Use dashboards to analyze data without extensive knowledge of Cube or the underlying spreadsheet work. Cube dashboards simplify data analysis and reporting by summarizing the most up-to-date information on your company's plans and performance.
Your FP&A team or designated individuals have already done the heavy lifting, including gathering data from multiple sources, creating relevant models, setting up various plans for analysis, and tracking performance.
Make the most of the valuable insights from their analysis through the shared dashboards, ensuring you stay well-informed about all aspects of your business.
Learn more about how Cube Admins create dashboards.
View a dashboard
When you first log in to Cube, you'll be brought directly to the Dashboards section of the Web portal.
A Cube Admin on your team likely customized this view with various charts and graphs for your business. Depending on your permissions, sensitive data may be filtered and impact some visuals.
Please note: if you are a new Cube user, dashboard data will take about 20 minutes to populate after you accept your Cube invite.
Before getting started with your analysis, check the last sync time in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, which shows the last update time for the data:
The data refreshes periodically based on the Cube Admin's settings, and you can resync the data anytime using the sync button.
Click View Dashboard to open a dashboard.
Filtering the dashboard
Your Cube Admin has likely set up various filters for your dashboard visuals, allowing you to drill into specific metrics using financial and operational data. These filters may have preset defaults or be interactive to allow you to adjust the data you see presented on your own.
These can be found at the top of your dashboard and will apply as you move to any tabs listed here, too.
For example, you might have access to filters that allow you to drill into:
- Time Period: Month, Year, Quarter, etc.
- Scenario: Forecast, Actuals, Board Plan, etc.
- Department: Sales, Marketing, R&D, HR, etc.
- Account: Bookings, Equity, Liabilities, Assets, etc.
- And more.
To get more granular and dissect your data from different angles, click on a filter to select your criteria and the Add filter to apply the changes:
When filters are applied, the dashboard will automatically reflect the changes to the visuals where the filter is configured.
Note: filters do not automatically apply to every visual on your dashboard unless configured explicitly by your Cube Admin.
Filters applied only impact your view, so you don't have to worry about resetting anything.
Digging into details
Interact with the charts and graphs to obtain more information.
Hover over charts to see specific numbers:
Click on the title of a visualization for an enlarged view. Here, you can change the visualization type (e.g., from a bar chart to a line chart) and explore various formatting options to suit your needs temporarily.
When you modify a chart and leave the enlarged view, changes will not be saved, and the dashboard will revert to its original configuration.
Modify the data
Your Cube Admin may configure visualizations and filters in your dashboard to display data within specific limits.
For example, a chart may default to showing the last 12 months of data. However, some visualizations can be modified to explore data beyond those limits temporarily.
To modify a visualization, start by clicking on its title. This will open a larger visualization view with various options to customize your view.
If the visualization allows for modification, you'll see a View option at the bottom of the chart, allowing you to temporarily apply changes based on the data available in your Cube.
Drill deeper into data
Laser into data points, charts, and graphs to find its drivers and detractors by clicking on a data point in a visualization. This will open a menu with various options for exploring that specific data point further.
Depending on how the visualization is configured, you may have the following options:
- See the latest: See a table of the most recent set of values used in this visualization.
- See this quarter by month or month by week: Breaking the data down a bit further provides more detail into a period of time.
- Break out by ...: Explore the sub-elements contributing to a specific value. For example, you can identify which Departments contributed the most to a month of expenses.
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Automatic insights:
- X-ray: Will open a page with multiple visualizations showing different perspectives and breakdowns related to that data point.
- Compare to the rest: Similar to X-ray, this option provides an extensive view of other related values to the selected data point. For example, you can compare the Revenue for April with all other accounts in April.
- Filter by this value: In complex visualizations, use this option to reduce the displayed data by focusing on values related to the selected data point. For instance, you can view the same visualization with values greater than the chosen value.
If you want to find answers to a specific question or need help making sense of the data, talk to your Cube Admin for assistance and guidance.