Dashboards

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Overview

Dashboards let you track feedback and metrics over time. You can combine quantitative data (like CSAT and NPS) with qualitative insights (like themes and sentiment) in one view. They show how scores, sentiment, and themes change, so you can see what’s improving or declining. The value is in the pairing. A score on its own tells you something moved; the themes and quotes beside it tell you why. A dashboard is also a starting point for investigation: you can open the channel behind a theme widget, or open Chat against the data behind a widget or the whole dashboard.

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When to use a dashboard

Dashboards answer questions about direction and change over time:

• Is this getting better or worse? Track NPS, CSAT, or sentiment across weeks and months rather than reading a single point-in-time score.
• Did that release land? Line up a sentiment or theme trend against the date something shipped.
• What’s gaining momentum? Watch which themes are climbing and which are fading, before they show up in escalations.
• What are customers starting to call it? Keyword search surfaces shifts in the words customers use.
• What do we show leadership every week? A dashboard is a standing view your team returns to, instead of rebuilding a chart each time someone asks.

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Dashboards, charts, and channels

Dovetail has more than one way to visualize customer data. They’re built for different questions. The practical difference: charts show you the shape of one project’s analysis right now, while dashboards show you how workspace-level metrics and themes are moving. Charts do not show historical data; dashboard widgets are built around a time frame and interval.

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Before you build

Most widgets are powered by Channels, so what you can visualize depends on what your channels are ingesting. Channels get their data from sources.

• A channel with data flowing in. NPS, CSAT, theme, and sentiment widgets all read from Channels. See Channels to set one up, and add sources to a channel to bring data in.
• The right field type. To chart NPS or CSAT, the channel needs a field that uses the NPS or CSAT type. For data from a source, the type is set on the source. See NPS and CSAT scores for Dashboards. If a channel doesn’t appear as an option under an NPS or CSAT widget, this is usually why.
• Enough history to see a trend. A time-series widget needs data across the period you’re charting, so how far back you can chart depends on how far back the source’s data goes.
• Topics and themes worth tracking. Theme widgets chart up to four themes at a time, so it helps to know which ones matter before you start.

Keyword search is the exception — it works across Projects and Channels, and doesn’t require you to select a channel.

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Create a dashboard

Managers and contributors can create and edit dashboards, while viewers can only see those shared with them. By default, all users can access any dashboards created in their workspace.

• To create a dashboard, select + New → Dashboard in the global side menu, or in a folder or project.
• Dovetail automatically analyzes your workspace and will populate widgets based on the type of data you have available.

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Types of visualizations

The visualizations you can choose from depend on the metric you want to measure and whether that data is available in your workspace. For example, to track NPS over time, you need a channel with a field that uses the NPS type.

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Choosing between them

• Comparing size? Use Theme totals — it answers “which of these is loudest right now.”
• Comparing direction? Use Theme trends — it answers “which of these is growing.”
• Tracking a relationship metric? NPS for long-term loyalty, CSAT for satisfaction with a specific interaction.
• Watching for something new? The Keywords widget picks up vocabulary shifts before a theme has formed around them.
• Explaining a score change? Put Sentiment next to the NPS or CSAT widget so the movement and the mood sit side by side.

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Add a widget

You can visualize different metrics in set ways that make sense for that data type. A single dashboard can have an unlimited number of widgets.

• To add a widget to a dashboard, select New widget (the plus icon) in the top right corner.
• Choose a widget type, such as NPS over time or Theme trends, then choose a channel under From.
• For a Keywords widget, type the words or phrases to track instead of choosing a channel. To narrow where the results come from, use Filter.
• From there, refine results further by selecting a time frame, interval, and applying filters.
• Once done, select Save in the bottom right.

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View the data behind a widget

Theme widgets link to the channel that holds the data powering them, so you can trace a trend back to the original feedback.

• Hover over a Theme trends or Theme totals widget and select Drill into data to open the channel behind it.

Use this to explore the data behind a theme or verify a trend. The other widget types don’t link to their data yet. To explore the data behind an NPS, CSAT, or Sentiment widget, chat with the widget.

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Chat with a dashboard

Chat directly from a dashboard or an individual widget to explore the data behind what you see.

• Chat with a dashboard: Opens Chat connected to all the data powering the widgets in that dashboard. Use this to ask questions about overall trends or patterns. Example: “Why did CSAT drop this month?”
• Chat with a widget: Hover over a widget and select Chat with chart in the toolbar that appears. This opens Chat focused on the data behind that widget. Use this to dig deeper into a specific metric or visualization. Example: “Which quotes are driving negative sentiment about pricing?”

Chat uses the same data that powers your dashboard, so responses reflect the latest information in your workspace. Responses include citations for traceability. Because chat from a dashboard is regular Chat scoped to that data, everything else it can do still applies — follow-up questions, citations you can expand, and creating a doc or an agent straight from a response.

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Edit or remove a widget

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Edit a widget

• To edit a widget on a dashboard, hover over the widget and select Edit.
• From there, this will open the chart editor where you can make any appropriate changes. Once ready, select Save.

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Remove a widget

• To remove a widget from a dashboard, hover over the widget and select Delete (the trash icon).
• Once confirmed and removed, you will not be able to restore this chart to the dashboard.

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Delete a dashboard

• To delete an entire dashboard, select the Dashboard from Your Work or Browse page.
• From there, click Move to trash. The dashboard will be available to restore in workspace trash for up to 30 days.

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Permissions and sharing

Manage and change permissions by clicking on the Share button on a dashboard. Two things to keep in mind:

• Creating and editing is role-based. Managers and contributors can create and edit dashboards. Viewers can see dashboards shared with them, and by default all users can access any dashboard created in their workspace.
• Channel and project permissions always apply. A dashboard never widens access to the data behind it. If a user can’t access the channel or project behind a widget, the widget’s contents stay hidden from them — even if they can open the dashboard itself.

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Share your feedback

Dashboards is in beta. Use the Give feedback button to let us know how it’s doing. All feedback is shared with the Dovetail team to help us improve the experience. In addition to speed and performance, we’re working on more widget types and on bringing more Projects data into Dashboards.

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Related

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FAQs

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