The new approach to accessing your data is supported by the Viewpoint Builder functionality.
Let’s look at a specific example of when you might want to create a viewpoint.
You are an enterprise architect and you want to share a list of experts who can support your organization with all existing business capabilities with your COO.
How to Create a Viewpoint
Step 1. Access The Viewpoint Builder.
There are multiple ways to access the Viewpoint builder:
From the Home page: Click on the purple "Explore data" button at the top right corner of the screen.
From the Viewpoint overview page: Click on "See all" in the Home page or click on the "Viewpoint.
From the Assets library: Scroll down to the Assets library in the Home page and click on "Create new" to the right of the screen.
When accessing the Viewpoint Builder from the "Explore data" button in the Home page, you'll be asked to select a context component. This will be the main component you start traversing from and eventually you'll land on a view where you can visualize your configured viewpoint.
When accessing the Viewpoint builder from the Viewpoint overview page or the "Create new" button in the Home page, you won’t be prompted to select a context component, and you won’t be taken to a view after configuring your viewpoint. This offers a quick and convenient way to set up viewpoints specifically for your stakeholders. When they open the viewpoint you’ve created, they’ll have the flexibility to choose the context component(s) they want to visualize.
Step 2. Select a context component.
Select the component(s) you want to visualize. In the next steps, you'll configure what relationships and dependencies this component has that you need to see.
There are multiple ways in which you can find the components that you want to visualize:
By name: Enter the name of a specific component you want to visualize in the "Search component name" bar.
By component type: Select a component tyep from the "Select component type" dropdown to see a list of components of the selected type. Select the components that are relevant to you.
Through Advanced search: Use Advanced search to refine your search using specific field values, allowing you to zero in on the exact data that matters to you. To access Advanced search in the Viewpoint builder, simply toggle the button above the component name search bar.
Step 3. Select references.
At this step, you can see the list of traversal options for the selected component in the reference sidebar. You can now filter by type in the reference section to find what you need faster.
You will be able to see your traversal on the screen once you have selected your references.
Steps 4. Add filters (optional)
Define an even more precise dataset by applying filters to components and references. To add a filter to a component or reference:
Simply click on any component or reference in the Traversal metamodel view
Next, click on "Add filter" on the right sidebar.
Create multiple rules for an exact specification of the dataset that matters to you.
Step 5. Customize your view (optional)
If you accessed the Viewpoint builder through the Viewpoint overview page or "Create new Viewpoint" from the Assets library in the Home page, you'll see additional steps in the Viewpoint builder.
Customize your view by applying grouping, conditional formatting, and label formatting.
Step 6. Manage viewpoint details.
Give your viewpoint a concise and clear name. Then, select a view style to ensure that, regardless of the context component your stakeholders choose, the data is displayed in the way you intended.
Finally, provide a description to help your stakeholders understand the purpose of the viewpoint you’ve created
Step 7. Open dataset or Save your viewpoint
If you created your viewpoint from the "Explore data" button, the final step is to open your dataset by clicking on the blue "Open dataset" button at the bottom right corner of the Viewpoint builder. You'll be taken to the view where you can configure the view style, add grouping, conditional formatting, label formatting, and more.
If you created your viewpoint from the Viewpoint overview page or "Create new viewpoint" in the Assets library, click on "Save viewpoint" at the bottom right corner of the Viewpoint builder.
Your viewpoint will be immediately saved. You should see a green toast message at the top right corner of the screen, indicating the viewpoint was successfully saved.
From here, you can open your viewpoint and select any context component you'd like to visualize.
Once in the view, if you have further questions about your selected context component(s), you can edit the dataset or open a new one.
Alternatively, you can use Ardoq's AI Viewpoint Generator to automatically generate other configurations in the Viewpoint builder for you. Follow the steps in this KB article to learn how to create viewpoints using AI.
Creating a View And Saving It as a Presentation Slide
Step 1. Select a viewpoint.
On the Ardoq home page or in the Viewpoint Overview section, select any viewpoint you'd like to use to create a view.
Step 2. Select a context component.
On the next step, select one or more context components that you want to add to your slide.
Step 3. Open the view.
Click 'Open' to access the viewport.
At this step you can preview how the dataset is visualized and make changes.
Step 4. Edit the view (Optional)
Click on the “View style, options, and settings” button at the top right corner of the screen to configure your view. From here, you can select a view style and customize your view by grouping your data, adding conditional formatting, labels, and more.
Step 5. Save your viewpoint
If you’re happy with the visualization, navigate to the "Save & Export" button in the top You can save your view as a viewpoint or as a presentation slide.
Save as a viewpoint
Click on the “Save as a Viewpoint” button at the top right corner of your screen to save your viewpoint. Please know that the button will be disabled if you have multiple datasets open in your configuration panel. Saving as a viewpoint is possible only when one viewpoint is open at a time.
To make your viewpoint accessible to the rest of the organization, please refer to the “How to Share Access to Viewpoint” section below.
All configurations applied to your viewpoint will be saved, ensuring everyone sees the information as you intended. Scroll down to the “Viewpoint setup” section to see which configurations are saved. You can also edit these settings by clicking on the pencil icon next to each configuration.
Save as a presentation slide
Click on the arrow next to “Save as viewpoint” and select “Presentation slide”. You’ll be prompted to create or select a new presentation where to add the slide to.
Enter a title and a description for your slide and click on the “Save description & title” button.
If you need to export your view as .png file, click on the “Export as PNG” button next to “Save as viewpoint” instead.
How to Share Access to Viewpoint
Grant users access to your viewpoints by assigning them a permission. Please note, users can only see data in the viewpoint that belongs to a workspace that they have access to. If a user doesn’t have access to the component type selected to construct this viewpoint, they’ll be unable to visualize it as intended by the creator.
To grant users a viewpoint permission:
Navigate to the Home page or Viewpoint overview page.
Locate your viewpoint.
Click on the three-dot menu next to the name of your viewpoint and select Permissions.
Assign a permission to all members of the organization or to individual users. Learn more about which permissions you can assign per user role in this KB article.
Please reach out to us via online chat if you have any questions.