if you get the following error when working in Dashboard Designer:
"Unable to connect to the specified server. Make sure the address is correct"or:
"the requested item cannot be found. Verify that it exists and that you have access permission"
That most likely means PPS Monitoring web service is not running (due to app pool id password expired in some cases). and also make sure the specific user has the read permission to web.config and other physical files or use "pass-through" option
PSMonitoringWebService App Pool id is used for Dashboard Designer to connect the datasource. PPSMonitoringPreview App pool id is used during preview dashboard, and Sharepoint application pool id is used to connect to datasource once dashboard is deployed on sharepoint site.
Those application pool ids need to have appropriate access to data source. They also need to have permissions to PPS Monitoring system database (BPMdeveloper role), but this role is normally granted during installation/configuration except for sharepoint application pool if it is different. see this for details. In case application pool ids change, you need to manually add it to this BPMdeveloper role. Otherwise you will get "unable to connect data source" error.
