Niagara Analytics Explorer

Niagara Analytics Explorer helps you quickly build dashboards to visualize historical and real-time Niagara Analytics data.

Dashboards can be public or non-public. You determine whether a dashboard is public when you save a dashboard or edit dashboard settings. On the landing page, public dashboards appear in Public Dashboards, and non-public dashboards appear in My Dashboard. If you created a public dashboard, it has a blue icon. If someone else created it, it has a gray icon. A non-public dashboard can be seen only by the person who created it.

Anyone who has read-only permission or higher can:

• Create a new dashboard.
• View and edit any public dashboard.

Only a user with higher than read-only permission can:

• Use the Save or Save As command to save dashboards that this user created.
• Use the Save As command to save a new version of a public dashboard.
• Delete dashboards that this user created.

Only the creator of a public dashboard can:

• Use the Save command to replace this dashboard with the current version.
• Delete this dashboard.

You can install Niagara Analytics Explorer on a local workstation or remote workstation. After installing, you must add the service to the station.

Before installing:

• Make sure that you have the dglux-ax-analytics.dist file provided by Tridium.
• Stop all running stations, and close all instances of the engineering tool (Workbench).

Follow these steps to install Niagara Analytics Explorer module on a local workstation or Niagara supervisor.

1. Rename the .dist file, so that the extension is .zip instead of .dist.

   
   
   

2. Unzip the file.

   
   

3. Move the contents of the directory into your Niagara installation folder according to the following table.

   Item	Move to…
   META-INF directory	Niagara installation directory, Niagara-3.n.nnn
   dglux5 directory	Niagara installation directory, Niagara-3.n.nnn
   Contents of the modules directory	Niagara modules directory, Niagara-3.n.nnn/modules

   
   

Next, you must add the service to the station and configure permissions.

Follow these steps to install Niagara Analytics Explorer on a remote computer or on a JACE device.

1. Open the remote platform.
2. Open the Distribution File Installer in the remote platform. When prompted, navigate to the dglux-ax-analytics.dist file, and click Install.

Next, you must add the service to the station and configure permissions.

After installing, add the Niagara Analytics Explorer service to the station:

1. Start the engineering tool (Workbench), and start the station.

2. If the Palette is not visible, add it by selecting Window > Side Bars > Palette.

   

3. In the Palette, browse to the dglogikNAnalytics module, and click OK.

   

   The dglogikNAnalyticsService module is added to the Palette.

4. Drag the dglogikNAnalyticsService module from the Palette, and drop it on the Services node in the station database in the panel above.

   

When you add the service, a new user is automatically created. By default, the permissions for this user are the same as for Category 1, or the User category. The automatically created user is disabled by default. To enable it, edit the user and set Enabled to true.

To change permissions for this automatically created user or other users:

1. Double-click Config/CategoryService.

2. In the Category Browser view, expand Config/Services, and for DGLux5AnalyticsService, ensure that the correct user category is selected. Either use an existing category, or create a new one. Ensure that the selected user category also has access to the nAnalytics, Files, and History trees.

   

3. If you made changes, save them by double-clicking some other module and then clicking Yes when prompted.

   

4. Ensure that the user category that you selected in step 2 is associated with the automatically created user, and any other user that needs access to Niagara Analytics Explorer.

   

   If you make changes to a user, click Save.

If you give a user read-only permission to the user category, the user can view and create dashboards in Niagara Analytics Explorer but can't save them.

The automatically created user is already associated with a Nav file, so you don't need to assign one to this user.

If you are using a different user, you can associate it with the Nav file module://dglogikNanalytics/rsc/na.nav, which is automatically installed when you add the service. To do this, click the folder icon next to Nav File, and then browse to the path of this Nav file.

If you want to use your own Nav file, make sure that the Nav file uses ord=dglux5na:. To do this, edit the Nav file, and enter dglux5na: in the Home Ord field.

If you make changes to a user, click Save.

1. In a web browser, navigate to <yourServer>/dglux5/na/index.html.

   

   If you use the automatically created user, you do not need to enter the full path. You can simply enter <yourServer>.

2. If you use the automatically created user, create a new password when prompted.

   

To create a new dashboard:

1. From the landing page, choose Create a New Dashboard.

   

   Niagara Analytics Explorer opens.

   

2. Click the Layout icon in the top right corner. Then, select a configuration for your dashboard, and click Apply.

   

3. Drag a widget type from the bottom of the screen to one of the specified areas.

   

4. Select a node in the Data Model and a definition in the Data Definitions. Drag the definition to the widget. You can add multiple series to the same widget.

   

   A series is added for the specified node and definition.

5. If you want to remove a series, right-click it in the widget's legend and select Remove Series.

   

6. If you want to create a relative series, press and hold the Shift key while you drag a data definition to the widget.

   

   A relative series is added. This series changes based on which data model node is selected. You can add multiple series to the same widget.

7. To edit a widget's properties, click the Edit button on the widget, and use the Properties pop-up.

   

   See the descriptions of the properties, below.

To change the global date range for historical widgets in this dashboard, use the date range picker at the top of the page. Date range changes are saved with the dashboard.

A dashboard with an absolute date range will display the same data no matter when it is opened. To select an absolute date range, use one of the following:

• Select the Day or Week button and use the calendar.

• Select the Month or Year button and use the drop-down menus.

  
  Setting an absolute date range

A dashboard with a relative date range will display data that depends on the date when it is opened. To select a relative date range, use one of the following:

• Select the Relative button and use the drop-down menus and number field.

• Select the Day, Week, Month, or Year button and use the relative buttons: Today, Yesterday, This Week, Last Week, This Year, or Last Year.

  
  Setting a relative date range

All historical widgets on the page use this global date range by default. However, you can override the date range using a widget's properties.

To save a dashboard that you are editing:

1. Click Save As or Save.

   If this is your first time saving the dashboard, or if it is a public dashboard created by a different user, Save As is the only option.

   

2. Name the dashboard.

   

   If you want, add a description, and specify whether this is a public dashboard. A public dashboard can be viewed by anyone who can log in to this Niagara station, but only the creator can delete it or overwrite it. A non-public dashboard can be seen only by the person who created it.

To view a dashboard:

• From the landing page, click the dashboard.

  If you created a dashboard, it has a blue icon. If someone else created it, it has a gray icon.

  

You can delete public dashboards only if you created them.

To delete a dashboard:

• From the landing page, right-click the dashboard, and select Delete Dashboard.

  

There are two ways to edit a dashboard that has already been created:

• From the landing page, right-click the dashboard, and select Edit Dashboard.

  This option is available only for dashboards that you created.

  

• If you are currently viewing a dashboard, click the Edit button in the top left corner.

  

To edit the name or description of a dashboard, or whether the dashboard is public:

• From the landing page, right-click the dashboard, and select Edit Settings.

  

To return to the landing page from a dashboard, click Back or Home.