TARGIT Best Practices for Designer & Administrators

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:35:08

Welcome to this webinar on best practices for TARGIT designers and administrators. This webinar is scheduled to have a duration of 1.5 hours. We’ll see if we need all that time, but we want to be thorough about looking into all the odds and ends of taking on the role of being designer and administrator of the TARGIT solution.

00:00:35:10 - 00:01:04:07

We’ll look at the initial duties you have when you implement TARGIT, but maybe even more importantly, the ongoing maintenance tasks that both designers and administrators face when they have their TARGIT portal up and running. My name is Niels Thomsen. I’m a senior solutions architect with TARGIT, and I've been here for 15 years and know a lot about TARGIT, so please keep the questions coming during this webinar.

00:01:04:08 - 00:01:28:12

You can use the chat function or the Q&A. I’ll try to keep an eye on both, but since I'm doing this webinar alone, I can only promise that I’ll pick up the questions at the end. If I spot some interesting questions as we go, I will respond to them. We have quite an agenda to cover today.

00:01:28:14 - 00:01:56:04

We're going to start by looking at all the personas that are involved — directly or indirectly — in implementing and maintaining a TARGIT solution. Then we're going to look at the designer role and the administrator role, and those two roles overlap in many ways. There is a strong need for cooperation.

00:01:56:04 - 00:02:22:10

So let's look at the personas we are talking about. In any TARGIT implementation, someone needs to take on the role of TARGIT administrator — typically the person who connects to data and sets up role‑based access and similar tasks. And someone needs to take on the role of designer to build the actual reports for the business.

00:02:22:12 - 00:02:53:08

Between those two roles, many other personas need to be involved at different times. When implementing TARGIT, project management is required, and sometimes the same person performs all three roles — TARGIT administrator, designer, and project manager. In other cases, two or three people share these responsibilities.

00:02:53:10 - 00:03:27:00

In any case, you want management to support the project when implementing a BI tool in your organization. During implementation, you will need help from your internal IT department, especially if you run TARGIT on‑premise. Much less help is required if you use TARGIT Cloud. Business stakeholders are extremely important and will determine your success.

00:03:27:02 - 00:03:50:08

If you get them involved and they take your reports seriously — using them for daily decisions — that will be the success you are aiming for. If you have an internal layout department, they should be involved in designing the reports.

00:03:50:08 - 00:04:22:08

Layout matters a lot for success. Reports need to look good and contain valid numbers. Other external stakeholders may include the board, customers, or even the public if you share insights externally. External data suppliers may also be involved when connecting to purchased databases. And lastly, consider TARGIT’s partners. I strongly recommend following our webinars, participating in the community, and signing up for the newsletter to stay current with TARGIT initiatives.

00:04:51:12 - 00:05:23:13

Let’s take on the TARGIT designer role. TARGIT designers have many duties and many partners. One of the most important tasks, when you plan your TARGIT solution, is planning the portals. A portal means making your reporting look somewhat like a website — a structured, intuitive environment that holds your numbers.

00:05:23:13 - 00:05:51:13

For this purpose, you need to cooperate with TARGIT administrators because governance and security are essential. When producing a report, you need to involve business stakeholders to keep them satisfied and to ensure the reports support real‑world decision‑making.

00:05:51:13 - 00:06:16:14

User adoption must also be taken seriously. Every BI project needs to understand: What makes users actually use the reports daily? And how do you support strong user adoption?

00:06:16:16 - 00:06:46:04

You must also maintain the portal. Even the best TARGIT portal will occasionally contain errors or outdated content. You need to remove that to keep users engaged. Business stakeholders and partners can help by giving feedback.

00:06:46:06 - 00:07:10:00

And finally, TARGIT should be considered a partner in this process as well. Best practice often includes separating super users from designers — I’ll return to this when discussing the administrator role.

00:07:10:00 - 00:07:46:03

You need close contact with everyone surrounding the TARGIT solution — project management, administrators, and business stakeholders. There is often overlap, such as an administrator who is also one of the designers. In my opinion, this overlap is ideal, because cooperation must be extremely close.

00:07:46:05 - 00:08:14:10

So let’s talk about portals. A portal is a set of interlinked dashboards that have a consistent layout — essentially a website holding your data. A good portal should support guided analytics. You should have relevant filter options, support drill‑downs, and allow navigation from high‑level views into detailed data.

00:08:14:10 - 00:08:51:13

You should also support drill‑down options. A typical TARGIT portal allows you to start from a high level and move down into detail, exploring your data. You should also provide relevant export options for Excel, because this is always needed in organizations. Governance in a portal requires cooperation with administrators — for example, forced filtering so users only see permitted departments or countries.

00:08:51:15 - 00:09:20:02

You also need a landing page for each user group. You need to offer relevant navigation, which can also be supplied through role membership. A good portal includes documentation that explains the purpose of the report, its data sources, and which actions the reader should take based on the data.

00:09:20:04 - 00:09:54:22

Best practice evolves as TARGIT adds new features. One newer feature allows sending out scheduled jobs to external stakeholders. Now, scheduled jobs can include links back to dashboards, and you can even schedule a job that is simply a link users click. You can also trigger scheduled jobs using a button.

00:09:54:24 - 00:10:22:11

This webinar is not an educational deep dive into how to configure these features, so if you’re not familiar with trigger‑executed scheduled jobs, visit the TARGIT Community and search for documentation.

00:10:22:11 – 00:10:44:00

People need to click the link. You can also have scheduled jobs executed by users with a button. It’s a new kind of trigger that allows you to execute a job. Again, this webinar is not meant to be a deeply technical training session, so please visit the TARGIT Community for documentation if this feature is new to you.

00:10:44:02 – 00:11:09:20

So let’s look at an example of what a portal might look like. These are typically quite generic. You normally have some kind of front page with a high‑level overview. Sometimes there’s a little bit of data on the front page — that’s the case here. This could be a landing page for leadership.

00:11:09:22 – 00:11:44:23

You can see the lines displayed are actually line charts showing trends in sales and finance. On the left side, you have navigation options, and on the right side, some shortcuts. The buttons on the right‑hand side include “data snacks” — small line‑chart previews that show quick trends. The layout is hopefully consistent. I’ll show more of this portal via slides, and then we’ll explore it live in a demo.

00:12:12:19 – 00:12:37:07

Finally, in the bottom right corner, there is information about the last data update and the dashboard version number. This is a common structure for a TARGIT portal front page.

00:12:37:07 – 00:13:14:09

Next, we move to the next level of the portal. This level contains more data but is still high‑level — fewer tables, more visualizations. It uses the same navigation options as before. This could be a landing page for department managers — someone positioned between strategic and operational responsibility.

00:13:14:11 – 00:13:37:19

Again, same navigation on the left, with a high‑level data overview in the center. In the upper right, there is a new menu that wasn’t on the front page. This is a toolbar that provides many different options. I look forward to showing this to you — it has become best practice in TARGIT portals.

00:13:37:24 – 00:14:06:07

Since we introduced the toggles feature — which lets you turn content on and off — the toolbar has become even more powerful. It also offers built‑in documentation and help via the information icon and the question mark in the upper right corner.

00:14:06:09 – 00:14:33:19

The layout should feel consistent with the front page and aligned with your company’s color scheme. Filtering options are available — they’re hidden inside the toolbar at the top right. Export options are there as well. Again, in the bottom right, you find timestamps for last update and version number.

00:14:33:19 – 00:15:03:18

This is what I consider a mid‑level dashboard. Then we come to the detail level. Detail dashboards typically contain tables and offer more exploratory capabilities.

00:15:03:20 – 00:15:32:03

This dashboard is very explorative. I’m excited to demo it because, with newer TARGIT features, we have improved ways to support data exploration. This could be a landing page for operational staff or controllers who need to understand why numbers look the way they do.

00:15:32:03 – 00:16:04:03

These dashboards usually include export options (which are common across most TARGIT portals), navigation options, low‑level data views, built‑in documentation, consistent layout, filters, and the same version/update info in the bottom right.

00:16:04:05 – 00:16:47:08

Never underestimate the value of a consistent layout. It increases user trust significantly. A typical portal has three levels, but it could have four or more. What matters is that users can go from high‑level overviews down into detailed, granular insight.

00:16:47:10 – 00:17:16:05

When you build and maintain a portal, you should base it on templates. Here is an overview of all templates we currently have, plus some we are planning. This is important because templates reduce maintenance effort for customers who maintain these portals.

00:17:16:07 – 00:17:46:03

All the templates that are not highlighted in yellow already exist. I’ll show you how they appear in two different portals. We have crosstab themes for defining templates for crosstabs — fonts, colors, etc. Then we have color templates, which are extensive in TARGIT.

00:17:46:05 – 00:18:16:04

Named colors are used for backgrounds, graphics, drill colors, and so on. Then you have color series, which are used for data — similar to Excel’s concept of series colors. For example: this year vs. last year bars. Your solution should include a wide range of color series to handle all situations.

00:18:16:04 – 00:18:42:03

All colors should match your company’s visual identity. If you don’t have a defined design guide, at least mirror your company website. Another option is assigning a color to a specific measure — but I see this less often now.

00:18:42:03 – 00:19:07:09

We also have two text‑box templates. A “text box” in TARGIT is actually more than text — it can hold images, backgrounds, menu buttons, and more. Menu buttons, for instance, are text‑box objects.

00:19:07:09 – 00:19:38:16

Every background and most graphics are also text boxes. If any element might be repeated across your solution, it should be made into a template. Document templates exist as well, though they currently serve primarily as starting points.

00:19:38:18 – 00:20:13:00

User dimensions and menus can also be saved and reused, so I consider them types of templates. Lastly, we have components — a newer template type that allows storing individual objects or collections (background shapes, logos, graphics) and reusing them across the solution.

00:20:51:00 – 00:21:23:02

Components can include single or multiple objects — for instance, a shape plus a logo plus a text label. You should consider how these are reused and what you may want to change later when deciding what becomes a component.

00:21:23:04 – 00:21:52:11

Now it's time to look at a couple of portals and see these template concepts in practice. First, I’ll take the role of a consumer — just to show what the portal can do.

00:21:52:13 – 00:22:16:03

Here is the dashboard you saw on the slide — the front page of the portal. If you click the navigation on the right, you see a toggle feature. This allows you to bring in overlays and remove them again.

00:22:16:05 – 00:22:55:15

Many customers have redesigned their portals because this toggle feature provides great usability and design flexibility. The small trend charts act as visual data snacks. Let’s go to the next level — the KPI overview.

00:22:55:17 – 00:23:17:04

Hopefully this looks consistent with the layout. This KPI overview is much more data‑heavy, and here you can see the toolbar I referred to earlier. It gives you a lot of flexibility. This dashboard is, in my opinion, very flexible. Much of it is based on the table feature.

00:23:17:04 – 00:23:41:02

Here we are looking at “Product Top 10” and “Customer Top 20.” But if you want to see all items, there is a toggle trigger that expands the table to full‑screen, showing everything. You can toggle back and forth between the table and the graph.

00:23:41:04 – 00:24:04:23

This is a great example of making the portal more flexible. The Top 10 and Top 20 views keep things focused on the most important data, but it’s very useful to access the complete dataset without leaving the dashboard. Just toggle back and forth.

00:24:05:00 – 00:24:27:05

The toolbar gives even more options. For example, you can change the entire view. Right now, we’re comparing year over year. If you click “Change View,” you can instead compare against target or budget. Now everything is shown relative to budget (or target).

00:24:27:05 – 00:24:48:02

You also have export options. Again, toggles allow these options to appear only when needed, saving space. You can export to Excel or PDF, and you can also drill down to transactional details from this menu.

00:24:48:04 – 00:25:10:03

You have filters with slicers you can bring into view. Personally, I would like to see these slicers saved as a component, because then the filter panel could be maintained in one place and updated across all dashboards automatically.

00:25:10:05 – 00:25:42:04

You also have drill‑outs, information panels, and help sections. There’s a lot of valuable functionality in this dashboard, making it flexible for daily use.

00:25:42:04 – 00:26:10:20

Now let’s go to the detail level — the exploratory dashboards. For example, this Invoice Matrix. This is meant for someone operational who needs to explore “why” something happened in the data.

00:26:10:20 – 00:26:38:14

We start with a table showing customers and their sales across several years. There's a timeline above and multiple perspectives to switch between — customers, products, departments, and more. You can also use filters on the left.

00:26:38:16 – 00:27:03:22

Let’s sort by 2024 sales in descending order. The top customers in 2024 appear first. Immediately, you can see something interesting — some of these customers disappear in 2025. That’s disappointing, but it’s a real insight.

00:27:03:24 – 00:27:32:21

Let’s select a few customers we lost. Some had consistent purchases in previous years but none in 2025. That’s important to understand. After drilling into these customers, we can explore the products they bought.

00:27:32:21 – 00:27:46:16

Here are the products they purchased — and no purchases appear in 2025, which explains the missing bars. Now let’s isolate the three most popular products in 2024.

00:27:46:18 – 00:28:15:24

Now we want to understand how many invoices these sales were split across, and the overall revenue. Going to the invoice tab reveals that all these sales were split across just four invoices — an important insight.

00:28:15:24 – 00:28:43:05

So now we have a starting point for investigating why we lost these customers. This flexibility is very powerful. And it gets even better.

00:28:43:07 – 00:29:13:12

We have a custom view. After isolating some data, you might want to export it — but maybe you’re not satisfied with the level of detail. This table is editable even for consumers. The wrench icon indicates that users can edit the table using Consumer+ features.

00:29:13:12 – 00:29:41:04

You can choose which customer attributes you want — country, name, customer number — and remove others like dates. You can also bring invoice numbers into the view. Dimensions can be moved between columns and rows for readability.

00:29:41:06 – 00:29:59:11

This Sandbox feature lets consumers add dimensions and measures as long as they are allowed in the sandbox definition. User dimensions can also be added if permitted. This is not an educational webinar, but documentation is available in the TARGIT Community under Consumer+ features.

00:29:59:13 – 00:30:28:20

Once the user has defined the view they want, they can save it and export it to Excel. Combining exploration with consumer‑defined layouts is a very strong ability in TARGIT.

00:30:28:20 – 00:30:54:22

Now let's look under the hood. We’ll inspect this portal from the perspective of a designer, using the Windows TARGIT Designer client rather than the browser.

00:30:54:24 – 00:31:20:23

Here is the front page from before, now inside the Designer interface. The folder structure is extremely important, because folders are tied to governance. They also organize your content.

00:31:20:23 – 00:31:50:17

This structure looks clear. There’s a dedicated folder for help content, navigation, menus, resources (like components and templates), and then business areas. In the shared folder, the only document is the starting page. Folder structure is key for assigning security.

00:31:50:19 – 00:32:19:03

Beyond folder structure, let’s explore components. For instance, the footer area — it consists of shapes and text boxes. When selecting these elements, you may notice that properties are locked because this is a component. Components can only be modified at the root.

00:32:19:05 – 00:32:49:15

If you open the component library under Resources → Components, you’ll find the footer. It consists of three objects saved together. If you change the color here, it changes everywhere this component is used.

00:32:49:17 – 00:33:13:17

Components are extremely powerful for consistency and maintenance. Changing one object updates all dashboards using that component.

00:33:13:17 – 00:34:10:11

In the source data, you can also see shared user dimensions — these act as reusable building blocks. Naming conventions should be clear and descriptive. There are also shared menus stored in the Navigation folder: function menus, view menus, and more.

00:33:13:17 – 00:34:10:11

In the source data, you can also see shared user dimensions. These are highly recommended, and naming should be clear so users understand exactly what each one represents. These dimensions appear just like regular dimensions in a TARGIT solution, so their names must be intuitive. Besides user dimensions, there are also menus.

00:34:10:13 – 00:34:31:04

You can see the menus in the folder structure under “Navigation.” All menus used across the solution are stored here — the function menu (the toolbar), the view menu (the icon to toggle between chart and table), and others. Each menu is saved independently. This will become more common in TARGIT as more template types move into the folder structure.

00:34:31:04 – 00:35:04:18

Let’s return briefly to the component we looked at earlier. It consists of shapes, text boxes, and images saved as a single object. If you changed the shape's color, it would update everywhere the component is used, which is the key reason components exist — central maintenance.

00:35:04:20 – 00:35:27:24

Now, looking again at source data, shared user dimensions are displayed here and used across dashboards. They function as common building blocks. Naming conventions matter because users must understand what each one does.

00:35:28:01 – 00:35:53:11

Menus are also stored centrally. As mentioned, “Navigation” contains all menus belonging to this solution. The function menu (toolbar), the view menu (chart/table switch), and others are all saved here. This modular structure supports consistency and reuse.

00:35:53:13 – 00:36:17:08

You’ll see additional menu types as TARGIT evolves. Many organizations are saving menus as reusable templates, and future development will expand what can be stored in folders.

00:36:17:10 – 00:36:47:01

Lastly, let’s revisit the exploratory dashboard — the invoice matrix. This dashboard demonstrates TARGIT’s Sandbox feature. If you want to allow users to experiment with the data directly, you enable consumer editing on the object.

00:36:47:03 – 00:37:16:00

On the document level, you can define which dimensions and measures users may work with. You can also add more options to the Sandbox. On the template level, you can save Sandbox setups so they can be reused across dashboards. This provides powerful user‑customization options.

00:37:16:02 – 00:37:46:15

It is a template‑like feature — saving Sandbox definitions allows you to prepare which dimensions, measures, and user dimensions consumers are allowed to add. On the object level, you activate consumer editing and define limitations, such as how many added elements the user is allowed.

00:37:46:17 – 00:38:12:18

That concludes the first portal, shown from both consumer and designer perspectives. Now let’s look at another portal — slightly different in design, but also very effective. In this second portal, I’ll show different template‑related examples.

00:38:12:18 – 00:38:37:18

Here is the front page of the second portal. It offers a bit more data up front: timelines, index numbers, and year‑over‑year comparisons. If you move to what we call the mid‑level dashboard, you’ll notice an extra level of selection built into the portal.

00:38:37:20 – 00:39:05:00

Instead of using toggles, this portal uses an intermediate dashboard to choose which area you want to enter. There are pros and cons to this approach, but it’s simply a design choice. I’ll select the mid‑level dashboard now.

00:39:05:02 – 00:39:35:18

This mid‑level dashboard shares characteristics with the previous one. It has a toolbar in the top right, detail navigation, exports to PDF or Excel, and a flexible layout. Now, let’s explore this portal from a designer’s point of view.

00:39:35:19 – 00:40:14:05

This content comes from TARGIT’s generic demo portal. TARGIT hosts multiple portal designs at solutions.targit.com, and this is one of them. Let’s examine the year‑over‑year sales comparison.

00:40:14:07 – 00:40:24:16

Start by selecting one of the graphs and opening its properties. Let’s look at the colors used in the visualization.

00:40:24:18 – 00:40:43:17

This chart is based on color series — in this case, a color series containing three colors. There is also an “Agent” color series with eight colors. The eight‑color series is used when you have many categories, such as a pie or donut chart with multiple slices.

00:40:43:17 – 00:41:16:05

Often dashboards use two‑series color sets. For example, “light‑dark” or “dark‑light.” You can switch between different series depending on your design preferences.

00:41:16:07 – 00:41:42:00

If you look at non‑data objects, such as the top bar, and view their properties — especially the coloring — you’ll see they are based on text‑box templates. This follows best practice. There are text‑box templates for all kinds of objects ready to be used.

00:41:42:02 – 00:42:10:18

One of the nice things about text‑box templates is that you can override them locally. For example, you could change the background without changing the template. But let’s look at the background color to show named colors.

00:42:10:20 – 00:42:45:12

Everything used as a background, drill color, or alert color is saved as a named color. There are named colors for drill behavior (“drill color”), background styling, and negative‑trend indicators (“bad development”).

00:42:45:12 – 00:43:11:20

Drill color does not apply automatically — you must set it explicitly. For example, if you drill into Spain, you’ll see the drill color. Drilling further into UK, and then into a top customer, also applies the drill color.

00:43:11:22 – 00:43:38:16

If you want to apply a drill color consistently, you have to go to each visualization and choose that named color. But the advantage is that if you later change the drill color centrally, all dashboards inherit the update.

00:43:38:22 – 00:44:11:06

Tables also use drill colors, but through crosstab themes rather than single‑object settings. Selected or drilled rows appear using the assigned theme color, often an orange or highlight color.

00:44:11:08 – 00:45:03:00

Let’s return to the slides and move into the next chapter: the administrator role. The main duties and partners of a TARGIT administrator include connections to data, access and role management, rights management, license management, mail‑server setup for scheduled jobs, and working with decorations.

00:45:03:02 – 00:45:30:19

User maintenance is a key responsibility — updating licenses, ensuring you do not run out of available licenses, and keeping track of who has access. Setting up the mail server is also important because scheduled jobs depend on email delivery for sending PDFs, Excel files, or links. Another important but often overlooked responsibility is managing decorations. As a TARGIT administrator, you should be familiar with how decorations work in the TARGIT Management module.

00:45:30:19 – 00:45:59:12

Best practice recommends having more than one administrator. Relying on a single person is risky. Typically, two or three people share the responsibility. Administrators work closely with designers, and with internal IT. Often, there is overlap — and as mentioned earlier, having someone who is both an administrator and a designer is ideal because they understand both perspectives.

00:45:59:14 – 00:46:20:21

One of the most important tasks for an administrator is setting up roles — essentially controlling access to data and more. Let’s go through role setup in detail. Some aspects are not widely known but are very important for best practices.

00:46:20:23 – 00:46:51:03

When creating a role in TARGIT, you add members. Preferably, these members come from Active Directory groups. Avoid adding individual users wherever possible. If people are hired or leave, AD group membership handles everything automatically and requires no action from the TARGIT administrator.

00:46:51:05 – 00:47:25:06

The rest of the role setup should be done with maintenance in mind. Imagine future tasks — if you need to change raw‑data access, document access, or startup documents, how many roles would need updates? Often, it is better to create simple, single‑purpose roles rather than one massive role that controls everything. Users can be members of multiple roles.

00:47:25:08 – 00:47:48:22

This modular approach is the core of strong governance. If you later need to make a change, you modify only one role instead of many. Let’s look at the three most important controls in a role: raw data access, document access, and criteria.

00:47:48:24 – 00:48:15:09

First, raw‑data access. On the right‑hand side in TARGIT Management, you see the connections: Data Service, ESG Data Insights, and others. Below that are cubes and data models. The highest level — the topmost database layer — should always be set to Allow, because users must be able to access something.

00:48:15:11 – 00:48:47:02

However, the default child permission at the highest level should always be None. This controls access to future connections. If you add a new system (for example, a new CRM database), you do not want everyone to automatically gain access. Setting the default to None ensures you must explicitly grant access.

00:48:47:04 – 00:49:14:00

If default child permission were set to Allow, any new connection would automatically inherit “allow” permissions — opening your CRM database to everyone without review. Not good. So:
Top level = Allow, but default child permission = None.

00:49:14:02 – 00:49:38:08

The same logic applies to the connection level below. For example, “TARGIT Online Demo Data” may contain multiple cubes — Finance, HR, Inventory, Production, Sales. Again, future cubes should not automatically be accessible. Setting default child permission to None protects you.

00:49:38:10 – 00:50:04:20

New cubes, such as a future CRM cube, should not become available unless you explicitly allow them. So the safest choice is:
Connection level: default child permission = None.

00:50:04:20 – 00:50:31:20

I consider adding an entirely new database a “big event,” so requiring explicit permission is the right approach. Let’s look further at the hierarchy.

00:50:31:22 – 00:50:59:19

At the cube level — for example, the HR cube — it makes sense to leave default child permissions as Inherit. If someone adds a new dimension or measure to the HR cube, and the user already has access, they should automatically get access to new fields.

00:50:59:19 – 00:51:17:16

Data Discovery is a bit special. Users can upload Excel sheets and build their own cubes. Their numbers may differ from your data‑warehouse numbers. You want control over how quickly this spreads. Set Data Discovery’s default child permission to None.

00:51:17:18 – 00:51:29:14

This way you can tell users:
“When you build a new Data Discovery cube, let me know and I will allow you (and only the right people) to use it.”

00:51:29:16 – 00:51:52:11

This preserves central governance while still enabling self‑service — a major strength of TARGIT. So to summarize raw‑data access best practice:

• Top level: Allow
• Default child permission: None
• Connection level: None
• Cube level: Inherit

00:51:52:11 – 00:52:21:16

Documents follow the same logic. There is a distinction between read and write access. This is often overlooked. For example, if I am a designer for Sales Analysis, I should not have write access to the Finance folder — I might accidentally delete something.

00:52:21:18 – 00:52:44:12

So use read/write permissions carefully. Again, default child permissions should typically be None at the top levels. Adding a new folder should not automatically grant access to all roles unless you explicitly approve it.

00:52:44:12 – 00:53:17:01

Folder governance is critical because TARGIT does not set rights at the document level — only the folder level. If you have sensitive documents, create a dedicated folder for them so you can apply restrictions.

00:53:17:03 – 00:53:41:02

Next, let’s discuss criteria. In the role’s content tab, you have forced filters and initial filters.

Forced filters should typically be isolated in their own role. For example: “This user may only see Denmark.”

00:53:41:04 – 00:54:03:20

Initial filters are different. They can be overridden. For example, a user may start with Finance selected but still be allowed to explore Absence data. Documents can also choose to ignore initial criteria if needed.

00:54:03:20 – 00:54:17:22

Many customers use forced filters, but fewer use initial filters — even though initial filters allow more flexibility. I recommend using both when appropriate.

00:54:17:24 – 00:54:47:02

Export folders come in two generations. Traditionally, export folders were defined in TARGIT Management outside the TARGIT file system. These could be restricted per role.

00:54:47:04 – 00:54:55:05

More recently, TARGIT allows exporting to folders inside the TARGIT file system — which is useful for governance because TARGIT folder permissions apply.

00:54:55:07 – 00:55:24:04

The downside is that only users with a TARGIT license can access internal folders. Also, some scripts may need access to exported files — and you may not want external scripts accessing your TARGIT file system.

00:55:24:04 – 00:55:45:22

Next: landing pages. You assign a landing page in the role. This becomes the first page the user sees — on mobile and desktop. The “Home” button in the menus takes the user back to this landing page.

00:55:45:24 – 00:56:08:17

Best practice is to choose as landing page the one a user needs most frequently. Navigation can take them to other places, but their most common need should be the landing page. In a three‑level portal, C‑level roles could land on the front page, department roles on the department landing page, and operational roles on detailed pages.

00:56:08:19 – 00:56:37:13

Governance is not just about restriction — it’s also about giving people the right data at the right time, as fast as possible. Finally, you can assign a role‑based menu, similar to assigning favorites to groups.

00:56:37:15 – 00:57:15:00

For example, you could assign a specific menu to C‑level users, a different menu to mid‑level users (perhaps including an employee‑absence calendar filtered to their department), and for operational users, the same menu but with forced filters ensuring they only see their own data. The “Managed Documents” feature is rarely used today, so I’ll skip it.

00:57:15:02 – 00:57:46:23

Besides roles, administrators also configure rights. These should be tied to AD groups. Administrators should be isolated in their own rights group — even if some administrators also do design work — so you can manage admin access cleanly. The admin rights group itself does not consume licenses; it only grants access to TARGIT Management.

00:57:46:23 – 00:58:12:20

Typically, two or three people belong to the admin rights group (for example, “Site Administrators”). The big advantage of using AD groups is simple replacement — just move people between groups in AD, and the change flows into TARGIT.

00:58:12:22 – 00:58:39:20

For designers, I increasingly see two levels: Designer (Super) and Designer‑Light. Super designers have every design right. Designer‑Light usually lacks access to template governance (named colors, user dimensions, crosstab themes, etc.). The idea is that some people own the design system while others build reports using the approved design.

00:58:39:20 – 00:58:57:01

The same split can apply to consumers: Consumer (Super) and Consumer‑Light. For instance, you might remove Consumer Editing (the Sandbox capability) for some users or disable saving bookmarks. This lets you tailor capability to the audience.

00:58:57:03 – 00:59:25:16

You can further distinguish rights for scheduled jobs:

• Scheduled Jobs Administrator — can work with all jobs in the solution.
• Scheduled Jobs — can work only with their own jobs.

00:59:25:18 – 01:00:00:23

Similarly for Data Discovery: some organizations make all members administrators, which can be fine for small, tightly knit teams. But if self‑service spreads widely, consider normal Data Discovery users who can only work with their own data sources and cubes unless someone shares more with them.

01:00:01:00 – 01:00:32:05

Now, let’s look at TARGIT Management from a demo perspective — roles and rights and a few other admin tasks. In roles, revisit Databases: top level should be Allow, default child permission = None. At the connection level, also set default child permission = None so future sub‑cubes don’t open automatically.

01:00:32:07 – 01:01:01:06

For Documents, apply the same idea. Top level default child permission = None. Give write only where truly needed. For example, a given role might only have write access in the HR folder (to save HR reports), but just read access in other areas.

01:01:01:06 – 01:01:28:01

Be cautious with inheritance: if you expect to create a sensitive subfolder (e.g., “Individual Data” under HR), keep default child permission = None so the new subfolder is not exposed by default. This reduces risk of over‑exposing content.

01:01:28:01 – 01:01:58:06

Next, the License tab: verify that your license matches your current needs. If you purchased extra designers or consumers, check that they appear. If your TARGIT server has internet access, you can download updated license keys. Keep an eye on usage so you don’t run out of seats.

01:01:58:08 – 01:02:24:02

Now the Decorations tab — often overlooked but important. One example is Dynamic Time. If your database does not provide dynamic time hierarchies (common with some external sources), you can configure dynamic time in TARGIT Management by defining the hierarchy structure (years, half‑years, quarters, months).

01:02:24:02 – 01:02:46:12

Dynamic time setup is a bit complex, but it allows powerful filters like Year‑to‑Date, Previous 3 Quarters, Last 12 Months, and more. If you’re missing dynamic time in some connections, you can define it in the hierarchy’s decoration. The TARGIT Community has documentation, and support can help if needed.

01:02:46:14 – 01:03:11:11

Another decoration area is date calculations (for example, sorting proper dates or calculating days between Order Date and Ship Date). This requires defining a Date Member Value Mask on your date fields so TARGIT can interpret dates correctly.

01:03:11:13 – 01:03:33:09

It’s a one‑time configuration per date dimension. For example, if your format is dd‑MM‑yyyy, set the appropriate mask. If your format is MM/dd/yyyy (US style), use the US mask. Once correct, you can sort dates and compute differences between dates reliably.

01:03:33:09 – 01:03:59:14

As an administrator, review all date dimensions in Decorations and assign the correct masks. This unlocks date math and proper chronological sorting across the solution.

01:03:59:14 – 01:04:27:22

To recap: we looked at best practices for designers (portals, templates, components) and for administrators (roles, rights, decorations). Using templates and components reduces maintenance. Using well‑structured roles, AD groups, and default child permissions improves governance and safety.

01:04:27:24 – 01:05:16:04

A brief note on upgrades: the Components feature is available in current versions. If you run TARGIT on‑premise, you can download software upgrades yourself or have TARGIT assist. If you’re on a much older version (pre‑2023), legacy report types may need conversion, which can affect price and effort — talk to your account manager.

01:05:16:06 – 01:05:55:08

If you are in the cloud, you receive upgrades continuously — so you already have Components in your solution. Lastly, Q&A: It seems there aren’t many questions today, but I appreciate the engagement and the positive feedback.

01:05:55:10 – 01:06:19:10

Thank you for attending this webinar, and I look forward to seeing you next time at the next TARGIT webinar. Have a great day.