[Event Follow-Up] Ask the Expert - Canvas Dashboards

[NicholeVargas]

THANK YOU to @MattMi3 [Matt Mitchell] for sharing a roadmap discussion on the future of reporting in Workfront, including Canvas Dashboards on today's Ask the Expert - Canvas Dashboards session. There were so many great questions that came through, so a few highlights (and unanswered questions from the chat) are added below as replies. If you have a specific question that was not addressed, please reply to this post and we'll get back to you! 

Additional resources shared in the event chat are listed below:

• How to enable Canvas Dashboards (via Layout Templates) - Available now!  
• How to enable fast releases for your organization 
• Download a copy of the Reporting Cookbook
• Register for Skill Exchange on August 16 – Learn and Grow tracks 

For those who missed the session, you can watch the on-demand recording here and download a copy of the slide deck below. 

[NicholeVargas]

Question: What happened to Reporting Canvas? Do I need to opt-in to the Canvas Dashboards beta, or is it accessible now? 

Answer: The Reporting Canvas beta will close on August 14, 2023. All new reporting functionality will be released through Canvas Dashboards, which is available now. Additional functionality will be released iteratively through FY23 and FY24. You do not need to opt-in to a beta program, but rather enable Canvas Dashboards via Layout Templates. 

[HannahSilva]

I'm looking for the answer to how a canvas dashboard can be deleted.

Thanks!

[NicholeVargas]

@HannahSilva Deleting a canvas dashboard is not yet available, although it is currently being worked on. I expect that feature to released in the next release soon! 

[NicholeVargas]

Question: We rely heavily on reports for bulk in-line editing. Will that functionality be available within Canvas Dashboards?  

Answer: Yes - reports within Canvas Dashboards will allow for in-line editing, pending a user has appropriate edit permissions to that object. 

[MattMi3]

Question: Are you able to have dashboard filters, date ranges that can affect the rest of the widgets?

Answer: This is a feature that is not currently available in canvas dashboards. However, it is something we are seriously considering. We believe this will greatly improve report creation as well as the report consumer experience.

[MattMi3]

Question: Can we re-use widgets across different dashboards? Maybe even the Home screen?

Answer: This is something that we know we will need to address, but widget re-use is not prioritized for immediate development. We also anticipate that a defined report widget would be valuable on the new Home page, so we are evaluating options to make that possible as well.

[MattMi3]

Question: How do Canvas Dashboards differ from regular Dashboards?

Answer: Canvas Dashboards will allow both existing list and chart reports as well as the new reporting blocks we plan to introduce to be displayed on the same page. Canvas Dashboards also have much more flexibility in how reports are laid out on the page.

There is still quite a bit of work left to do before Canvas Dashboards can accomplish all the things that an existing dashboard can today. However, Canvas Dashboards is where we are pouring all of our energy to address dashboard-related enhancements that have not been possible under the existing dashboard structures. These enhancements include things like dashboard-level prompts, sending dashboards, presence indicators, and a number of other new capabilities that we believe will make Canvas Dashboards superior to what is available currently.

[MattMi3]

Question: What is the timeline of connecting Workfront data to to Power BI as a data source? Then we can include all the Workfront data with other data sets.

Answer: We do not currently have a timeline for the capability. We are in the planning stages to identify how we can deliver this option as quickly as possible.

[Cameron_Ward]

@MattMi3 @NicholeVargas 

It has been several months since we have seen movement on Canvas Dashboards. Is this still something you are working on and prioritizing? I have been checking for updates at least weekly because we will deeply benefit from the improvements coming to Canvas Dashboard.

Do we have any kind of a ballpark idea of when the next update will be released? The last update (which was very minor) was 6 months ago.

[Dusty_H]

When can we expect to see more updates with the Canvas Dashboards.  We have started utilizing them however I cannot add them to a users Layout Template.  This is problematic when dealing with large teams that all utilize the same Dashboards.

[MattMi3]

The placement of Canvas Dashboards on a layout template is one of the next items on our roadmap. We recognize adoption of this new reporting surface will be difficult without this functionality.

[SarahWilkersonCA]

Hi @MattMi3 @NicholeVargas 

Could you please share some TIMING on what canvas dashboard functionality is rolling out when?  It currently looks like it's in the same state as it was months ago which is not yet usable.  For example, we do not yet have the ability to filter all reports once at the dashboard level. I cannot find any recent updates about when additional functionality will release.

[MattMi3]

I cannot provide specifics around timing. We are continuing our work to progress to a beta capability that we announced at Summit in March.