Insights Cloud provides the unique ability to create and share customized dashboards for anyone on your team.
Creating Dashboards
There are two approaches to creating a dashboard:
1) From the Dashboard menu - If you start at the Dashboard page, you'll see a button to create a new dashboard. Once you name and save the dashboard, you have the ability to add visualizations using the Add Visualization button. From there you can select a visualization from existing reports. By default, these visualizations will be added using the default filter values, but you can edit those filters as well.
2) From an existing report - If you start from any existing report, you'll see the option to add a visualization to a dashboard using the Pin to Dashboard function. You can select an existing dashboard or create a new one as part of your process.
Editing Dashboards
Once you've added visualizations to a dashboard, you have more ways to customize it.
- First, each visualization on your dashboard can be resized to format the dashboard as you wish. Simply grab the lower right corner of the visualization and drag it to the appropriate size.
- Next, you can rearrange your visualizations to move them around the screen, organizing them in any way that you like. To move a visualization, you'll see the Drag Handle icon in the title bar of the visualization. This can be grabbed and moved to any other part of your dashboard.
- Finally, each visualization includes the filters that were used to create it. You'll see the option in each visualization to Edit it. This Edit function allows you to rename the visualization or edit the underlying filter used to create it.
Updating Filters in Visualizations
Each visualization added to a dashboard comes with the filters that were set on the original report. This will include the geographic or demographic filters, as well as any snapshot dates. To edit, simply select Edit from the visualization menu and you'll see the filters currently being used.
Snapshot Dates - If the visualization contains Snapshot Dates to show three years of data, these dates will be dynamic, meaning they will update on your dashboard automatically based on the latest data available. If you wish to display static dates instead, you can edit each snapshot date and deselect Dynamic Snapshot.
Saving and Sharing Dashboards
Any time you change a dashboard or edit one of the visualizations on the dashboard, you'll have the option to Save it. If you don't Save it, the changes you made will be lost. Before leaving a dashboard, you'll be prompted to save your changes if needed.
Using the Share button allows you to share the dashboard with others. You'll see the option to select other Encoura users on your staff or your Encoura Team. You also have the option to add comments that will be included on an email notification sent to the shared user with a link to the shared dashboard.
NOTE: Shared dashboards can be edited by any users with access to the dashboard and all edits will be visible to all users. If you want to make changes to your version of the dashboard only, use the Save As option to rename the dashboard for your own use.
Exporting Reports and Dashboards
Any individual visualization on any report or dashboard can be easily exported as a JPG (image) file. In the right corner of the visualization, select Export from the action menu.
While there is no built in ability to export an entire report of dashboard, there are several browser extensions that may work for you. For instance, GoFullPage allows you to save the entire report or dashboard as either an image or a PDF. Note that we don't support third-party extensions like this but we hope you find them useful.
Dashboard Examples:
There are many ways you can use the custom dashboard functionality but here are some examples:
Territory Research - If you have staff members with managed territories, create a dashboard for each staff member with some of the key visualizations used to help them research opportunities within their territory. Include Market Analysis visualizations to see the top counties and high schools within their territory by visibility or enrollment results. Additional visualizations from the Strategic Overview and Location reports can be added to show historical results for the territory.
Meeting Preparation - When planning for a presentation, dashboards can be used to collect key visualizations showing current status of your enrollment funnel (from Strategic Overview), comparisons to previous years (from Funnel over Time) and progress toward specific goals (from Enrollment Goals). When meeting with academic departments, it may be helpful to prepare dashboards showing the demand (from Total Market Analysis), penetration (from Institutional Visibility) and conversion of students in their programs.
Executive Summary - A popular use of dashboards is to provide a central location for any visualizations that track performance toward key performance metrics. These can include visualizations showing current status of your enrollment funnel (from Strategic Overview), demonstrating the outcomes of initiatives with specific populations (using Location, Profile Outcome, or Funnel over Time) and progress toward specific goals (from Enrollment Goals).