Introducing Custom Dashboards

In our latest feature release we're happy to introduce customisable dashboards for team, project and portfolio level reporting on your project grids, elements and tasks.

Our new custom dashboards enable the creation of bespoke reporting on team members, grids, elements and tasks using six different chart types. These dashboards can then be shared internally using Method Grid’s access control features.

Overview Video

For a visual overview of custom dashboards you can watch the video below. Alternatively, read on…

 

Dashboards Overview

You can navigate to your dashboards by clicking the dashboards icon in the main navigation.

We have provided a default, account level dashboard to get you started. This is available to everyone in your account and is not customisable, you can choose to use it or not using our dashboard favourite/bookmarks feature. The graphic below provides an overview of the main functionality within your custom dashboards:

1. Dashboards list – this shows a list of all the dashboards to which you have access. You can re-order this list as desired in order to prioritise the dashboards that matter to you.
2. Add a new dashboard – this creates a new dashboard. New dashboards are only accessible to you and your account architects, you can then choose to give access to other members of your account.
3. Set this dashboard as your favourite – this sets the current dashboard to be your favourite dashboard, when you next open dashboards this will be the first dashboard you see.
4. Add a new chart widget – if you have edit access to the current dashboard, you can use this to add a new chart widget.
5. Dashboard access control – this shows you who has access to the current dashboard. Users with manage access to the dashboard can then change the current access here.
6. Clone the dashboard – this creates an exact clone of the current dashboard as a starting template for a new dashboard. Only you have access to the cloned dashboard until you change this in the access control.
7. Share a link to the dashboard – this copies the link to the current dashboard so you can share it with team members.
8. Delete the dashboard – this completely deletes the current dashboard. This deletes the dashboard for all members.
9. Date picker – this changes the timescale being displayed in the dashboard. Timescales will only apply to chart widgets that include a timescale.

Creating, Viewing and Managing Dashboards

The data you see within a dashboard will be based on your current access within your account. For example, if you have access to folder X that contains 10 project grids, you will see data from all 10 project grids. If you have access to folder Y that contains 20 project grids, but you only have access to 10 of those grids, you will only see the data related to those 10 grids. If you have no access to folder Z that contains 30 project grids, you will not see any data from those grids.

Any user can create a dashboard which can be shared as required with team members. Dashboards are not available in all Method Grid plans and some plans have restrictions on the number of dashboards you can have and the number of chart widgets within each dashboard, you can see the details for your plan on our pricing page.

Creating Dashboards

To create a new dashboard you simply click the + button and a new blank dashboard will be created. New dashboards are only accessible to you and your account architects, you can then choose to give access to other members of your account as required (see access to dashboards below).

Editing Dashboards

You can rename your dashboard by clicking on the title.

To add chart widgets, click the add widget button and configure your chart (see chart widgets below).

You can also drag and drop your chart widgets to position them as required, set their size and delete widgets (see editing chart widgets below).

Working with Dashboards

To set your favourite dashboard, click the star icon when viewing the dashboard and that dashboard will be set as your default dashboard (this will be the first dashboard you see when opening your dashboards).

You have a personal list of dashboards which shows all the dashboards to which you have access.

To edit your list, hover your mouse over (or touch once on touch devices) the required dashboard and you can then:

• Change the name of the dashboard (if you have edit access)
• Move the dashboard to re-order it within your list by clicking and dragging the move icon
• Clone the dashboard (if you have edit access)
• Share a link to the dashboard
• Delete the dashboard (if you have edit access)

You can also click the share icon when viewing a dashboard, to copy a link to that dashboard and send it to your team members.

You can view larger versions of each chart by clicking the expand button on each chart widget. Each chart also has a set of tools which includes:

• Printing
• Download as PDF
• Download as an image (png, jpg or svg)
• Export the chart data (csv or xlsx)

To change the date range your time based charts are showing, you can select from pre-configured date ranges or set your own custom date range. Note that the date range will ONLY apply to charts that have a timescale.

Access to Dashboards

When you first create a dashboard, it is only accessible to you and your account architects; you can then choose to give access to other members of your account as required.

To control the access to a dashboard, click the padlock button and the standard Method Grid access control interface will open. You can now give access to the dashboard by:

• Groups – groups of account members as configured in your account members section, learn more here.
• Members – individual members.
• Architects – architects are your account super admins and have access to everything, this section is view only.

Once you select a group or member, you can then assign their access level to that dashboard:

• View – enables view only access
• Edit – enables full edit access
• Manage – enables full edit access plus the ability to configure access

Chart Widgets

Each chart type can report on either grids, elements or tasks and be filtered to include or exclude information as required.

Types of Chart

There are six data visualisations available:

1. Column
2. Bar
3. Line
4. Doughnut
5. Battery
6. Number

Each type has a specific configuration and can be used as best suits your data visualisation requirements.

Creating Widgets

Click the add widget button within a dashboard to add a chart widget. To name your chart widget, click add widget name.

You can then select the data you wish to include, this can be one of either:

• Grids
• Elements
• Tasks

You can now set your required chart type. Depending on the chart type you select, you can then select the data to show on your axis/grouping.

You can set the size of your chart widget, this can be either:

• Full width – the chart widget will expand to take up the full width of the screen
• Small width – the chart widget will take up a third, half or all of the screen depending on the screen size available

Finally, you can then filter the data shown in your chart. For example, if you had a column chart showing grids, with due date on the X axis and grid count on the Y axis, you can then use the filter to only show data from certain grids. You can do this by filtering by a folder, grid name or grid label. Using these filters within your dashboard charts you can then create dashboards and charts based on your own categorisation of project grids.

Editing Widgets

To edit a chart widget, hover your mouse over the widget and click the edit button (pencil icon). The widget editing interface you used when creating your widget will open and you can make your changes as required.

To move a chart widget, hover your mouse over the widget and click/drag using the move icon.

To delete a chart widget, hover your mouse over the widget and click the delete button.

Stay in touch

You can learn more about all the dashboards available in Method Grid on our help site here.

If you have any feedback on this feature, or any feedback on Method Grid in general, please get in touch on our community or by emailing [email protected].