Create a dashboard

Create dynamic and interactive dashboards to monitor the KPIs relevant to your role in the business.

Either start from scratch and save a brand-new dashboard or clone an existing dashboard as a starting point. Use offset dates to make your dashboards dynamic, which means they automatically update each time they are opened. When you create a dashboard, you become its owner.

Watch these Phocas Academy videos:
- Create a dashboard
- Make your dashboard interactive
Watch these PUG Training videos:
- Building advanced dashboards
- Multi-database dashboarding

Create a new dashboard

In the Dashboards menu click the Plus + button.
Configure the favorite's settings. The available settings depend on your user permissions.
- Name and Description: You must enter a name for the dashboard, but the description is optional.
- Owner: Your name is selected by default, as you are creating the dasboard. If you want to change ownership, select a different user from the list.
- Folders and Users: By default, your favorite is not shared wiht anyone, but you can assign it to folders or share it with specific users. See Sharing and folders for more information.
Click Save. Proceed to add content to your dashboard.

Clone an existing dashboard

You can clone a dashboard that you own, i.e., one that you created. This is a handy option if you have a dashboard you like but want to change a few things in it. You can then change the content to suit your needs and, if required, share it with other users.

Open the dashboard you want to clone.
Click the Clone button on the dashboard toolbar.
Enter a new name and description.
Update the sharing settings, if required.
Click Save.

Add content to a dashboard

Common dashboard content includes charts, lists, nested tables, text, images, videos, and web content. These items sit in widgets, which you can either add directly to the dashboard or from within the grid or chart.

A dashboard is made up of 'widgets', which you can add directly on the dashboard or from the analysis grid or chart view. Common dashboard content includes charts, lists, nested tables, text, images, videos and web content. Most dashboards contain favorites.

One of the simplest ways to add content to a dashboard is to add a saved favorite. This action essentially creates a copy of the original favorite. There is no link between the original favorite and the new dashboard widget; they exist as separate entities.

Open the favorite, then click the blue arrow next to the favorite name and select Add to dashboard.
Enter a new name for the favorite. A description is optional.
Either click Save & Open to view the dashboard now or click Save to continue with your analysis.

You can turn an analysis point into a widget on a dashboard without leaving the grid or chart view. You can add to an existing dashboard, a new dashboard or, if you have permission, a shared dashboard.

For example, suppose you are analyzing your Sales database and have created a Pie chart showing the profit of each branch for the year to date.

Click the arrow next to the dashboard name and select Add to dashboard > Yes.
Select the dashboard to which you want to add the widget or select New to create a new dashboard.
Select an existing line or select New to create a new line.
Enter a name for the new widget and, if necessary, the new dashboard. A description is optional (it displays at the top of the widget on the dashboard).
Specify the limit rows value. This option displays if you have selected a dimension. It filters either the top or bottom records by the specified value. For example, setting Limit Rows to Bottom 10, would only show the bottom 10 records. This action is also known as 'Top/Bottom N Analysis'.
Either click Save & Open to view the dashboard or Save.

You can add a widget to a dashboard from scratch.

For example, suppose you want to have a widget that shows the sales revenue earned by each Sales Rep for the year to date.

Open the dashboard and click Widget > Query. The widget configuration screen has a database selection on the top right and widget settings on the left (as shown below). The Phocas grid appears inside the screen and operates as usual.
Set up your analysis:
1. Select the database (Sales). The grid updates to reflect your selection.
2. Conduct your analysis in the grid: Select the Sales Rep dimension, then select Period > Year to Date, Measure > Revenue and Mode > Total. Sort the Revenue column in descending order.
Configure widget settings:
- Line - Select an existing line or select New to create a new line.
- Name - Enter a name for the new widget.
- Description - Enter a description. The description is optional (it displays at the top of the widget on the dashboard).
- Is Filterable and Link to Dashboard - Use these options to make the dashboard interactive.
- Minimized on Open - Select Yes if you want the widget to be minimized when you open a dashboard, so that only its title and description is visible. Otherwise, leave this option set as No.
- Run As (only users whose profile has Run As permission enabled will see this option) - Select the required user.
  - This option gives the widget the 'view' permissions of a selected user, rather than the user who is actually viewing the dashboard.
  - For example, a manager wants to show a sales performance widget for all branches to staff who normally only see information about their own branch. The manager can select his or her own name from the dropdown to allow users to view the widget exactly as the manager sees it, although they cannot analyze the widget.
- Limit Rows - Specify the limit rows value. This option displays if you have selected a dimension. It filters either the top or bottom records by the specified value. For example, setting Limit Rows to Bottom 10, would only show the bottom 10 records. This action is also known as 'Top/Bottom N Analysis'.
- Hide search box - Hide the search box to create more space for rows. This option displays if your widget contains data at a deeper level than Summary view, as it will automatically contain a search box.
Click Save.

You can add a list of databases, dashboards, favorites or alerts to a dashboard. These lists can be filtered. You can only add one type of list at a time but you can add as many lists as you want as individual widgets.

Open the dashboard and click Widget > List.
Select the type of list you want to display on the dashboard.
Apply a filter and/or sort, if required. For example, you can filter by when the list contents were last updated and sort by name or when updated.
Select an existing line or select New to create a new line.
Enter a description for the list.
Click Save.

You can add a text area in which you and other users can add information or comments about the items on the dashboard. It has a simple editor window, in which you can choose from built-in styles, or set your own formatting.

Open the dashboard and click Widget > Text.
Select an existing line or select New to create a new line.
Enter a name and description for the list.
Click Save.

Add a web page

You can embed a web page to your dashboard using a URL widget. For example, you could add an internal or external page, log-in screen or entry point to other web-based systems.

Open the dashboard and click Widget > URL.
Select an existing line or select New to create a new line.
Enter a name for the widget.
Enter the URL of the webpage you want to display on the dashboard. If possible, copy and paste the full URL for accuracy. The prefix https://'should be used (as shown in the image below), as trying to embed an http:// address typically fails on web-hosted instances of Phocas.
If you want the URL to displayed as well as the web page, select Show URL > Yes.
Click Save.

Sites that do not allow embedding: Many popular website do not allow themselves to be embedded within another webpage, for example, Facebook. There might be instructions on their website, or in your browser's settings, about enabling embedding.

Add a nested table

A nested table is an expandable report with up to three levels that you can add to a dashboard. It appears on its own line, stretching the full width of the dashboard. Each level, and rows within a level, can be expanded and collapsed.

Transaction mode and Summary view queries must be placed at the lowest level in the nested table. If you try to set them as higher levels they will not display in the table.

Open the dashboard and click Widget > Nested Table. There are three tabs on the Nested Table screen, one for each level, plus a preview tab.
Define level 1:
1. On the Level 1 tab, select the database (Sales). The grid updates to reflect your selection.
2. Select a dimension.
3. Select and focus on data in the usual way, changing the mode, period, properties, measures and so on. Your settings and selections will be displayed in the nested table.
Define the other levels. Repeat the above step process on the Level 2 tab and, if needed, Level 3 tab. You can use different data structures for different levels. Remember that queries from Summary view or Transaction mode must be the lowest level in the nesting.
Enter a name for the new widget, and a description, if required.
Click the Preview tab to see how the nested table widget will look before you add it on your dashboard. Note that preview will only provide a snippet of your data.
Click Save. A nested table may take some time to build, particularly if multiple levels have been chosen with large amounts of data). The nested widget will appear on a new line at the bottom of the dashboard.

The ability to cloning (copy) a widget is particularly useful when you want create multiple similar widgets. For example, you might want to have several summary widgets, which might have a different measure or summary type. Cloned widgets are added to the same line as the original widget. You cannot clone nested widgets.

Open the dashboard and locate the widget you want to clone, then click Clone button.