Adding and configuring a dynamic widget
Dynamic report powered widgets can be added and created by clicking on the Widgets button in the top-right corner of your dashboard.
Select the Dynamic Widgets tab. This will show you all of the existing dynamic widgets available to you.
To add one of these to your current dashboard view, check the box on the left. Selecting a Horizontal Position lets you determine the size and location of the widget. You can enter a number in the Order field to influence the horizontal positioning.
You can create a new widget by clicking on the +Add button.
Please note that only administrators may create a new dynamic widget.
Widget configuration
Report-powered widget configuration is split into two sections.
Initial Configuration
The first stage of configuration is concerned with high-level properties such as:
The source report that will be used
What kind of record do you want to report on?
Titles and descriptions
The general display type
Do you want a numerical value, a chart, or a table?
These settings will apply to all instances of this widget for all of its users. While most of these settings can be changed after creation, the changes will be seen by all users of the widget.
Detailed Configuration
The second configuration step is performed once the base widget has been added to the dashboard.
This stage of configuration is where you determine what you want to do with the report data. You can configure:
Filters - choose which records (e.g. quotes, cases, customers) will be reflected
Aggregate type - is this a count, a sum, an average etc?
Colour scheme - choose text and background colours
Chart type - if this is a chart, what type?
These options can be changed at any time without affecting other users.
The next section goes into all of the configuration options in detail.
Creating a new report powered widget - Initial configuration
Click on the +Add button to create a new dynamic widget.
You'll then need to configure a few high-level settings.
Source Report
Select the report that will be used as the data source for this widget. There may be multiple viable options. Please note that only a subset of reports is supported, for compatibility and performance reasons.
The report you choose will depend on what you are trying to achieve with the widget. The key factor to consider is the type of record that the widget will be built around - e.g. quotes, customers, cases, sales orders.
You must also make sure that the report selected contains the data you are going to report or filter on. To see which columns will be available for each report, click the icon to the right of the report drop-down.
Time-based widgets
If your widget will be used to reflect information for a particular time period then you should generally select a report that would normally accept Date From and Date To parameters when run normally. This is because the same parameters will be used by the timespan you set on the widget.
For example, if you wanted to show how many cases had been created last month, you could use "All Cases (By Created Date)". For a time-based opportunity report, you could use either "All Opportunities by Created Date" or "All Opportunities by Closed Date", depending on your requirements.
If your widget is not intended to show data for a particular timeframe, then this does not apply. For example, if you are intending to show all cases with a particular status, then you could use the "All Cases" report. The actual filters will be set in the second stage of configuration.
Widget Header
The Widget Header field sets a default header for that widget.
Description
The description field lets you add information that can be seen when the widget is edited. By default it will contain a reference to the report being used, but this can be changed.
Display Type
Here you will decide what kind of widget you want. For a reminder of what each of these means, click here.
Select one of the options:
Aggregate - for a single value (count, min, max, sum, average)
Chart - column, line, or pie chart, or a grid view
Timeline Chart - same as chart but for tracking values over time
Table - a grid view
Grouped Table - a more complex grid view that allows for up to three levels of grouping
Advanced Settings
There are several other settings to note.
Duplicatable
If enabled, copies of this widget can be made in Settings. This is useful if you want to set up a number of similar widgets with the same source report.
The recommendation is to keep this enabled.
Timespan Movable
If enabled, users can slide the timespan forwards and backwards.
Users with role that allows for editing of widget configurations will also be able to change the Initial Offset and Initial Span when editing the widget on their dashboard.
Leaving this checked will make the widget more flexible for users, though in some cases you may wish to lock this down e.g. if you want users to see the current period only
Timespan Fixed
If enabled, the widget will be locked to monthly or multi-month views.
The recommendation is to leave this unchecked, to afford more flexibility.
Breakdown
If enabled, users will be able to click the 🔍 icon on a widget to get an expanded view of the widget's data
This is effectively a view of the report that is powering the widget, with all of the widget's filters applied. All report columns are included
Leaving this as enabled will allow users to drill down into the data behind the presented value, chart, or table.
If your widget will be used by other users, you may wish to disable this. You may wish users to only see, for example, an overall figure, without seeing all of the data that lead to it.
Breakdown Display Title
If the widget has the breakdown enabled, you can change the title shown at the top.
Breakdown Total Enabled
If you enable this, a row will be added to the bottom of the breakdown grid.
This row will display a simple sum of each numerical column in the breakdown.
Refresh Interval
If you enter a value here, the widget will automatically refresh on your dashboard.
Define the refresh interval in seconds
The minimum is 180
In other words, this is the Widget's Refresh Timer. Adjusting this setting ensures the widget updates automatically at the specified interval.
Note: Consider system performance when setting a shorter refresh time.
Saving and adding the widget
Click Save when you have made all required changes. This will add the widget to the top of the list.
The widget is now available to be added to your dashboard. For dynamic widgets, this needs to be done in order to complete configuration. This is due to the wider range of filtering and display options compared to standard widgets.
To add the widget, check the box in the leftmost column. You may also wish to set a horizontal position. This will also determine the width of the widget.
Horizontal position
If the horizontal position is not specified, a widget will occupy the width of the dashboard. Selecting Left or Right will cause the widget to occupy half of the space, on either side.
It's also possible to enable a third or fourth column.
Assigning a Second Left or Second Right position will cause the dashboard widgets to be divided into three columns with 1/3 width each.
Having widgets with Second Left and Second Right positions will split the dashboard widgets across four columns with 1/4 width each.
A widget with Full width will always occupy the full width, and will appear before other widgets.
Once the widget has been added to the dashboard, you can move on to the next stage of configuration.
Detailed configuration and filters
When a dynamic widget is first added to your dashboard, it will take into account all lines in the report that match the date period that has been selected.
You can configure the widget further by clicking on the cog icon.
This is where you can fine tune the widget to your requirements by defining properties such as:
Filters - choose which records (e.g. quotes, cases, customers) will be reflected
Aggregate type - is this a count, a sum, an average etc?
Colour scheme - choose text and background colours
Chart type - if this is a chart, what type?
Timespan options
The options available will depend on the Display Type selected before.