Pyramid Analytics Dashboard Tutorial

Institutional Effectiveness
Pyramid Analytics (BI Office) Help

Topic: Pyramid Analytics (BI Office) Dashboard Tutorial
Dashboards are a way to display performance indicators, key performance indicators (KPIs), and other
relevant information to a user. Dashboard can be interactive with drill capabilities to review additional
aspects of the data. A dashboard can be organized by the types of individuals using the dashboard, by
department, or by types of information.
 Access  Dashboard Navigation
 Device/Browser Compatibility o Global Slicers
 Consumer Interface o Drill
o Advanced UI  Drill Down
 Account  Drill Up
 Content Management  Drill to Level
o Basic UI o Expand Down/Collapse
 Action Ribbon  Expand Down
 Content Menu  Collapse
 Open Dashboard o Sorting and Filtering
o Advanced UI  Quick Sort
o Basic UI  Quick Filter
o Other Context Sensitive Functions
 Navigate between Dashboards
 Export and Print
o Print
o Export
 Exit Pyramid Analytics (BI Office)
For More Information
Please contact the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at mailto:datareq@mnstate.edu if you have
questions about this material.
OIE | Pyramid Dashboard Tutorial – Consumer Interface Page 1
August 7, 2015

Access
<Return to topics>

Website Address (URL):
https://pyramid.mnstate.edu/
User Name: Star ID
Password: Star ID Password

Device/Browser Compatibility
<Return to topics>

LI (10‐24‐2017)
Device Browser SSRS Pyramid4
PC Chrome No Yes5
PC Firefox Yes No
PC Internet Explorer Yes1 Yes2
Mac Chrome No No
Mac Firefox Yes No
Mac Internet Explorer No No
Mac Safari No Yes
iPAD3 Chrome No No
iPAD3 Firefox No No
iPAD3 Internet Explorer No No
iPAD3 Safari No Yes
1. Compatibility view must be active on IE 10
2. Compatibility view must be inactive on IE 10
3. BI Office (Pyramid) program must be loaded on iPAD for functionality.
4. Silverlight program is required for Pyramid Analytics operation.
5. Google Chrome not supported with version 45 onwards.

 – iPAD
o Please contact Penny Railing at 477‐2936 or penny.railing@mnstate.edu if you would like
Pyramid Analytics (BI Office) installed on your iPAD.

August 7, 2015 (Updated October 24, 2017)

Consumer Interface
<Return to topics>

Advanced UI

Account <Return to topics>
The Account screen or Welcome screen is referred to as the Backstage.

The Backstage is considered the common interface screen. This form contains the menu for accessing online
help, opening a report and/or dashboard. The form also displays the user information and version details as well
other options for users.

Help – This is the online Pyramid documentation. Another window will open for the online
documentation.

Basic UI – This is to switch from the Advance User Interface to Basic User Interface. Click on the
icon and it switch to the "Basic User Interface" which is a slimmed‐down version of what is
available in the main client. It provides a simple point‐and‐click interface without exposing the

numerous content management interfaces. You cannot modify when using Basic UI.

The Basic UI appears as shown below:


Content Management <Return to topics>

A. Recent – The Recent Content will list the dashboards that you have recently accessed. Once you place
your cursor on a dashboard, the Items area will be populated. You can open up a particular dashboard
directly from this form.

B. Open – To open a dashboard that already exists.
Public Content area provides a
hierarchical tree listing that is
READ access only. The listing of
contents is segmented into
Personal, group, public. Based
upon security, you may not have
access to all folders.
O Personal Content is contents
that you have created and saved.
This is your own personal
workspace. Others do not have
access to your Personal Contents.
O Group Content is available to
analyst and professional users and

represents a workspace
appropriate for analysts only.

O Public Content is available to all
users. However only professional
users can publish content to this
domain.


C. New – To create a new item using one of the following Pyramid Applications:

These features are not available in the
consumer interface (license).
bioXL – Application used for creating and
modifying reports.

bioPoint – Application used for creating
dashboards.
bioWriter – Application used for creating
publication documents and alerts.

D. Feeds – Feeds allow you to review any alert and/or publication that have been processed.

E. Search – Provides a search interface for finding content based on keywords or other criteria. You can
open a book from the results.

o Exit – Close the application.


Basic UI
Action Ribbon <Return to topics>
Menu Button ‐ Tap to access the available content and actions.
Back button (<) ‐ click on to return to the previous screen.
This button refreshes only the content of the application.

This button will launch the user back into the full client interface.

This is the online Pyramid documentation. Another window will open
for the online documentation.

 Search Button – Quick search of content.

Content Menu <Return to topics>

A. Recent Items ‐ View and access recently used files.
B. Personal Content – View the Personal folders and files of contents that you have created and
saved. This is your own personal workspace. Others do not have access to your Personal Contents.
C. Public ‐ View and access files from the Public folder. Click on a folder to view the files/slides
within. The number displayed in the folder indicates the number of dashboards found in a
folder. Follow the instructions below to access the public dashboards.
D. Alerts ‐ View, manage and dismiss notifications from Publisher.
E. Publications ‐ View and access publication files.


Open Dashboard
<Return to topics>

Accessing Dashboards
Within Pyramid, a dashboard is considered a book made up of one or more slides. Similar to our books
of reports, these are books of slides. Dashboards will be identified by a red pyramid icon next to the
name as outlined below.

Advanced UI <Return to topics>
Within Advance UI you can click on the dashboard you would like to view. A single click will display the slides of
the dashboard and present the user with the options. Click on the “View Dashboard” button which will take you
to the first slide or if you want to go directly to another slide click on the specific slide (i.e. Course Trends).
View Dashboard This runs the dashboard and displays how the
end users would see it.
Open Link This will return the URL link for the dashboard.


Basic UI <Return to topics>
Within Basic UI single click on Public and then the folder (i.e. Executive Dashboards) and choose the dashboard
you would like to view. A single click will display the slides of the dashboard and present the user with the
options.

Once the Dashboard is open you may see sections which are groupings of common slides. In the
example below, there are two sections: Class Utilization and Class Meeting.


Dashboard Navigation
<Return to topics>

 Global Slicers (drop‐downs) – global slicers allow you to choose (filter) the values on one slide and
they will automatically update all slides. <Return to topics>

 Drill – the drill feature allows you the ability to see specific details of the data for further analysis.

 Drill Down – Drills down the current element to its child elements. If no child elements
(hierarchy), this feature is disabled. <Return to topics>

 Left click on the element within the report or right click on the element and the Context
Menu will appear.

 Click on the “Drill Down” option from the Context Menu.
 Results (partial) of Drill Down on Class Numbers ACCT (ACCT)


 Drill Up – Drills up to the parent level. <Return to topics>

 Right click on the element within the report and click on the “Drill Up” option from
the Context Menu.

 Results of Drill Up

 Drill to Level – Drills down to the descendants (children) of a selected member at the level
chosen from the sub menu. <Return to topics>
 Right click on the element and click on the “Drill to Level” option from the Context
Menu.

 Results of Drill to Level on Class Number


 Expand Down and Collapse – These features will show the current element and it child elements or
hides the current element’s exposed children. (If there are no child elements, these features are
automatically disabled). <Return to topics>

o To Expand Down, hit (Ctrl + Click) or right click for the Context Menu and click on the
Expand Down option. <Return to topics>

 Results of Expand Down on ANIM (ANIM)

o To Collapse, right click on the element and click on the Collapse option. <Return to topics>

 Results of Collapse on ANIM (ANIM)


D. Sorting and Filtering ‐ You can sort and/or filter the data easily by using the Quick Sort and Quick
Filter options. There are addition sorting and filtering options for the rows and columns within the
Query Ribbon. <Return to topics>

o Quick Sort ‐ Provides a context sensitive sorting of the rows or columns based on the values
or on the labels of the element as the sort criteria. <Return to topics>

 Right click on the column or row you are sorting. The Context Menu will appear.
Click on the Quick Sort option and click on the option to sort by the Values or by the
Labels. Click on either Sort Ascending or Sort Descending.

 Results of Sort Values by Sort Descending on Column Fall Semester 2015

 Results of Sort Labels by Sort Descending on Columns


o Quick Filter ‐ Provides a context sensitive filtering of the rows or columns based on the
selected elements as the filter criteria. Filters are either the TopCount / BottomCount or
TopPercent / BottomPercent. <Return to topics>

 Right click on the column or row you are filtering. The Context Menu will appear.
Click on the Quick Filter option and click on the option to sort by the Values or by the
Labels.


Other Context Sensitive Functions – if you right click on the slide (outside of the grid) there are other
context sensitive functions available. These features will not be covered in this tutorial.
<Return to topics>


Navigate between Dashboards
<Return to topics>
To return to choose another dashboard, click on the Pyramid icon in the top right corner of the
page. It will display a fan of options, click on the ‘Close dashboard’ section of the blue fan with the red
pyramid icon.

This will return you to one of the following screens.
 Advanced UI

 Basic UI

Export and Print (Etc.)
<Return to topics>

To export or print, click on the Pyramid icon in the top right corner of the page. It will display a
fan of options, click on the Printer icon .

Reset all panels – This will reset the dashboard to slides/panels to their original
settings.

Rerun all queries - This will rerun all queries for the reports used on the current
slide.

Help – This will access Pyramid online help.

Dashboard Timer - this allows you to set a counter or countdown to refresh and
cycle through your presentation.

Print\Export – Exports the slide to a PDF, XPS , Microsoft Office or email

Close dashboard – This will close the dashboard and return to the backstage
area.

A. Print – Click on Print Content
<Return to topics>


Within the Print menu, you can select PDF or XPS. The Output Options allow you to select specific objects within
the report, whether to include the report titles and/or filter lists from the report. The Settings determine which
report or reports that are selected to appear within the PDF/XPS document as well as the formatting of the
paper. Clicking on the Headers and Footers allows you to determine if the PDF/XPS should have a header or
footer and what to place within each if desired.

1. Once you have selected the print options and you are ready to export to a PDF or XPS document,
click on the Print button. Once completed, you will receive the following window:

2. To open the PDF (in this example), click the middle section where is states “Click here to get file” and
the PDF will appear. You can now print the document to your printer or save to a folder for access
later.

Note: The Report Analysis button will display a summary of the runtime it took to create the PDF
document and the queries included.

3. Click ‘Close’ once done.


B. Export – Click on Export Content
<Return to topics>

1. Within the Export menu, you can select MS Excel, MS Word or MS PowerPoint. The Settings
determine which report or reports that are selected to appear.

2. Select the file type you wish to export your report to. The options are:


3. Select your Settings, which would be to select the current report you are on, the entire book or
specific reports within the book. You will have other formatting options based on the application
selected.

4. Once you have your settings in place, click on the Export button and you will receive the following
screen:

5. Click on “Click here to get file” to open up the document within the application selected. You can
then save the document to a specific folder location if so desired.

Note: The Report Analysis button will display a summary of the runtime it took to create the PDF
document and the queries included.

6. When completed, click the Close button.


Exit Pyramid Analytics (BI Office)
<Return to topics>

Advanced UI

Basic UI

 Close the browser

 If you choose to close the browser via the Basic UI you will receive this prompt. Click on Leave
Page.

Document Change Tracking
Date Change Page
7/29/2015 Original Document All
8/7/2015 Added Opera to the Device/Brower compatibility grid 2
12/4/2015 Updated to reflect that we now have four dashboards in the Executive 4,8,9,16

Dashboards folder
12/11/2015 9/18/15 Google announced that the latest version of Chrome browser 2
no longer supports certain third‐party browser plug‐s like Java and
Silverlight, as of 9/1/2015. As a result, Google Chrome – version 45
onwards – is no longer capable of running Pyramid Analytics’ main BI
Office client.
10/24/2017 March 2017 – Firefox (version 52) no longer supports the Silverlight 2
browser plugin which is required for Pyramid Analytics.

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