Creating parameter defaults in Insights

Use this section to learn more about the types of parameter defaults that are available, and how to set up each of them.

Each field can have a parameter and a control associated with it. When someone views a dashboard or email report, any sheet control that has a static default value configured uses the static default. The default value can change how data is filtered, how custom actions behave, and what text displays in a dynamic sheet title. Email reports also support dynamic defaults.

The simplest default is a static (unchanging) default, which shows the same value to everyone. As the designer of the dashboard, you choose the default value. It can't be changed by the person using the dashboard. However, that person can choose any value from the controls. Setting a default doesn't change this. To restrict the values that a person can select, consider using row-level security. For more information, see Using row-level security (RLS) with user-based rules to restrict access to a dataset.

To create or edit a static default value that applies to everyone's dashboard view

Choose the context menu (v) by the parameter that you want to edit, or create a new parameter by following the steps in Setting up parameters in Insights.
Enter a value for Static default value to set a static default.

To display a different default depending on who is viewing the dashboard, you create a dynamic default parameter (DDP). Using dynamic defaults involves some preparation to map people to their assigned defaults. First, you need to create a database query or a data file that contains information about the people, the fields, and the default values to display. You add this to a dataset, then add the dataset to your analysis. Following, you can find procedures that you can use to gather information, create the dataset, and add the dynamic default to the parameter.

Use the following guidelines when creating a dataset for dynamic default values:

We recommend that you use a single dataset to contain all dynamic default definitions for a logical grouping of users or groups. If you can, maintain them in a single table or file.
We also recommend that the fields in your dataset have names that closely match the field names in the analysis. Not all dataset fields need to be part of the analysis, for example if you're using the same dataset for the defaults in multiple dashboards. The fields can be in any order.
We don't recommend that you combine both user and group names in the same column or even in the same dataset. This kind of configuration is more work to maintain and troubleshoot.
If you use a comma-delimited file to create your dataset, make sure to remove any space between values in the file. The following example shows the correct comma-separated value (CSV) format. Enclose text (strings) that include nonalphanumeric characters—like spaces, apostrophes, and so on—in single or double quotation marks. You can enclose fields that are dates or times in quotation marks, but it isn't required. You can enclose numeric fields in quotation marks, for example if the numbers contain special characters, as shown following.
Copy
```
"Value includes spaces","Field contains ' other characters",12345.6789,"20200808"
ValueWithoutSpaces,"1000,67","Value 3",2020-AUG-08
```
After you create the dataset, make sure to double-check the data types that Insights selects for the fields.

Before you begin, you need a list of the user or group names for the people who are going to have dynamic defaults.

To identify people for a dynamic default parameter (DDP)

List either individual user names or group names:
- To list individual user names, include a column that identifies the people for your DDP. This column should contain each person's system user name that they use to connect from your identity provider to Insights. This user name is often the same as a person's email alias before the @ sign, but not always.
- To list group names, include a column that identifies the groups containing the user names for your DDP. This column should contain the system group names that are used to connect from your identity provider to Insights.
  
  Or you can ask your network administrator to query your identity provider to get this information.

Use the following procedure to add a dynamic default parameter to your analysis. Before you begin, make sure that you have a dataset that contains the dynamic defaults for each user name or group name. Also make sure that your analysis is using this dataset. For help with these requirements, see the procedures preceding.

To add a DDP to your analysis

In the Insights console, open the Parameters menu at left and choose an existing parameter. Choose Edit parameter from the parameter's menu. To add a new parameter, choose the plus (+) sign near Parameters.
Choose Set a dynamic default.
Configure the following options with your settings:
- Dataset with default values and user information – Choose the dataset that you created and added to your analysis.
- User name column – To create defaults that are based on user names, choose the column in the dataset that contains the user names.
- Group name column – To create defaults that are based on group names, choose the column in the dataset that contains the group names.
- Column for default value – Choose the column that contains default values for this parameter.
Choose Apply to save your setting changes, and then choose Update to save the parameter changes. To exit without saving changes, choose Cancel instead.
Add a filter for each field that contains dynamic defaults to make the defaults work. To learn more about using filters with parameters, see Using filters with parameters in Insights.

Insights uses the static default value for anyone whose user name doesn't exist in the dataset, doesn't have a default assigned, or doesn't have a unique default. Each person can have only one set of defaults. If you don't want to use dynamic defaults, you can set a static default instead.