| Available for | Roles | Super Admin |
| Permissions | • Access Visual Insights Report Builder (Data Explorer) | |
| Packages | LeverTRM for Enterprise, Advanced Analytics add-on |
Custom dashboards allow you to collect specific insights from charts (built using the Data Explorer) in a single location. Charts saved as Looks can be pulled into multiple custom dashboards with changes easily propagated across any dashboards on which it appears. For details on how to build custom charts using the Data Explorer (that can then be saved to dashboards or as Looks), refer to our help article on building custom charts. To watch a demonstration of how to build custom charts and dashboards using Data Explorer, jump to the video at the end of this article.
How custom dashboards and Looks work
If you are familiar with the dashboards in Visual Insights, the layout and operation of custom charts and dashboards will be very familiar to you. Looks are entities unique to the Data Explorer and factor in when the same custom chart is used across multiple dashboards.
What are the differences between charts, dashboards, and Looks?
- A chart is a visualization of a data set.
- A dashboard is a collection of charts.
- A Look is a chart that has been saved as its own discrete item separate from a dashboard.
If you save a chart to a dashboard, any edits you make to that chart will have to be made via the dashboard to which it has been added. The edits will only be reflected on the dashboard to which the chart has been added.
If you save a chart as a Look, it will appear as an entry in the 'Looks' section of the folder you are viewing. From the folder, you can add individual Looks to existing dashboards. Looks can be edited via the folders in which they are kept. Any edits made to a Look will be reflected on all dashboards to which the Look has been added.
When should a chart be saved as a Look?
We recommend saving a chart as a Look if you plan on using the chart on multiple custom dashboards and the chart will be edited regularly to make changes to data, filters, and/or its visualization. For more information, refer to our help article on understanding the difference between adding and saving Looks to custom dashboards.
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As a best practice, we recommend saving all charts as Looks before adding them to dashboards. In the event that a custom dashboard is mistakenly deleted, you can easily rebuild it using your saved Looks. |
Accessing custom dashboards and Looks
To access custom dashboards and Looks...
- Navigate to Visual Insights via the platform header
- Click the chevron (>) on the left side of the page
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Click Data Explorer and select a data set from which to generate your custom chart
- For a full list of available data sets and the data fields in each, refer to our Data Explorer data sets directory.
- Click the folder icon in the top-right corner of the builder and select from the available folders - 'Favorites', 'My folder', 'Group' or 'Shared'
- To learn more about the differences between these folders, refer to our help article on Data Explorer folders.
- Select from your saved dashboards and/or Looks.
Editing custom dashboards and Looks
Editing custom dashboards
To edit a custom dashboard, click the three stacked dots (⠇) in the upper-right of the dashboard header and select Edit dashboard from the menu.
Below are descriptions of the actions you can take when a custom dashboard has been opened in edit view. Note that in order to apply any edits you make to the dashboard, you need to click the Save button in the edit view header.
Editing charts on a dashboard
Hover over the tile of the chart you wish to edit, click the three stacked dots (⠇) that appear in the upper-right corner, and select Edit from the menu.
A sub-window will appear containing the chart builder from which you can make your edits. For instructions on how to use the chart builder, refer to our help article on building custom charts.
When you have completed your edits, click the Save button at the top of the sub-window. The chart on the dashboard will be updated to reflect your edits.
Moving and resizing charts on a dashboard
To move a chart, hover over the chart tile, click the six stacked dots (⠿) that appear in the upper-left corner, and then drag the chart tile to the desired location.
To resize a chart, hover over the chart tile, click the triangle (◢) that appears in the bottom right corner, and then drag your cursor to shrink or expand the chart as needed.
Adding tiles to a dashboard
As outlined in our help article on building custom charts, they can be saved directly to existing dashboards as part of the building process. If you wish to add a tile to a dashboard that you are currently editing, click the Add Tile button in the header of the dashboard edit view, and select the type of tile you wish to add (visualization or text).
Adding visualization tiles to a dashboard
Selecting the option to add a visualization tile will open the chart builder in a sub-window. Select a data set and proceed to build the chart following the steps outlined in our help article on building custom charts. When the chart is complete, click the Save button at the top of the sub-window.
Adding text tiles to a dashboard
Selecting the option to add a text tile will open a modal in which you can input the title, subtitle and body text that will appear on the tile. Click Save to add the tile to your dashboard.
Text tiles can be moved and resized in the way as charts. Use text tiles to convey information that might not necessarily come across in the charts on the dashboard.
Editing filters on a dashboard
When a chart is saved to a new dashboard, the filters on the chart will be carried over to the dashboard by default. Additional filters can then be added from the dashboard edit view (see below). To edit filters, click the three stacked dots (⠇) to the right of the filter name and select Edit.
You can make modifications such as editing the filter title and configuring the filter type (choosing from multi-select or single-select options). Click 'Tiles to Update' to review which charts on the dashboard are affected by the filter. When you have completed your edits, click the Update button in the lower-right corner of the modal. The filter on the dashboard will be updated to reflect your edits.
Adding filters to a dashboard
To add more filters to an existing dashboard, click the Filters button in the header of the dashboard edit view and select Add Filter.
Search or select data fields by which to filter. Note, the data fields available for selection will be reflective of the data sets from which the charts on the dashboard originated.
- Example
- If a dashboard consists of charts generated from both the Opportunities and EEO Non-anonymized data sets, additional filters can be added from data fields in both data sets. If a dashboard consists of charts generated from only the Opportunities data set, then additional filters can only be added from data fields in the Opportunity data set.
Input a filter title and configure the filter type (choosing from multi-select or single select options). Click 'Tiles to Update' to review which charts on the dashboard are affected by the filter. Click the Add button to save the filter to the dashboard.
Deleting charts and filters from a dashboard
To delete a chart or filter, click the three stacked dots (⠇) (for charts these appear on hover) and select Delete from the menu that appears.
Configuring dashboard settings
To configure the settings of a custom dashboard, click the Settings button in the header of the dashboard edit view. You can configure settings for automatic data fresh frequency, as well as the default behavior for the filters bar (expanded or collapsed).
Editing Looks
To edit a chart that has been saved as a Look, click the gear icon (⚙) in the upper-right corner and select Edit from the menu. The Look will open in the chart builder view from which you can make your edits. For instructions on how to use the chart builder, refer to our help article on building custom charts.
When you have completed your edits, click the Save button at the top of the builder. The edits you made to the chart will be reflected on any dashboards to which it has been added as Look.
Adding and saving Looks to dashboards
Charts that have been saved as Looks can be made to appear on custom dashboards in one of two ways: saving or adding. The method you choose depends on whether you want any changes made to the Look to be reflected on all dashboards on which it appears. To learn more about each method, refer to our help article on understanding the difference between adding and saving Looks to custom dashboards.
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If you wish to make a new Look that is similar to one of your existing Looks, open the Save menu on an existing Look and choose the Save As option. This will create a duplicate of the existing Look that you can then re-title and modify as needed, preventing you from having to rebuild the Look from scratch. |
Downloading custom dashboards and Looks
Custom dashboards and Looks can be downloaded to circulate insights outside of Lever. Note that at this time it is not possible to share custom dashboards in the same way as standard Visual Insights dashboards.
Downloading custom dashboards
Click the three stacked dots (⠇) in the upper-right of the dashboard header and select Download from the menu.
Select whether you would like to download the dashboard as a CSV or PDF file and click the Download button.
Downloading Looks
Click the gear icon (⚙) in the upper-right corner and select Download from the menu. Select a file format and click the Download button. For guidelines on selecting a file format, refer to our help article on downloading data from Visual Insights.
If you have selected a file format other than PNG, you will have the option to further configure the export using the radio buttons beneath the file format menu.
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If the data table for the Look you are downloading consists of more than 500 rows, you will need to select 'All Results' in the limit configuration in order to export the full contents of the data table. |
Sharing custom dashboards and Looks
To share a custom dashboard or Look, click the Share button at the top of the dashboard/Look viewer.
The process for sharing custom dashboards and Looks is the same as the one for sharing pre-built Visual Insights dashboards, with the following exceptions:
- When sharing Looks, you do not have the option to select PDF as the file format for the shared report. Looks can only be shared as PNG for JPG files.
To learn about this process, refer to our help article on sharing dashboards.
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Shared Looks are scaled to fit the size of the full page image file that is sent to recipients. If you are sharing a Look that has been visualized as a KPI tile, recipients of the Look will receive a full page image file that shows only a single number. |
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The sharing method outlined above can only be used to share custom dashboards and Looks as static image files. If you wish to a share custom dashboard or Look in such a way that the recipient can view and edit it within Data Explorer, consider saving the custom dashboard to the 'Group' folder and then sharing the URL to the custom dashboard or Look directly with the recipient. For more detail, refer to our help article on Data Explorer folders. |
Deleting custom dashboards and Looks
To delete a custom dashboard, click the three stacked dots (⠇) in the upper-right of the dashboard header and select Move to trash from the menu. To delete a Look, click the gear icon (⚙) in the upper-right corner and select Move to trash from the menu.
Video walkthrough
Watch this guided walkthrough, from our Visual Insights Knowledge Series, on how to use Data Explorer to build custom charts and dashboards.