Configure widget settings

After you set up the dashboard widgets, configure the settings for each widget. To configure the settings, in the widget's right corner, click the vertical ellipsis and select Configure. In the Edit <Widget name> Widget dialog box, configure the widget settings in each tab as needed.

Tip: If you want to duplicate a current widget's configuration as a starting point, select Duplicate in the widget menu. ALM Octane adds a widget named Copy of <Widget Name>.

General settings

Update the widget's name and description as needed, and select the graph type:

Graph type Details
Current Status Summary graph of the current status
Status Over Time Trend-based graph of the status over time

Note: Graph type is not supported for agile graphs.

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Data settings

Define the scope of the data to display by selecting the workspaces and data sets to include.

Workspace

Specify the workspaces from which the widget compiles data. This field is available for workspaces in a shared space.

Enterprise edition: Using this field, you can define dashboard widgets that display cross-workspace information. For more details and limitations, see Cross-workspace reporting.

Select All my workspaces to compile data from all workspaces in which you are a member.

Note:  

  • The Workspace field is not supported for agile graphs, such as Burn Up, Burn Down, Edit Release Forecast, and Cumulative Flow.
  • If you have shared a dashboard, and you specify the scope of a widget as All my workspaces, you cannot save the dashboard. This is because the widget uses values that are unique to your user account. Similarly, if you have a dashboard with All my workspaces specified in a widget’s scope, you receive a warning if you try to share the dashboard.

Data Set (for summary widgets)

By default, the Data tab includes one data set. Click + Add data set to include an additional data set in your widget. Provide meaningful names for your data sets. The names should be recognizable and reflect an item type or a filter by which the sets differ.

With two data sets in the scope of one widget, you can determine a ratio between the compared sets of values.

For each data set, define the following fields:

Field Details
Item type

The available items depend on the widget you are configuring. Below are some common item types:

  • Tests: Includes all subtypes of tests - manual tests, automated tests, Gherkin tests, BDD scenarios and test suites.

    For details on the testing frameworks and test types available in ALM Octane, see Testing overview and Manual testing flow.

  • Work items: Includes common work items, such as epics, defects, features, user stories, and quality stories.
  • Last test runs: Includes only the last runs of all the run types (manual run, automated run, suite run, Gherkin automated run). Popular use case: status and coverage analysis based on selected program, release, milestone, and environment.

    For details on how ALM Octane identifies runs as last runs see Run manual and Gherkin tests

  • Backlog items: You can create a widget to show you the trends for Backlog items or Backlog's last test runs.

    For details on the testing frameworks and test types available in ALM Octane, see Backlog.

  • Release processes, Release process items: You can create a widget to show DORA metrics and measure team performance. For details, see Release processes.

  • Test run history (manual): Includes all manual runs of manual tests, Gherkin tests and BDD scenarios. Tracking manual run progress is a popular use case.
  • Test run history (suites): Includes all suite runs. For details see Plan and run test suites.

  • Pipeline run: Includes all pipeline runs that represent the builds of all root jobs that were defined as pipelines.

    For details see Automated testing flow.

Use filter

The filter determines whether the widget is using global or custom widget settings:

  • Global: Uses the settings defined in the dashboard's global context filter.

    In widgets with the Global filter setting, the Release, Sprint, Milestone, and Date Range fields are predefined with values set in the dashboard's global context filter.

    To override the global filter settings, change the filter to Local, and set values for this individual widget.

  • Local: Lets you define the custom Release, Sprint, Milestone, and Date Range settings for this individual widget.

Note: If your widget includes more than one data set, you can set the Global/Local filter in one place for all existing data sets. You cannot apply different filters to a single widget.

Additional filters

If necessary, apply additional filters.

For example, if you only want to display defects that had a phase age of 60 days or more, add a Days in phase filter and specify Greater than 60.

Note: If you select more than one workspace in the Workspaces field, filters display the fields common to all selected workspaces. Certain reference fields (such as Application Modules or Features) are not available for use in cross-workspace graph filters.

If you update the workspaces that are selected or open the same graph in a different workspace, ALM Octane clears the existing filters.

For details, see Filters.

Date range

For trend-based graphs (Status Over Time), specify a time period.

  • If a release is not specified, select one of the following:

    • All <items> up to now. The graph contains every item of the selected type from the beginning of your project until now.

    • Set period. Last week, two weeks, or month.

    • Custom period. Last xx days, weeks, or months, or Between specific dates.

  • If a release is specified, select one of the following:

    • All <items> up to now. The graph includes the selected item type from the beginning of the specified release until now.

    • Release period. The graph includes the selected item type from the start date to the end date of the release.

    • Set period. Last week, two weeks or month.

    • Custom period. Last xx days, weeks, or months, or Between specific dates.

    • All <items> up to end of release. The graph includes items created or updated from the beginning of the project until the end of the release.

    • All <items> from start of release up to now. The graph includes items created or updated from the start date of the release until now.

Note: When using trend-based graphs (for example, Burn Up or Burn Down charts), if one of the sprints includes a day with a clock change, the graph tooltips exclude the day, week, or month with the time change. The excluded period depends on the scope you set in the graph configuration.

For example, if a sprint includes the day the clock switches to Daylight Savings time, the tooltips exclude this day, week, or month.

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Display settings - graph display type

Choose from several graph display types, depending on the widget type.

In the General tab, you select the graph type: Current Status, a summary graph, or Status Over Time, a trend-based graph. The Display tab shows only the available display types for the selected graph type.

Display type Details
Bar chart

For all graph types, a standard bar chart.

Stacked bar chart

For summary graphs only, widget values are displayed in a stacked graph.

You can display a count, sum, average, or a ratio of the item's values.

Grouped bar chart

For summary graphs, you can display multiple bar clusters within a single widget to compare results for different items, such as the number of features per team, separately for each release. You define two metrics, one for each cluster. For each metric, you specify the X and Y axis function and data set. By default, the Feature coverage widget uses this display type.

For trend-based graphs, you can create a vertical multi-bar graph, and sort the results by selected entities. By default, the Issue daily injection widget uses this display type.

Pie chart For summary graphs only, a color coded pie chart with a legend above the chart describing the segments of the pie.
Number chart

For summary graphs only, the widget value as an integer.

You can choose to display a count, sum, average, or the ratio of the item's values.

To apply color coding to the number, enable the Use conditional color ranges option, and specify a range. For example, for a widget showing defects, you can designate red as the color for a count of 25 or more defects.

Line graph

A standard color-coded line graph displaying the field values.

Area graph For trend-based graphs, an area graph displays the data, indicating the ratios by color.
Grid

For summary graphs, each graph source, such as defects or tests, has default columns defined, which you can change as needed.

  • The grid limit is the maximum number of rows displayed, from 0 (no limit) to 100, by default 25 rows.
  • When setting up a grid, you can select up to two fields for sorting. These fields correspond to the X-axis and Group by fields of graphs. If you select a field that cannot be used for sorting, a message appears in a tooltip next to the field name.
  • On certain grids, depending on the source type, you can drill down into the grid rows to view full entity details.

Enterprise edition: Grid widgets can display cross-workspace information. For example, you can show the defects with highest severity from all workspaces in a shared space.

Accessible table For all graph types, this option displays the data in a table.

In some of the widgets, you can select additional options:

Option Description
Bar direction For bar charts, choose whether the bars are displayed vertically or horizontally.
Double height Displays a widget in an extra-long vertical format. By default, grids are displayed as double-height.
Show empty columns

For summary widgets, this option shows data from features or application modules with no associated or assigned items.

In summary widgets based on date fields, this option adds columns for dates that have no data to display. For example, you can configure the widget to display Closed on date for defects. In this case, empty columns with no defects closed on that date will be displayed, in addition to the columns with data.

Show trend of changes

For trend-based widgets, this option counts all status changes in a given time frame—not just the final state of each entity. For example, if you want to see how many defects were opened and closed in each day, giving you a picture of the overall trend. You can use the Defect daily injection days/weeks graph to see how many defects were opened and closed by your team, over a two-week period.

Note: When aggregating by weeks, the number for each date on the graph represents how many records were at the end of the week that started on the start date.

Show values on chart

For the bar and stacked bar displays, select this option to display widget values on the respective bars and their segments.

  • Bar graphs: The total value per bar is displayed above the corresponding bar.
  • Stacked bar graphs: The total value per bar is displayed above the corresponding bar. The value per bar segment is displayed in the corresponding segment.

    If a bar represents only one value that exceeds zero, only the total value above the bar is displayed. If a bar segment represents a low value, and the segment is too small to fit the number, the value is not displayed.

    For segment values, choose to display Actual values or the Percentage out of the total bar value.

Note:

  • The Show values on chart option is not available for widgets that do not have the Display configuration tab, such as pipeline widgets.
  • In summary widgets with the Average aggregation function, the total value above the bar is not displayed. The reason is that in this case, the total value would represent a sum of the section averages, which has no business value.

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Display settings - Y axis

For a bar chart, select the units to display on the Y axis:

Field Additional details
Count The widget displays the count of the X axis values.
Average/Sum

For a sum or an average of the X axis values, select a measuring unit, such as Estimated hours or Invested hours.

Ratio

Only for summary widgets with more than one data set.

For example, you can configure separate data sets to display the following ratios:

  • Fields ratio: The ratio between the count of an item's invested hours and story points in a release. In this example, the widget compares an item's fields of the same type, based on the same filter.
  • Subsets ratio: The ratio between the count of critical defects and a general number of defects in a release. In this example, the widget compares the same item type based on a different filter.
  • Sets ratio: The ratio between the percentage of escaped defects and automation tests per application module. In this example, the widget compares different item types, based on a different filter.

To display a ratio, select the data sets whose values you need to compare:

  • Numerator: Display the count, sum, or average of the items defined in Data set 1.
  • Denominator: Display the count, sum, or average of the items defined in Data set 2.

Note:

  • The fields you define for a numerator and denominator should be of the same type. When you define either a numerator or denominator, the other field adjusts accordingly and lists only the fields of the same type.
  • The ratio function supports only a stacked, number, and a tabular display types.

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Display settings - X axis

For a bar chart, select the field to display in the X axis.

If you have configured two data sets, define the X axis value for the numerator in the first field, and the X axis value for the denominator in the following field.

Select the Number or Percentage format for the ratio representation.

Note:  

  • In summary widgets, the X axis can display date fields that are properties of items in scope, such as Closed on, Creation time, and Started. You can also select user-defined fields of the Date and Time type. Aggregate the date values per days, weeks, or months.

  • Date fields are not available for cross-fields.

  • For bar graphs, when the X axis is set to show numbers, the system rounds off the value to the nearest number, ignoring values to the right of the decimal point. Therefore, the total value shown beneath the graph may not correspond to the actual sum of the values of the individual bars.

Choose a Stack by or Group by item by which to group the results.

Define whether to display the results as a number or percentage.

Certain widgets allow you to configure additional fields. Accept the defaults or provide custom values. For example, the Test Runs Burn Down widget allows you to specify the expected start point. For details, see Test runs burn-down widget.

Tip: To export data with full report data as if it were a graph, independent of the grid filtering settings, click the vertical ellipsis in the widget's upper-right corner, and click Export to Excel.

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Display settings - additional settings

Available in versions: 24.1 and later

For a bar chart or accessible table, select whether to sort the bars using the default sorting, or by the Y values of the bars:

Sort bars by Details
Default Sorts the bars along the X axis using the default sorting for the selected field (for example, alphabetical order).
Values Sorts the bars along the X axis based on the Y value of the bars. You can choose whether to sort the bars in ascending or descending order.

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See also: