Building a Custom Dashboard

One use-case for reports and charts is inclusion on a custom-built dashboard. At its core, the dashboard-building interface is a simple grid. Reports or charts go into those containers. To add a report or chart, you first need to add a container. From there, optimizing the dashboard is a matter of resizing/rearranging the report- and/or chart-containing containers to make the most of the available space/display.

Access the Dashboard Manager by clicking the appropriate button on the side navigation panel.

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Like the Insights Manager, the Dashboard Manager lists existing dashboards, along with information about when each was last saved, who last updated each, as well as the reports/charts included in each.

Additionally, a few additional items of functionality are labeled below:

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[1] The Navigation Sidebar. Most of these icons are the same as we've seen throughout Insights (show/hide header, Insights, Dashboards, and light/dark theme toggle). One new icon shows, too: IP Manager. The IP Manager allows a user to view whitelisted IP addresses and/or add new IP addresses to the whitelist. 

[2] The Dashbaord Name, Last Saved, and Last Saved By columns are sortable. The Reports column simply lists the reports and charts that comprise each dashboard. Clicking on any of the individual report names will open the specific report/chart in a new tab.

[3] Use this button to begin building a New Dashboard.

[4] These four icons enable a user to: 

View an individual dashboard, full view (in a new tab)Duplicate a dashboard to create a second copyEdit a dashboard's nameDelete a dashboard

After navigating to the Dashboard Manager screen, click the New Dashboard button to get started. Enter a name for the Dashboard, and then click Create.

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Clicking Create takes you to the Dashboard Builder interface, shown below:

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Within the blue dashed outline is the configurable grid. The idea is to add different rectangular containers to the grid, and then place existing reports and charts into those containers—ultimately piecing together different types of data from throughout Insights.

Additionally, notice the items that appear directly above the dashboard grid.

These items appear above the grid's upper-left corner:

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[Display Resolution] Customize the display resolution for the dashboard, in order to optimize the dashboard for the intended display method, such as a TV.

[Columns] Choose how many columns you want the dashboard to have. Generally, the greater the display resolution, and the more reports/charts you want to fit within the dashboard, the more columns you’ll want to select.

[Is Responsive?] Enable the display to dynamically auto-adjust to specific display sizes/styles.

[Add Container] Adding containers to the dashboard is the first step to actually building/populating a dashboard.

These buttons appear in the upper-right corner of the screen:

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[Settings] Change the dashboard's name, or delete the dashboard.

[Dashboard Link] View the dashboard's URL (which can then be copied and shared).

[Preview Mode] See what the dashboard would look like with all current content and settings. You can toggle between the light and dark themes when previewing.

[Save] Save current progress. 

Click the Add Container button; a rectangle will appear on the grid.

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Hovering over the container reveals some options:

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[1] Use this draggable handle to move the container around within the grid.

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[2] Click the [ x ] to delete the container.

[3] Use the [ + ] to add a report or chart to the container. This will be covered shortly.

[4] Use this handle to resize the container (by dragging the bottom-right corner).

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Click the [+] to begin the process of adding a chart to the container. On clicking the [+], the following pop-out window appears:

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A few more items to point out:

[1] These two tabs let you toggle between available reports and charts (Reports) and Agent Vues.

[2] Begin typing a report/chart's name here to filter available results.

[3] Select a label from this drop-down to filter the results by a particular label.

[4] These columns give info about each available item: whether it is a report or chart (note the small icons to the left of each report's name), the report's name, whether it is live or not, when it was last saved, and any labels that have been applied.

[5] Cancel and close the Add Report window, or add the selected report to the active container.

Below, the Incoming Support Interactions chart is being selected for this container.

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After clicking the Add button, the chart now occupies the formerly-empty container, as shown below (and to the left).

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Hovering over the container (image on the right) reveals some additional functions. In addition to the draggable handle, the [ x ] that deletes the container, and the resize handle, in the center of the container are options to:

[Edit] Replace the report/chart with a different report/chart.

[Delete] Deletes the report or chart, but keeps the container in tact.

[Expand] Opens the report/chart in a new tab.

[Force Hide Header] With some report/chart types, you also will see an option to force hide the header in order to reduce visual clutter, saving valuable space for other reports/charts.

Note that the Edit button (the pencil icon) is used to change the report or chart that is in the container, replacing one with another. If you want/need to modify the report/chart itself, that requires the Expand button. This will open the report/chart in a new tab. If you make edits and re-save the report or chart, when the dashboard is refreshed, you should see the modified version occupying the container.

Each dashboard has its own URL, which can be shared across the organization. Clicking the Dashboard Link button brings up a small pop-out window containing the dashboard's unique URL.

The Copy & Close button copies the URL to the user's clipboard, which can then be pasted into an email, message, Slack channel, and so on. The Go button essentially works like Preview Mode—the dashboard is opened in a new tab.

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In order to share a dashboard's URL outside of the organization, specific IP addresses need to be manually whitelisted. In order to whitelist a specific IP address, use the IP Manager that can be found along the side navigation bar.

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Preview mode

The Preview Mode button, which appears above the dashboard grid, opens the dashboard, in its current form, in a new browser tab.