An automatic service monitor in an information technology environment has its operation controlled by information that, in part, defines entities that perform services and defines key performance indicators (KPIs) that indicate measures of performance of the services. Additional information controls the operation of the service monitor with respect to reporting KPI data on system dashboards based on design templates. Data sources associated with one service that help populate a design template are automatically swapped for data sources associated with a different service to produce automatic dashboard variants.