Dashboard basics

If your company was set up with a QuickStart template, it contains a library of predefined dashboards that you can install and use right away. Some dashboards require you to install additional account groups, graphs, or financial reports to display properly. And you can use the dashboards as-is or customize them to suite your needs.

To find out if your company was created using a QuickStart template, go to the Accounting tab on the Company information page (Company > Setup > Configuration > Company).

If a template was used, the type appears in the QuickStart template field. If the field is blank, the company was not set up using a template.

1. Go to Dashboards > All > Dashboards.
2. Select the Create dropdown button, and then select Create from Library.
3. Find the dashboard and select Install.
4. Optionally, change the Dashboard name.
5. Select Save.
6. When you’re finished, select Done to return to the Dashboards list.

1. Go to Dashboards > All > Dashboards.
2. Select Dashboards library.
3. Find the dashboard and select Install.
4. Optionally, change the Dashboard name.
5. Select Save.
6. When you’re finished, select Done to return to the Dashboards list.

You cannot edit another person's dashboards, but you can clone them, and then edit the clone.

1. Go to Dashboards > All >Dashboards and open the dashboard to use as a model.
2. In the upper right, select Clone.
3. In the Dashboard properties window, enter a new Title.
4. Set up the cloned or copied dashboard from the Appearance, Filters, and Permissions tabs.

5. Select Save.

Now you can select Edit for a report or graph component to edit it on-the-fly. After you save your changes to the report or graph, select Refresh to refresh the data.

To start with a blank slate, you can add an empty dashboard and then add your components.

1. Go to Dashboards > All and select Add (circle) next to Dashboards.
2. Use the Appearance, Filters, and Permissions tabs to set up the new dashboard.
3. Add any desired components.
4. Select Save.

1. Go to the dashboard.
2. In the upper right corner of the dashboard window, select Add.
3. In the Component properties window, for Component type, select Chart.
4. From the Component dropdown menu, choose the graph to add from the list of options. You can also choose Add a new financial graph to create a new financial graph and add it to the dashboard.

5. Set other options.

   • Component title: enter a heading to appear on the dashboard
   • Chart style: select the type of graph
   • X label: select how to display labels for the horizontal axis
   • Legend: select where to put the legend in relation to the graph. Legend placement is available for Stacked column, Stacked bar, Area, and Stacked area graph types
• Font size: for graphs with a lot of text, use a smaller font size
• Height: set the vertical size of the component. The graph scales to fill the available space

6. Select Save.

Add any report to a dashboard:

• Financial report: each is listed when you're setting up (displays on the dashboard using the General Ledger).
• Standard report: memorize the report for it to show up in the list.
• Custom report: memorize the report for it to show up in the list.

Do not add large reports to a dashboard that's used as a start page, particularly if it's the start page for multiple people. Large reports can slow down a dashboard, especially if the dashboard is used by multiple people at the same time.

1. Open the dashboard.
2. In the upper right corner of the dashboard window, select Add.
3. In the Component properties window, for Component type, select Report.
4. Select the Report source: Financial report, Memorized report, or Interactive Visual Explorer.
5. Optional: Limit the list of reports by selecting a report type or a report audience.
6. From the Component dropdown menu, select the report.

7. Optional: Limit the list of reports by selecting a Report type or Report audience from the relevant dropdown list.

   Don't see the report? Standard reports and custom reports must be memorized before you can add them to a dashboard. Memorizing a report gives the report a name and retains the report settings, so you don't have to select them each time you want to run or display the report.

8. Set other the following options, as necessary:

   • Component title: Enter a heading to appear on the dashboard.
   • Rows: Select how many rows to show (the title occupies 2 rows).
   • Automatic height: Select to show all rows (no scrolling).
   • Height: Limit the vertical size of what shows on the dashboard (allow scrolling).
   • Report view: Select to update the report when you refresh (Snapshot) or have us regularly update it (Live). Although the report is updated regularly, you might need to refresh the browser or move away from the page and back to see the latest report results.

     If you don't need filtering for a report, select Snapshot. This reduces processing needs for the report, which helps your dashboard perform better.

   • Show collapsed: Show only the title, along with an icon to expand the report.
   • Dashboard filtering: Choose if dashboard filters are applied to the report. The Dashboard filtering field is available if you select Live in the Report view field.

9. Select Save.

Each performance card sits at the top of a dashboard and reports a single value. The foundation of each performance card is an account group, which you select. The account group determines the value that users see.

1. Go to the dashboard.
2. In the upper right, select Add.
3. In the Component properties window, at Component type, select Performance card.

4. On the Appearance tab:

   Performance card components - Appearance tab

   Field	Description
   Title	Enter a brief label to show above the performance card value, such as: Net Profit Margin.
   Account group	Select an account group that's based on either a: Single GL account, such as revenue, or ... Computation, such as Net Profit Margin, consisting of several account groups (set these up first). If you don't see the account group that you need, create a new one.
   Reporting period	Select the time span you're reporting on.
   Show as	Show a currency symbol or percentage sign (%) next to the performance card value. The value, such as 12 versus .12, is determined by the Account group. Selecting Percentage - append % sign doesn’t shift the decimal point.
   Rounding	Select how much precision to show for the performance card value. No rounding: Show all digits for the number of decimal places defined for an account group—up to 8 places for performance cards. For example, for a value of 12.340600: If the account group is set to display 2 decimal places, the performance card displays 12.34. If the account group is computational and is set to 6 decimal places, the performance card displays 12.340600. Only computational account groups can set a specific number of decimal numbers, but account groups can be members of multiple account groups. Whole number: Show all digits to the left of the decimal place. Thousands: Abbreviate with K. For values less than 10,000, show 1 decimal place. For example: 111,444,777.99 appears as 111,444K 9,444.99 appears as 9.4K Millions: Abbreviate with M. For values less than 100,000,000 and greater than 10,000,000, show up to 1 decimal place. For values less than 10,000,000, show 2 decimal places. For example: 111,444,777.99 appears as 111M 99,444,777.99 appears as 99.4M 9,444,777.99 appears as 9.44M How does rounding apply in performance cards? If the rounding will obscure visibility, rounding is ignored. For example, it might appear as a zero if the amount is set to 1000 but the rounding is set to Millions. If the numbers are positive or negative: The maximum number of characters allowed is 11, including the currency sign and a negative sign if there are negative numbers. Positive numbers don’t consume a character in the count. When it's a budget or period comparison, the characters allowed is 9, including the currency sign and negative sign if the comparison is a negative(positive numbers don’t consume a character in the count).
   Reporting book (if you have multiple books)	Report on one book or combine amounts from multiple books.
   Comparison	Choices are based on the Reporting period you select. Period comparisons Finished period: To compare a value from one entire period with a value from another entire period (instead of a partial amount for the current incomplete period): From Reporting period, select a Prior... period (Prior Month, Prior Quarter, ...). From Compare to, select Period and Prior period. Current period: To compare a value from a current period (such as Current Year To Date) against a partial prior period (up to the same point): From Reporting period, select a Current... period (Current Month To Date, Current Quarter To Date, or Current Year To Date). From Compare to, select Period and Prior period. Day: To compare a single date (based on the As Of Date for the dashboard) against the same date in another period: From Reporting period, select Today. From Compare to, select Period and select the number of prior years, quarters, months, weeks, or days. For example, if the As Of Date for a dashboard is 1/1/15, comparing to a period of 1 year ago would compare against 1/1/1/14. Budget comparisons Budget: Select a budget you've set up. No comparison None: report on a standalone value, such as Days Sales Outstanding or Days Cash on Hand. You can create performance cards that compare an actual figure against a budget. However, creating a computation within an account group with the numerator and denominator coming from different actual vs budget isn't supported. In this case, consider a graphical approach to get the comparison with a visualization.
   Grouping	Organize related performance cards into a group, which you can move and align as a single unit on the dashboard.

5. On the Filters tab:

   Performance card components - Filters tab

   Option	Description
   Dashboard filtering	To update the performance card value based on filters selected at the top of the dashboard (set up separately), choose Allow. To ignore filters at the top of the dashboard and always show that the performance card value as is, choose Prevent. For example, if you have $100,000 of assets in Chicago and $200,000 of assets in San Francisco: If you prevent dashboard filtering (and have no performance card filters), an Assets performance card always shows a value of $300,000. If you allow dashboard filtering, the performance card initially shows a value of $300,000. If you set up a dashboard filter for Location and choose Chicago, the performance card shows $100,000. Choose San Francisco, and the performance card shows $200,000.
   Dimensions	To narrow the scope of the performance card value (based on dimensions you have set up for your company), choose how to filter the dimensions. For example, if you have set up a dimension for Location, you can focus as narrowly as a specific location, or as broadly as a location group and all its sub-locations. To ignore filters at the top of the dashboard and always show the performance card value based on these dimension filters, for Dashboard filtering choose Prevent. For example, if you have $100,000 of assets in Chicago and $200,000 of assets in San Francisco, and you set up a performance card filter for Location and choose Chicago: If you prevent dashboard filtering, an Assets performance card always shows a value of $100,000. If you allow dashboard filtering, and you set up a dashboard filter for Location and choose San Francisco, the performance card shows $200,000. Choose All locations, and the performance card shows $300,000.

6. Select Save.

• See the topics on the Maintain dashboards page to learn about filtering and grouping dashboards, dashboard permissions, and more.
• Learn how to make a dashboard your home page.
• Share your dashboards with others in your organization.