Quick tour of the Pentaho User Console (PUC)

Log in to PUC

Logging in to the PUC for the first time is easy with these steps:

Procedure

Launch any web browser and enter the URL of the Pentaho server.
Your IT administrator can tell you the correct URL. The page loads an introductory screen with a Login section.
Enter your user name and password and click Login, or use the Login as an Evaluator option.

Home

The first thing you see after you log in to the console is the Home page, which serves as the starting place for the User Console and all of the tasks that you do with it.

Item	Name	Function
1	Home view	The Home drop-down menu lets you flip easily from page to page, or return to your Home page.
2	Getting Started	Welcome shows an introductory video about Pentaho products. Samples holds a variety of sample reports and dashboards that you can use to get familiar with the software. Tutorials contains a number of tutorial videos that give you a visual tour of the User Console, reports, and dashboards.
3	Current User, and Log Out	Shows the name of the person currently logged on to the User Console. Clicking the arrow next to the name lets you log out of the User Console.
4	Browse Files	Brings you to the Browse Files page, where you can locate your files using the Browsing and Files panes, and manage them using the Actions pane. Any files that you open appear in a new window.
5	Create New	Gives you choices to create a new Analysis Report, Interactive Report, or Dashboard. You can also create a new Data Source, if you have permissions to work with data sources.
6	Documentation	Leads you to the Pentaho Documentation, which opens in a new window or tab.
7	Recents, and Favorites	Shows a list of your most recently opened files. Clicking on the star next to a recently opened file adds it to your Favorites list.

Browse Files

The Browse Files page helps you keep your files organized and makes them easier for you to find and work with.

Opened

The Opened page activates after you open a file from the Browse Files page and provides a simple space to work with your files.

Use Pentaho tools

The Pentaho Business Analytics Suite download includes sample reports and a sample database called Steel Wheels. Steel Wheels is included so that you can quickly use the software and explore the Pentaho BA Suite.

The following table helps you decide what tools to use for your needs and provides links to the corresponding articles.

Explore Considerations	Choose Options
Explore Considerations	Interactive Reports	Analyzer Reports	Dashboard Designer
Summary	Interactive Reports is a web-based design interface which is used to create both simple and on-demand operational reports without depending on IT or report developers.	Analyzer Reports is an intuitive analytical visualization tool that filters and drills down into business information contained in Pentaho analysis data sources.	Dashboard Designer allows users to create dashboards with little or no training. The dashboard is several different reports brought together inside one screen.
Expertise	Knowledge of basic computer functions, such as operating systems and web browsers.	Knowledge of basic computer functions, such as operating systems and web browsers.	Knowledge of basic computer functions, such as operating systems and web browsers.
Recommendation	Use Interactive Reports if you want to create a tabular report that answers an immediate business question, looks professional, can be printed quickly, and provides significant control over formatting elements such as fonts, column width or sorting, background colors, and more.	Use Analyzer Reports if you want to compile data quickly while visually exploring your data, perform advanced sorting and filtering of your data, and want to see chart visualizations that include detailed stop-lighting.	Use Dashboard Designer if you want to create an interface to view many different reports at once, have quick access to web pages that you visit often, or view dynamic charts and graphs within a space while you create reports in another.

Schedules

All of your active scheduled reports appear in the listing on the Schedules page, which you can get to by clicking the Home drop-down menu, then the Schedules link, in the upper-left corner of the PUC page.

My Schedules lists the reports scheduled to run, the recurrence pattern for the schedule, when it was last run, when it is set to run again, and the current state of the schedule. You can edit and maintain each of your schedules by using the controls above the schedules list, on the right end of the toolbar.

Administration

In PUC, the Administration page allows logged-on users who have an assigned role that includes Administer Security permissions to perform system configuration and maintenance tasks. If you see Administration in the left drop-down menu on the Home page, you can click it to reveal menu items specific to administration of the Pentaho Server. If you do not have administration privileges, Administration does not appear within the console.

Item	Control Name	Function
1	Administration	In PUC, open the Administration page. The Administration page enables you to set up users, configure the mail server, change authentication settings on the Pentaho Server, and install software licenses for Pentaho.
2	Users & Roles	Manage the Pentaho users and roles for the Pentaho Server.
3	Authentication	Set the security provider for the Pentaho Server to either the default Pentaho Security or LDAP/Active Directory.
4	Mail Server	Set up the outgoing email server and the account used to send reports through email.
5	Licenses	Manage Pentaho software licenses.
6	Settings	Manage settings for deleting older generated files, either manually or by creating a schedule for deletion.