diff --git a/dashboard/plugin.jelly b/dashboard/plugin.jelly
index c4311496..520d0f95 100644
--- a/dashboard/plugin.jelly
+++ b/dashboard/plugin.jelly
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 <!-- 
 /*
- * Copyright 2003-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
+ * Copyright 2003-2005 The Apache Software Foundation.
  * 
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -41,31 +41,45 @@
   -->
   <goal name="dashboard:report" description="Generate a dashboard report">
 
+    <!-- Default reactor properties from the Multiproject plug-in -->
+
+    <m:get var="mBasedir" property="maven.multiproject.basedir" plugin="maven-multiproject-plugin"/>
+    <m:property var="dBasedir" name="mBaseDir" defaultValue="${basedir}"/>
+      
+    <m:get var="mIncludes" property="maven.multiproject.includes" plugin="maven-multiproject-plugin"/>
+    <m:property var="dIncludes" name="mIncludes" defaultValue="*/project.xml"/>
+
+    <m:get var="mExcludes" property="maven.multiproject.excludes" plugin="maven-multiproject-plugin"/>
+    <m:property var="dExcludes" name="mExcludes" defaultValue=""/>
+
+    <m:get var="mIgnoreFailures" property="maven.multiproject.ignoreFailures" plugin="maven-multiproject-plugin"/>
+    <m:property var="dIgnoreFailures" name="mIgnoreFailures" defaultValue="false"/>
+
     <!-- Generate dashboard data for all sub-projects if it is required -->
     <j:set var="runreactor" value="${maven.dashboard.runreactor}"/>
     <j:choose>
       <j:when test="${runreactor == 'true'}">
         <m:reactor
-            basedir="${maven.dashboard.basedir}"
+            basedir="${mBasedir}"
             banner="Generating dashboard data for"
-            includes="${maven.dashboard.includes}"
-            excludes="${maven.dashboard.excludes}"
+            includes="${mIncludes}"
+            excludes="${mExcludes}"
             postProcessing="true"
             goals="dashboard:report-single"
-            ignoreFailures="${maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures}"/>
+            ignoreFailures="${mIgnoreFailures}"/>
       </j:when>
       <j:otherwise>
         <!-- We need to run the reactor to gather the list of projects 
              because the reactor creates a reactorProjects jelly property
              that we need in the dashboard:aggregate goal. -->
         <m:reactor
-            basedir="${maven.dashboard.basedir}"
+            basedir="${mBasedir}"
             banner="Gathering project list for"
-            includes="${maven.dashboard.includes}"
-            excludes="${maven.dashboard.excludes}"
+            includes="${mIncludes}"
+            excludes="${mExcludes}"
             postProcessing="true"
             collectOnly="true"
-            ignoreFailures="${maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures}"/>
+            ignoreFailures="${mIgnoreFailures}"/>
       </j:otherwise>
     </j:choose>      
 
diff --git a/dashboard/plugin.properties b/dashboard/plugin.properties
index ad31dbfa..25fa30e5 100644
--- a/dashboard/plugin.properties
+++ b/dashboard/plugin.properties
@@ -24,10 +24,13 @@
 # Properties for the dashboard reactor
 # ------------------------------------
 
-maven.dashboard.basedir=${basedir}
-maven.dashboard.includes=*/project.xml
-maven.dashboard.excludes=**/target/**/project.xml
-maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures=false
+# Location of subprojects to include in the dashboard report. By default
+# these properties have the same values as their Multiproject conterpart.
+# You can define them if you need to set different values.
+#maven.dashboard.basedir=${basedir}
+#maven.dashboard.includes=*/project.xml
+#maven.dashboard.excludes=
+#maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures=false
 
 # Generated dashboard xml data file
 maven.dashboard.report.xml = ${maven.build.dir}/dashboard-data.xml
diff --git a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/maven.xml b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
index 0596ae6f..d47bfda3 100644
--- a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
+++ b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@
     <attainGoal name="clean"/>
 
     <!-- Call goal to test -->
-    <j:set var="maven.multiproject.site.goals" value="site,dashboard:report-single"/>
     <attainGoal name="multiproject:site"/>
 
   </goal>
diff --git a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/project.properties b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/project.properties
index 6dfa86e0..d828e5d6 100644
--- a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/project.properties
+++ b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/project.properties
@@ -14,11 +14,9 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-# MUST specify these, even though they are the defaults, so we can run 
-# inside reactor where they were already set.
-maven.multiproject.basedir=${basedir}
-maven.multiproject.includes=*/project.xml
-maven.multiproject.excludes=common/project.xml
+# MUST specify these so we can run inside reactor where they were already set.
+maven.multiproject.basedir = ${basedir}
+maven.multiproject.includes = */project.xml
+maven.multiproject.excludes = common/project.xml
 
-# Ensure we don't build common/project.xml in the dashboard report
-maven.dashboard.excludes=**/target/**/project.xml,common/project.xml
+maven.multiproject.site.goals = site,dashboard:report-single
diff --git a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testIndividualReportsGeneratedByDashboard/.cvsignore b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testIndividualReportsGeneratedByDashboard/.cvsignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 88870eff..00000000
--- a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testIndividualReportsGeneratedByDashboard/.cvsignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-target
-maven.log
-jcoverage.ser
diff --git a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testIndividualReportsNotGeneratedByDashboard/.cvsignore b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testIndividualReportsNotGeneratedByDashboard/.cvsignore
deleted file mode 100644
index d0b17666..00000000
--- a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testIndividualReportsNotGeneratedByDashboard/.cvsignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-target
-maven.log
-velocity.log
-jcoverage.ser
diff --git a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testWhenNoReportsGenerated/.cvsignore b/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testWhenNoReportsGenerated/.cvsignore
deleted file mode 100644
index d2f60874..00000000
--- a/dashboard/src/plugin-test/testWhenNoReportsGenerated/.cvsignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-target
-maven.log
diff --git a/dashboard/xdocs/changes.xml b/dashboard/xdocs/changes.xml
index 969d2c41..fbdd54dc 100644
--- a/dashboard/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/dashboard/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,14 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.8-SNAPSHOT" date="in SVN">
+      <action dev="vmassol" type="update">
+        Default values for <code>maven.dashboard.basedir</code>,
+        <code>maven.dashboard.includes</code>, <code>maven.dashboard.excludes</code>
+        and <code>maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures</code> are copied from
+        the equivalent Multiproject properties. This should reduce the number of
+        properties you have to set to get going as you need now only set the
+        Multiproject properties.
+      </action>
       <action dev="vmassol" type="fix" issue="MPDASHBOARD-17" due-to="Philippe Kernevez">
         Prevent failure in <code><junitpassrate.jelly/code> due to a division 
         by zero when there is a unit test source directory defined but no tests 
diff --git a/dashboard/xdocs/faq.fml b/dashboard/xdocs/faq.fml
index 61123f4f..854812e5 100644
--- a/dashboard/xdocs/faq.fml
+++ b/dashboard/xdocs/faq.fml
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@
 maven.dashboard.basedir=${basedir}
 maven.dashboard.includes=*/project.xml
 maven.dashboard.excludes=**/target/**/project.xml]]></source>
+        <p>
+          It's also possible to set the Multiproject properties as they are used by default
+          by the Dashboard plugin.
+        </p>
       </answer>
     </faq>
 
diff --git a/dashboard/xdocs/properties.xml b/dashboard/xdocs/properties.xml
index 179fce07..f5422316 100644
--- a/dashboard/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/dashboard/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -29,10 +29,13 @@
 # Properties for the dashboard reactor
 # ------------------------------------
 
-maven.dashboard.basedir=${basedir}
-maven.dashboard.includes=*/project.xml
-maven.dashboard.excludes=**/target/**/project.xml
-maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures=false
+# Location of subprojects to include in the dashboard report. By default
+# these properties have the same values as their Multiproject conterpart.
+# You can define them if you need to set different values.
+#maven.dashboard.basedir=${basedir}
+#maven.dashboard.includes=*/project.xml
+#maven.dashboard.excludes=
+#maven.dashboard.ignoreFailures=false
 
 # Generated dashboard xml data file
 maven.dashboard.report.xml = ${maven.build.dir}/dashboard-data.xml