Modifying PPS Dashboards with SharePoint Web Parts
In a session I gave at TechReady 10, I talked about the difference between dashboards and dashboard definitions. In the session, I made a point to talk about the difference between dashboards and dashboard definitions. Dashboard definitions are the ddwx files that you’re used to working with when you use dashboard designer. In PerformancePoint 2007, these were the bswx files. The extension is different in PerformancePoint 2010 because they are very different files, but their core function is the same – to define your dashboard, how it lays out in a web part page, what the data sources connect to, the location of each dashboard object, as well as other things. In 2007, we stored all of our content in a PerformancePoint-specific database. In 2010, we moved away from a database storage model in favor of SharePoint lists and libraries. So, that ddwx file defines where objects lie within those SharePoint lists and libraries. When you export from dashboard designer to a SharePoint list, your resulting aspx page becomes stored in a document library. At that point, your exported aspx file and your ddwx dashboard definition are two very different things. And each time you deploy your dashboard definition to SharePoint, you overwrite your previous aspx file. Therein lies the problem with modifying your aspx files with SharePoint web parts.
Tags: performance point, dashboard