How to build a sales dashboard in Salesforce

A sales dashboard brings together a few components, each fed by a report, to answer Monday-morning questions: where do we stand, what might slip, who needs help. Build the source reports first, then add one component per question, and choose the running user carefully.

Before you start: the list of questions

Write down the decisions the sales director makes every week. Each question becomes a component, and each component needs a report. Here is a common scenario, with fictitious data:

This breakdown has six components. It's a suggestion: adapt it to your sales cycle. A few components can be read at a glance; too many, and nobody knows where to look.

Step 1: prepare the source reports

A dashboard doesn't calculate anything itself. It shows the result of a report. If the report is wrong, so is the component.

• Save the reports in a folder that the dashboard's viewers can access.
• Give reports clear names, for example "Dashboard – Open opportunities by stage".
• For a chart, use the Summary format with at least one grouping. The guide build a Salesforce report covers formats and filters.
• Check three known cases in each report before using it.

Step 2: create the dashboard

You need the "Run Reports AND Create and Customize Dashboards" permission.

1. In the Analytics tab, click Create, then Lightning, then Dashboard. You can also click New Dashboard in the Dashboards tab.
2. Enter a name, a short description if you like, and choose the folder. The default folder is Private Dashboards.
3. Click + Widget, choose the source report, then Select.
4. Adjust the display, click Add, then place and resize the component.
5. Repeat for each question on your list.

Exact labels may vary depending on your interface language.

Step 3: choose the right component type

Salesforce offers, among others, these types: chart, gauge, metric and table.

• Chart: bar, column (grouped, stacked or stacked to 100%), line, pie, donut, funnel, scatter. Bars are for comparing a report's groupings.
• Gauge: one value within a range you define. Useful for a target.
• Metric: a single value. Useful for a total.
• Table: the report's data in columns.

A title that asks the question ("Open amount by rep") helps more than a technical title.

Step 4: add filters

Click + Filter, choose a field, give the filter a display name, then add values with Add Filter Value. A dashboard filter lets you, for example, switch from one team to another without duplicating the dashboard. The list only offers fields that can filter every component.

Filters don't work on a component based on a joined report.

Step 5: choose the running user

This is the setting that causes the most surprises. Click the gear icon to open the properties, then look at View Dashboard As. There are three options:

A fictitious example: you only see opportunities in Canada. With "Me", every viewer sees only Canada. With a person who sees every country, they see every country.

For a management committee, choose a running user who sees all the data. For each rep to see their own numbers, choose the dynamic dashboard.

Points to know:

• choosing a running user requires the "View My Team's Dashboards" or "View All Data" permission;
• creating or editing a dynamic dashboard requires "Manage Dynamic Dashboards";
• according to the official documentation, this setting is available in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited and Developer editions. Check your edition before promising this option to your teams.

You can also tick the option that lets viewers choose whom they view the dashboard as. With "View My Team's Dashboards", a viewer can pick themselves or someone below them in the role hierarchy. With "View All Data", they can pick anyone.

Step 6: appearance, then save

In the properties, you set the theme (light or dark), the colour palette and the grid size (9 or 12 columns). Salesforce notes that the Mineral palette is the accessible option. Click Save, then Done.

Refreshing the data

To get recent data, click Refresh. A refresh updates the results for every user with access to the dashboard.

• Requests sent during a refresh, or about a minute after it, are ignored.
• If a refresh doesn't finish within 10 minutes, it stops. Click again.
• In the mobile app, pulling down the screen doesn't refresh the dashboard. Use the manual refresh.

Common mistakes

• A source report filtered on "My opportunities": the component then shows the running user's data, not the team's.
• A running user who has left the company or whose permissions have changed: the numbers change without anyone touching the dashboard.
• Too many components: those that answer no question get lost in the noise.
• A tabular report for a gauge: the component isn't possible.
• A badly shared folder: the viewer opens the dashboard but has no access to the source report. Check folder sharing.
• No check of the numbers: compare at least one component with its source report before sharing.

When to ask for help

If numbers differ between report and dashboard, if data visibility is getting away from you, or if you need a custom report type, an administrator sorts it out quickly. See our Salesforce reports and dashboards service. To size the need, also see the cost of a Salesforce administrator or the pricing page.

Official references

• Build a Lightning Experience Dashboard (Salesforce Help) (new tab)
• Choose a Running User / View Dashboard As (Salesforce Help) (new tab)
• Dashboard Components (Salesforce Help) (new tab)
• Refresh Dashboard Data (Salesforce Help) (new tab)

Frequently asked questions