> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.mediarithmics.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.mediarithmics.io/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/create-a-custom-dashboard.md).

# Create a custom dashboard

Save charts and assemble them into dashboards your teams read.

## Your goal

Put the numbers your teams need in front of them, in the place they already work - the home page, a segment, a segment builder.

## Expected outcome

Dashboards built from saved charts, in the right locations, without a report nobody reads.

## What you already get

**Built-in dashboards** display standard analytics for your datamart. Find them in the **Computing Console**, under the **Boards** menu:

* A history of the number of UserPoints, profiles, emails, accounts, and identifiers in your datamart.
* A history of the number of activities and events.
* The number of events per name per ingestion step over the last 30 days.

Build your own only for what these do not answer.

## Where dashboards appear

| Location                                                        | What it is for                                                                        |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Boards**                                                      | A datamart overview.                                                                  |
| **The Navigator home page**                                     | What everyone should see on arrival.                                                  |
| **Each segment**, under **Audience > Segments**                 | Details about the users in that segment.                                              |
| **The standard segment builder**, under **Audience > Builders** | Exploring an audience **without saving the segment** and waiting for its computation. |
| **The Computing Console home page**                             | Preferred for integration-specific dashboards.                                        |

Dashboards can be applied to **all** segments or builders, or to specific ones.

The questions they typically answer: what is ingested in the platform; whether there are days where we ingest less; who our users are; how many active users there are and on which channels; what differentiates people in a segment from the rest; whether there is enough data to activate a segment.

## Build one

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Save the charts you need

In the [Query Tool](/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/query-your-datamart/query-tool.md): write the query, choose the display, and save the chart.

{% hint style="info" %}
Charts can be saved and loaded directly in the Query Tool, and **a chart modified there is reflected in every dashboard that uses it** - unless it has been edited in advanced mode.
{% endhint %}
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Create the dashboard

In the **Computing Console**, open the **Dashboards** menu and add a new dashboard, or edit an existing one.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Choose a name and a location

The location decides who sees it. See the table above.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Lay out sections and cards

A dashboard is made of sections holding cards, and cards holding charts. See [Dashboard](/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/create-a-custom-dashboard/dashboard.md).
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Add the charts

Open the **Saved charts** tab, then select and preview any chart you saved earlier.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Save

{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

{% hint style="success" %}
**You do not always need a dashboard.** Limit the feature to reports that need to be shared or referred to frequently - otherwise you overwhelm the people you are trying to help. A saved chart in the Query Tool is often enough.
{% endhint %}

## Advanced mode

Integrators can edit dashboards in an **advanced mode** in the Computing Console, from the dashboard's **Advanced** tab or from each chart's advanced tab, by editing JSON directly.

Things that **can only** be done in advanced mode:

* Managing filters.
* Cloning a dashboard.
* Calculating ratios.
* Comparing audiences with index charts.
* Using the reduce transformation.

{% hint style="danger" %}
**If you edit a saved chart in advanced mode, the link to the original saved chart is broken** - subsequent changes to that chart will no longer be reflected in the dashboard.

This is the trade-off of advanced mode: more capability, and a copy that no longer follows the source.
{% endhint %}

The JSON structure is documented in [Dashboard](/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/create-a-custom-dashboard/dashboard.md), and worked recipes are in [Dashboard cookbook](/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/create-a-custom-dashboard/dashboard-cookbook.md).

## In this section

<table data-view="cards" data-search="false"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Dashboard</strong></td><td>Sections, cards, and the grid.</td><td><a href="/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/create-a-custom-dashboard/dashboard.md">Dashboard</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Dashboard cookbook</strong></td><td>Recipes for the common shapes.</td><td><a href="/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/create-a-custom-dashboard/dashboard-cookbook.md">Dashboard cookbook</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Related pages

<table data-view="cards" data-search="false"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Query Tool</strong></td><td>Where charts are created and saved.</td><td><a href="/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/query-your-datamart/query-tool.md">Query Tool</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Data cube (Activities Analytics)</strong></td><td>The other data source behind dashboards.</td><td><a href="/setup-and-monitor/operate-and-monitor/query-your-datamart/data-cube-activities-analytics.md">Data cube (Activities Analytics)</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Standard segment builder</strong></td><td>The builder a dashboard can sit inside.</td><td><a href="/setup-and-monitor/plan-and-integrate/set-up-advanced-features/standard-segment-builder.md">Standard segment builder</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


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