7.3 Dashboards, Components & Subscriptions

Dashboards, Components & Subscriptions

Quick Summary: Dashboards provide executive and operational leadership with at-a-glance visibility into enterprise health. Arranged across an interactive 12-column grid, dashboard components transform underlying source reports into visual charts, gauge meters, and high-impact metrics. Crucially, dashboard security is dictated by the Running User architecture, separating fixed executive perspectives from personalized dynamic dashboards. All reports and dashboards are secured within folders enforcing Viewer, Editor, or Manager access, and users can automate data dissemination through scheduled subscriptions and conditional threshold alerts.

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Dashboards Overview: Multi-Source Visual Analytics

A Dashboard is an interactive, multi-component graphical display that summarizes business performance metrics across one or more areas of the organization. Key architectural characteristics include:

• 12-Column Responsive Grid: Dashboards in Lightning Experience utilize a 12-column drag-and-drop layout canvas. Authors can resize, stretch, and position components to emphasize critical key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Underlying Source Reports: A dashboard does not store data independently. Instead, every single dashboard component is powered by exactly one underlying source report.
• Report Prerequisites: To feed a standard dashboard component, the source report must be a Summary Report, a Matrix Report, or a Tabular Report with a configured Row Limit. Standard tabular reports lacking row limits cannot supply categorical groupings to dashboard charting widgets.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                     DASHBOARD CANVAS (12 COLUMNS)                       |
|                                                                         |
| [Filter: Region = All v]               [Filter: Fiscal Year = 2026 v]   |
|                                                                         |
| +-----------------------+ +--------------------+ +-------------------+ | |
| | METRIC: Open Pipeline | | GAUGE: Q3 Quota    | | DONUT: Lead Source| | |
| |       $4.2M           | |   [===#====] 78%   | |   Web: 45%        | | |
| |  +12% vs Last Quarter | |   Target: $1.0M    | |   Partner: 35%    | | |
| +-----------------------+ +--------------------+ +-------------------+ | |
| +----------------------------------------------+ +-------------------+ | |
| | COLUMN CHART: Monthly Closed Revenue         | | LIGHTNING TABLE   | | |
| |   ||  ||  ||  ||  ||                         | | Top 5 Deals       | | |
| +----------------------------------------------+ +-------------------+ | |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Core Dashboard Component Types

Salesforce provides diverse visual widgets called Dashboard Components:

1. Charts (Bar, Column, Line, Donut, Funnel, Scatter): Visually depict summarized report data, allowing viewers to analyze comparative volumes, category proportions, or chronological trends.
2. Metric Component: Displays a single, prominent headline number (e.g., Total Closed Won Revenue: $2,450,000). Authors can add comparison values, show percentage differences, and apply conditional color formatting (e.g., turning the text green when above target and red when below).
3. Gauge Component: Displays a radial speedometer-style dial measuring a single numerical metric against progressive business goal thresholds. Authors define specific numeric cutoffs for three color bands: Red (Concern), Yellow (Warning), and Green (Target Reached). For example, tracking quarterly sales attainment where $0–$50k is Red, $50k–$80k is Yellow, and $80k+ is Green.
4. Lightning Table: Embeds a customizable tabular list directly onto the dashboard canvas. It shows a configurable number of rows and columns from its source report and supports sorting, conditional formatting, and record owner profile photos.

Interactive Dashboard Filters

To prevent authors from building duplicate dashboards for different teams, Salesforce provides Dashboard Filters:

• Interactive Dynamic Filtering: Placed at the top of the dashboard, filters allow viewers to segment the entire dashboard dynamically on the fly (e.g., filtering by Region: West, Industry: Healthcare, or Owner Role: Enterprise Sales).
• Cross-Report Field Mapping: The author maps the filter to equivalent fields across different source reports (e.g., mapping a Region filter to Billing State on an Account report and Lead State on a Lead report).
• Platform Limits: A dashboard can contain up to 3 dashboard filters, with each filter supporting up to 50 filter options.

Refreshing Dashboard Data

A dashboard shows the data its source reports returned at the last refresh; it is not a live stream.

• Last Refreshed: The dashboard shows when its data was last refreshed.
• Manual refresh: Click Refresh to re-run the source reports behind every component and load current data.
• On open: Opening a dashboard also refreshes it, unless cached data already exists.
• Scheduled refresh: In Lightning Experience, subscribe to a dashboard to have it refreshed and emailed on a schedule, instead of using the older Salesforce Classic scheduled-refresh setting.

Exam pattern: "The numbers on a dashboard look out of date. What should the user do?" Check the Last Refreshed time and click Refresh.

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The Running User Security Model

The most critical security concept tested on the platform is the Running User. In Salesforce reports, data visibility strictly adheres to the viewing user's own profile, Organization-Wide Defaults, and role hierarchy. In dashboards, however, the author explicitly configures whose security permissions govern data visibility:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                       RUNNING USER ARCHITECTURE                          |
|                                                                          |
| [FIXED RUNNING USER]                                                     |
| - "Run as specified user" (e.g., Vice President of Sales)                |
| - Every viewer sees the EXACT same data based on VP's high permissions   |
| - Viewers can see aggregate numbers for records they cannot access       |
| - CAN be scheduled for automated Email Subscriptions                     |
|                                                                          |
| [DYNAMIC DASHBOARD]                                                      |
| - "Run as the logged-in user"                                            |
| - Each viewer sees ONLY data they are permitted to view individually    |
| - Strict org edition limits (e.g., 5 to 10 dynamic dashboards per org)   |
| - STRICT RULE: CANNOT BE SCHEDULED FOR EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS!              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1. Fixed Running User ("Run as Specified User")

• An administrator or dashboard author designates a specific individual user (e.g., the CEO, VP of Sales, or Support Director) as the Running User.
• Universal Perspective: Every single viewer who opens the dashboard sees data calculated according to that designated user's security permissions, role hierarchy placement, and sharing access.
• Data Exposure Impact: Standard sales representatives might see total corporate revenue figures on the dashboard that include records they cannot open or view individually in standard record list views. Clicking on an individual component record link will still enforce record security (preventing the rep from viewing the unauthorized record detail page).
• Email Subscription Capability: Fixed running user dashboards can be scheduled for automated email subscriptions because data evaluation is consistent.

2. Dynamic Dashboard ("Run as Logged-In User")

• When configured as a Dynamic Dashboard, the dashboard evaluates data dynamically based on the specific user currently viewing the screen.
• Personalized Access: When an East Coast sales rep opens the dashboard, they see only East Coast opportunities. When the West Coast manager opens the identical dashboard, they see only West Coast opportunities.
• Operational Benefit: Eliminates the administrative burden of creating and maintaining dozens of identical regional or team dashboards.
• Key Platform Limitations (Critical Exam Concepts):
  1. Edition Caps: Organizations are allocated a strictly limited number of dynamic dashboards based on edition (e.g., Enterprise Edition includes up to 5 dynamic dashboards; Unlimited Edition includes up to 10; additional licenses must be purchased).
  2. Subscription Prohibition: Dynamic dashboards CANNOT be scheduled for email subscription or automated delivery! Salesforce Help states that subscriptions are not supported for dynamic dashboards; people who need scheduled emails should subscribe to a static (run-as-specified-user) version.

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Folders, Access Controls & Sharing Governance

Individual reports and dashboards do not possess standalone sharing settings. Instead, data security and access governance are managed strictly at the Folder Level.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                        FOLDER ACCESS LEVELS                             |
|                                                                         |
| [VIEWER]    ---> Open, view, and run reports/dashboards; cannot edit    |
| [EDITOR]    ---> View, edit, create, move, and delete items in folder   |
| [MANAGER]   ---> All Editor rights PLUS manage user folder sharing      |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Folder Types and Scope

• Private Folder ("Private Reports" / "Private Dashboards"): Items saved here are private to their owner and cannot be shared with other users. Administrators with the Manage All Private Reports and Dashboards permission can view and manage other users' private items in Lightning Experience.
• Public Folders: Shared across the organization. Access can be granted to individual Users, Public Groups, Roles, or Roles and Subordinates.
• Unified System Folders: Standard folders such as "All Folders" or company-wide report directories managed by administrators.

Three Folder Permission Levels

When sharing a public folder, the administrator or folder manager assigns one of three explicit permission levels:

1. Viewer: Users can open the folder, browse its contents, and run reports or view dashboards. They cannot edit reports, save new reports into the folder, rename items, or delete files.
2. Editor: Users inherit all Viewer capabilities, plus the ability to create new reports/dashboards in the folder, edit existing items, move items between accessible folders, and delete items. Editors cannot alter folder sharing settings or grant permissions to other users.
3. Manager: Users possess full control over the folder. They inherit all Editor capabilities, plus the exclusive authority to change folder properties, rename the folder, delete the entire folder, and manage sharing access for other users and groups.

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Subscriptions & Conditional Notifications

Salesforce enables automated distribution of analytical insights through scheduled subscriptions, keeping stakeholders informed without requiring manual logins.

Report Subscriptions & Conditional Alerting

• Schedule Options: Users can subscribe to reports to receive formatted email digests delivered Daily, Weekly, or Monthly at a specified hour.
• Conditional Alert Notifications: Subscribers can establish threshold conditions so notifications trigger only when specific operational criteria are met. For example:
  • "Notify me only when Total Open Critical Cases is greater than 10."
  • "Send an alert when Closed Won Revenue this month exceeds $500,000."
• When conditions are met, Salesforce can send an immediate email notification, post a notification to the user's notification bell, or push an alert to the Salesforce mobile app.

Dashboard Subscriptions

• Users can subscribe themselves and other users, public groups, or roles to receive scheduled dashboard snapshots via email.
• The email delivers a high-resolution visual snapshot of the dashboard components along with a direct link to open the live dashboard.
• Prerequisite Reminder: As established in the running user architecture, only dashboards configured with a Fixed Running User can be subscribed to. Dynamic dashboards display a disabled subscription option.

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Comprehensive Reports and Dashboards Governance Matrix