How-to

How to give a client a Dashboard that stays the way you built it

Build a board from the Tools a client actually uses, make it the default, and lock the layout, so every person who signs in sees what matters to them and nothing moves.

By Darryl Waterhouse · · 3 min read

You build a site, hand it over, and a week later the client rings: "where has the orders box gone?" They dragged it off by accident, or a colleague did. With Dashboard Pro you can design the board once, make it what everyone starts from, and lock it, so it stays the way you built it.

This guide sets one up for our made-up company, ACME Ltd, a tools and workshop supplier.

1. Build the board from their Tools

Open Dashboards and add a board. Right-click it and choose Add widget. The gallery lists every widget the site can show, grouped by Tool: the built-in ones first, then each Tool's own, such as Calendar, Invoices, Shopping Cart and Support. The ones already on the board are marked, so nothing goes on twice.

Add a widget: the built-in widgets, then each Tool's own, with the ones already on the board marked

Pick what the client looks at every morning. For ACME that is what needs attention, visitors now, the week's calendar, form submissions, 30 days of traffic, orders to fulfil, invoices owed and the team's todos.

ACME HQ - Today: the calendar, forms, shop, invoices and todos beside traffic and what needs attention

Each widget is the Tool's own figure, the same one its sidebar badge shows, so the board and the sidebar always agree.

2. Arrange it

Drag a card by its grip, or open its menu to size it from Small to Full width, move it earlier or later, fold it or remove it. Cards pack upwards, so there is never a gap to tidy.

Each card's menu: size it Small to Full width, move it, fold it or remove it

Right-click a board's tab to rename, duplicate, move or delete it. A shop might want Today, Shop and Content; give each a name the client will recognise.

Right-click a board's tab to rename, duplicate, move or delete it

3. Make it the default, and lock it

When the board looks right, choose Make this the default. Everyone now starts from it, and Reset brings anyone back to it.

Then open the cog. Its top half is your own settings: a greeting, columns, compact cards and how often it updates. Under For everyone you name the Dashboards for the whole site and switch on Lock the layout.

The cog: your own settings, and the name and lock an administrator sets for everyone

4. What your client sees

With the layout locked, anyone who is not an administrator gets the board you set. They can fold a card and refresh it, and the cog still holds their own settings, but nothing can be moved, resized or removed.

Locked for a client: Jordan sees the board you set, and can fold and refresh but not rearrange it

They only ever see what they may open. A widget shows to the people who can use its Tool, so Jordan, whose role does not include the shop or invoices, sees the calendar and what needs attention, and nothing else. Locking a layout never shows anyone more than their role allows.

You and the other administrators keep your own boards, unlocked, as before. Turn the lock off at any time and everyone can arrange their own again.

Quick checklist

  1. Add a board and fill it from the client's own Tools.
  2. Size and order the cards; name the boards.
  3. Make this the default.
  4. In the cog, under For everyone, Lock the layout.
  5. Sign in as the client once to see what they see.

Explore Dashboard Pro, or start from scratch with Build your own Dashboard.

The screens above come from our made-up demo company, ACME Ltd.

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