Build a dashboard that changes Monday's meeting

At a glance

Frappe ERP dashboards combine charts with configured data sources and filters. Use them to bring a focused set of operating questions into view, then verify each figure against its underlying records. A useful dashboard gives a manager a reason to act. It should not leave finance explaining why two attractive charts disagree about the same business.

Start with the decision

Monday's meeting opens with a sales chart trending upward. Dispatch reports a growing backlog, while finance says receipts are unchanged. The figures may all be correct. They describe different events, and the meeting needs to decide which one requires action rather than argue about whose number is the real sales number.

Frappe documents dashboards made from Dashboard Charts with defined data sources. That gives your team a way to put relevant measures together. Start by naming the decision beside each proposed chart. If nobody can explain what they would do differently when the figure changes, leave it out of the first dashboard.

This guide cites Frappe's official version 13 dashboard and reporting documentation. Check available chart types, permissions and refresh behavior on your target release. The design principles apply to the operating questions; old menu instructions should not be treated as current configuration steps.

Name what the number means

Write a definition before choosing a chart style. Orders accepted, goods delivered and invoices posted describe different stages. Cash received describes another. A single label such as revenue can hide the distinction unless finance has agreed what records and accounting treatment the display uses.

Frappe's accounting documentation distinguishes reports for invoices, receivables and cash flow, as well as delivered items still to be billed. Use those documented reporting areas to frame specific questions. A billing backlog should not be presented as overdue customer debt simply because both represent work before cash collection.

Keep a short definition beside the configuration record. State the date field, included document states and currency treatment. Record the business owner who approved the meaning. When somebody later requests a filter change, the owner should be able to explain whether the comparison with previous periods will still be valid.

Make filters visible

Frappe's dashboard documentation describes filters on chart sources and changing filters when viewing the dashboard. Those settings can change the population behind a number. Two people can look at the same chart title and see different results if their filters are different.

Agree the scope of a management view. A branch review may need one company or operating location; group management may need a different aggregation. Do not add amounts in different currencies without a defined conversion policy. Ask finance to approve the method and the treatment of inter-company activity before calling the total a group result.

Test the ordinary viewer's access. Management reporting may expose information that the person's transaction role should not reveal. Ask the implementer to prove the behavior of each chosen chart source and relevant report, rather than assuming a visually restricted dashboard enforces every underlying data boundary.

Calculate an honest rate

Worked example, hypothetical and not an ERPNova result: during a defined week, 60 orders were due for delivery and 48 met the agreed on-time definition. The rate is 48 divided by 60, or 80%. Counting 60 orders placed that week would answer a different question if those orders had different due dates.

Define the edge cases before publishing the percentage. Decide how partial delivery is treated and what happens when the customer requests a later date. Keep the original promise distinguishable from a revised promise if both matter to your review. Otherwise a team can improve the chart simply by changing the date used to judge it.

This example is a measurement design, not a claim that the exact on-time rate is a standard Frappe chart. Ask the implementer to identify the available data and whether the measure needs a custom source. The source needs tests for the edge cases just as much as the chart needs a readable label.

Check freshness before reacting

Frappe's dashboard documentation states that chart-source results are cached and that a last-synced time is shown. It also documents force refreshing a chart. A dashboard should therefore not be advertised as an unconditional live view of every transaction.

Include freshness in the review routine. If finance just posted a correction, confirm when the relevant chart last updated before treating its old total as an unresolved difference. A refresh problem and a posting problem need different people to investigate them.

Choose a suitable refresh expectation for the decision. A monthly cost review does not need the same update pattern as a dispatch meeting. If you require a specific freshness guarantee, scope the data path and monitoring needed to support it. A moving chart is not proof that every required source has delivered its latest records.

Trace a figure to work

Before accepting the dashboard, select a displayed amount and reproduce it from the supporting report or records. Frappe's General Ledger report offers transaction detail and filters for financial investigation. Keep the scope consistent so the reconciliation tests the measure rather than two different date ranges.

Ask a manager to use the view during a real review agenda. They should leave with an assigned action, such as investigating unbilled deliveries, rather than a request for another decorative chart. Record the question the display could not answer and decide whether it needs a better definition or additional data.

Bring ERPNova a management report and the decision it should support to an ERP audit. Ask for a Frappe ERP pilot with a written metric definition and a traceable sample. If customer balances are the priority, our receivables guide shows the operational work that should sit behind a collection dashboard.