Using Dashboards
Dashboards are where it all comes together in Apollo. Using our extensive library of widgets, a dashboard can be constructed to cover any use case by setting up specific widgets on the dashboard using our Dashboard Editor. Today's tip covers how to use a dashboard to get the most out of it.
Where can I find the Dashboards?
Every Entity in Apollo Pro® has a Dashboard. Remember, that an Entity can be a Company (Public or Private, Person, Region, Industry, Source, Topic, Currency, Federal Agency, NGO, etc. Once you have searched for, and selected an entity, you will be taken to the News Feed for that Entity. At the top of the page is the Entity Menu which includes the Entity Dashboard. Click on Dashboard to navigate to the Dashboard associated with that entity.
Apollo also includes pre-configured dashboards as part of every implementation. You can find these dashboards by clicking on Dashboards in the top menu. That will give you a drop-down list of available dashboards that you can then use to navigate to a specific dashboard. In addition, the pre-configured dashboards are avalable under Curated Dashboards in the Left Menu when you are viewing a dashboard.
What can I do on a Dashboard?
Each Dashboard is a series of widgets that are shown on a single page. Each widget has specific capabilities which you can explore by clicking on the circled Question Mark contained in the widget border. In addition, every widget has common navigation components.
Expand a Widget
The first navigation component that I typically use is the expand icon which is depicted by four arrows pointing away from each other. Clicking on that icon will expand the widget to take up the entire page available. That means, you can explore the information contained in the widget as a single page without losing the context of the dashboard as a whole. This is particularly useful in News widgets, or Channel widgets where you are working with a News Feed and want to filter, or look at the Grid View, or do other manipulation of the feed itself. It also works very well with the Top Entities Widget since you will have a full-page list of entities associated with the primary context. It is also useful in other widgets where you just want to see more information or be able to manipulate the content more easily.
Update the Widget
The second component I use is the update button. It sits next to the expand button and allows you to update the widget without having to update the entire page. This is useful for refreshing a news feed, getting the latest information or in any situation where the information is being updated dynamically.
Navigate within the Widget
The third component is the internal widget navigation itself. Widgets use tabs and Next/Previous indicators as necessary. Tabs allow you to switch context inside the widget itself. This can be useful for when you have a series of entities showing the same information for each entity (quotes, news, etc.). Clicking on the tab will switch context for that widget.
Paging is done within the widget using Next/Previous buttons at the bottom of any list being created. Click on them to navigate through the list itself. Remember, you can expand the widget as well to get a longer list to eliminate a lot of the need for paging.
The items inside the widget are also clickable depending on each widget. Getting a story from a widget is the same as getting one from the news feed; just click on the headline of the story. Visual Map widgets all are set up to allow you to click on a component of the map (Country, State, etc.) and get the news feed associated with that component. Graph widgets allow you to select portions of the graph to zoom in and focus on specific time intervals. Try them out. You will find that everything is very interactive.
Add Entities to the Widget
One feature that can be made available in the widget is the +ADD tab. Clicking on that tab will give you a search box to find another entity and once the entity is selected will add it as a tab within the widget. This is a great way to stay in context on a dashboard but look at something else while you are there. This is not a permanent change. If you refresh or navigate away, the next time you see the dashboard, the new entity will not be included.
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