Dashboards

The Dashboards page shows dashboards: pages of widgets, each one a figure, a chart or a table drawn from TrakIT data, such as the work orders created or the amounts invoiced in a period. A filter bar at the top applies to every widget at once. You can build your own dashboards, arrange their widgets, share them with other people, and publish them as templates for others to copy.

To open it, select Analytics > Dashboards.

Dashboards replaces the old Charts page. Charts saved on that page are not carried over. Its KPI and event charts are the KPI Trend and Event Trend data sources: see KPI and event trends.

Every widget shows only the data that your own permissions allow, whoever built the dashboard. Sharing a dashboard makes it visible to others, but never gives anyone data they could not see otherwise. See Data sources.

Choose a dashboard

The list at the top left holds every dashboard you can open, in up to three groups:

Group	Holds
My Dashboards	The dashboards you created or copied.
Shared with me	The dashboards other people shared with you. The owner’s name follows the dashboard’s name.
Templates	Templates shared with you, for you to copy. See Templates.

Select a dashboard to open it. When you open the page, it shows the dashboard you opened last, or the first one in the list. The page’s address carries the dashboard’s number (?id=), so you can bookmark a dashboard, or send its link to someone it is shared with. A link to a dashboard you can’t open opens your usual dashboard instead.

If you have no dashboard at all, the page says You have no dashboards yet., with New dashboard if you can create dashboards.

Next to the list:

Button or tag	Appears	Does
Edit	On your own dashboards, and on those shared with you with can edit.	Changes the dashboard. See Edit a dashboard.
New dashboard	If you can create dashboards.	See Create a dashboard.
Share	On your own dashboards, if you can share.	See Share a dashboard or widget.
Copy or Save as my copy	If you can create dashboards. Copy on your own dashboards, Save as my copy on others’.	See Save as my copy.
Template	On a template.
View only	On a dashboard shared with you to view.
1 hidden (or another number)	When you removed widgets from your screen.	See Remove a widget from your screen.

Choose the company

The Company list at the top right chooses the company whose data the dashboard shows. It holds the companies you have access to, and is greyed out if you have only one. This page remembers the company you chose, separately from the finance pages; the first time, it starts on your own company. You can’t change it while you edit a dashboard.

The company changes:

• the widgets whose data belongs to a company, such as invoices and bills. When you add a widget, the data sources that show the selected company’s data are marked Company. See Data sources;
• the Job Type list, which shows the job types of the selected company and those common to all companies;
• which dashboards and widgets shared with a company you see: you see them while that company is selected. Choosing another company can take a dashboard out of your list; the page then opens your usual dashboard.

Filter the dashboard

The filter bar applies to every widget on the dashboard, and each widget reloads as soon as you change a filter.

Filter	Choose
Period	Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, This month, Last month, This quarter, Last quarter, This year, Last year, Last 12 months, or Custom range.
From, To	With Custom range: the first and last day. They start as the last 30 days. A range can’t be longer than five years.
Workflow Group	One workflow group, or All.
Workflow	One or more workflows. Leave it empty (All) for all of them. With a workflow group chosen, it lists that group’s workflows only.
Job Type	One or more job types. Leave it empty (All) for all of them.
Customer	One customer. Type at least 2 characters of the name or code and choose the customer. Select the cross to clear it.

• A period is made of whole days in your TrakIT time zone (see Time zone), and the periods that run to the present include today. Last 12 months starts on the day after the same date last year. Quarters and years are calendar quarters and years, not financial years.
• Workflow and Job Type take several values. The list stays open while you choose, and the widgets reload once you close it. Select the cross on a value to remove it.
• Workflow lists the active workflows you have access to, and Workflow Group the groups of those workflows. Choosing another group removes the workflows outside it from Workflow.
• A workflow or job type that is not in your list, for example one saved with someone else’s dashboard, shows as Unavailable with its number, such as Unavailable (#12). Remove it if you don’t want it.

Filters only narrow what you see: a widget never shows more than your permissions allow.

What a filter does depends on each widget’s data source. The data source decides which date the period applies to, for example the date a work order was created or closed. A widget whose data source doesn’t use a filter is not changed by it. A widget can also have its own value for a filter, or ignore it (see Widget filters). Tags under its title then say how it differs from the filter bar, for example Last 12 months, Workflow: Import, Export +3 (two names and how many more) or Ignores customer.

Your filter changes are remembered in your browser for each dashboard, and change nothing for anyone else. Select Reset to go back to the filters saved with the dashboard. To save the filters as the dashboard’s own, see Edit a dashboard.

Read a widget

Each widget has its title at the top; point to the title to see the name of its data source too. At the right of the title:

• How old its data is: just now, 5 min ago, 2 h ago, or a date. Point to it for the exact time.
• A stopwatch, if the widget refreshes on its own. Point to it to see how often.
• The circular arrow (Refresh), to load its data again.
• The three dots (More), which open the widget’s menu.

Menu item	Does
Refresh now	Loads the widget’s data again, like Refresh.
Show as table / Show as chart	On a chart: shows its figures as a table, with a row per label and a column per series, and back. The page forgets it once you leave.
Export CSV	Downloads the widget’s figures as a CSV file named after the widget and today’s date, in the order you sorted them. A chart exports its table. Needs the Export Data permission.
Share widget…	On a widget you created, if you can share. See Share a single widget.
Remove from my screen	On a dashboard shared with you by name. See Remove a widget from your screen.

In Edit mode the menu also has the items in Change, duplicate or remove a widget. At the bottom, the menu says how often the widget refreshes (Refreshes every 15 min or No auto-refresh), who created it (Owner:) if it isn’t you, and its data source (Source:).

Each widget loads on its own, so a slow one doesn’t hold up the others. While it reloads, it keeps showing its last data, dimmed. Instead of figures, a widget can show:

Shows	Means
No data for these filters	Nothing matches the filters.
No access with Your roles do not give access to this data	Your permissions don’t open the widget’s data source. See Data sources.
No access with Select a company to see this data	The data source needs a company, and none is selected.
A message in red, with Try again	The data could not be loaded. See Messages.
More data came back than a widget shows - the rest is left out.	Under the figures: the data source returned more than a widget holds: 1,000 rows from a data source that returns a table, or 5,000 rows or 50 series from one that returns figures per label.

How fresh the data is

To spare the database, TrakIT keeps each widget’s result for a while (the time is set for each data source), and gives it to anyone whose access and filters ask for exactly the same data in that time. So a widget can show 3 min ago as soon as it opens. Refresh fetches new data, unless the data shown is less than a minute old.

A widget can also refresh on its own, every 5 minutes, 15 minutes or hour (see Widget settings). It then shows a stopwatch. Auto-refresh pauses while the browser tab is hidden; when you come back, the widgets that fell due reload at once.

Widget types

Type	Shows
KPI	One figure, in large type. Under it, the change from the value it is compared with, as a percentage (or as a difference, if that value is 0) with an arrow, then from and that value. The change is green when it is good news and red when it is not; No change when the two are equal. Then a small trend line, if the data source gives one (point to it for each period’s value), and the period, such as Last 30 days. What the figure is compared with depends on the data source.
Line, Area	A line per series across the labels, for example days or months. An area is filled below its line.
Columns, Bars	Vertical columns or horizontal bars, a colour per series.
Pie, Donut	With one series, a slice per label. With several series, a slice per series, sized by the series’ total. Point to a slice for its value and share of the whole.
Table	The rows and columns the data source returns. Numbers are aligned right, and dates show as 25 Sep 26, with the time when there is one.

On charts, point to a point, column or slice to see its values. Charts show a legend for several series, or for a pie’s slices, when there is room for it, and shorten long axis numbers (for example 1.2M).

To sort a table, select a column heading: numbers sort largest first, text and dates in ascending order. Select it again to reverse the order, and a third time to go back to the data source’s order. Blank cells stay last.

Create a dashboard

1. Select New dashboard.
2. In New Dashboard, type a Name of up to 60 characters.
3. Select Create.

The new dashboard opens, empty, and takes the filters currently in the filter bar as its own. Select Add a widget to add its first widget (see Add a widget).

To start from a dashboard someone else made, open it and select Save as my copy.

Edit a dashboard

You can edit your own dashboards and those shared with you with can edit.

1. Open the dashboard and select Edit. A bar opens above the filter bar.
2. Make your changes:
   • Name: rename the dashboard.
   • Save the filters below as this dashboard’s defaults: tick it to save the filter bar as it is now as the dashboard’s own filters. People who open the dashboard start with them, unless their browser remembers filter changes of their own for it.
   • Add widget: see Add a widget.
   • Move, resize and remove widgets: see Arrange widgets.
   • Change, duplicate or remove a widget from its menu: see Change, duplicate or remove a widget.
3. Select Save to keep everything, or Cancel to drop every change.

Nothing is kept until you select Save: new and changed widgets show unsaved in their title until then. If you leave the page in Edit mode, your browser asks you to confirm. While you edit, you can’t open another dashboard or change the company.

Arrange widgets

In Edit mode:

• Drag a widget by its title to move it. The other widgets make room.
• Drag its lower-right corner to resize it. A widget is at least 2 columns wide and 2 rows high.
• Select the red cross (Remove from this dashboard) to remove it.

The dashboard has 12 columns. In a narrower window, the widgets are rearranged in 6 columns, and on a phone in a single column, in order. Arranging and adding widgets needs the full 12 columns: in a narrower window, Edit mode shows The window is too narrow to arrange widgets - widen it to edit the layout. and Add widget is greyed out.

Removing a widget in Edit mode removes it from the dashboard for everyone who sees the dashboard. To take a widget off only your own view of a dashboard shared with you, use Remove from my screen. A widget you created that ends up on no dashboard, and is not shared, is deleted when you save.

A dashboard holds up to 60 widgets.

Delete a dashboard

Only the dashboard’s owner can delete it.

1. Open the dashboard and select Edit.
2. Select Delete, then confirm.

The dashboard is deleted for everyone it is shared with, and this can’t be undone. The widgets you created that were on no other dashboard, and not shared, are deleted with it.

Add a widget

1. Open the dashboard, select Edit, then Add widget. On an empty dashboard, select Add a widget.
2. The Add a widget panel opens on the right. It lists the data sources your permissions open, each with its description. Type in Search data sources to narrow the list. Data sources marked Company show the selected company’s data.
3. Select a data source. The panel shows a preview of the widget and its settings. To choose another data source, select Change data.
4. Type the Title and choose the other settings (see Widget settings). The preview follows your changes.
5. Select Add to dashboard. The widget is placed below the others.
6. Move or resize it if you like (see Arrange widgets), then select Save.

Under Shared with you, the panel also lists the widgets other people shared with you. See Share a single widget.

Widget settings

Setting	What it does
Title	The widget’s title, up to 60 characters. It starts as the data source’s name. When you choose a KPI or an event in the data source’s settings, its name is added, as in KPI Trend - Gate in to loaded, until you change the title yourself. Required.
Show as	The widget type, among those the data source allows. See Widget types.
Stacked	For Columns, Bars and Area: stacks the series on top of each other, instead of side by side.
A fall is good news	For KPI: shows a fall in green and a rise in red, for a figure you want to go down.
Decimals	Automatic shows whole numbers as they are and other numbers with up to 2 decimals. Or choose 0 to 4 decimals for every value.
The data source’s own settings	Some data sources have settings of their own, such as how many items to show, or the KPI or event a trend shows. A list shows the data source’s default as Default (…); a box shows it greyed out. A KPI or an event is chosen from a list you can search by typing: it offers the KPIs, or the event codes, of your own workflows. Until a required one is chosen, the preview shows Choose the setting to see the preview.
Filters	One line per filter the data source uses. See Widget filters.
Auto-refresh	Off, Every 5 min, Every 15 min or Every 1 h. A choice faster than the data source refreshes is greyed out (faster than this data refreshes).

Which types Show as offers depends on the data source: a data source that returns one figure is shown as a KPI, one that returns a table as a Table, and one that returns figures per label as the chart types it allows, or a Table.

Widget filters

Under Filters, each line is a filter the data source uses: Period always, and Workflow group, Workflow, Customer and Job type if the data source uses them. For each one, choose:

Choice	The widget
As the dashboard	Follows the filter bar. This is where every filter starts.
Its own	Uses the value you choose here, whatever the filter bar says. For Period, choose a period or a Custom range.
Not used	Ignores the filter, and shows all. Not offered for Period.

For example, give a widget its own Period of Last 12 months to show a year’s trend on a dashboard that shows the last 30 days, or set Workflow group to Not used for a figure that should always cover every group.

A widget’s filters and auto-refresh belong to the dashboard it is on: the same widget can have others on another dashboard.

Change, duplicate or remove a widget

In Edit mode, open the widget’s menu (the three dots):

• Change widget… opens the panel with all its settings. You can change everything about the widgets you created.
• Filters and refresh… appears instead on a widget someone else created. Only its owner can change what it shows, and the panel says so; you can change its filters and auto-refresh on this dashboard.
• Duplicate adds a copy of the widget, as your own, titled with (copy), below the other widgets. It keeps the widget’s filters and auto-refresh. You can then change the copy as you like.

After changing a widget in the panel, select Apply, then Save the dashboard. To remove a widget, see Arrange widgets.

A widget you created can be on several dashboards, including other people’s if you shared it. Changing what it shows changes it on all of them.

Share a dashboard or widget

Sharing makes a dashboard or a widget visible to others. It gives no one access to data: everyone still sees only the data their own permissions and selected company allow, so two people can see different figures on the same dashboard.

You can share the dashboards and widgets you created.

1. Open the dashboard and select Share. To share one widget, select Share widget… in its menu instead (not in Edit mode).

2. The Share dialog lists who it is already shared with. In the row below the list, choose who to share with:

   Choice	Then	Reaches
   A person	Type at least 2 characters of their name or user ID, and choose them.	That user.
   A role	Choose the role.	Everyone holding the role.
   A company	Choose the company, among those you have access to.	Everyone, while that company is selected in their Company list on this page.
   Everyone	Nothing more.	Every user who can open this page.

3. For a dashboard, choose can view or can edit.

4. Select Share.

Each change is saved at once. Select Close when you are done.

• To change a person’s or group’s permission, change it in the Can column. To stop sharing, select the red cross (Stop sharing) on the row.
• A person needs the Share with Users permission; A role, A company and Everyone need Publish to Roles, Companies or Everyone as well.
• Only internal users and roles are offered.
• Someone reached by several shares gets the highest permission among them: if a dashboard is shared with them to view and with their role to edit, they can edit it.

Permission	Lets them
View	Open the dashboard, filter it for themselves, and make their own copy with Save as my copy, if they can create dashboards.
Edit	Also rename it, save its filters, arrange and remove its widgets, and change each widget’s filters and auto-refresh. With the permission to create dashboards, they can also add and duplicate widgets; the widgets they add are theirs. They can’t delete the dashboard or share it.

Share a single widget

A widget shared on its own is always view only: the dialog has no can view or can edit.

The people you share it with find it under Shared with you when they add a widget, with your name (shared by …), if their permissions open its data source. They can place it on their own dashboards and set its filters and auto-refresh there. The widget stays yours: only you can change what it shows, and your changes reach their dashboards too. Someone who wants their own version can duplicate it.

Dashboards shared with you

Dashboards shared with you are under Shared with me in the list, with their owner’s name, and templates under Templates. View only means you can’t change the dashboard. You can still filter it for yourself and refresh its widgets and, with the permissions for them, export its widgets and copy it.

A widget whose data source your permissions don’t open shows No access.

Save as my copy

To make your own dashboard from one you can open:

1. Open the dashboard and select Save as my copy (Copy on your own dashboards).
2. Change the Name if you like. It starts as the dashboard’s name followed by (copy).
3. Select Copy.

The copy opens. It has the dashboard’s saved filters and every widget you haven’t removed from your screen, each in the same place, with the same filters and auto-refresh. Every widget in it is a copy of your own, so you can change it. A widget whose data source your permissions don’t open is copied too, and still shows No access. Changing the copy never touches the original, and later changes to the original don’t reach your copy. The copy is not shared with anyone and is not a template.

Remove a widget from your screen

On a dashboard someone shared with you by name, you can take a widget off your own view:

1. Open the widget’s menu and select Remove from my screen.
2. Confirm.

Everyone else still sees the widget. The bar at the top then shows how many widgets you removed, for example 1 hidden. Select it to open Removed from My Screen, and select Put back next to a widget to show it again.

Remove from my screen is not offered on your own dashboards (remove the widget in Edit mode), or on a dashboard that also reaches you through a role, a company or everyone. If you can edit the dashboard, the widgets you removed from your screen stay on it when you save.

Templates

A template is a dashboard made for others to copy. It is listed under Templates for the people it is shared with; they open it and select Save as my copy to get a dashboard of their own.

To make one of your dashboards a template (with the Publish to Roles, Companies or Everyone permission):

1. Open the dashboard and select Share.
2. Tick Template.
3. Share the dashboard with the people who should get it, for example Everyone, a role or a company. A template reaches only the people it is shared with.

Share a template with can view, so that people copy it rather than change yours. For you, the template stays under My Dashboards, with a Template tag. To stop, clear Template.

Data sources

Every widget is drawn from a data source: a query on your TrakIT data that TrakIT Support sets up and manages for your installation, so the data sources you see differ from one installation to another. Each has a name and a description, shown when you add a widget. A data source only reads data; it never changes anything.

A data source returns one of three kinds of result:

Result	Shown as
One figure, with a value to compare it with and a trend over the period, when the data source provides them	KPI
Figures per label (for example per month, per workflow or per customer), in one or more series	The chart types the data source allows, or Table
A table	Table

Who can use a data source. Each data source lists the permissions that open it, for example Read in the Work Orders section for work order data, or Read in Invoices or Bills for finance data. Holding any one of them is enough. The data sources your permissions don’t open are not offered when you add a widget, and a widget built on one, for example on a dashboard shared with you, shows No access. System administrators can use every data source.

What a data source shows you. Every widget runs with the access of the person looking at it, whoever made the widget or the dashboard:

• Work order data covers the workflows you have access to, within any limits your administrator has set on the work orders you can see. It follows your workflows rather than the selected company. System administrators see every workflow.
• Finance data, such as invoices and bills, covers the company selected in the Company list, within any limits your administrator has set on the invoices or bills you can see. This applies to system administrators too.

Data sources marked Company need a company: with none selected, their widgets show Select a company to see this data.

How long a result is kept, and how often a widget can refresh, are also set for each data source. See How fresh the data is.

KPI and event trends

The KPI and event charts of the old Charts page are two data sources, where your installation has them. Both need Read in Work Orders:

Data source	Shows
KPI Trend	For one KPI, the average time it took (Actual) against its average target (Target), period by period.
Event Trend	How many times one event was recorded, period by period, as one line named after the event.

Both are drawn as a Line by default, and can also be shown as Area, Columns or a Table. Choose the KPI or the event in the widget’s settings. The periods follow the widget’s Period: a point per day for a range of up to a month, per week of 7 days from its first day for up to six months, and per month beyond. Both follow the Workflow group, Workflow, Customer and Job type filters, and leave out cancelled work orders.

KPI Trend counts each measurement of the KPI in the period it started in. Its own settings:

• KPIs: Completed (the default), Open or All. The time of an open KPI keeps running until it completes, so KPIs left open for a long time can pull the average far above what the completed ones took.
• Show in: Days (the default) or Hours. Days are calendar days, or working days of 8 hours where the workflow’s KPI excludes holidays.

A period in which nothing was measured has no point, so the line has a gap there. A KPI set to Exclude From Reports in a workflow is left out for that workflow.

Event Trend counts the work orders on which the event was recorded, by the event’s date, in every workflow that has the event code. An event recorded for a whole job counts once for each of its work orders. Events that are for information only are left out.

Messages

Message	What to do
Enter a name for the dashboard	Type a Name.
The name contains disallowed text or The title contains disallowed text	Remove the < or the leading =, + or @ from the name or title.
The start date is after the end date	Correct From and To.
The date range cannot exceed five years	Shown in the widgets: choose a shorter range.
The date range is out of bounds	Shown in the widgets: a range can’t start before 2000 or end more than a year from today.
Widen the window to save the layout	Widen the window to the full 12 columns, then select Save.
Finish or cancel the widget you are working on first	In the widget panel, select Add to dashboard, Apply or Cancel, then Save.
Enter a title for the widget	Type a Title.
Setting is required	Fill in the data source’s setting.
Choose the setting to see the preview	Shown in the preview: choose the KPI or event the widget shows.
‘value’ is not one of the choices for setting	The value is not one the setting offers, for example a KPI or an event that is no longer active. Choose another.
Choose the filter this widget uses, or set it back to the dashboard’s	A filter set to Its own needs a value, or set it back to As the dashboard.
This widget is already on this dashboard	A shared widget can be placed once on each dashboard.
A dashboard can hold at most 60 widgets	Remove some widgets, or start another dashboard.
Dashboard not found	The dashboard was deleted, or is no longer shared with you.
Choose the person to share with (or role, or company)	Choose who to share with before you select Share.
User ID not found or locked	Share with an active internal user.
The data source took longer than n seconds	Shown in a widget: choose a shorter period or narrower filters, then Try again.
The data source failed to run. The error has been logged for Support.	Shown in a widget: select Try again. If it happens again, contact TrakIT Support.
This data source has been disabled	Shown in a widget: TrakIT Support has turned off its data source. Remove the widget, or ask TrakIT Support.

Who can use this page

Your role needs these permissions in the Dashboards section:

Permission	Allows you to
View Dashboards	Open the page and the dashboards you own or that are shared with you, filter and refresh them, remove widgets from your screen, and edit the dashboards shared with you with can edit.
Create Dashboards and Widgets	Create dashboards, add and duplicate widgets, and copy dashboards with Copy and Save as my copy.
Share with Users	Share your dashboards and widgets with a person.
Publish to Roles, Companies or Everyone	Share your dashboards and widgets with a role, a company or everyone, and make templates. It works only together with Share with Users.
Export Data	Use Export CSV in a widget’s menu.

There is no permission to change or delete a dashboard: you can change and delete your own dashboards, and change those shared with you with can edit. Only the person who created a widget can change what it shows.

What each widget shows also needs the permissions of its data source, such as Read in Work Orders. See Data sources.

System administrators can use every data source, and can edit, share and delete any dashboard they open and change any widget on it. External users can’t use this page.