Create complex visualizations using your FlowWorks data and more.

Overview

Custom Dashboards is a feature of FlowWorks that enables users to build interactive, data-driven views of their monitoring network using a flexible drag-and-drop interface. Inspired by modern business intelligence tools, Custom Dashboards lets you combine charts, maps, tables, alarm summaries, and more onto a single canvas — tailored to the metrics that matter most to you and your team.

Typical use cases include:

• Building frequently-referenced views of network performance for personal use.
• Sharing operational snapshots with colleagues who need quick access to key metrics.
• Providing stakeholders or occasional FlowWorks users with a focused, easy-to-navigate view without requiring them to navigate the full application.

Accessing Custom Dashboards

Custom Dashboards is part of the Visualize menu in FlowWorks' main navigation toolbar. To access it:

1. From the main toolbar, click Visualize.
2. Select Dashboards from the dropdown.

Note: The Visualize menu also contains Graphing and Multi Graph Review Tool. If you do not see the Dashboards option, contact your FlowWorks administrator to confirm the feature is enabled for your account.

Visualize menu showing Graphing, Dashboards, and Multi Graph Review Tool 

The Dashboard Library

When you open the Dashboards feature, you are taken to the Dashboard Library — the central hub for all your dashboards. From here you can:

• View all dashboards available to you, including your private dashboards and any dashboards shared with your security group.
• Create new dashboards using the New Dashboard button.
• Open, edit, or manage existing dashboards.

Dashboard Library — the landing page after selecting Dashboards from the Visualize menu

The Dashboard Builder Interface

The dashboard builder is divided into three main areas:

Components Panel (Left Pane)

The Components panel lists all available widgets, organized into six groups: Charts, Notes, Sites, Tables, Dates, and Alarms. Click any widget to add it to the canvas in the next available position.

Canvas (Centre Pane)

The canvas is your workspace. Widgets snap into position on the canvas as they are added. When the dashboard is in edit mode and the Unlock option is selected in the header, you can freely drag widgets to reposition them and resize them by dragging their edges or corners.

Note: Locking and unlocking only affects editing. Interactive widget features such as chart panning, zooming, and site selection via the Map widget are always available to users viewing a dashboard.

Global Settings Pane (Right Pane)

The Global Settings pane controls dashboard-wide configuration. It contains:

• Mode — sets the dashboard to Simple or Multi-Site mode (see Dashboard Modes below).
• Select Sites — choose which sites are included in the dashboard, or leave set to all sites.
• Default Date Range — configure the default date range for all widgets, either as an absolute range (e.g. 02/01/2025 to 02/09/2026) or a rolling period (e.g. Last 30 Days).

 Dashboard Builder — Components panel (left), Canvas (centre), Global Settings pane (right) 

Dashboard Modes

Every dashboard operates in one of two modes, which determines how sites and channels are handled across widgets. The mode can be changed at any time in the Global Settings pane, although switching modes may affect the availability of certain widgets.

Note: For widgets to display data correctly in either mode, the relevant channels must share the same name across all sites included in the dashboard. For example, if you want to visualize depth data, each site's depth channel must be named identically (e.g. "Depth").

Widget Reference

Widgets are organized into six groups in the Components panel. The table below summarizes each group and its available widgets.

Network Table — Additional Detail

The Network Table widget is particularly useful for operational monitoring. It filters the site list to display only sites that meet a specified channel threshold — for example, only sites where the Depth channel value is greater than or equal to 10 mm. Clicking any row in the Network Table opens that site and channel directly in the FlowWorks Graphing tool in a new browser tab, allowing for quick deeper investigation.

Creating a New Dashboard

Step 1 — Start a New Dashboard

1. From the Dashboard Library, click the New Dashboard button.
2. Enter a Name for the dashboard. A clear, descriptive name makes it easier for you and others to identify the dashboard in the library.
3. Choose a Group to control visibility:
4. Private — visible only to you (default).
5. Public — visible to all users in your security group.
6. Custom group (e.g. Operators) — visible to members of a specific group, if your administrator has configured additional groups.

Note: The default visibility is Private. You can change the group assignment at any time when saving the dashboard.

Step 2 — Choose a Mode

1. In the Global Settings pane (right side of the builder), select either Simple or Multi-Site mode. Refer to the Dashboard Modes section above for guidance on which to choose.

Step 3 — Add Widgets

1. In the Components panel on the left, browse the widget groups and click a widget to add it to the canvas. The widget will snap into the next available position.
2. To reposition or resize a widget, click Unlock in the dashboard header. You can then drag widgets to new positions and resize them by dragging their edges or corners.
3. Configure each widget as required — for example, select the channel(s) to display in chart widgets.

Dashboard builder canvas with widgets added — Unlock option visible in header 

Step 4 — Configure the Global Settings

Use the Global Settings pane (right side) to apply dashboard-wide settings:

• Select Sites — choose specific sites to include, or select “All sites” to include all sites in your account.
• Default Date Range — set an absolute date range or a rolling period. When a rolling period such as "Last 7 Days" is selected, the dashboard will display the most recent data relative to the date it is opened or refreshed.

Note: If the date range is set to a rolling period, the data will not automatically refresh while the page is open. Users should refresh the browser to update the dashboard to the latest data.

Step 5 — Save the Dashboard

Click the Save button in the dashboard header. Confirm or update the dashboard group if required. The dashboard will then appear in the Dashboard Library.

Sharing a Dashboard

Each dashboard has a unique URL that can be copied from the browser address bar and shared with others. When the recipient opens the URL:

• They will be prompted to log into FlowWorks if they are not already signed in.
• Once logged in, they will be taken directly to the dashboard — no navigation required.
• The dashboard data will reflect the date and time saved in the creation process (e.g. Last 7 days). If the  Global Dates widget is included, users can change the time frame of the data in all widgets using this control.

Note: Sharing a dashboard URL does not bypass FlowWorks login. Recipients must have a valid FlowWorks account and permission to view the dashboard's group (e.g. Public or a specific security group). This makes dashboard sharing well-suited for occasional or read-only users who need a focused, direct link to relevant data without navigating the full application.

Working with Dates

The date range displayed across all widgets on a dashboard is controlled by the Date widget (Global Dates or Events Date Selector) placed on the canvas, or by the Default Date Range setting in the Global Settings pane. Changing the date using either method updates all widgets simultaneously.

• Absolute range — displays data for a fixed start and end date regardless of when the dashboard is opened.
• Period (rolling) — displays data for a relative range (e.g. Last 30 Days) calculated from the current date each time the dashboard is opened or the page is refreshed.

Individual chart widgets also support interactive date navigation. Users can pan left or right along the time axis and zoom in or out to examine specific time windows, independently of the global date range.

Tips and Best Practices

• Ensure channels share the same name across all sites you intend to include in a dashboard. This is required for both Simple (aggregation) and Multi-Site (cross-site selection) modes to work correctly. Consistent channel naming:
• Simple mode is ideal when you want to show combined totals or averages across your entire network — for example, total inflow across all monitored sites. Use Simple mode for network-wide overviews:
• Multi-Site mode is better suited when users need to drill into individual sites, using the Map or Site Selector widget to navigate between locations. Use Multi-Site mode for site-by-site exploration:
• The Network Table is particularly useful for quickly identifying sites that are exceeding a threshold value, and provides a direct link into the Graphing tool for deeper analysis. Use the Network Table for threshold-based monitoring:
• Choose a rolling period (e.g. Last 7 Days or Last 30 Days) for operational dashboards that are checked regularly. Use absolute ranges for dashboards focused on a specific reporting period. Set a meaningful default date range:
• Ask your administrator to create custom dashboard groups (e.g. Operators, Engineers) if you need to share specific dashboards with defined teams without making them visible to all users. Dashboard groups for targeted sharing:

Related Articles

• About Graphing
• About the Multi Graph Review Tool
• About User Roles and Security Groups
• Manage Security Groups
• About FACE