How Do I Navigate Dashboards?

Each dashboard is a set of unique "widgets", presenting a combination of: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), focused metric tables, graphic displays of your data, a data table that can be quickly exported to a spreadsheet for further analysis. You can interact with specific widgets to drill deeper into the data, filter the entire dashboard, filter the dashboard from a specific widget and download images and CSV files from the widgets.  You can select your own default filters and save them as your opening view - for example, if you want to look at yesterday's data every time you open the dashboard, you can set that as your default.

You will see a link to the help document in the top right corner of each dashboard, under the heading FieldStack Dashboard Intelligence Help Document.

Dashboard Filters

Most dashboards have filters on the right side that allow you to look at specific dates, locations and other attributes. You can change the data displayed on the entire dashboard using these filters - for example, by choosing a specific date range. Note that some widgets are designed specifically to not react to the dashboard filters, and instead use a specific set of data; most often the titles on these widgets will hint at this, for example "Last 2 Weeks Sales Data".

Widget Filters

Most widgets have filter capability built-in.  Hovering over a field description on a graphic widget will highlight only that field on the graph.  This can be helpful to focus on a single line or bar graphic, and then by moving your mouse off the field description the other lines and bars will appear and complete the story.

By right-clicking on certain fields, you can drill deeper into your data - for example, when metrics are presented in monthly increments, right-clicking on the month allows you to drill into the data for the specific dates in that month.  

Many widgets are setup to "control the dashboard", meaning that you can select certain fields that will filter the entire dashboard - for example, choosing a date or a point on a line or bar with a left-click will filter the other widgets on the dashboard to that same attribute.  When you choose to filter this way, you will see a new filter on the right side of the dashboard - you can remove the filter by clicking on the trash can of that filter.  As noted above under Dashboard Filters, some widgets are designed for a specific set of filters and will not react to overall filters for the dashboard.

Another type of widget filtering is from a metrics table widget, for example a table that displays data by weekday.  You can select a specific weekday, say Tuesday, right-click and "Select".  This will filter the dashboard to dates that are Tuesdays.  Other filters may also be set at the same time, the filters will work together; if your overall Date filter is This Month, and you set a weekday filter to Tuesday, the results displayed will be for Tuesdays in This Month.

Exporting the Data Table

For the granular data that is represented on the dashboard, it can sometimes be helpful to work with it outside of the dashboard.  Tables containing granular data are most often at the bottom of the dashboard and have an option to be exported.  The recommended export is to a CSV file, where you can shape and view your data in a variety of ways.

Saving Your Default Filters

You can save your own set of filters so the view defaults to your unique view each time you open the dashboard.  To do this, set the filters to the view you want as your default.  In the Filters menu, left-click on the 3 lines to the right of the word Filters.  Choose "Set as My Default Filters".  You will then see a new icon, which you can use to restore the filters to the previous state.