Excel and PowerPoint are the traditional means of delivering results to clients, but dashboards allow you to deliver something that’s online, interactive, readily changeable, and, really cool.
In the past, dashboards have been either too expensive or too cumbersome to make. Not anymore.
With Crunch, you can do this yourself very quickly, very easily. No coding is required.
Furthermore, there is no additional cost to make them or host Crunch dashboards, and you can share them with as many clients as you like.
This article provides the basic steps on how to create dashboards as well as answering some key questions about dashboards.
How to access the dashboard
If someone has already made a dashboard in your dataset (if it’s a shared dataset), then you can jump to the dashboard by clicking on the View dashboard button in the top-right corner of the grey bar.
But assuming one has not been made yet, let’s start by putting together a dashboard.
How to create a dashboard from a deck
Dashboards are made from a Deck you saved. Just put all the analysis you want into a Deck and then you turn it into a dashboard. Don’t worry, you can always add, subtract and amend from a dashboard after you publish it.
In this example, we have a deck aptly called Deck for Dashboard but this could be whatever deck you want.
You can reorder and rename your tables and charts in the deck, but you don’t need to, as it’s easy to move them in a moment in the dashboard.
To make the deck into a dashboard:
- Click on the dataset name in the top-left to open the drop-down
- Select Create Dashboard from the menu
You're then given a menu of options:
- Select Deck and pick the appropriate deck
- Check on “Make the dashboard the landing page…” if you want your clients to land on that if you were to share the link with them (otherwise leave unchecked)
- You've also given the option to Hide the navigation controls... if you don't want your clients having access to the dataset
- Click Save/View dashboard
And then you’ll have an instant dashboard.
Crafting the dashboard - working with tiles, tabs, and groups
To edit a dashboard you must first go into edit mode, by clicking Edit in the upper right corner.
Tiles
Each of the slides in the deck gets its own tile in a dashboard. One slide in the deck = one tile in the dashboard = one slide in PowerPoint.
You can reposition and resize the tiles easily with drag and drop on their corners. The tiles slot together automatically, depending on their size and position.
- Reshape the tiles - by clicking the triangles in the lower right corner of every tile, and dragging to reshape its rectangular size.
- Move the tiles around - by clicking and dragging.
- Edit the tiles - including the color scheme, the contents, and so forth.
When you go to Edit a tile, you are taken to the same editing screen that is explained on our introductory page on exporting from a deck to PowerPoint.
Rich-text tiles allow you to insert formattable commentary and images. Click + icon in the top grey bar, and select Add rich-text tile.
Filters
Filtering enables anyone to drill down into the data, including your end viewers (clients).
Filters for dashboards in Crunch are called Groups.
If you don’t have any Groups set up, click on the + icon and select Add groups
If you do have any Groups set up (ie: you have a left-hand side panel already), then just click Edit groups at the bottom.
You have the option with the switch to make groups single-select, or multi-select.
Tabs
Tabs (in dashboard sense) let you have multiple tabs (like different pages) of the dashboards. Tabs let you organize your dashboard's content. It also enables selective exports from the tab into PowerPoint.
Click + icon in the top grey bar, and select Add tabs.
You can move tiles to different tabs by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner of the tile.
Important things to know about Crunch dashboards
Decks and dashboards are two sides of the same coin
If you want to add a tile to the dashboard, you simply add an analysis to the deck, and it will appear at the bottom of your first dashboard tab.
If you remove a tile from the dashboard, it will delete the slide from the deck. And vice versa.
If you edit the slide in a deck, it will change settings in the tile. And vice versa.
KPI tiles
KPI tiles allow you to call out a specific number from a table. You simply change the Chart Type to KPI and select the cell of the table you want to pull out that specific number.
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone make a dashboard?
At the time this article was written, you must have Editor permissions for a dataset to create a dashboard. In the future, Crunch intends to have more levels of permissions, so dashboards can be made by non-Editors.
Can I share my dashboard with clients who I don't want to see the dataset?
Yes, you can set the dashboard permissions so that clients can only see the dashboard, and not access the underlying dataset.
Can you export from a dashboard into PowerPoint or Excel?
Absolutely. And this can be done by you and/or your end viewer/client. The exports will include any filtering you make in the dashboard. You can also selectively export dashboard tabs.
Dashboards can be used by researchers as part of a workflow into PowerPoint. That is, the intention of a dashboard may not be for sharing with clients, but simply as an effective means to customize the look and feel of charts and tables before export.
Can the dashboard be branded or white-labeled?
You can create a branded experience for customers by:
- customizing the sub-domain of the URL (eg: yourcompany.crunch.io)
- setting up color palettes
- inserting images (such as logos) into rich-text tiles
- restricting viewer access to the dataset (so they see the dashboard only)