Dashboard filters
One filter bar that narrows several widgets at once, with starting values, month filters, and filters carried into reports.
A dashboard has its own filter bar across the top. One filter, such as a subsidiary, a vendor or a range of months, can narrow widgets from several reports at once, even when those reports name the field differently.
Using the filter bar
Each filter in the bar is the same kind of control a column filter uses: text, dropdown, number, date, month or yes/no. Set a value, and every widget that the filter is routed to narrows at once.
- Clear all empties the bar. An empty bar is not kept, so the next opening is on the starting values.
- Starting filters appears once the bar differs from what the dashboard opens with. It puts the starting values back.
- Your values are kept while the browser tab stays open. Leave the dashboard and come back, or reload the page, and the bar is as you left it. Clear all and Starting filters forget them.
- Closing the tab ends it. A new tab starts on the starting values.
- A link that carries its own filter values wins, and what you change on such a page is not kept. Back from a report you opened by a click on a widget is one of those links.
- A filter marked "not applied yet" is not routed to any widget, so it does nothing.
A table widget's own header filters also narrow every chart and stat tile over the same report, both on a dashboard and on a report page.
Filter types
| Type | Reads | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Text columns | A document number, a memo |
| Dropdown (pick from values) | Text columns | A vendor, a subsidiary, a sales rep |
| Number | Number, currency and percent columns | An amount range |
| Date | Date and datetime columns | A date range, or a relative range such as Last 30 days |
| Month (YYYY-MM) | Month columns | Pick months, a whole year, a month range, or This year and Last quarter |
| Yes / No | Yes / No columns | Open only, overdue only |
The month filter gives you the same month picker as a report: months grouped by year, a tick for each whole year, ranges, and relative choices that follow the calendar.
Building the filter bar
- Open the dashboard in edit mode and choose Filters…. The Dashboard filters editor opens.
- Choose + Add filter, then give the filter a label and a type.
- For each widget, choose the column this filter applies to, or leave it on Not applied. The columns come from each widget's own report, so one filter can drive Brand on one report and Vendor on another.
- To give the filter a starting value, set the value in the filter bar, then choose Use current value. Clear starting value removes it.
- Choose Done, then Save dashboard.
Remove filter deletes the filter from the bar.
Warnings about targets
The editor warns you when a filter's targets may not mean the same thing. There are two cases:
- A target column's format does not suit the filter, for example a month filter routed to a text column, or a number filter routed to a name.
- The target columns look like different fields. Their labels and keys disagree, or they link to different record types.
The editor treats two columns that link to the same record type as the same field, whatever they are called. A warning asks you to check and does not block the filter. The columns come from each report's SQL, and you decide.
Filters carried into reports
A dashboard is often the start of a question. When you leave it for a report, the dashboard's filters come with you.
- The report name in a widget's title bar opens that report with the dashboard filters that apply to the widget. Each one becomes a column filter on the report.
- A drill-through from a table widget carries them too. Where a column receives both the clicked row's value and a dashboard filter, the row's value wins.
The app fits a carried value to the type of the column it fills. A month carried to a date column becomes that month's dates, and a dropdown pick carried to a text column becomes an exact match. Clear the column filters on the report to see all of it.
One Group by for the whole dashboard
A dashboard can have one Group by dropdown in the filter bar. Changing it regroups every widget that follows it. The other widgets keep their own grouping.
The dropdown lists the groupings at least one of those widgets can show:
- A widget grouped on a date column can be shown by Year, Half year, Quarter, Month and Week.
- A widget grouped on a month column (
YYYY-MM) can be shown by Year, Half year, Quarter and Month. A month column holds months, not days, so it has no weeks. - In an account whose fiscal year does not start in January, both can also be shown by Fiscal year, Fiscal half year and Fiscal quarter. See Fiscal periods, year to date and balances.
- A dashboard whose reports are all monthly therefore has no Week. To see weeks or days, the report needs a regular date column.
To make a widget follow it:
- Open the dashboard in edit mode and select the widget.
- Under the widget's own date grouping dropdown, tick Use the dashboard's Group by. The dropdown is By on a chart, a table or a statement, and Points per on a comparison trend. The widget's dropdown turns grey and shows the dashboard's value.
- Set Group by in the filter bar to the value the dashboard should open with, then choose Save dashboard.
The Group by dropdown appears once one widget is ticked, and disappears when none is. After the first widget is ticked, each widget you add starts ticked. Untick a widget to give it back its own grouping.
What a viewer's choice does:
- Viewers can change Group by for their visit. The app does not save their choice.
- The app adds the choice to the page address, for example
?gb=year, so a link you copy opens on the same grouping. - Print writes it out next to the filters, and a scheduled email uses the grouping the author saved.
- Opening the dashboard from the Dashboards list shows the value its author saved.
- A link or a saved value that names a grouping the dropdown does not list opens on the dashboard's default.
A chart regrouped by the dashboard titles its bottom axis with the grouping in effect, such as Quarter, whatever title its author typed for the widget's own grouping.
Three things to know:
- Week needs a real date. When a dashboard mixes date and month columns and you choose Week, a widget on a month column shows months and says so in a small line under it: "Shown by month. This report holds months, not days."
- A comparison trend draws quarters at most. It shows Quarter when the dashboard says Year or Half year, and Fiscal quarter when it says Fiscal year or Fiscal half year. It says so in the same way.
- A ticked widget keeps its own grouping underneath. It uses that grouping in a NetSuite portlet, where there is no dashboard Group by.
Starting values
Starting values make a dashboard open on a sensible slice, such as This year or one subsidiary. Viewers can change or clear them, and their own values are kept while their browser tab stays open. A new tab opens on the starting values again. When you save other starting values or other filters, the values a viewer had kept are forgotten.
If something looks wrong
| What you see | Why, and what to do |
|---|---|
| A widget looks empty | A filter in the bar leaves it no rows. Check the filter bar before you assume the report is empty. |
| A filter is marked "not applied yet" | It is not routed to any widget. In Filters…, choose a column for at least one widget. |
| No Group by dropdown | No widget is ticked Use the dashboard's Group by. |
| Group by has no Week | Every widget that follows it is grouped on a month column. Weeks need a report with a regular date column. |
| A widget shows months when you chose Week | It is grouped on a month column, and says so in a small line under it. |
| A comparison trend shows quarters when you chose Year or Half year | It draws quarters at most, and says so in the same way. |
| Group by has no Fiscal year | The fiscal year of the account starts in January, so it equals Year. An admin sets the month under Fiscal year on the Formatting tab. |
Tips
- Use a Dropdown filter for fields with a known list of values, and Text for free searching.
- Route a Month (YYYY-MM) filter to the month column of summary reports stored by month. For detail reports with a date column, use a Date filter.
- Keep the bar short. Three or four filters that everyone understands are easier to use than ten.
A Month or Date filter on a comparison table
A comparison table chooses the period of each of its columns, so it reads a Month or Date filter on its Dates column in its own way. The filter sets the date every column is worked out from, which is the last day of the filter's range, and it hides none of the table's rows. Choose September, and the table shows September, September of last year and the year to date through September. See The Comparison table widget.
Related: Building a dashboard · Drill-through · Filters and the grain switch · The Statement widget · Fiscal periods, year to date and balances
A Month or Date filter on a bar chart with periods
A bar chart whose Series is Periods reads a Month or Date filter on its date column the same way. The filter sets the day its periods are worked out from, which is the last day of the filter's range, and it hides none of the chart's rows. Choose June, and a chart of the year to date against a year earlier shows January to June of both years. With no value in the filter, the chart reads as of today.
A Month or Date filter and an as-of caption
A stat tile whose Caption is the date the figure is as of takes the end of the filter as that date, and never a date after today. The filter narrows the tile's rows as usual. A tile on a closing value names the latest date in its rows instead.