Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE is a collaborative platform where community members can share ideas as well as access tools to build on these ideas. The dashboard is the landing page where your company’s members access this information and tools.
A dashboard is a collection of widgets, and widgets are links to platform apps, community content and web content. The dashboard a community member has access to can be one that is related to their roles, dashboards that were created specifically for them and dashboards that the community member created for themselves.
Regardless of which dashboard a member uses, they all have common elements.
Common elements of dashboards.
1. The Compass
The compass is a means of launching related apps.
- North – Social and collaborative (sharing)
- East – Information intelligence (metrics and data)
- South – Simulation (analysis)
- West – 3D Modeling (CAD)
2. Top Bar
Search: Lets you search across the 3DEXPERIENCE platform or within the current tab. Search results can be refined using 6WTags.
6WTags: Click the tag icon next to the search box to reveal the 6WTags. 6WTags lets you capture the semantics on any content.
Me: Lets you access some basics about your profile.
Notifications: Opens the 3DNotification Center on the right pane of your dashboard to display the notifications pushed by some Apps and services of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
Add: Lets you create and organize your dashboards.
Share: Lets you share tabs or dashboards with other users or user groups.
Content: Opens 3DDrive in a pane on the right of your dashboard to securely mashup, store, access and share files online from any device and anywhere.
Communities: Opens 3DSwym in a pane on the right of your dashboard to access the power of communities within a dashboard.
Help lets you access the following:
- Get Started: Displays the coachmark, a conceptual design window that provides a basic overview of the 3DEXPERIENCE.
- User’s Communities: Opens the community where you can find answers from members.
- On the cloud only: Get Support: Opens the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud support page.
- 3DEXPERIENCE User Assistance: Online help and User Guide.
(Note: Description of the top bar commands was derived from 3DExperience User Assistance)
3. Tabs
Tabs are used to organize content.
4. Action Bar
Along the bottom is the action bar. The action bar is populated with the actions available for a selected app.
App action bar.
Apps come in two flavors: native apps and web-based apps. Native apps are installed on your devices, such as a computer, tablet or mobile phone. The installation for the native apps can be done directly from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. An example of a native app would be the SOLIDWORKS Connector. Clicking on the SOLIDWORKS Connector will launch SOLIDWORKS on the computer where the Connector was installed, providing that SOLIDWORKS is also installed on that computer.
Web-Based Apps live on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform and are launched and employed on the platform. An example of a Web App would be xShape.
As mentioned earlier, the dashboards you have available to you can be defined by the role(s) you are assigned. A role is a collection of apps that are related to defined fields of expertise. Examples of roles include 3D Component Designer, 3D Creator or 3D Sculpture. Example of apps related to these roles are xDesign for the 3D Creator role or xShape for 3D Sculpture.
My Roles.
Selecting a role will display the apps related to that role. For example, the 3D Sculptor role will give you access to the below apps.
Apps for 3D Sculptor role.
The roles and apps you have access to are displayed on a panel on the left side of the dashboard. This panel can be shown or hidden by clicking on the 3DEXPERIENCE compass, located at the top-left of the dashboard.
3DEXPERIENCE compass.
Below the 3DEXPERIENCE compass, you can change how your apps are displayed.
App display options.
You can also switch between your apps (Me), your company’s apps, and apps from the world.
App Type Selection.
With ‘Me’ and ‘As a System of Operations’ selected, you will see all the roles assigned to you. As mentioned previously, selecting a role will display the apps associated with that role. Below My Roles is a listing of ‘My Favorite Apps’ and below that ‘My Apps’. In My Apps, you will see all the apps you have access to based on your roles.
You can create a shortlist of Apps by dragging the app from My Apps to My Favorite Apps. Apps under My Favorite Apps can be dragged and dropped to reorder them, and apps can be removed from My Favorite Apps by dragging them to the Trash can at the top-right corner of My Favorite Apps.
Removing apps from my favorite apps.
Selecting content from the top bar will give you access to your files, as well as files shared with you. You all also have access to storage such as Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive.
Content.
Clicking on the grey area to the right will allow you to upload files.
Uploading Files.
Selecting communities on the Top bar will allow you to view and post to your 3DSwym Communities. 3DSwym Communities is displayed on the right-hand of the dashboard.
3DSwym Communities.
Dashboards can be used for defined roles—for example, 3D Component Designer—or for specific apps, such as SOLIDWORKS xDesign.
SOLIDWORKS xDesign dashboard.
Each dashboard will consist of widgets. A widget is a link for displaying a feed, a status, a graph or running an app. Selecting an app, such as 3DDrive, will display a dashboard containing widgets specific to your 3DDrive.
Widgets for 3DDrive.
Dashboards can be created for a role or an app, but regardless of your roles, you will have a default dashboard called My First Dashboard. This dashboard consists of two tabs. The Getting Started tab provides a quick overview of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, while the Learn the Experience tab provides some basic tutorials.
Getting started on My First Dashboard.
On top of dashboards available for roles and apps, and the default My First Dashboard, custom dashboards can be created. To create a custom dashboard, click on the plus sign icon located on the top bar and select Dashboard.
Adding a dashboard.
Dashboards can be created from templates, or you can choose to start with an empty dashboard.
Choosing how to create a dashboard.
An empty dashboard will consist of the top bar and a single tab called New Tab. You will likely want to rename the tab to something that is more meaningful. This is done by right-clicking on the pull-down beside the tab and choosing Rename.
Rename tab.
Additional tabs can be added by clicking on the plus sign, to the right of the last Tab. Tabs are an efficient way of organizing your Widgets.
Apps can be added to a dashboard by dragging it from My Apps into the dashboard. If the dashboard contains multiple tabs, the Widget is added to the active Tab. The active Tab is denoted by a blue underline.
Adding apps to a dashboard.
Keep in mind that much of this Content, whether it be apps or feeds, can be accessed from the top bar.
Every dashboard can have a ‘Story’. Stories help others navigate your dashboard by allowing you to add descriptions for the dashboard, each tab and every widget of your choice. A dashboard can have multiple stories, so each story needs to be named. Once a story has been created, it can be played by selecting the story from the dashboard pull-down. The story will also play when someone accesses your dashboard for the first time.
Playing a story.
When playing the story, anyone using your dashboard can go through the description for every tab and widget that contains a description and become familiar with navigating your dashboard.
Navigating story.
As well as adding or playing a story, the dashboard allows you to share your dashboard.
Sharing dashboard.
You can also edit or delete your dashboard. Duplicating your dashboard allows you to use a current dashboard as a template for a new dashboard. Manage Dashboards will bring up a window that displays all your dashboards. Here you can assign members, change the dashboard settings and perform many of the operations you had access through the dashboard pull-down. You can also switch between dashboards to edit them.
Manage Dashboard menu.
The dashboards available to you can be accessed by clicking on the dashboard list to the left of the 3DEXPERIENCE compass.
Dashboard List.
The dashboard list contains tools to search for dashboards, add dashboards, access the Manage Dashboards panel and recycle any deleted dashboards. You can add your most used dashboards to your favorite dashboard list by dragging and dropping the dashboard from your the ‘My Dashboard’ list. Dashboards can be removed from your favorite dashboard list in the same manner. Selecting a dashboard will make it the active dashboard.
Dashboard list.
Dashboards are key to navigating the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. In this article, we looked at the structure of dashboards and how we can interact with them. Configuring and using dashboards effectively will improve the usability of the platform.
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About the Author
Joe Medeiros as a Senior Applications Engineer at Javelin Technologies, a premier SOLIDWORKS reseller, servicing customers throughout Canada, offers SOLIDWORKS customers expertise in implementing and using SOLIDWORKS solutions.
Joe has been involved in many aspects of the SOLIDWORKS product family since 1996, and as an award-winning blogger, he regularly writes about SOLIDWORKS solutions.