect for embedding them in user portals like Sharepoint, pushing them to wall monitors or using them as high-level reports for managers.

Since there's no authentication needed, viewing Open Access dashboards does not consume Named User licenses which means you can share your dashboards with unlimited users.

Creating an Open Access version of your dashboard doesn't change anything about the original dashboard. The original version can still be accessed by logged in users.

How do Open Access dashboards work?

An Open Access dashboard is a less interactive version of the original dashboard.

Less interactive means viewers of the dashboard can hover to see graph figures and labels. If your dashboard contains links to external tools, for example linked rows in a grid, vierwers can click those links.

  1. In the Open Access section toggle the enable open access button to on.
  2. You will see the message 'Preparing your Open Access dashboard, please wait' and a thumbnail of the dashboard itself:
  3. Click preview to view the dashboard in Open Access mode.
    The dashboard is given an Open Access URL and enabled for Open Access. You can now give the URL to anyone you want to be able to access the dashboard.

After a dashboard is updated the changes are shown on the Open Access dashboard when it next refreshes, usually in 60 seconds.

How to stop sharing a dashboard via Open Access

  1. Browse to the right-hand menu ☰ > system > Open Access
  2. Dashboards which are enabled for Open Access are listed and you can click remove to stop a dashboard being available in Open Access mode.

Tip: If you stop a dashboard being available in Open Access mode and later re-enable it then the dashboard will be given the same Open Access URL that it had previously.

Settings for Open Access dashboards

The Open Access Navigation Bar

The Open Access navigation bar is a different navigation bar to the one you see within SquaredUp DS, it is a navigation bar that is visible when users open an Open Access dashboard.

It is your choice if you want to make the navigation bar visible or not, but if you're using it, it will be visible on all Open Access dashboards.

To make the navigation bar visible, you just have to add at least one dashboard to the Open Access navigation bar from the right-hand menu ☰ > system > Open Access. Once you have done this, the Open Access navigation bar will be visible at the top of the screen on all Open Access dashboards.

Remember that the navigation bar is a global setting that affects all Open Access dashboards, including the ones that are not added to the navigation bar. This means anyone who has access to any Open Access dashboard will be able to see and access the Open Access dashboards that have been added to the navigation bar.

What is the default page on the Open Access navigation bar?

When you are using the Open Access navigation bar, you get a "default" Open Access page, which is the first dashboard on the Open Access navigation bar (the order of the dashboards on the navigation bar can be changed from the right-hand menu ☰ > system > Open Access.).

You can give users the link to the default Open Access page instead of giving them links to individual dashboards, and they can navigate to all other dashboards on the navigation bar from there. The link has the format

http://SquaredUpServer/SquaredUpv[Version Number]/openaccess/

where SquaredUpServer is the server where SquaredUp DS is installed. For example http://SquaredUpServer/SquaredUp/openaccess/

You can also access the default Open Access page by clicking on the SquaredUp logo

on the left side of the Open Access navigation bar.

Help for error messages when using the Open Access navigation bar

Timeframe Settings

The timeframe of a tile defines the period of time for which data is returned, for example "show me data for the last 24 hours".

There are two aspects that influence the timeframe of a tile:

  • The timeframe configuration in the tile.
  • The current page timeframe of the dashboard you are looking at. This only affects tiles that use the page timeframe in their configuration.

How to change the timeframe for Open Access dashboards

Since users can't change the temporary page timeframe on Open Access dashboards you have to change the default page timeframe to change the timeframe for tiles that use the page timeframe.

The default page timeframe affects two areas:

  • Within SquaredUp DS, it decides which timeframe a dashboard uses when a user goes to the dashboard. Tiles set to use the page timeframe (not a fixed, specific timeframe) will use the default page timeframe every time the dashboard or perspective is opened. Users can change the page timeframe temporarily while they are on the dashboard, but their setting will only last until they leave the page. Their setting will only affect their view of the dashboard, not other users' views.
  • On Open Access dashboards, tiles that use the page timeframe according to their settings always use the default page timeframe.

Settings for the default page timeframe

You can change the default page timeframe for individual dashboards, or globally:

  • Changing the default page timeframe of a dashboard will affect this individual dashboard and it's Open Access representation.
  • The global default page timeframe is "last 12 hours". Changing this default setting will affect all dashboards (including Open Access dashboards) that don't have an individual default page timeframe setting.

Dark and Light Theme Setting

Open Access dashboards for new installations default to dark theme.

By default Open Access dashboards use the same theme, for example dark theme, as normal dashboards, and all users who navigate to any of the Open Access URLs will be affected by this setting. If required, Open Access dashboards can be given a different theme by changing the global setting for all Open Access dashboards, or changing it on a per dashboard level:

Refresh Interval Setting

By default Open Access dashboards use the same refresh rate as normal dashboards, refreshing every 60 seconds, and the last updated time can be seen at the bottom right of the Open Access dashboard. If required, Open Access dashboards can be given a different the refresh rate by changing the global setting for all Open Access dashboards or on a per dashboard level:

Interaction Setting

By default Open Access dashboards allow drilldown or prompt the user to login. If required, drilldown can be switched off on a per dashboard level:

FAQs

Troubleshooting Open Access

Before you read through the troubleshooting articles, here are some tips for fixing common Open Access issues:

  1. Many issues can be resolved by disabling and re-enabling Open Access for a dashboard (see How to stop sharing a dashboard via Open Access and How to share a dashboard via Open Access).
  2. Re-generate the Open Access dashboard experiencing problems via the generate option.

For more information see Troubleshooting Open Access (v5)

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