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Topic 17 of 18

Customising DHIS2

Step by Step Guide: Appearance, Logo, Colours and the Settings That Matter

Purpose of this guide

A DHIS2 that carries the programme name and logo is trusted more than one that says DHIS 2 Demo. This guide covers what to change, where, and which settings need agreement before anybody touches them.

Step 1: Where the Settings Live
AppChangesAffects
System SettingsTitle, logo, colours, start page, analytics defaultsEveryone
User SettingsLanguage, style, display propertyOnly you
Data AdministrationAnalytics tables, maintenance jobsEveryone
App ManagementWhich apps existEveryone
Click: Apps menu → System Settings
Step 2: Appearance: Make It Look Like Your Programme
Figure 1. The Appearance tab. This picture was drawn for the guide. Your screen will show your own names and dates.
  1. 1Application title. What appears in the browser tab and the header.
  2. 2Introduction. Shown on the login page. Say which system this is.
  3. 3Notification. A line every user sees. Good for reporting deadlines.
  4. 4Left side footer. Where to get support.
  5. 5Style. The colour theme. Pick one and keep it, so screenshots in training stay right.
  6. 6Start page. Which app opens after login. The dashboard is the usual choice.
  7. 7Application logo. Your programme logo, on the login page and the header.
  8. 8SAVE. Changes apply the next time a user loads the page.
Step 3: General Settings Worth Setting
Figure 2. The General tab. This picture was drawn for the guide. Your screen will show your own names and dates.
  1. 1Analytics maximum records. Raise it when a large pivot table is cut short.
  2. 2Infrastructural indicators. The denominators, such as population, used in analysis.
  3. 3Feedback recipients. The user group that receives messages sent from the apps.
  4. 4Default relative period. What a new chart starts with.
  5. 5Cache strategy. How long analytics responses are held. Longer is faster but staler.
Step 4: What Each User Can Change Themselves
Figure 3. User Settings. This picture was drawn for the guide. Your screen will show your own names and dates.
  1. 1Interface language. English, French, Portuguese and others.
  2. 2Database language. Which translation of names is shown.
  3. 3Analytics display property. Name or short name in charts and tables.
  4. 4Style. A personal theme, which overrides the system one.
In training: ask everyone to set the same style and display property. Half the questions in a workshop come from two people looking at screens that do not match.
Step 5: Things to Agree Before You Change Them
SettingWhy it needs agreement
Application title and logoIt is the identity of the system for every user
Start pageDecides what a clerk sees first each morning
StyleTraining material and screenshots go stale when it changes
Cache strategyToo long and people swear the data is missing
Analytics scheduleDecides how fresh every dashboard is

Final Checklist

Customising DHIS2