Dashboard Management and Sharing
Dashboard management and sharing capabilities enable efficient organization, collaborative access, and lifecycle maintenance of business intelligence dashboards within the Reports and Dashboards module. These features support scalable content management, security compliance, and organizational knowledge sharing that ensures dashboards remain accessible, current, and aligned with evolving business requirements.
Requirements
To manage and share dashboards, users must be assigned a security role with the following permissions:
All Entities, Dashboard (system): Read, Create, Edit, and Delete for comprehensive dashboard management capabilities
All Entities, Folder (system): Read, Create, Edit, and Delete for folder structure management and sharing configuration
All Entities, Report (system): Read for accessing source reports that populate dashboard components
Tab Settings, Reports: On and App Settings: App with Reports Tab must be Visible for interface access
Appropriate folder permissions based on intended sharing scope and organizational access requirements
Dashboard Refresh and Data Currency
Manual Refresh Requirements
Refresh Button Functionality: Each dashboard includes refresh capabilities that enable users to update component data manually, ensuring access to current information while providing control over update timing and system resource utilization.
Component-Level Data Updates: Dashboard refresh updates all components simultaneously based on their underlying source reports, maintaining data consistency across related visualizations while respecting filter configurations and analytical settings.
Real-Time vs Manual Control: While dashboards do not automatically refresh data, manual refresh functionality ensures that users can access current information when needed while maintaining system performance and user control over update frequency.
Data Currency Management: Manual refresh requirements enable users to balance data currency needs with system performance, ensuring optimal user experience while providing access to updated business intelligence when analytical decisions require current information.
Refresh Process and User Experience
Refresh Initiation: Users initiate dashboard refresh through clearly accessible refresh controls that update all dashboard components based on current underlying data from source reports and entity records.
Loading and Performance: Dashboard refresh processes are optimized for reasonable loading times while maintaining data accuracy and analytical completeness across complex multi-component dashboards and cross-entity reporting scenarios.
Error Handling: Refresh functionality includes appropriate error handling for scenarios where source reports or underlying data become unavailable, ensuring graceful degradation and user communication about data access issues.
Update Validation: Refresh processes validate data accuracy and component functionality to ensure that updated dashboards maintain analytical integrity and visualization effectiveness after data updates.
Folder-Based Sharing System
Dashboard Organization and Folder Structure
Hierarchical Folder Organization: Dashboards are organized within folder structures that support logical grouping, access control, and content management based on business functions, organizational units, and analytical purposes rather than technical considerations.
Folder Assignment Impact: Dashboard folder assignment determines sharing permissions, access control, and organizational visibility through inheritance of folder-level security settings and collaborative access configurations.
Organizational Alignment: Strategic folder organization aligns dashboard access with business processes, decision-making workflows, and organizational hierarchy to ensure that analytical tools reach appropriate stakeholders while maintaining security boundaries.
Scalable Structure Design: Folder structures accommodate growing dashboard libraries and evolving organizational needs through logical hierarchy design and consistent naming conventions that support long-term content discoverability and management efficiency.
Sharing Permission Configuration
Folder-Level Permission Management: Dashboard sharing operates through folder-level permission configuration that provides three primary access levels: "Can View" for read-only access, "Can View and Export" for data extraction capabilities, and "Full Control" for comprehensive management rights.
Permission Inheritance Model: Dashboards automatically inherit permissions from their assigned folders, enabling efficient access control through folder-level configuration rather than individual dashboard permission management, reducing administrative overhead while maintaining security standards.
User and Group Assignment: Folder sharing supports assignment to individual users, user groups, and security roles, providing flexible permission management that scales with organizational complexity while maintaining appropriate security boundaries and collaborative access.
Security Integration: Folder permissions integrate with existing security role configurations and organizational access control policies, ensuring that dashboard access aligns with broader information security requirements and compliance standards.
Dashboard Lifecycle Management
Creation and Development Workflow
Initial Dashboard Creation: Dashboard creation begins through the Reports module interface using "New > New Dashboard" functionality, establishing basic dashboard properties and folder assignment that determine access control and organizational placement.
Iterative Development Process: Dashboard development supports iterative refinement through component addition, layout modification, and property customization that enables collaborative development and stakeholder feedback integration throughout the design process.
Version Control Considerations: Dashboard modifications are tracked through system audit trails that support change management and collaborative development by preserving modification history and user attribution for ongoing maintenance and accountability.
Quality Assurance Integration: Dashboard development workflow supports organizational quality assurance processes through review capabilities, testing procedures, and approval workflows that ensure analytical accuracy and professional presentation standards.
Ongoing Maintenance and Updates
Content Review Processes: Establish regular review cycles for dashboard content that validate analytical accuracy, business relevance, and technical functionality to ensure continued effectiveness and alignment with organizational requirements.
Component Maintenance: Dashboard components require ongoing maintenance to ensure continued accuracy as source reports evolve, entity relationships change, and business requirements shift over time.
Performance Monitoring: Monitor dashboard performance including loading times, user adoption, and analytical effectiveness to identify optimization opportunities and ensure continued user satisfaction and business value.
Archive and Retirement: Implement procedures for archiving or retiring outdated dashboards that maintain organizational knowledge while removing obsolete analytical content from active libraries and user interfaces.
Collaborative Dashboard Development
Multi-User Development Support
Concurrent Access Management: Dashboard development supports multiple users with appropriate permissions working collaboratively on dashboard design, component configuration, and organizational implementation with coordination through folder-based access control.
Role-Based Collaboration: Different organizational roles can contribute to dashboard development based on their expertise and permissions, including data analysts for component configuration, business stakeholders for requirements definition, and administrators for security and organizational alignment.
Change Coordination: Collaborative development requires coordination procedures that prevent conflicts and ensure that multiple contributors work effectively together while maintaining dashboard integrity and analytical accuracy.
Knowledge Transfer: Dashboard collaboration supports knowledge transfer and institutional learning by enabling multiple stakeholders to understand analytical methodology and contribute to ongoing maintenance and improvement.
Stakeholder Engagement and Review
Business Stakeholder Involvement: Engage business stakeholders in dashboard design and review processes to ensure alignment with decision-making requirements and analytical needs across different organizational levels and functional areas.
User Feedback Integration: Collect and integrate user feedback on dashboard effectiveness, usability, and analytical value to guide ongoing refinement and ensure continued business relevance and user adoption.
Executive Review: Include executive stakeholders in dashboard review processes to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and organizational priorities while maintaining analytical sophistication and professional presentation standards.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Facilitate collaboration between technical and business teams to ensure that dashboard development balances analytical sophistication with business usability and organizational adoption requirements.
Access Control and Security Management
Permission Strategy Development
Role-Based Access Design: Design dashboard access strategies based on organizational roles, business functions, and decision-making responsibilities rather than technical considerations, ensuring that analytical tools reach appropriate users while maintaining security boundaries.
Least Privilege Implementation: Implement least privilege access principles that provide users with necessary dashboard access while minimizing security exposure and maintaining appropriate organizational boundaries for sensitive business intelligence.
Regular Access Review: Establish procedures for regular review of dashboard access permissions to ensure continued alignment with organizational roles, business requirements, and security policies as personnel and responsibilities change over time.
Compliance Integration: Dashboard access control integrates with organizational compliance requirements including data privacy, security standards, and regulatory requirements that govern business intelligence and analytical content access.
Security Best Practices
Folder Security Strategy: Design folder structures and permission schemes that support security requirements while enabling efficient collaboration and knowledge sharing across appropriate organizational boundaries and business functions.
Data Classification Alignment: Align dashboard sharing with organizational data classification and sensitivity levels to ensure that analytical content access respects information security requirements and business confidentiality needs.
Audit Trail Maintenance: Maintain audit trails for dashboard access and modification that support security monitoring, compliance validation, and accountability for business intelligence content and organizational analytical assets.
Incident Response Planning: Develop procedures for responding to security incidents involving dashboard access or data exposure that ensure rapid response and appropriate remediation while maintaining business continuity and analytical capabilities.
Performance and Optimization
Dashboard Performance Management
Loading Time Optimization: Optimize dashboard performance through strategic component configuration, efficient source report design, and appropriate data scope management that ensures responsive user experience while maintaining analytical completeness.
Resource Usage Monitoring: Monitor dashboard resource usage including server load, database query performance, and user concurrent access to identify optimization opportunities and ensure scalable performance across growing user communities.
Component Efficiency: Design dashboard components for efficiency through appropriate data aggregation, strategic field selection, and optimized visualization configuration that balances analytical depth with system performance and user experience.
Scalability Planning: Plan dashboard implementations for scalability that accommodate growing user communities, expanding data volumes, and evolving analytical requirements without compromising performance or user experience quality.
User Experience Optimization
Access Pattern Analysis: Analyze dashboard usage patterns to optimize content organization, access paths, and user interface design that improve efficiency and adoption across diverse organizational user communities and analytical needs.
Navigation Efficiency: Optimize dashboard navigation and discovery through strategic folder organization, clear naming conventions, and efficient search capabilities that enable users to find and access appropriate analytical tools quickly.
Mobile Compatibility: Ensure dashboard compatibility across desktop and mobile devices to support diverse usage scenarios and organizational flexibility while maintaining analytical functionality and professional presentation standards.
Training and Adoption: Support dashboard adoption through user training, documentation, and ongoing support that ensures effective utilization and organizational value realization from business intelligence investments.
Best Practices for Dashboard Management
Organizational Strategy
Governance Framework: Establish governance frameworks for dashboard management that balance analytical flexibility with organizational standards, security requirements, and professional presentation while enabling innovation and business value creation.
Content Standards: Develop content standards for dashboard quality, analytical methodology, and professional presentation that ensure consistent organizational business intelligence while enabling functional differentiation across analytical scenarios.
User Training Programs: Implement user training programs that enable effective dashboard utilization across different organizational roles while supporting ongoing skill development and analytical capability enhancement.
Change Management: Develop change management procedures for dashboard updates, organizational restructuring, and evolving business requirements that maintain analytical continuity while enabling adaptation and improvement.
Operational Excellence
Regular Maintenance Scheduling: Establish regular maintenance schedules for dashboard review, update, and optimization that ensure continued analytical accuracy and business relevance while minimizing disruption to ongoing business intelligence utilization.
Performance Monitoring: Implement performance monitoring that tracks dashboard effectiveness, user adoption, and business value to guide ongoing investment and optimization decisions for organizational business intelligence capabilities.
Quality Assurance: Maintain quality assurance processes that validate dashboard accuracy, functionality, and professional presentation while ensuring alignment with organizational standards and business requirements.
Documentation Management: Develop documentation standards that capture dashboard purpose, analytical methodology, and maintenance requirements to support organizational knowledge management and ensure continuity despite personnel changes.
Effective dashboard management and sharing creates collaborative, secure, and efficient business intelligence environments that scale with organizational growth while preserving analytical sophistication and supporting strategic decision-making across Partner Portal and Customer Portal implementations.
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