Create a custom dashboard with the Dashboard Builder

Jumping between multiple reports to track your team's performance takes valuable time. With the Dashboard Builder, you can bring your key charts and tables together in one visual space.

Start from a blank canvas or a ready-made template, then add charts, tables, and other widgets pulled straight from your Showpad data. Combine as many widgets as you need, apply filters that update everything at once, and watch as your work saves automatically. When ready, download or email your dashboard. You can also schedule a recurring delivery to stakeholders. 

See how it looks

Key features

• Start from a blank canvas or a ready-made template
• Combine custom charts, tables, and design elements in one dashboard
• Apply filters that update every chart on the dashboard at once
• Resize, move, and rearrange widgets to build the layout you want
• Pick up where you left off with autosave and version history

You need this to succeed

The quick way

1. Start a new dashboard
2. Add widgets to your dashboard
   • Chart template
   • Custom chart
   • Design element
3. Arrange and update widgets
4. Save, rename, and track versions of your dashboard
5. Preview and export your dashboard

Do this step by step

Build a custom dashboard that brings the metrics your team checks most often into one place. Follow these steps to build your ideal layout from scratch, or jump straight to the section you need.

Start a new dashboard

Every dashboard starts the same way, whether you build it from a blank canvas or a ready-made template.

1. Navigate to the Analytics tab in the Admin App.
2. Select My Dashboards from the left menu.
3. Click Create Dashboard.
4. Enter a name for your dashboard.
5. Select a template, or select Blank dashboard to start from an empty canvas.
   1. The templates are based on your company dashboards: Buyer Engagement, Content Popularity, and Showpad Adoption.
6. Click Create.
7. In the Dashboard Builder, click Add Widgets and choose a widget type: Chart templates, Custom chart, or Design elements.

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Add a chart template

Chart templates give you a ready-made chart you can add to your dashboard in a couple of clicks.

1. In the Add Widgets menu, click Chart templates.
2. Scroll through the available templates.
3. To narrow your options, click Dataset and select a dataset, such as Assets, Users, or a Team Competencies dataset.
4. To find a specific visual, click Chart type and select from the available options. Available chart types depend on which templates match your dataset selection.
5. Select a template and click Add to Dashboard.

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Add a custom chart

Build a chart from scratch when a template doesn't quite fit what you want to show.

1. In the Add Widgets menu, click Custom chart.
2. Select a Dataset to focus your chart.
3. Choose the filters you want to apply to the data.
4. Select a chart type from the left menu.
5. Select the data fields you want to display from the configuration menus at the top of the chart. Each chart type has its own set of configuration options. Learn more about creating custom charts in our Build custom charts in the Dashboard Builder article.
6. To add a title, click Add a title in the upper left of the chart.
7. Click Add to Dashboard.

Tip: Reference the available data fields and filters for your selected data set in our Data fields and filters section of the Help Center.

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Add a design element

Use design elements to add context and structure between your charts.

1. In the Add Widgets menu, click Design elements.
2. Select an element: Text to add a text box, Spacer to add white space, or Image to add a picture.
3. Click Add to Dashboard. If you're adding an image, select the file from your device. The element appears below your existing charts and elements.
4. To add text, click into a text element and start typing.

Tip: Highlight text to format it with headings, bullet lists, code blocks, bold, italics, color, or highlight. Or type a forward slash (/) in a text element to open the rich text menu directly.

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Arrange and update widgets on a dashboard

Once your widgets are on the canvas, resize, move, and fine-tune them to build the layout you want.

• You can apply global filters to all charts on your dashboard: Activity started at, Division, Tag, and User group.
• To edit a chart, hover over its upper right corner, click the edit icon, make your updates, and click Save Changes.
• To resize a chart or design element, hover over an edge until your cursor turns into arrows, then click and drag.
• To move a widget, hover over its left-center edge until your cursor turns into a hand, then click and drag it to a new spot.
• To duplicate a widget, hover over its upper-right corner and click the duplicate icon. The copy appears directly below the original.
• To delete a widget, hover over its upper-right corner and click the trash icon.

Tip: There's no set limit on how many widgets you can add to a dashboard, but keeping it to around 10 to 15 widgets keeps it easy to read and quick to load.

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Save, rename, and track versions of your dashboard

Your changes are saved automatically, and you can always revert to an earlier version if needed.

Rename

1. To rename your dashboard, click its name in the upper-left corner, make your changes, and click the checkmark icon to save.
2. To rename a chart, click its name in the upper-left corner, make your changes, and press Enter or click away. 

Track versions

1. Check the last saved time next to the dashboard name to confirm your changes were saved.
2. To review a previous version, click Version history in the upper-left corner and select an older version.
3. To bring back an older version, click Restore the version in the action bar. Otherwise, click Back to current to keep working on the latest version.

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Preview and export your dashboard

Before you share your dashboard, preview how it looks and decide how you want to deliver it.

1. Click View to see how your dashboard would look as an exported PDF or PNG.
2. In view mode, apply the global filters: Activity started at, Division, Tag, and User group. These filters don't save automatically. To keep them, click Open in Editor and apply them there.
3. Click Export to download, email, or schedule delivery of your dashboard. Learn more about managing and exporting your custom dashboards.
4. When you're finished, click the X in the upper-right corner to close the dashboard.

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