Personal dashboards tips and tricks

Personal dashboards are a great new feature that enables end users to save a personalized view of a dashboard. To get the most out of this feature, here are a few tips and tricks.

Tidy up dashboards

Any change to a master dashboard (using the Dashboard Designer) will reset all personal views of a dashboard so before enabling personal dashboards, take some time to ensure that the current dashboards are up to date:

• Implement any pending development changes (including menu options)
• Turn on the Dashboard Quick Access toolbar (if applicable)
• Check and amend all text box headings and comments for size, alignment, spelling, and grammar
• Delete or disable any redundant dashboards to ensure end users don’t create personal views of obsolete dashboards

Use filters rather than show/hide

It is best practice to use a filter rather than show and hide for the rows and/or columns on a grid. 

This is now more beneficial because amending the items shown or hidden on a master dashboard will reset the personal views; for example, suppose you want to display just the current quarter of a timescale. You could manually show/hide the relevant periods, but, at quarter end when the Current Period is updated, the dashboard will need to be amended, and all those personal views will be reset. If you use a filter, referencing a time module, the filter criteria will update automatically, as will the dashboard. No changes are made to the master dashboard, and all the personal views are preserved. 

Create a communication and migration strategy

Inevitably there will be changes that must be made to master dashboards. To minimize the disruption for end users, create a communication plan and follow a structured development program. These can include the following:

• Bundle up dashboard revisions into a logical set of changes
• Publish these changes at regular intervals (e.g., on a monthly cycle)
• Create a regular communication channel to inform users of changes and the implications of those changes
• Create a new dashboard, and ask end users to migrate to the new dashboard over a period of time before switching off the old dashboard

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)

If you are using ALM, then any structural changes to master dashboards will reset all personal views of dashboards.