How many times have you received the same request for a dashboard from multiple users? If you have been working within the Salesforce ecosystem for a while, probably quite a few times. Even if it doesn’t sound like exactly the same request, users often want to review data they care about from multiple angles – and this could represent an opportunity to standardize analytics while still providing the insights they need.
Instead of creating one dashboard and multiple underlying reports for a single person, what if there were a better way? In this article, we’ll deep dive into Salesforce Dynamic Dashboards – what they are, how you can create one, and the advantages they bring.
What Makes a Salesforce Dashboard Dynamic?
While you have most likely created your fair share of Salesforce dashboards, you may or may not have used their dynamic functionality yet.
By default, any dashboard you create in Salesforce will run as you, meaning that your access and permissions will be applied. This could be both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on the use case. In cases where users need to see only the data they have access to – and that they ultimately care about – the default option does not produce the ideal experience.
This is where dynamic dashboards come in – any Salesforce dashboard can have its properties adjusted in the “View Dashboard As” section to determine who the running user will be. When “The dashboard viewer” option is selected, that’s where the magic starts to happen. While the reports added as widgets also come into play, the dashboard viewer is ultimately controlled by this property.
Creating a Dynamic Dashboard
Opening any existing static dashboard and changing the value of one radio button might seem easy, but that’s not all! While it only takes a few seconds to convert a “normal” dashboard into a dynamic one, the reports you’ve selected and added as widgets will still come into play.
Let’s take a common example: in a small organization, sales managers handle both leads and opportunities, and they want a way to quickly access the items they own and should be working on.
As a Salesforce Administrator, you also know that Team Selling is used even when the Opportunity Sharing Model is private. This means that some sales managers will not only have access to their opportunities, but also other opportunities they might collaborate on with different colleagues. From a Lead perspective, sales managers have view access to all leads to prevent duplication of work.
This is where a combination of both report filters and a dynamic dashboard will come into play:
- A Leads Report filtered on “My Leads” and Converted is False. You can also choose to exclude Closed – Not Converted (or any other Lead Status if needed, depending on your implementation).
- An Opportunities Report filtered on “My Opportunities” and Opportunity Status (this is the default filter available in the report, but you can also use Opportunity Stage if preferred) is Open.
Once the reports are saved, it’s just a matter of adding and organizing them on the dashboard. Since there are only two in this simple example, it will take just a few seconds. Don’t forget to try out the Image and Rich Text widgets as well, to add additional information or guidance to the dashboard.
Of course, the final check is to ensure that the dashboard will be dynamic before embedding it on the homepage or guiding users through pinning it to their navigation bar, if preferred.
While this is only an example, its purpose is to help you consider exactly how much you could do with a single dashboard. Even in scenarios where users have access to items they don’t own, one option is to group the underlying report based on the owner. Ultimately, using a dynamic dashboard can help you save time and eliminate the need to maintain numerous separate reports and dashboards when it’s not necessary.
Considerations
There are a few things to consider when it comes to dynamic dashboards in Salesforce. First of all, the limit per Salesforce edition is something to always keep in mind. If needed, additional ones can be purchased. Salesforce Edition Dynamic Dashboards Allocation Developer Edition 3 Enterprise Edition 5 Unlimited Edition 10
It’s always a good idea to check how many dynamic dashboards are being actively used, so that you don’t discover – when you need one – that the limit has been reached. You can create a custom report type to achieve this and report on dashboards just like you would other Salesforce records. The Dashboards Running User will allow you to see which of them are dynamic, and you can filter on this field.
An SOQL query, however, might be even faster – especially if you’re using Salesforce Inspector Reloaded, for example.
SELECT Id,Title, Type FROM Dashboard
WHERE Type != 'SpecifiedUser'
While creating the dashboard, ensure that it is saved in a shared folder rather than a personal one. If the dashboard is saved in a private folder, you will receive an error message. This, however, was a possibility in the past, and even if the dashboard is in a private folder (or the recycle bin, for that matter), it still counts towards the limit. Using the query below will surface any dynamic dashboards in private folders:
SELECT Id,Title FROM Dashboard USING SCOPE allPrivate
WHERE Type != 'SpecifiedUser'
Final Thoughts
Dynamic dashboards in Salesforce might sometimes be overlooked as a potential solution, but considering their immediate positive impact on the user experience, they shouldn’t be. Regardless of the team or department, you can surely find instances where using a dynamic dashboard can drastically reduce the number of unique reports and dashboards, while also shortening the time spent on maintenance.
Are you already using dynamic dashboards? Let us know about your use cases in the comments below!
