This section outlines the steps necessary to build and run the Metric Configuration Tool on a development machine. The information on this page is intended for coders and developers looking to implement the Metric Configuration Tool in their solution – business analysts will typically use an instance deployed to a staging or production environment.

The source code for this utility can be found in the Ed-Fi Dashboard repository at Ed-Fi-Alliance/Ed-Fi-Dashboard/MetricConfigurationTool. These instructions assume that you have followed the instructions and have the prerequisites outlined in the UI Developers' Guide - Installation.

The steps required can be summarized as:

Each step is described in detail, below.

Step 1. Configure Type Scripts

Each implementation of an Ed-Fi ODS can have different Ed-Fi Descriptor IDs for assessment category types, reporting method types, and academic subject types. The out-of-the-box the Metric Configuration Tool uses the Descriptor IDs from the sample Glendale data set which may not match the IDs in your implementation.

  • If you are using the Metric Configuration Tool to configure metrics for the Glendale sample data set, then you can use the out-of-the-box values. Similarly, if you are running a development instance of the as-shipped code, the out-of-the-box values can be used.
  • If you are using the Metric Configuration Tool to configure metrics for a different data set, the Metric Configuration Tool database scripts will need to be updated, as follows:
    1. Navigate to the folder \Ed-Fi\MetricMetadataUtility\UtilityScripts in File Explorer which contains the following scripts to create the insert data for the Metric Configuration Tool.
    2. Execute each script against an instance of the Ed-Fi ODS that contains the implementation-specific types and Descriptors. This will generate an Insert script for each type set. Note that there are ODS-version-specific scripts for assessment academic subject types.


    3. Navigate to the folder \Ed-Fi\MetricMetadataUtility\Database\Scripts\MetricsMetadata_3.1\up in File Explorer which should have the SQL files listed below.
    4. Update the AssessmentCategoryType Data.sql, AssessmentReportingMethodType Data.sql, and AssessmentAcademicSubjectType Data.sql scripts with the Insert script data generated above.

Step 2. Deploy and Initialize the Metric Configuration Tool Database

  • Open a PowerShell window and navigate to \Ed-Fi\MetricMetadataUtility\Database.
  • Run the command .\build rebuild 3.1 to create "MetricsMetadata" and "MetricsMetadata_Test" databases on your local instance of SQL Server.

Step 3. Build and Deploy The Metric Configuration Tool Application

  • Within Visual Studio, open the "MetricsMetadataUtility.sln" solution file from the \Ed-Fi\MetricMetadataUtility\Application\src directory.
  • Build the solution.
  • Run the application (F5 or Ctrl-F5) and verify that it launches in a browser window.

Step 4. Voila!

You can now start using the application. The Metric Configuration Tool - Adding a New Metric section of this documentation is a great place to start.