--- title: "About building dashboards" slug: "about-building-dashboards" status: "update" updated: 2026-10-12T12:56:40Z published: 2026-10-12T12:56:40Z canonical: "help.gong.io/about-building-dashboards" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gong.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # About building dashboards > **Who can use this**: Business admin > > **Available on**: Gong Foundation > > **Ideal for**: RevOps Dashboards are customizable views that bring your revenue, activity, Engage, and Enable data together in one place. As a business admin, you build dashboards by combining widgets. Each widget answers a specific business question using your company's metrics and targets. Dashboards are then published and shared with the teams who use them, for example to review performance, track pipeline, monitor team activity, analyze flow outcomes and scorecard results, and run recurring revenue meetings. ## How dashboards work A dashboard is a collection of widgets displayed on a single page. When a viewer opens a dashboard, they can filter the entire view by team and time period using the selectors at the top of the page. Unless otherwise configured, widgets respond to these selections automatically, showing data for the chosen team and period. You can build a dashboard from scratch or start from a template. Templates generate a pre-selected set of widgets based on a common business question and are the fastest way to get a useful dashboard in front of viewers. ## What you need before you build Dashboards draw on shared building blocks that are set up separately in the Admin center. Before you can build most widgets, these need to be in place: - **Metrics:** Aggregated calculations based on your CRM or Gong data (for example, number of closed deals, average deal size, number of calls completed, emails sent, meetings held, or flows finished). Metrics are created and managed in **Admin center > Data studio > Metrics**. You need the **Manage metrics** permission to create them, but you can use existing metrics in widgets with only the **Manage dashboards** permission. For the fields you can use in metrics, see the [Reference guide for metrics and widgets](/v1/docs/reference-guide-for-metrics-and-widgets). - **Targets:** Period-based performance targets metrics are set against. Managed in **Admin center > Data studio > Targets**. Required for KPI, Performance, and Target attainment widgets. - **List views:** Predefined views of records. Used as drill-down views in metric-based widgets and as the data source for Record list widgets. > [!NOTE] > Note: > > Metrics, targets, and list views are shared across dashboards and other areas of Gong such as forecast boards. Changes made to these building blocks affect everywhere they are used. ## Data you can use Dashboards can draw on calls, meetings, emails, contacts, leads, Engage flows and to-dos, Enable scorecards, and deals and accounts from your CRM. Some data needs a seat in addition to Gong Foundation: flows and to-dos need an Engage seat, and scorecards need an Enable seat. Figures on dashboard are calculated from all the data in each widget, including calls and emails a team member doesn't have access to. This keeps every figure the same for everyone who views the dashboard. When a team member drills down on a figure, such as the number of calls last quarter or the amount of open pipeline, they see the calls or deals that add up to it. Calls and emails they don't have access to still appear in the list, but their details are hidden, so the list always adds up to the figure. Contacts and leads have no permission controls, so everyone who can open the dashboard sees all contact and lead records. ## Permissions Building and viewing dashboards requires specific permissions, set by your tech admin in the Admin center: - **Manage dashboards:** Required to create, edit, share, and delete dashboards and their widgets. Grant this to business admins who build dashboards. - **Manage metrics** and **Manage targets:** Required to create or edit metrics and targets. These should be restricted to a smaller group of trusted admins to protect data integrity. - **Dashboards page permission:** Required for anyone who needs to view published dashboards. Set under **Admin center > Permission profiles > Pages**. Viewers who don't have Manage dashboards permission can still view published dashboards as long as their permission profile includes the Dashboards page permission. The new data (calls, meetings, emails, contacts, leads, flows, to-dos, and scorecards) doesn't need a new permission. If you share a dashboard with someone whose seat doesn't include the data in a widget, that widget appears as unavailable for them. ## Widgets Widgets are the individual components you add to a dashboard. There are two groups: - **Custom widgets:** Flexible analysis tools you configure using your own metrics: Custom chart, KPI, Performance, Text, Target attainment, and Record list. - **Deals and forecast widgets:** Focused on pipeline and forecast data: Deals, Forecast rollup, Trends, Changes, and Funnel. See [About dashboard widgets](/v1/docs/about-dashboard-widgets) for a description of each widget type and when to use it. ## Templates Templates are pre-built dashboard configurations designed around common business questions such as performance review, forecast review, team activity, or pipeline generation. When you generate a dashboard from a template, Gong creates a set of widgets and walks you through selecting the metrics, targets, and CRM fields needed to populate them. Templates are a good starting point even if you plan to customize the dashboard afterwards. You can add, remove, and edit widgets after generation. ## Frequently asked questions ****Who can see a dashboard I build?**** Until you publish a dashboard, only you and other team members with the Manage dashboards permission can see it. Once published, you control access: you can share it with specific people or make it visible to the entire company. Viewers need the Dashboards page permission in their profile to open it. ****Can I build a dashboard without setting up metrics first?**** You can create a dashboard and add some widgets (such as Text, Deals, and Forecast rollup) without any metrics. However, most custom widgets require at least one metric. You can create metrics on the fly while building a widget, but it's better practice to set them up in advance so they're available consistently across dashboards and forecast boards. ****What is the difference between the dashboard team selector and a widget's team member filter?**** The team selector at the top of the dashboard is a global filter. When a viewer changes it, all widgets set to respond dynamically update to show data for that team. The team member filter inside a widget's settings is different: it defines which team member field in the underlying CRM data the widget uses (for example, opportunity owner versus account executive). If you set a widget's team member filter to a fixed value, that widget will no longer respond to the dashboard-level team selector. ****What happened to "Revenue analytics"?**** The feature previously called Revenue analytics is now called Dashboards. The permission previously called Manage Revenue Analytics has been split into three separate permissions: Manage dashboards, Manage metrics, and Manage targets. If your team set up dashboards under the old name, your existing content and configuration are unchanged. ****Why can't I use some data, widgets, or templates?**** An item that your company's seats don't include appears as unavailable and names the product you need. See [Data you can use](/docs/about-building-dashboards#data-you-can-use) for which data needs a seat. A team member who manages the business entities in Gong, such as deal and forecast boards. [Find my Business admin](/v1/docs/find-your-technical-or-business-admin). Gong’s core platform for gaining advanced visibility into your revenue operations. Also the prerequisite license needed for Gong’s add-on packages. Access to features depends on your [company’s plan and your assigned seat](/v1/docs/plans-and-seats). A team member who manages and optimizes revenue-related workflows by managing business entities such as metrics, targets, and dashboards.