Embedded Analytics & Custom Dashboards
Build custom dashboards with drag-and-drop widgets and embed analytics into your daily workflow.
Standard reports answer common questions, but every sales organization has unique metrics, processes, and views of the world that require custom visualization. Embedded Analytics in SalesOS gives you the tools to build precisely the dashboards you need -- combining data from any CRM entity, arranging it with a drag-and-drop layout builder, and sharing it across your team or embedding it in external tools.
What Embedded Analytics Are
Embedded Analytics is the custom dashboard and reporting layer in SalesOS that goes beyond the pre-built Dashboard Home. While the standard dashboard provides a fixed set of widgets covering common KPIs, Embedded Analytics lets you:
- Create unlimited custom dashboards tailored to specific roles, teams, or workflows.
- Choose from a library of widget types (charts, tables, KPI cards, funnels, and more).
- Connect widgets to any data source in your CRM with flexible filtering and segmentation.
- Share dashboards with teammates, embed them in external tools, or schedule automated delivery.
- Save dashboard templates that can be reused across the organization.
Every user can create personal dashboards for their own workflow, and managers can publish team-level dashboards that appear in the shared library for their organization.
Accessing Embedded Analytics
Navigate to Analytics from the Reports section in the left sidebar. The Analytics page displays:
- My Dashboards -- Personal dashboards you have created.
- Shared with Me -- Dashboards that colleagues have shared with you.
- Templates -- Pre-built dashboard templates you can clone and customize.
Click any dashboard card to open it, or click Create Dashboard to start from scratch.
Creating a Custom Dashboard
Starting a New Dashboard
- Click Create Dashboard from the Analytics page.
- Enter a name and optional description for your dashboard.
- Choose a layout preset or start with a blank canvas:
- Blank -- An empty grid where you place widgets freely.
- Executive Summary -- Pre-arranged layout with KPI row, charts, and a table.
- Pipeline Review -- Funnel, stage breakdown, and velocity metrics.
- Activity Tracker -- Activity volume charts, leaderboard, and calendar view.
- Click Create to open the dashboard editor.
The Dashboard Editor
The editor is a full-screen canvas with three main areas:
- Toolbar (top) -- Contains the dashboard name, save button, sharing controls, and view/edit toggle.
- Widget Panel (left sidebar) -- The widget library you can drag onto the canvas.
- Canvas (center) -- The grid where widgets are arranged, resized, and configured.
Widget Library
The widget panel offers the following visualization types. Each widget can be connected to any compatible data source and customized with its own filters, colors, and labels.
| Widget Type | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| KPI Card | A single large number with optional comparison and trend indicator | Revenue totals, conversion rates, quota attainment |
| Bar Chart | Vertical or horizontal bars comparing values across categories | Pipeline by stage, revenue by rep, deals by source |
| Line Chart | Trend lines showing values over time | Monthly revenue, activity trends, win rate over time |
| Funnel | A staged visualization showing conversion between steps | Lead-to-close funnel, pipeline stage progression |
| Pie Chart | Proportional breakdown of a total into segments | Deal distribution by type, lead sources, industry split |
| Table | A sortable, filterable data table with row-level detail | Deal lists, account summaries, activity logs |
| Heatmap | Color-coded grid showing intensity across two dimensions | Activity by day/hour, pipeline movement by week/stage |
| Gauge | A dial or progress indicator showing progress toward a target | Quota progress, goal completion, health scores |
| Leaderboard | A ranked list of entities by a metric | Top reps by revenue, most active accounts |
| Scatter Plot | Dots plotted on X/Y axes showing correlation | Deal size vs. close time, activity volume vs. win rate |
Drag-and-Drop Layout Builder
Placing Widgets
To add a widget to your dashboard:
- Open the Widget Panel on the left side of the editor.
- Click and drag the desired widget type onto the canvas.
- Release the widget where you want it placed. The grid system snaps it into alignment.
Resizing Widgets
Grab any corner or edge handle of a placed widget and drag to resize. The canvas uses a 12-column grid system, and widgets can span any number of columns (minimum 3) and any number of rows (minimum 2). This gives you fine-grained control over the visual weight of each element.
Reordering Widgets
Click and drag a widget by its title bar to reposition it on the canvas. Other widgets reflow automatically to accommodate the move. You can also use the arrow buttons in the widget's settings menu for precise positioning.
Responsive Behavior
Dashboards are responsive by default. On smaller screens, widgets stack vertically in the order they appear on the canvas. You can preview how your dashboard renders on different screen sizes using the responsive preview toggle in the toolbar.
Data Sources and Filters
Available Data Sources
Widgets can pull data from any CRM entity:
- Deals / Opportunities -- Stage, value, close date, owner, probability, velocity.
- Leads -- Source, status, score, conversion date, assigned rep.
- Contacts -- Role, last activity, engagement score, lifecycle stage.
- Accounts -- Industry, size, ARR, health score, region.
- Activities -- Type (call, email, meeting, task), date, duration, outcome.
- Quotes -- Status, value, discount, approval state, conversion to order.
- Orders -- Status, revenue, fulfillment, payment state.
- Products -- Category, type, revenue contribution, attach rate.
- Invoices -- Amount, payment status, aging, overdue.
- Pipeline Stages -- Conversion rates, time in stage, stage-over-stage progression.
Applying Filters
Every widget supports filters that narrow the data it displays:
- Date Range -- Relative (last 7 days, this month, this quarter) or absolute (custom start/end dates).
- Owner / Rep -- Filter to a specific user or team.
- Segment -- Apply saved segments (e.g., "Enterprise accounts in EMEA").
- Status -- Filter by entity status (active deals, won deals, lost deals).
- Custom Fields -- Filter by any custom field defined in your pipeline configuration.
Filters can be set at two levels:
- Dashboard-level filters -- Apply to all widgets on the dashboard simultaneously. These appear as a filter bar at the top of the dashboard when in view mode.
- Widget-level filters -- Apply only to a specific widget, overriding the dashboard filter for that data slice.
Widget Configuration
After placing a widget, click the Configure (gear icon) button to open its settings panel. Configuration options vary by widget type but generally include:
Metrics and Dimensions
- Primary Metric -- The value being measured (e.g., deal value, count, average days).
- Dimension -- The axis or grouping (e.g., by stage, by rep, by month).
- Secondary Metric -- An optional comparison value displayed alongside the primary (e.g., target vs. actual).
- Aggregation -- How values are combined: Sum, Average, Count, Min, Max, or Median.
Comparisons
- Period-over-period -- Compare current period to previous (e.g., this month vs. last month).
- Goal comparison -- Show progress against a defined target value.
- Benchmark -- Display an organization-wide average or team average as a reference line.
Visual Customization
- Chart colors -- Choose from the brand palette or set custom colors for each series.
- Labels -- Toggle data labels on chart elements.
- Legend -- Show or hide the legend, and control its position.
- Title and subtitle -- Customize the widget header text.
- Number formatting -- Currency, percentage, decimal places, abbreviation (1.2M vs 1,200,000).
Sharing Dashboards
Team Sharing
To share a dashboard with specific colleagues:
- Click the Share button in the dashboard toolbar.
- Search for team members by name or email.
- Set their permission level:
- Viewer -- Can see the dashboard but cannot edit it.
- Editor -- Can modify widgets, filters, and layout.
- Click Share.
Shared dashboards appear in the recipient's Shared with Me section.
Organization-Wide Publishing
Managers and admins can publish a dashboard to the entire organization. Published dashboards appear in the Organization Dashboards section and are read-only for non-editors. This is useful for executive dashboards, weekly pipeline reviews, or company-wide KPI boards.
Public Link
For sharing outside of SalesOS (e.g., with executives who do not have a SalesOS login or for embedding in company wikis), you can generate a public link. Public links:
- Are read-only.
- Do not require authentication.
- Can be set to expire after a defined period (24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, or never).
- Can be revoked at any time from the sharing settings.
- Respect data visibility -- sensitive fields marked as restricted in your organization's settings are redacted from public views.
Scheduled Reports and Email Delivery
You do not always need to open SalesOS to stay informed. Scheduled reports deliver dashboard snapshots directly to your inbox on a recurring cadence.
Setting Up a Schedule
- Open the dashboard you want to schedule.
- Click the Schedule button (clock icon) in the toolbar.
- Configure the delivery:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Daily, Weekly (choose day), Monthly (choose date), Quarterly |
| Time | Select the delivery time in your local timezone |
| Recipients | Add team members by name or enter external email addresses |
| Format | PDF attachment, inline HTML summary, or link to live dashboard |
| Include Filters | Whether to apply current dashboard filters or show unfiltered data |
- Click Save Schedule.
Scheduled deliveries include a timestamp and a direct link to the live dashboard for recipients who want to drill deeper.
Managing Schedules
View and manage all your active schedules from Analytics > Schedules. From there you can pause, edit, or delete any scheduled delivery.
Dashboard Templates
Templates accelerate dashboard creation by providing pre-configured layouts and widget selections for common use cases.
Pre-Built Templates
SalesOS includes the following templates out of the box:
- Executive Overview -- High-level KPIs, revenue trend, pipeline funnel, and win rate gauge.
- Pipeline Health -- Stage distribution, velocity by stage, aging deals, and conversion rates.
- Rep Performance -- Individual activity volume, deal progression, quota attainment, and leaderboard.
- Marketing Attribution -- Lead source breakdown, conversion by channel, cost per lead, and campaign ROI.
- Customer Success -- Account health scores, renewal pipeline, churn risk, and NPS tracking.
- CPQ Performance -- Quote volume, average discount, approval cycle time, and quote-to-order conversion.
Using a Template
- Navigate to Analytics > Templates.
- Preview any template by clicking its card.
- Click Use Template to create a new dashboard from it.
- Customize the cloned dashboard to fit your specific needs -- add widgets, change filters, adjust layout.
Saving Your Own Templates
After building a dashboard that others in your organization could benefit from, you can save it as a template:
- Open the dashboard.
- Click More > Save as Template.
- Add a template name and description.
- Choose visibility: Personal (only you can use it) or Organization (available to all members).
Embedding in External Tools
Dashboards can be embedded in tools your team already uses, bringing SalesOS analytics into the flow of work without requiring a context switch.
Supported Embedding Methods
- iFrame Embed -- Generate an embed code to insert a live dashboard into any tool that supports HTML iframes (Notion, Confluence, internal wikis, company portals).
- Slack Integration -- Post dashboard snapshots to Slack channels on a schedule or on demand using the
/salesos dashboardcommand. - API Access -- Retrieve dashboard data programmatically via the Analytics API for custom integrations or data warehouse syncing.
Generating an Embed Code
- Open the dashboard and click Share > Embed.
- Configure embed settings:
- Size -- Fixed dimensions or responsive.
- Theme -- Light or dark background.
- Interactive -- Whether viewers can hover for tooltips and apply filters.
- Auto-refresh -- How often the embedded view refreshes (5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour).
- Copy the generated embed code and paste it into your destination tool.
Export Options
Every dashboard and individual widget supports data export for offline analysis or presentation use.
Dashboard-Level Export
Click Export in the toolbar to export the entire dashboard:
- PDF -- A formatted document with all widgets rendered as they appear on screen. Useful for email attachments and printed reports.
- Image (PNG) -- A high-resolution screenshot of the dashboard canvas.
Widget-Level Export
Click the export icon on any individual widget to export just that visualization:
- CSV -- Raw data underlying the widget in tabular format. Useful for further analysis in spreadsheets.
- Image (PNG) -- The widget rendered as a standalone image.
- PDF -- The widget with its title and filters documented.
Bulk Data Export
For large datasets, use the Export Data option in the table widget to download all rows (not just the visible page). Exports are generated asynchronously and delivered via a download notification when ready.
Best Practices
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Start with a question, not a widget. Before building a dashboard, write down the three to five questions you want it to answer. This prevents dashboard sprawl and ensures every widget earns its place on the canvas.
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Use dashboard-level filters for context switching. Rather than building separate dashboards for each team or time period, use dashboard-level filters to let viewers toggle between views. This reduces maintenance overhead and keeps your dashboard library manageable.
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Limit dashboards to 8-10 widgets. Dashboards with too many widgets become overwhelming and slow to load. If you need more than 10 visualizations, split them into multiple focused dashboards or use tabs within a single dashboard.
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Place the most important metrics in the top-left. Users scan dashboards like they read text -- top to bottom, left to right. Put your most critical KPIs in the first row where they are immediately visible without scrolling.
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Use consistent time ranges across widgets. When widgets on the same dashboard show different time periods without clear labeling, viewers draw incorrect conclusions. Either set a dashboard-level date filter or clearly label each widget's time scope.
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Schedule weekly reviews, not daily. For most teams, daily dashboard emails create noise. A weekly cadence gives trends time to form and reduces alert fatigue. Reserve daily schedules for operational dashboards monitoring time-sensitive metrics like inbound lead response time.
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Leverage templates for onboarding. When new reps or managers join, point them to your organization's template library rather than asking them to build dashboards from scratch. Templates encode institutional knowledge about which metrics matter and how to read them.
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Revoke public links when no longer needed. Public links bypass authentication. Review your active public links quarterly and revoke any that were created for one-time presentations or expired stakeholder reviews.
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Test embedded dashboards in context. Before sharing an iframe embed with your team, open it in the destination tool and verify that the sizing, interactivity, and refresh rate work as expected. What looks good in the SalesOS editor may need dimension adjustments in a Notion sidebar.
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Archive rather than delete. When a dashboard outlives its usefulness, archive it rather than deleting it permanently. Archived dashboards remain searchable and can be restored, which is valuable when you need to reference historical reporting configurations.