Dynamic Dashboards is a new feature introduced by Salesforce in its Summer ’10 Platform Release. What is this feature and how does it benefit administrators and users across an organization?
Definition of Dynamic Dashboards
A Dynamic Dashboard enables multiple users to access a dashboard that was previously accessed only by a single static user. This means that the dynamic dashboard can be used by a specific user alongside a logged-in user, and display data specific to both users accordingly.
Dashboard Use Prior to Dynamic Dashboards
Before the advent of dynamic dashboards, administrators need to create cloned dashboards for every level of data access. For instance, an organization has a thousand sales reps that need to access a single dashboard. The administrator must clone the dashboard so that each rep gets access to their individual dashboards. Since each dashboard contains corresponding reports, these have to be cloned as well. Obviously, this is too time-consuming and taxing for the administrator.
How Dynamic Dashboards Work
Let’s take the sales reps example above. With a dynamic dashboard, the sales reps may now access a single dashboard simultaneously. Their individual information is displayed, configured using the “My” filter. Hence, if a sales rep views his information, he’ll access them by clicking on fields similar to “My Accounts” or “My Opportunities”.
Users may easily think that once they’re logged in and are viewing their information, they’re looking at their own customized dashboards. However, the dynamic dashboard actually contains every user’s data but displays only the data of the user logged in to the system.
Dynamic dashboards enable users to view their personal information simultaneously whenever they are logged in to the Salesforce system. This eliminates the need to replicate dashboards and update them every time changes are made.
Benefits of Dynamic Dashboards
Data for every Salesforce user in the organization becomes more streamlined with the help of Dynamic Dashboards. The needs to clone dashboards is eliminated, which enormously saves time and effort on the administrator’s part. Users are also able to access the dynamic dashboard easily and fuss-free.