Working with Dashboards

This lesson will provide an overview of how to locate a Dashboard as well as how to manipulate Dashboard components.

Locating a Dashboard

There are 3 ways to locate Dashboard:

1. Enter the Dashboard name in the Search field
2. Open the Dashboards tab and select from the list
3. Via the Reports tab

Dashboards Tab

The Dashboards homepage will open to your most recently viewed Dashboard. It is important to know that Dashboards are visual representations of Reports so they will be stored in the Reports tab as well. From here you can:

1. Go to Dashboard List – This will lead you to your Dashboard list in the Reports tab
2. View Chatter feed – Communicate with other followers on this Dashboard
3. Manipulate Dashboard components

View Filtered Report from Dashboard

1. Click on the grey bar over the chart to view the full source Report
2. Click on a data point in the chart to view a filtered version of the source Report

Dashboard Chatter Feed

Chatter enables collaboration among followers through the Dashboard Chatter feed (See lesson, “What is Chatter?” for more information). This is a great place to post comments such as updates, problems, work-arounds, etc… and it is where Snapshots can be posted about the Dashboard where other followers can see and participate in discussion. To capture and post a snapshot:

1. To the upper-right side of the Dashboard Chart, click the down arrow
2. Select either:

• Post Snapshot to Dashboard Feed – This will only post the Snapshot to the Dashboard feed
• Or, Post Snapshot to User or Group Feed – This will allow you to direct the Snapshot at a Chatter group or individual user

In this example, Post Snapshot to Dashboard Feed is been selected.

Post Comment

1. Enter a comment, if needed
2. Click OK

Customizing Dashboard Components

Notice that your post will show in the Dashboard Chatter feed.

From this screen you can also manipulate the Dashboard using these functions:

1. Edit – This function is only available to the owner of the Dashboard
2. Clone – Cloning is used if a user (a view, not the owner of the Dashboard) wanted to manipulate the Dashboard. For example, users who are tasked with creating company Dashboard may use this function if they wanted to create the same Dashboard but for a different region. They would be able to clone the Dashboard and make the adjustments without having to re-create the entire Dashboard.
3. Refresh – This function will update the Dashboard data either by:

• Refresh Now – This will update data once clicked
• Or Schedule Refresh – You can set a repeating day/time to have the Dashboard refresh automatically

In this example, Schedule Refresh is selected.

Set up Schedule Refresh & Email Notification

Dashboards can be setup to automatically refresh themselves according to a predetermined schedule specified by the viewer(s) of the Dashboard. An email of the Dashboard refresh can be setup to send once the refresh is complete, giving the recipients a still-shot of the Dashboard as well as an active link to the actual Dashboard within Salesforce. To do this:

1. Specify who will receive an email (An email is not required in order to setup an automatic refresh) by either selecting:

• To Me – This will only send you an email
• Or, To others… – Here you will need to specify the recipients

2. Specify to whom the email will be sent (This is only required if To others… is selected). Add or remove users by using the Add or Remove buttons
3. Setup the refresh schedule by specifying the Frequency (Daily, Weekly or Monthly), then the Start and End dates and the Preferred Start Time
4. Once setup, click Save

In this example, To me and To others… has been selected for the Email Dashboard section (1). The email has been setup to be sent to both “Mike Stuart” and “Sue Grafton” (2). The Dashboard is set to refresh every Wednesday from 12/19/2012 to 1/19/201 at 8:00 AM (3).

Applying Filters

Apply filters to narrow the information shown in the Dashboard. To apply a filter:

1. Expand the filter drop down menu
2. Select a filter from the list

In this example, equals North America is selected.

Your Dashboard

Notice that only the North America data is showing.