Customize and build dashboards in a way that makes the most sense for your viewers and financial goals.
In this guide, learn how to use the dashboard tools to efficiently tell your data story and ensure your data is complete and accurate.
To get started, be sure you’re in Edit BI Dashboard mode for the dashboard you want to edit, then select the pencil icon to start editing.
Tell a story
The most effective dashboards tell a story that engages viewers. Allowing them to draw insight, spot trends, drill in deeper, and answer their own questions.
Consider your audience
To create dashboards viewers engage with, consider who’ll be viewing, filtering, and using them most often. Build multiple dashboards for your various audiences and share them with specific users when publishing.
- What questions and goals do you/they have that have them consulting this dashboard?
- What actions will you drive by distributing access to this dashboard?
For example, your viewers may be interested in:
- Finding potential business opportunities to expand or re-focus tactics or,
- seeing early warning signs to diagnose the problem and take corrective actions quickly.
Design dashboards with your company's financial goals for your target audiences.
Show trends over time
Establish context and history so your viewers can make decisions based on historical insights. Add additional insight using text boxes to provide commentary.
Less is more
You can build and publish as many dashboards and questions as you’d like, so consider producing targeted dashboards with multiple tabs to be sure each one is easy to consume.
Preview and confirm visualization data
As you build questions in your dashboard, take advantage of the preview feature to see the data captured by the filters. This ensures that your visualizations accurately portray the data you need.
Additionally, you can confirm the data matches your expectations by fetching data into a spreadsheet using the same filters.
If you notice issues with the data, adjust your filters or consider whether you need additional filters to account for formulas or tags.
Organize and format your BI dashboard
Use the tools below to help create a compelling BI dashboard.
Organize questions
Visual representations of your questions can be placed in any order across multiple tabs, allowing you to tell a clear story with your dashboard.
You may want some charts larger than others to help call out specific trends and catch the eye.
Click on any visual to drag and drop it, or click on the lower right-hand corner to change the size:
Add existing questions
Quickly add a question to your dashboard from the bank of questions ever used on this dashboard. This is especially useful when creating similar visualizations.
To add an existing question, click + Plus then search and/or select the question you want.
It’ll automatically be added to the bottom of the dashboard and ready for you to customize. Learn how to edit questions.
Drag and drop it in your preferred location and make any changes to the size by dragging the lower right corner.
Add text boxes
Text boxes are great at adding context and information or helping organize various sections of your dashboard.
To add a text box, click on the Aa. A text box will open on your Dashboard to enter your text. Click the art palette icon to change the formatting.
Re-size or move your text box based on the purpose of the text box.
Add dashboard filters
Allow your viewers to explore the data and filter it using the parameters you’ve made available. We recommend adding filters for each dimension at a minimum. Filters work across your tabs for consistent visuals.
Learn how to add filters to your dashboards.
Use a step-by-step guide
Ready to build a dashboard? We have several step-by-step guides for various use cases with the recipes for each dashboard question.