Save and share favorites

Save your Analytics analysis points and insights as favorites and share them with your team.

Favorites and dashboards are two of the key features of Phocas.

Related information: Add an analysis point as a widget on a dashboard.

User permissions:

• To save favorites: Favorites > Save.
• To share favorites: Collaboration > Share with Folders and/or Collaboration > Share with Users

Administrators with the Favorites permission can access the Favorites page, where they can manage all the favorites in your organization's Phocas site.

When you change your view of the grid, filter the data, or create a chart during your analysis, you can save that view as a favorite. You can save multiple favorites and easily switch from one to another for quick access to the information that you need.

Update your favorites as your needs change over time and share your favorites with your team for easier collaboration.

After you save a favorite, other actions become available.

Save useful data as a favorite

Save a favorite

After you save a favorite, other actions become available. These actions require additional user permissions.

Save a new favorite

1. Open a database in Analytics and carry out your analysis (grid or chart view), then click the blue arrow next to the database name and select Save as favorite.
2. Configure the favorite's settings. The available settings depend on your user permissions.

   • Owner: Your name is selected by default, as you are saving the favorite. To transfer ownership, select a different user.
   • Favorite: The New option is selected by default.
   • Name and Description: Enter a name (required) and an optional description.
   • Period:

     • The Current option (with your active period in brackets) is selected by default. This is whatever period was selected in the Period menu when you saved the favorite.
     • You can change this to Default or select a default period.
     • Use offset dates to make your favorites dynamic, which means they automatically update each time they are opened.
     • If you're sharing the favorite, note that other users might have a different default period.
   • Folders and Users: By default, your favorite isn't shared. You can assign it to folders or share it with specific users. See Sharing and folders.
3. Click Save.

Configuring a favorite's settings

Save a favorite based on an existing favorite

Use this method to create a variation of any favorite, whether it's been shared with you or one you've saved yourself.

1. Open the favorite and make your changes, then click the blue arrow next to the favorite name and select Save as new favorite.
2. Update the settings and click Save.

Saving a new favorite from an existing one

Edit a favorite

User permissions: Save Favorites to edit your own favorites; Manage Favorites to edit favorites shared with you in Analytics.

You can modify and re-save (overwrite) your own favorites. You can't overwrite a favorite shared with you, unless you use the Save as new favorite method described above.

Edit a favorite's name, description, or owner

You might want to change the name or description of one of your favorites or transfer the ownership so that another user can manage it. Changing the owner is especially important if you leave the business because if your Phocas account is deleted, the favorites you created will no longer be available to other users.

You can quickly edit a favorite's name, description, and owner from your homepage. Locate the favorite and click its menu button, then click Edit. Make your changes and click Save.

You can also edit these details from within the favorite, as described in the next section.

Edit a favorite's contents

Editing the contents of a favorite is similar to saving a new one. For example, suppose you saved a favorite with a list of 10 key accounts and now want to add another account.

1. Open the favorite.
2. Modify that favorite as required. For example, you might select and focus on another dimension.
3. Click the blue arrow next to the favorite name and select Save.

   
4. Edit the favorite's name, description, and other settings as required. Phocas recognizes you're modifying an existing favorite and displays these saved settings for you.
5. Click Save. The contents of the existing favorite are modified, but the other settings remain the same (unless you changed them too).

Share a favorite

User permissions: Collaboration > Share with Folders and/or Share with Users.

Read the Sharing and folders page to learn about how sharing works.

Typically, you share a favorite when you create it. At the bottom of the Favorite window, select the checkboxes of the required folders and users, then click Save.

Example: Save and share a favorite

For example, suppose you create a pie chart comparing the profit last month in each territory. You now want to save the chart as a favorite and share it with the sales team by placing it in a sales folder. You also want the favorite to automatically update with new data as time goes on.

1. Select Actions > Save.
2. Select New from the Favorite dropdown list, if not already selected.
3. Enter the name as Territory Profitability and leave the description blank.
4. Leave the period as Current (Previous Month).
5. Select the Sales folder.
6. Do not select any individual users. The favorite will be automatically shared with you as you are the owner.
7. Click Save.

   

You can also share a favorite from your homepage. Locate the favorite, then click its menu button and click Share. In the Share window, select the required users and/or folders, then click Save.

Share an embeddable link

You can generate a link for embedding a favorite into another website (such as an intranet, or another product) for authenticated users to view.

Steps

When the item is open, click the Export button in the toolbar, then select Embed view and click Export.

A new browser window opens with a unique embeddable URL, which you can then copy and paste into another application (the steps you need to take depend on the application you are using). In some cases, you need to put the URL inside an iframe HTML tag. For example, the code snippet might look like this:

<iframe src="https://yourphocassiteurl.phocassoftware.com/Favourite/Embed/58" height="500" width="500"></iframe>

In the example below, a favorite was embedded into another location and then opened by a user. You can see it looks a bit different in the embed view; the black bar, logo, and other Phocas tools are absent. Authenticated users can open the favorite to analyze the data in Phocas.

Subscribe to a favorite

User permission: Favorites > Subscribe

You can subscribe to a favorite to receive email notifications whenever the underlying data updates.

See Subscriptions.

Add a favorite to the dashboard

Favorites are a great way to add content to a dashboard. The favorite, which can be in a grid or chart view, is displayed inside a dashboard widget. See Add a favorite as a widget for steps.

Create an alert from a favorite

Alerts are favorites that are configured with color coding to help you monitor performance against set targets. They are displayed on your homepage, where the color identifies items that require your immediate attention. See Use alerts for more information.

Delete a favorite

User permissions: Save Favorites

You can delete the favorites that you create (own).

On your homepage, locate the favorite, click its menu button, and then click Delete > Delete. You can restore it within 45 days from the Deleted items tab.

If you have many shared favorites cluttering your homepage, rather than deleting them, use the grid filters to remove them from view.