With "Service Groups" we allow any authenticated Dashboard user to define custom groups as a type of "Custom Filter Set" to apply to Dashboard widgets. These groups can break out of the usual "Organization Unit" visibility approach, allow to share data sets that would be otherwise inaccessible to other Dashboard users.

Service Group shown to an anonymous user

"Service Group" expand the traditional filter method on Dashboard Widgets such as:

  • Service KPI
  • Service KPI Chart
  • Service KPI Tabular
  • Agent States Availability Chart

(tick) How to enable: Refer the Dashboard "Settings" menu entry which allows access to "Service Group Management" for each individual user.

Group Creation

  • Service Groups are used as opt-in filters for Service-type Widgets and define the group of data for which data is aggregated and displayed.
  • Each Service Group will later represent a row in the widget table titled: "Service Groups"
  • Users can define a custom title for each Service Group which can be used for later identification

User can add filter for each Service Group, by criteria such as: 

    • Organization - based on Service OU names
    • Service(s) - based on Service names

Services selected will adhere to the OU inheritance concept: 

    • Only Services that are assigned to the selected OU or any child OU can be selected.
    • If Services from other then the selected OU or any child OU are already selected but then moved to another OU, a "Non-Path Dependency Warning" (warning) will be shown. You may keep the services in your groups until deselected, after which the new OU restriction will apply. This guarantees that existing groups are not "stripped" of their existing service info when an OU assignment changes.

Group Ownership

  • A service group always belongs to it's creator (owner).  (warning) This owner can't be changed due to OU affiliation and involved data security being tied to a service group upon creation. When a Dashboard with custom Service groups changes ownership, the new Dashboard owner may 
  • If a service group is used to filter or aggregate the group filters are applied as follows:
    • If only OU's are selected for a service group, all services belonging to those groups are taken
    • A selected OU will act as filter for the available and selected services. If an OU is deselected, related service will be removed as well from the list of selected services (immediately)
Service groups take a special role in filtering Dashboards, as they allow their owners to (willingly) share information with other users.

(question) How are Groups different to OU-based filters?

Group filters are "owned" by their creators. They act as a "opt-in" to allow other visitors (anonymous or authenticated) to see widget contents on the board. The board owner needs to define and assign Filter Groups (during Board layout setup). This 2-step method prevents accidental disclosure/exposure of all service groups made by that owner owner by accident.

(lightbulb) Contrary to anonymous users not seeing any data in a widget - due to their "non or different OU affiliation"  - a "Service Group" filtering option allows any board owner to allow specified service data to be shown to a wider audience without disclosing everything in the OU at once (or having to assign OU permissions to every user).

These "expanded" visibility and sharing rules are explained in the following.

Type of AccessDescription
Anonymous
(not logged in)

If you access the dashboard with anonymous access  - either with "Service Groups" as filter or containing one or more Service Group KPI Tabular Widgets:

  • Apply Service Group filters and display the services contained in those Service Group(s)
  • Display Service Group KPI Tabular Widget with Data, but only if one or more Service Group is actively set as a filter.
Users
(logged in but not the board owner)

If you access a dashboard not as the owner (but authenticated) a set of rules is applied as follows:

  • The Service group KPI Tabular-Widget shows your own service groups if there is no other filter (ServiceGroup) specified.
  • The Service group KPI Tabular-Widget shows the configured Service Groups of the owner if those service groups are set as filter
  • Filters on other widgets using "not owned" ServiceGroups are applied as well in the same manner.
(New) Board Owner

If you become the new owner of a dashboard using previously "not-owned" ServiceGroups

  • The Service group KPI Tabular-Widget shows your own service groups if there is no other filter (ServiceGroup) specified.
  • The Service group KPI Tabular-Widget shows the configured Service Groups of the (previous) owner if those service groups are set as filter
  • Filters on other widgets using "not owned" ServiceGroups are applied as well in the same manner.
  • If a "not owned" service group definition is deleted, it can't be re-added (Non-Path-Dependency rule, same as it is used in OU)
  • An exclamation mark with a warning will be shown that the deletion of a "not-owned" group filter is permanent and cannot be restored.

Service Groups and their interaction with OU / Service based filters

The usage of filters for either "Organization Unit(s)" / "Service(s)" or "Service Group(s)" is mutually exclusive:

  • Selecting either option will disable the filtering for the other.

  • Filter mouse-overs on the widgets will reflect the current applied option