This section provides an overview of saved customizations and information about administering saved customizations. It contains the following topics:
Saved customizations allow users to save and view dashboard pages in their current state with their most frequently used or favorite choices for items such as filters, prompts, column sorts, drills in analyses, and section expansion and collapse.
By saving customizations, users need not make these choices manually each time that they access the dashboard page.
Users and groups with the appropriate permissions and dashboard access rights can perform the following activities:
Save various combinations of choices as saved customizations, for their personal use or use by others.
Specify a saved customization as the default customization for a dashboard page, for their personal use or use by others.
Switch between their saved customizations.
You can restrict this behavior in the following ways:
Users can view only the saved customizations that are assigned to them.
Users can save customizations for personal use only.
Users can save customizations for personal use and for use by others.
This section describes the privileges and permissions that are required to administer saved customizations.
This section also describes the relevant portions of the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog that relate to storing and administering saved customizations.
In Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration, the following privileges in the Dashboards area, along with permission settings for key dashboard elements, control whether users or groups can save or assign customizations:
Save Customizations
Assign Default Customizations
You can set neither privilege, one privilege, or both privileges for a user or group, depending on the level of access desired. For example, a user who has neither privilege can view only the saved customization that is assigned as his or her default customization.
Permissions are required so users can administer Oracle BI Presentation Catalog permissions on shared and personal saved customizations.
You set permissions for dashboards and pages, such as Full Control or No Access, in the Permission dialog in Oracle BI EE.
You assign these permissions in the same way as for other objects in the catalog.
You set permissions for working with saved customizations on a particular dashboard page in the Dashboard Properties dialog, which is available in the Dashboard Builder.
After selecting a page in the list in the dialog, click one of the following buttons:
Specify Who Can Save Shared Customizations displays the Permission dialog in which you specify who can save shared customizations for that dashboard page.
Specify Who Can Assign Default Customizations displays the Permission dialog in which you specify who can assign default customizations for that dashboard page.
Catalog objects and permissions scenarios are described in the following sections.
In addition to the privileges that you set in Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration, the level of control that users and groups have over saved customizations depends on their access rights to key elements. For example, users and groups that can create and edit underlying dashboards, save dashboard view preferences as customizations, and assign customizations to other users as default customizations require Full Control permission to the key elements in shared storage, while users and groups that can view only their assigned default saved customizations need only View access to the key elements in shared storage.
Key elements in the catalog include the following folders:
Shared Storage Folders.
Shared storage folders for dashboards are typically located within the Dashboards sub-folder of a parent shared folder. Dashboards are identified by their assigned names. You can save a dashboard anywhere in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog. If you save a dashboard within a subfolder called "Dashboards", then that dashboard's name is displayed in the list of dashboards that is displayed from the Dashboards link in the global header.
Permission settings control access to a specific dashboard for editing. Typically, if permissions are inherited down to the _selections and Dashboards sub-folders, then users who can edit dashboards can also save customizations and set defaults. Access to a specific dashboard folder controls whether a user or group can edit the dashboard.
The _selections folder contains a page identifier folder for each dashboard page. Shared saved customizations are located within this folder. Access to the page identifier folder controls whether a user or group can display, save, or edit customizations for that page.
The _defaults folder within a _selections folder contains assigned default customizations. Each group that has an assigned default is displayed here. Access to this folder controls whether a user or group can assign defaults.
Personal Storage Folders.
Within a user's personal folder, the _selections folder contains an individual user's saved customizations. Like the shared _selections folder, a personal _selections folder contains a page identifier folder for each dashboard page. The page identifier folder contains personal saved customizations and a _defaultlink file that specifies a user's preference for the personal defaulted customization.
A personal saved customization default overrides an assigned shared customization default.
Note:
If a dashboard page with saved customizations is deleted, then the saved customizations are also deleted from the catalog. If the underlying dashboard structure changes such that a saved customization is no longer valid when a user accesses it, then the default content is displayed on the dashboard.
The table below describes typical user roles and specific permission settings that can be granted to users for creating saved customizations. The folder names listed in the Permission and Privilege Settings column are described in the preceding section.
| User Role | Permission and Privilege Settings |
|---|---|
|
Power users such as IT users who must perform the following tasks:
|
In the Shared section of the catalog, requires Full Control permission to the following folders:
Typically, no additional privileges must be assigned. |
|
Technical users such as managers who must perform the following tasks:
Users cannot create or edit underlying dashboards, or assign view customizations to others as default customizations. |
In the Shared section of the catalog, requires View permission to the following folders:
In the Shared section of the catalog, requires Modify permission to the following folders:
Typically, no additional privileges must be assigned. |
|
Everyday users who must save customizations for personal use only. |
In Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration, requires the following privilege to be set:
In the dashboard page, requires that the following option is set:
In the catalog, no additional permission settings are typically required. |
|
Casual users who must view only their assigned default customization. |
In the Shared section of the catalog, the user needs View permission to the following folders:
In the catalog, no additional permission settings are typically required. |
Depending on the privileges set and the permissions granted, you can achieve various combinations of user and group rights for creating, assigning, and using saved customizations.
For example, suppose a group of power users cannot change dashboards in a production environment, but they are allowed to create saved customizations and assign them to other users as default customizations. The following permission settings for the group are required:
Open access to the dashboard, using the Catalog page.
Modify access to the _selections and _defaults subfolders within the dashboard folder in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, which you assign using the Dashboard Properties dialog in the Dashboard Builder. After selecting a page in the list in the dialog, click Specify Who Can Save Shared Customizations and Specify Who Can Assign Default Customizations.