Spotlight on Spira 6.16 - Custom Reporting Dashboard Enhancements

April 11th, 2022 by inflectra

spotlight roadmap reporting custom reports

One of the great features of Spira, is the ability to create custom graphs and charts and have them appear in the various project/product reporting dashboards. We have been working to improve this feature, and in the upcoming version 6.16 release we have improved the user experience associated with adding custom graphs to your dashboard.

How It Currently Works (In v6.15 and Earlier)

In the current version of Spira, lets say you have two custom graphs defined:

List of custom graphs

When you want to add them to your reporting dashboard, they all appear as a single widget called Custom Reports:

Adding graphs to dashboard in v6.15

Then if you add the graph twice, to see both custom graphs at the same time, they have generic names:

Reporting dashboard in v6.15

You can change the widgets in the dropdown menus, but the widgets will always have the generic Custom Graphs [x] name.

How It Will Work in 6.16 and Later

With the new, updated version of the custom reporting system being introduced in Spira 6.16, you define the two custom graphs in the administration module in exactly the same way:

List of custom graphs

However, when you go to add the graphs to the reporting dashboard, there is now a separate folder of custom graphs available, with each custom graph listed explicitly by name:

Adding custom graphs in v6.16

When you add the graphs, they will be added as separate widgets, each with their own name and description (in the tooltip).

Reporting dashboard in v6.16

This means that each graph will now more clearly communicate what it is meant for, and will make users treat custom graphs and standard graphs the same way.

How Will It Affect Existing Dashboards?

When you upgrade from v6.15 (or earlier) to v6.16, any existing graphs added to your dashboard will still have the old Custom Graph [x] title, but this time without the dropdown list to change the graph. You can use them as-is, or simply deactivate them and re-add the same graph to get the new title.

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