{"id":7793,"date":"2014-04-07T14:13:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T19:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/?p=7793"},"modified":"2014-04-07T15:11:28","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T20:11:28","slug":"what-is-a-user-defined-dashboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/what-is-a-user-defined-dashboard\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a user-defined dashboard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Education\"Summary: Typical dashboards are inflexible–displaying a pre-determined set of metrics in a pre-set layout. Learn how user-defined dashboards fix this problem, and could save your IT department hours of time.<\/em><\/span>
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\nToday, let\u2019s explain a type of web dashboard that could be an important tool in any company\u2019s Business Intelligence repertoire: the user-defined dashboard. What is it, why is it important, and how does it help your company? <\/p>\n

The user-defined dashboard is a business dashboard that individual users control and customize. Every user controls the data they wish to see as well as the dashboard\u2019s structure and layout. In short, a single user-defined dashboard can display different data to every user.<\/p>\n

Why use a user-defined dashboard?<\/h3>\n

A powerful reporting and BI tool, dashboards combine essential business metrics together on a single page. They provide a live overview of business operations and help business leaders make quick, informed decisions. <\/p>\n

Typical dashboards usually display a pre-determined set of metrics in a pre-set layout. For instance, a sales dashboard might display metrics like daily\/monthly product sales, geographical sales numbers, top customers, and salesperson performance, to name a few. If one sales manager needed additional metrics, or metrics that differ from the other sales manager’s dashboards, they run into problems. They must either create a brand new dashboard themselves, or request a new dashboard from the IT department.<\/p>\n

The user-defined dashboard fixes this problem. It lets the IT department create a single dashboard and lets each user customize their data as necessary. It\u2019s the best of both worlds: Users get their own customizable dashboards, and IT isn\u2019t constantly creating different dashboards for different users.
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A sample user-defined dashboard<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

How are user-defined dashboards used?<\/h3>\n

User-defined dashboards are used like regular dashboards, only with more customization options. For instance, a user-defined dashboard may show:<\/p>\n

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  • Website conversion metrics<\/strong>: Dashboards are often used by the marketing team to track website conversions. They help marketers understand which search terms and pages generate the most leads, and which areas need help.<\/li>\n
  • Real-time product sales<\/strong>: Real-time dashboards let business leaders view product sales statistics as they happen. Real-time dashboards also can alert business leaders to problems as they happen, which lets them fix these issues before they get out of hand.<\/li>\n
  • Warehouse\/Shipment details<\/strong>: Dashboards are also used to track warehouse efficiency and shipments. A dashboard can tell the warehouse manager if orders are being fulfilled on time and whether or not shipments are running on schedule.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Demo of a user-defined dashboard<\/h3>\n

    Here\u2019s a great demo of a user-defined dashboard<\/span><\/a> in action. Feel free to adjust the layout or data displayed on the dashboard as needed. If you\u2019d like to learn more about the capabilities found in the user-defined dashboard, check out this video:<\/p>\n