InventoryManager: ArcGIS Dashboards

Overview

InventoryManager leverages ArcGIS Dashboards for real-time analytics via charts and graphs. ArcGIS Dashboards are easy to create using an interactive configuration environment. They can be created by GIS analysts or other staff with access to the Creator role in ArcGIS Online. Dashboards can include standard chart elements including pie charts, bar (serial) charts, single values (indicators and gauges), lists, feature details, maps and more. Elements can be organized into panels and tabbed interfaces with headers, filters, legends and other components. All dashboard elements can be configured in terms of content, color, font, labels, etc.

Because Dashboards are ‘apps’ in ArcGIS Online they are created within your organization and must be published by a user within your ArcGIS Online organization. Once created, Dashboards can be embedded into InventoryManager where they appear as a seamless, integrated component of InventoryManager, even thought they are actually created and hosted directly in ArcGIS Online.

The standard process for incorporating ArcGIS Dashboards into InventoryManager is as follows

  1. A GIS Analyst with Creator or higher role uses standard ArcGIS Online workflows to create and configure a new dashboard that displays some content from the inventory feature service (e.g. pie chart of Stands status to help managers understand the progress of the cruising effort for a given field season)

  2. The Dashboard creator shares the Dashboard using standard ArcGIS Online sharing process with appropriate internal staff and WSG team members

  3. The Dashboard creator notifies WSG of the Dashboard and provides the URL to the Dashboard

  4. WSG adds a new tab to InventoryManager and embeds the Dashboard into that page

  5. Additional Dashboards are created, shared and embedded as needed

Creating Dashboards

Esri provides a wide range of training materials, including online documentation and YouTube videos that demonstrate how to create and configure dashboards. A good starting point is the following page https://doc.arcgis.com/en/dashboards/10.8/get-started/create-a-dashboard.htm or the easy-to-follow tutorial at https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/ops-dashboard/mapping/create-first-arcgis-dashboards/

To create a new dashboard follow these steps:

  • Log in to ArcGIS Online

  • Go to Content > Create App > Dashboards

  • Provide a title, summary, tags and a destination folder

  • Click the + button to add your first element and select Pie Chart

  • Click ‘Browse All Layers’ then select your inventory feature service

  • When presented with a list of sub-layers, select the Stands layer

  • On the Data tab, for the Category field, select the ‘Status’ field

 

  • On the Slices tab, assign a color that matches the symbology of the Status field when the Stands are displayed on a map

  • On the General tab, add a Title like ‘Stands Status’

  • Click Done to see the resulting Dashboard, then click Save to save your work. The result is a very basic Dashboard that shows the status as determined by the proportion of Stands in each Status category

  • To add a Header to the Dashboard, click the + button (upper left), then click the + button at the top of the Dashboard to select the location, then select ‘Header’ as the element type. Add some text the describes the Dashboard and click Done, then click Save again to save your work

  • With the basic Dashboard completed, consider adding other elements such as additional pie charts, bar charts, headers, etc. Here are some examples:

    • Serial chart that displays the count of plots by Cruiser ID that are in ‘Cruised’ Status

    • Pie chart that displays the proportion of cruised plots that have been checked

    • Serial chart that displays the average check cruise score by Cruiser ID

    • Combining these 4 charts produces the following Dashboard. Note that the top element is a header while the column labels ('Cruise and Check Cruise Status' and ‘Cruiser Productivity and Accuracy’) were added as Rich Text elements. Using the layout mode in the editor provides handles to move, resize and organize elements into columns and rows. Elements can also be stacked into tabbed interfaces.

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Embedding a Dashboard in InventoryManager (Site Managers Only)

This section of page discusses the steps for embedding an ArcGIS Dashboard in InventoryManager. It is intended for Site Managers only and assumes that the site manager has already undergone admin training with InventoryManager and has access to creating new content including application ‘pages’ and ‘menus’. It also assumes that a GIS Analyst has already created an ArcGIS Dashboard and shared it with appropriate users, and provide the URL to the Dashboard.

  1. Log into InventoryManager as a user with Site Manager or Administrator role

  2. Create a Basic Page that will display the Dashboard

    • Admin menu > Content > Add Content >Basic page

  3. In the basic page settings, below the Body field change the Text Format field to Full HTML

  4. In the Body field select the Source button.

  5. Add an HTML IFRAME element that includes the Dashboard URL as the source, as well as an appropriate value for the height (keep the width at 100%)

    • Example code that can be pasted into the body the updated with the correct Dashboard URL

      <p><iframe src="https://arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/abcdefghijklmnpoqrstuvwxyz%22" style="min-height:800px;" width="100%"></iframe></p>
  6. In Menu Settings at the bottom of the Basic Page, select the checkbox for Provide a menu link.

  7. In URL path settings set a URL alias (e.g., dashboard-test).

  8. Click the save button at the bottom to save and close the Basic Page you have created

  1. Create a new Menu item using the basic page node and the menu link by going to Structure > Menus > Main Menu

  2.