Creating Dashboards

Dashboards provide an at-a-glance understanding of key metrics. Each dashboard contains one or more dashboard components and each component displays metrics from a report.

How to Create New Dashboards

To create a new dashboard:

  1. From the Dashboard tab, click Create to open the builder.
  2. Choose the layout (2 columns or 3 columns) from the picklist.
  3. Click Add Component and set options in the Add New Component dialog. Review the component settings for each chart type below.
  4. Repeat the process to create as many components as you need to display on the dashboard. You can add up to 15 components.
  5. Rearrange components by clicking on the component and dragging it to the new location.
  6. Click the bullhorn icon in the component header to feature that chart at the top of the dashboard.
  7. Click Save & Run.

Using Run-Time Inputs with Dashboards

Run-time inputs allow dashboard viewers to dynamically update a dashboard to show information most relevant to them. For example, Veepharm uses a dashboard with components that measure average query cycle time within a study. This dashboard is shared across the organization, but individual users who access the dashboard can use run-time inputs to filter on specific sites.

Vault remembers your filter settings when you leave and return to the dashboard. The same filter will be applied each time you rerun the dashboard. To change your filter preference, click the Edit icon next to Filters in the upper left of the dashboard window.

To use run-time inputs with dashboards, select a report with run-time inputs when creating a dashboard component. When running dashboards, users enter run-time filter values to use in the dashboards. The filter values are based on the associated prompt report filters. 

How to Copy Dashboards

If you want to create a dashboard that shares components with another dashboard, you can copy the existing dashboard. You must be the dashboard’s owner or have the Editor role to copy.

To copy a dashboard:

  1. From the Dashboards tab or from inside a specific dashboard, click on the Actions menu and choose Make a Copy.
  2. Enter a Name and (optional) Description for the new dashboard.
  3. Click Continue.
  4. Make any necessary edits to the new dashboard. When finished, click Save or Save & Run.

How to Edit Dashboards

Only the dashboard owner, a user listed as Editor for the dashboard, or an Admin can edit a dashboard. To open edit mode, open the dashboard and click Edit. When finished, click Save or Save & Run.

From edit mode, you can:

  • Rename or edit the dashboard component by clicking the pencil icon by the dashboard name. Review the component settings for each chart type: Gauge, Number, Column, Bar, Line, and Pie.
  • Delete a dashboard component by clicking the X icon by the component name.
  • Rearrange dashboard components by clicking on the component and dragging it to a new location in the dashboard.
  • Change the dashboard layout by choosing 2 columns or 3 columns from the picklist.
  • Add a new component by clicking Add Component.
  • Click the bullhorn icon to feature or un-feature a specific chart. The featured chart appears in full width at the top of the dashboard.

How to Create Gauge Charts

To create a dashboard component that shows a gauge chart:

  1. While in edit mode, click Add Component.
  2. Enter a Name for the component.
  3. Select Gauge as the chart type.
  4. On the Chart Data tab, select a report and a metric from that report to serve as the data for the chart. If the report uses grouping, choose whether to include all groups or select specific groups.
  5. On the Formatting tab, enter the range of metric values to show on the chart. If you want the exact metric value to appear below the chart, select Display Actual Value and enter the unit label. Select the Display Metric Label checkbox to show the name of the metric in the chart. Select the Display Groupings checkbox to show details for the groupings applied to the chart. You can also add up to three colored bands to the chart by selecting a color and an end value for the band.
  6. Click Continue to add the new component to the dashboard.

How to Create Number Charts

To create a dashboard component that shows a number chart:

  1. While in edit mode, click Add Component.
  2. Enter a Name for the component.
  3. Select Number as the chart type.
  4. On the Chart Data tab, select a report and a metric from that report to serve as the data for the chart.
  5. Select All Values or choose a specific grouping (only available for grouped reports).
  6. Optional: Select the % of Grand Total checkbox to display this chart as a percentage. This is only available if your metric is a sum or count and the chart shows a specific grouping.
  7. On the Formatting tab, enter a unit label for the number. If you want the number to show in a specific color, depending on the value, use the range selectors to choose a color and enter the start/end values for the range. Note that the ranges must be in ascending order, meaning that Range 1 must be lower numbers than Range 2.
  8. Click Continue to add the new component to the dashboard.

How to Create Bar Charts

To create a dashboard component that shows a bar chart:

  1. While in edit mode, click Add Component.
  2. Enter a Name for the component.
  3. Select Bar as the chart type.
  4. On the Chart Data tab, select a report and a metric (x-axis value) from that report to serve as the data for the chart. In Y-Axis (Category), select a field to serve as category in the report. In Group By, select a field to group by within each category. Select Stacked, Grouped, or % Stacked as the Group Styling.
  5. On the Formatting tab, choose to show or hide the x and y axis labels. Modify the labels if needed. Select the Show Chart Values checkbox to display the exact value for each category or group after the bar. Select the Show Legend checkbox to display a legend below the chart. Enter a value for Target Line if you want to display a target value as a line on the chart.
  6. Click Preview Report Data to preview the chart with data.
  7. Click Continue to add the new component to the dashboard.

How to Create Column Charts

To create a dashboard component that shows a column chart:

  1. While in edit mode, click Add Component.
  2. Enter a Name for the component.
  3. Select Column as the chart type.
  4. On the Chart Data tab, select a report and a metric (y-axis value) from that report to serve as the data for the chart. In X-Axis (Category), select a field to serve as category in the report. In Group By, select a field to group by within each category. Select Stacked, Grouped, or Stacked as the Group Styling.
  5. On the Formatting tab, choose to show or hide the x and y axis labels. Modify the labels if needed. Select the Show Chart Values checkbox to display the exact value for each category or group above the column. Select the Show Legend checkbox to display a legend below the chart. Enter a value for Target Line if you want to display a target value as a line on the chart.
  6. Click Preview Report Data to preview the chart with data.
  7. Click Continue to add the new component to the dashboard.

How to Create Line Charts

To create a dashboard component that shows a line chart:

  1. While in edit mode, click Add Component.
  2. Enter a Name for the component.
  3. Select Line as the chart type.
  4. On the Chart Data tab, select a report and a Metric (y-axis value) from that report to serve as the data for the chart. In X-Axis (Category), select a field to serve as the category in the report. In Group By, select a field to group by within each category, if available.
  5. On the Formatting tab, choose to show or hide the x- and y-axis labels. Modify the labels if needed. Select the Show Chart Values checkbox to display the exact value for each category or group above the data point on the line. Select the Show Legend checkbox to display a legend below the chart. Enter a value for Target Line if you want to display a target value as a line on the chart.
  6. Click Preview Report Data to preview the chart with data.
  7. Click Continue to add the new component to the dashboard.

How to Create Pie Charts

To create a dashboard component that shows a pie chart:

  1. While in edit mode, click Add Component.
  2. Enter a Name for the component.
  3. Select Pie as the chart type.
  4. On the Chart Data tab, select a report and a metric from that report to serve as the data for the chart. In Group By, select a field to group by within each category.
  5. On the Formatting tab, select the Show Category Labels checkbox to display the labels for each grouping category. Select Show Percentages to display the percentage for each grouping category. Select the Show Legend checkbox to display a legend below the chart. 
  6. Click Preview Report Data to preview the chart with data.
  7. Click Continue to add the new component to the dashboard.

Limits for Reports

For Gauge and Number charts, you can use any report except a matrix report that groups on a Date or DateTime field. For other charts, you can use any report that uses grouping, but not a report that is ungrouped.

The following table offers a visual representation of supported charts for various report formats:

  Chart Types
Gauge Number Column Bar Line Pie
Report Format No Groups X X        
Grouped by Date field     X X X X
Grouped by non-Date field X X X X X X