Creating Dashboards

Overview

Dashboard reporting helps you make better informed decisions by allowing you to visualize KPIs and track performance. A dashboard pulls in data from multiple sources to give you a complete picture of your business.

You can access the reports and dashboards that are provided in Unifyr One and tweak them to meet your own needs. You can also create and save your own and provide them for the other members of your organization to use. 

Once you've got the reports/dashboards you need, you can configure and schedule delivery of them to the people who need them. You can set up a different filtered view of the data in a report/dashboard for each recipient, if required. For information on providing reports/metrics to include in a dashboard, see Creating Reports.

For information on distributing reports and dashboards, see Exploring, Personalizing, and Distributing Reports and Dashboards.

The sections in this articles provide steps for you to complete some common actions in a dashboard. For more detailed information, see Looker help - Creating user-defined dashboards (this is an external site, so we have no responsibility for the content).

Contents

Click on the + to expand the instructions for the desired task.

Create a New Dashboard

Before creating a new dashboard, you must have access to at least one of the reports you want to include in it. This is because you create a dashboard from within a report.

For the steps to create a new dashboard, see Add a Report to a Dashboard.

Edit a Dashboard

You can configure and update the dashboards that you have access to, for example those in the folder My Folder. 

You can't edit the dashboards provided by the Unifyr One team. To use one as a basis for your own dashboard, you will need to copy it to your personal or company folder and make your updates to the copy. Submit a request to your Unifyr One team if you want to copy an existing Unifyr One dashboard.

To access a dashboard for edit:

1. Open the dashboard you want to update

2. Go to the three dots menu and choose Edit dashboard

   

3. The edit view of the dashboard opens, showing three options:
   • Add - Add new content
   • Filters - Add filters
   • Settings - Configure settings such as default timezone and run/refresh options for the dashboard and its reports
4. Make changes as required, then click Save.

Add a Query/Visualization to a Dashboard

When editing a dashboard, you have the option to add a query tile to your dashboard (Add > Visualization). This allows you to create a completely new report from scratch and add its visualization to the dashboard as a tile. The report you build here is saved and available only in the current dashboard.

If you want to add a report that already exists, follow the steps in Add a Report to a Dashboard. That method creates a link to the report from the dashboard, and means you can use the same report in multiple dashboards.

To create a new query/visualization and add it as a tile in the current dashboard:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click Add > Visualization.
3. In Choose an Explore, browse for and select the report to use as a the basis for the tile.

4. Add this information:

   • Add a title for the tile in top left corner.
   • Select the fields and filters from the field picker.
   • Configure your visualization options in the Visualization pane.

   

5. Once you have set up your query, click Run to confirm it provides the correct data.
6. Click Save to save the query as a tile on your dashboard.
7. Resize or reposition the tile as required. For more information, see the Reorder and Resize a Tile section of this article.
8. Click Save to save the changes to the dashboard.

Add Text to a Dashboard

You can use text tiles to define visual sections on a dashboard and to add text such as headers and descriptions. Text tiles in dashboards are designed to have flexible formatting.

You can add text in two ways to your dashboard:

• Text tile - Rich text/WYSIWYG editing
• Markdown tile - Add and format your text with Markdown/HTML code

To add a text tile to a dashboard:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click Add > Text. A blank tile appears on the dashboard, with a text field and a toolbar of editing/formatting options.
3. Enter the text you want to use into the text field.

4. Use the buttons on the toolbar to position and format the text.

   

5. Click out of the tile when you've finished adding your text.
6. Resize or reposition the tile as required. For more information, see the Reorder and Resize a Tile section of this article.
7. Click Save to save the changes to the dashboard. 

To add a Markdown tile to the dashboard:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click Add > Markdown.

3. In the Add Text window, specify the Title, Subtitle and Body of the text block as required. The elements are all optional.

   Notes

   • Titles and subtitles support some HTML, including links and images.
   • Body text supports a subset of the Markdown markup language - for information, click the Learn more about Markdown link (this goes to an external site so we have no responsibility for the content).

   

4. Click Save to save the text box. The Markdown tile is added to the dashboard.
5. Resize or reposition the tile as required. For more information, see the Reorder and Resize a Tile section of this article.
6. Click Save to save the changes to the dashboard. 

Add a Button to a Dashboard

You can add a button with a custom URL to a dashboard, to link viewers to further information or resources.

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click Add > Button.

3. In New Button, enter this information in the Content and Design tabs. The appearance of the button changes when you change settings, to give you a preview:

   Parameter	Description
   Content
   Label	Button text, e.g. Click here
   Link	Target URL
   Description	Additional information - this is shown as a tooltip when hovering over the button
   Open in new browser tab	Whether to open the URL in a new browser tab
   Design
   Button Style	Filled -  Outline -  Transparent (text only) -
   Color	Color of the button (or of the text if Outlined or Transparent is selected as the button style)
   Button Size	Relative size of the button - Small, Medium or Large
   Alignment	Alignment of the Label text in the button - Left, Center or Right

4. Click Save. The button is added to the top of the dashboard.
5. Reposition the button as required. For more information, see the Reorder and Resize a Tile section of this article.

6. To make edits to the button once saved, hover over the button to expose its host tile box, then click Edit from the three dots menu.

   

Reorder and Resize a Tile

When you add tiles, buttons, and text to your dashboard, each item is added to a default position:

• Visualization and text tiles - added to the end of the existing content, with a default size
• Buttons - added to the top of the dashboard

You may want to change the position or size of tiles to improve the appearance of the dashboard..

To move a tile:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Go to the tile you want to move and hover over it to expose the Reorder icon in the top left corner.
3. Click and hold the icon, and drag the tile to its new position. The dashboard shows a grid outline, so you can position the tile accurately.

To resize a tile:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Go to the tile you want to move and hover over it to expose the Resize icon in the bottom right corner.
3. Click and hold the icon, and drag it until the tile is the required size. The dashboard shows a grid outline, so you can size the tile accurately.

Edit a Dashboard Tile

The way in which you edit dashboard tiles differs, depending on the type of tile.

To edit query/report, Markdown and button tiles:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Go to the tile you want to edit and hover over it to expose the three dots menu in the top right corner.

3. Click Edit.

   

4. Make the required changes then click Save.

To make changes to a text tile:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click in the text box and make the required changes. Click out of the text box when done.

Note

Remember to save the dashboard after editing tiles, to ensure the changes are retained.

Add Dashboard Filters

Dashboard filters let a viewer narrow a dashboard's results to only show the data they're interested in. Dashboard filters can apply to all tiles on a dashboard, or to only one dashboard tile.

You configure the filter options to present to the dashboard viewers. These are based on the data points that are used for the reports in the dashboard - present all, some, or none for the viewer to choose from.

When viewing a dashboard, a user can temporarily update the dashboard's filter values, which doesn't affect any other users. They can't change filters that are part of a query underlying a dashboard tile unless they have permission to edit the tile or to Explore from Here.

For detailed information about setting up dashboard filters, see the Looker help topic Adding and editing user-defined dashboard filters (this is an external site, so we have no responsibility for the content).

To add a filter to a dashboard:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click Filters > Add Filter. The Add Filter window opens, showing the fields (dimensions or measures) from any reports (Explores) that were used in the creation of the dashboard's tiles.
3. Find the field by which to filter - click through the field hierarchy and select one to add it to the Filter by field, or enter the name manually if you know it.

4. When you've selected a field, some configuration fields appear. Add information to the fields as required:

   Parameter	Description
   Settings
   Title	The name of the filter.
   Control	The type of control with which viewer will select their filter value, for example checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown menu, range slider.  The options available here depend on the type of data being filtered.
   Display	The way in which the filter should be displayed: Inline - The filter is displayed directly in the top bar of the dashboard Popover - A summary value appears in the top bar of the dashboard, the viewer clicks on the value to see the full filter.  This field is only displayed for control types that can be displayed in more than one way
   Values	Any specific value options you want to present to the viewer for selection.  Choose from the drop-down or enter the value options directly. Leave the field blank to allow value options from the database to be surfaced, up to the maximum number of values available for that control.  If the filter field is based on numeric data, the Values field is replaced by Min and Max fields.
   Configure default value	A default value for the filter, if required
   Additional options	Require a filter value - enable this option to specify that the viewer must enter a value for filter By default, filters do not require values. If a filter that does not require a value is left blank, the data isn't restricted by the filter field. For example, if you have a filter on a State field on a dashboard and that filter was not given a value, the dashboard returns data for all states. If a filter does require a value, the dashboard won't run until the viewer selects a filter value. A required filter with no value selected displays warnings to viewers until a value is chosen.  Select filters to update when this filter changes - Enable this option to link this filters to other filters on the dashboard. If dashboard filters are linked, selecting a value for one filter decides the values presented for selection in the other filter. For example, if you link a dashboard filter for City to a separate filter for State, the City filter will only present the values that apply for the selected State value. Only available if there are other filters on the dashboard.
   Tiles To Update
   Field to Filter	For each tile in the dashboard that should listen to the filter, the field that will be affected by the filter.  You can also choose not to apply the filter to an individual tile by selecting Do Not Filter.  Select All or None to turn the filter on or off for all tiles.

5. Click Save. The filter is added to the top toolbar of the dashboard.
6. Repeat these steps as required, to present further filter options for the dashboard.

To edit or delete a dashboard filter, hover over the filter in the dashboard to expose its three dots menu, then click Edit or Delete as required.

Filter Precedence in Dashboards

Filters for dashboard and individual reports work together as follows:

1. A dashboard filter overrides the same filter set in an individual report in the dashboard.
2. A filter set for a report but not for the dashboard will apply to the report tile only - be aware when relying on report filters like this, as they may cause incongruity of data in the different areas of the dashboard.

Use Cross Filtering

Cross-filtering makes it easier and more intuitive for viewers of dashboards to interact with a dashboard's data and understand how one metric affects another. With cross-filtering, viewers can select a data point in one dashboard tile to have all dashboard tiles automatically filter on that value.

For an example, see the Looker topic Cross-filtering dashboards (as this is an external site, so we have no responsibility for the content).

You can implement cross filtering in a dashboard if:

• it includes reports that are based on the same dimension.
• all tiles in the dashboard are created from the same report (explore).

To set up cross filtering for a dashboard:

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article

2. Click Filters and enable the Cross-filtering option.

   

Dashboard Settings

You can configure some general settings for your dashboard.

1. Access the dashboard for edit - for information, see the Edit a Dashboard section of this article
2. Click Settings.

3. Add information as required for these settings:

   Parameter	Description
   General
   Timezone	How to decide the time zone in which the dashboard will be run: Each tile's time zone - run each tile in the time zone in which they were saved Viewer timezone -  run all tiles in each viewer's time zone Specific timezone  Viewers can temporarily change the timezone when viewing the dashboard.
   Run on load	Whether dashboard data is automatically loaded when the dashboard is first loaded.  If this option isn't enabled, the dashboard doesn't display any data until the viewer clicks the Load icon
   Allow full screen mode for visualizations	Whether dashboard viewers will be able to see each tile in full-screen or expanded formats.  If this option is disabled, the View option is not available in each tile's three dots menu.
   Automatically refresh dashboard	Whether to automatically refresh all the data in the dashboard on a regular schedule to ensure that it is up-to-date.  If the option is enabled, select the interval at which to carry out the refresh - seconds, minutes, hours, or days.  You can override this for individual data tiles by using the Refresh frequency setting (see below).  Notes about auto-refreshing: The auto-refresh intervals begin at the time of day that auto-refresh is activated The dashboard refreshes on the set interval while the dashboard is open in a browser tab, as long as it isn't in edit mode. If the dashboard is closed or in edit mode during a scheduled refresh time, it won't refresh. If the dashboard is closed or goes into edit mode, whether or not during a scheduled refresh time, the refresh interval restarts as soon as the dashboard is opened again or leaves edit mode. Auto-refresh works regardless of the Run on load setting. If Run on load is disabled but the dashboard has auto-refresh settings, the refresh interval begins when the viewer open the dashboard even if they didn't click the reload data icon to load the data.
   Refresh frequency	The auto-refresh frequency for each data tile in the report.  Choose the required interval for each tile, or choose Same as Dashboard to stick to the frequency set in Automatically refresh dashboard.  Use Does not refresh if you don't want a tile to auto-refresh.  If each data tile should have a different refresh rate, consider disabling the Automatically refresh dashboard option if it's active.
   Filters
   Default filters view	The default display of the filters in the dashboard Expanded - The filter bar shows on page load, with all filters visible (default) Collapsed - The filter bar does not show on page load and filters are hidden by default
   Filters location	Where in the dashboard the filters should be displayed Top - top bar (default) Right - right sidebar

4. Click Save.

 Training

Learn more with our training course:

• Analytics & Reports

You will be prompted to log into your CustomerONE account to access the link.

Related Topics

• Creating Reports
• Exploring, Personalizing, and Distributing Reports and Dashboards