The Dashboard Nobody Trusts
A sales director built a dashboard with a saved search showing 'Open Opportunities by Rep' and a KPI showing 'Closed Won This Quarter.' Reps report the dashboard totals don't match their pipeline reports. Investigation shows: the saved search uses the Opportunity record with a status filter of 'Open' but includes opportunities with a probability of 0%; the KPI uses a date filter of 'This Quarter' but the fiscal year starts in February; and one rep's opportunities are missing entirely because their role restricts them to a single subsidiary. There are 22 reps and 3 subsidiaries. The dashboard is shared company-wide.
1. Diagnose why the dashboard totals differ from the reps' pipeline reports.
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Three independent causes:
Status vs. probability mismatch. The saved search filters on status 'Open' but includes 0%-probability opportunities. If the reps' pipeline reports exclude 0% deals, the dashboard overstates pipeline. Align the filter (exclude 0% probability or define 'open' consistently).
Fiscal calendar mismatch. The KPI uses 'This Quarter' against a February-start fiscal year, so the KPI's quarter boundaries differ from the reps' calendar-quarter reports. Change the KPI to use the fiscal quarter, or align both to the same definition.
Subsidiary restriction. The dashboard is shared company-wide, but one rep's role restricts them to a single subsidiary - so their view (and the shared dashboard's data) is scoped differently. The missing rep's opportunities appear absent to them but present to others.
Fix: standardize the 'open' definition, use fiscal-quarter date filters, and decide whether the dashboard should be subsidiary-scoped or consolidated.
2. How should the dashboard be restructured so all 22 reps and the director see consistent, trustworthy numbers?
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- Define metrics once - create a single saved search for 'open pipeline' with an agreed definition (e.g., status Open AND probability > 0), and reuse it for both the list and the KPI.
- Use fiscal-aware date filters - set the KPI to the fiscal quarter so February-start boundaries are respected.
- Handle subsidiary scope explicitly - either publish a consolidated dashboard (director) and separate subsidiary-scoped dashboards (reps), or grant the shared dashboard a role that sees all subsidiaries. Document which audience sees which scope.
- Validate - reconcile the dashboard total to a known report for one rep and one subsidiary before company-wide rollout.
Judgement: consistency comes from one definition and one date basis; scope differences are a permissions decision, not a data error.