#66 | NetSuite Personalizing Dashboard Layout

One of the features of the NetSuite dashboard is that we can personalize the layout. Being a user-friendly system, the dashboard allows us to view the portlets or data graphs we need in a layout arrangement that best fits our preference.

In this tutorial, we will learn about the following:

• NetSuite Default Layout
• Adding Portlets to Personalize Dashboard
• Customizing Trend Graphs
• Fixing the Dashboard Layout

I suggest you watch the video. It’s easier to understand if you are a visual/audio learner. The content below is the same as the video. It’s for those who learn by reading.

NetSuite Default Layout

This is the standard layout that you would normally see in your NetSuite dashboard. The default is a small column on the left and a big column on the right with lots of spaces.

You can easily change the default layout by going to the upper right of the page.

• Click on layout with drop-down
• Choose from the available format layouts

This layout has two small columns, one on the left and one on the right. It also has a big column in the middle.

Here is a clean dashboard that doesn’t have anything set up yet. In the left column, you only have settings, which cannot be removed from the dashboard as it is a standard default.

To start personalizing, just click on personalize on the upper right-hand corner of your dashboard.

Adding Portlets to Personalize Dashboard

In the Personalize Dashboard, you’ll see the standard portlets from NetSuite. You can customize the dashboard and add portlets based on what you need.

If you do scheduling in NetSuite, you could add a calendar by clicking on it.

Once you add any portlet, as in this example, it’s the Calendar, it will be added to the layout as shown below.

Other details you can set in the calendar are:

• Change the calendar view to see day, week, or month.
• Add agenda by clicking on the date to add an event call or text.

Adding the KPI meter portlet

Another type of portlet that you can add is the KPI meter or key performance indicator meter. Again, just click on it to add it.

You can set how you want to view the KPI meter. Options are actual versus forecast, actual versus quota, and forecast versus quota.

In order to view this, there should be data. To show the data you selected follow the steps based on the screen shot.

1. Click on set up.
2. You want a snapshot for sales versus forecast.
3. Under range, select from a scroll down menu or just type what you’re looking for instead of scrolling down.
4. Once you find the range that you want, click on save.

Adding the KPI Scorecard Portlet

When adding a portlet, just click on it. To set up KPI scorecard, follow the steps based on the screenshot below.

1. Add employees in the KPI Scorecard to see the employee matrix.
2. Check on Trend Graph Icon to view the trend graph.
3. Click save.

The third screenshot is the Employees’ matrix showing the quarterly trend.

Adding the RSS Feed Portlet

After selecting RSS Feed from the standard portlets, it needs to be set up.

Below shows default news feed from Market Watch, which can be set up accordingly.

1. Change the source feed by selecting from the dropdown menu.
2. Add the file URL.
3. Put the number of links you want to be listed.
4. Click on save and this will now show you the top stories from Reuters.

Adding Custom Search

To customize your search setting on the right of the dashboard, just add the custom search portlet.

If you want to see all the available searches, click set-up and you will see all the standard available custom searches.

An example is setting up a custom search for cases on hold. Here are the fields to be completed.

• Custom portlet title
• Result size or limit
• Option to drill down inside a portlet or into a new page that’s an available setting
• Allow or disallow inline editing (for editing records on the search results)
• Chart theme
• Background types

Since this is a search for Cases on Hold, you will see the list of cases on hold in the dashboard the moment you log in.

Some of the activities you can do are:

• Hit the refresh button on the upper right to show the new items.
• If you allowed inline editing and you spot something that’s not supposed to be on hold, you can quickly change it from here.
• Click refresh after changing the status from on hold, and it will be removed from the on hold list.

Customizing Trend Graphs

Another personalization feature is Trend Graphs. You can find this in the tab under Personalize Dashboard.

The following are the fields to be set for trend graph:

• Default chart type (e.g. Line)
• KPI (e.g. Revenue)
• Trend type (e.g. Yearly)
• Allow or disallow show moving average
• Period to calculate moving average
• Allow or disallow show last data point
• Allow or disallow inclusion of zero on Y-axis
• Chart theme
• Custom series color
• Background color

After saving your set-up, you now have a chart showing your selections. The example below is a line graph. This can be customized further according to:

• Graph Forms – You can change the line graph to a bar graph.
• Graph Periods – You can select which period to be displayed on the graph, as well as the moving average and the revenue.

Fixing the Dashboard Layout

After adding all the portlets you need, it’s now time to fix and move the portlets around according to the layout chosen.

The layout as shown below has a small column on the left and right and a big column on the center of the page. In the first fold of the page, you can choose to place the most needed portlet you have. Starting from the left, you’ll see here the calendar, trend graph, and news.

When you scroll down, this is where the custom searches and the KPI scorecard portlets are placed. They’re completely customizable based on the settings you just did.

After completing the customization of your dashboard, you can now close the personalize menu in the upper right corner of the page.

Summary

Each of the portlets you choose has their own customization settings. The personalization feature allows users like you to be more efficient and have flexibility in the data that you only want to see.

To go back to each of these tips, just click below.

• NetSuite Default Layout
• Adding Portlets to Personalize Dashboard
• Customizing Trend Graphs
• Fixing the Dashboard Layout