Using Parameters

Parameters are named variables that can transfer a value to an action or an object. By using parameters, you can create an easier way for dashboard users to interact with dashboard features. Parameters can also connect one dashboard to another and let dashboard users drill down into data that is in a different analysis.
Note: This function is only available with the Self-Service feature. If you want to purchase this feature, contact your Ricoh representative.

For example, a dashboard user can use a list to select a value. That value sets a parameter that in turn sets a filter, calculation, or URL action to the chosen value. Then the visuals in the dashboard change based on the choices of the user.

To make the parameters accessible to the dashboard viewer, you can add a parameter control. A control can appear as a list of options, a slider, or a text entry area. You can also set up cascading controls, so that a selection in one control filters the options that display in another control. If you do not create a control, you can still pass a value to your parameter in the dashboard URL.

Parameters must be connected to an element in your analysis, regardless of whether they have a related control. You can reference parameters in calculated fields, filters, dashboard and analysis URLs, custom actions, and titles and descriptions throughout an analysis.

For example, if you use a calculation with a parameter, you can transform the data that is shown in an analysis. If you add a control with a filter to an analysis you are publishing, the dashboard users can filter the data without creating their own filters. Using controls and custom actions, you can let dashboard users set values for the URL actions.

In this section:

  1. Creating Parameters
    You can create parameters in an analysis and use them as variables for calculated fields, filters, URLs, custom actions, titles, or descriptions. The parameters that you add in an analysis are available only in that analysis.
  2. Adding Controls for Parameters
    You can create controls using existing parameters to let dashboard users easily choose a value for a predefined filter or URL action. In analyses and dashboards, parameter controls appear at the top of the sheet.
  3. Connecting to Parameters
    You can connect the parameters that you created to analysis elements that use their values, such as filters, calculated fields, custom actions, or titles and descriptions throughout an analysis.
Parent topic: Creating an Analysis