Create a Custom Dashboard

The article outlines the process of creating a custom dashboard for HR data analysis. It defines a custom dashboard as a tool for organizing and exploring data through charts and filters, enabling users to address specific workforce-related questions. The article includes a comprehensive table of contents, detailing sections on user eligibility, pre-requisites, and a step-by-step guide. Key steps involve navigating to the Reports tab, selecting relevant topics for data visualization, building charts, and customizing the dashboard layout. Users can enhance dashboards with filters, controls, and text tiles for better data presentation. Additional resources are provided for further learning on dashboard functionalities and analytics.

  • Jul 7, 2026
  • Knowledge

Title
Create a Custom Dashboard
Article Text
This feature is only included in the Elite Package.

What is a custom dashboard?

Summary

A custom dashboard helps you organize and explore your HR data using charts, filters, and interactive insights. You can create dashboards to answer specific questions about your workforce, like hiring progress, employee turnover, or workforce trends.

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Table of Contents

Want to become a custom dashboard wizard? While they might seem tricky at first, our BambooHR Learning course will turn you into an expert in no time.

Who this is for
Before you start
  • Make sure you have View & Create dashboard access.
  • Start with one question you want to answer.
  • Begin with one topic and a few charts to keep your dashboard simple.

If you are new to dashboards, start with a few simple charts, then build from there as you get more comfortable. 

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Navigate to the Reports tab

To get started:

  1. Go to Reports.
  2. Select Dashboards.
  3. Click Manage Dashboards in the top right corner.

Then, click +New in the top right corner of the Manage Dashboards page.

Step 2: Choose a topic

Topics are groups of HR data you can use to build charts.

Start by choosing the topic that best matches the question you want to answer.

Examples:

  • Hiring Applicants: Hiring pipeline and applicant trends
  • Employee Turnover: Employee retention and turnover trends
  • Employee Compensation: Compensation insights across your workforce

Custom fields in your BambooHR account cannot be added to custom dashboards. Only preset fields in topics and CSV imports are currently supported. 

CSV file imports

Instead of selecting a standard topic, you can upload your own data using a CSV file.

To upload a CSV file, click Blank table. This will open a new workbook.

  1. From the new workbook, click Upload CSV.
  2. After uploading the file, switch over to the Query option to start reviewing your data and building charts. (Uploaded data will stay on the source tab for reference.)

Once your charts are built, click +Dashboard to add your data as a new custom dashboard.

Important Notes

  • You can import up to 500,000 rows at a time, and there is no limit to the number of CSV files you can upload.
  • Data uploaded through a CSV file is only available in the workbook where it was uploaded. However, if a field matches an existing topic field (such as Employee ID), you can use XLOOKUP to combine and display related data as part of an existing topic.
  • Anyone with access to view dashboard can view all data from the CSV file.

Moving forward, the uploaded CSV data will appear as a topic for future use within the workbook it was uploaded to.

Step 3: Build charts

Selecting a topic will open a new workbook.

1. Add fields: From here, start choosing the fields you want to display. There are two field types used in charts:

  • Dimensions: Fields used to group or categorize data
  • Measures: Numeric fields used for calculations, such as totals, counts, or averages.

2. Create charts: Once fields are added, you can start building charts. Click Chart to adjust the view. This option provides chart types for you to determine which type best reflects the data you want to display. Filters and forumlas can be applied as well.

  • Filters narrow the data shown in a chart based on selected criteria, such as department, location, or date.
  • Formulas let you create calculations within a chart using Excel-style syntax. Most Excel functions are supported.

3. Additional charts: Each tab at the bottom represents a chart. The tab title is "Query" by default, but you can rename the tab at any time. Right-click Query and type in your new title. To add another chart, click the plus (+) icon.  

4. Customize chart titles: You can rename charts to keep your dashboard organized. To rename, right-click on the chart name and select Rename.

To learn more about using dashboards, visit our Dashboard Use Cases & Examples help guide.

Step 4: Add charts to a dashboard

Once your charts are ready:

  1. Click +Dashboard.
  2. Enter a name for the dashboard.
  3. Click Save to finalize.

Your charts will then appear together in a shared dashboard view, which you can customize if needed.

Step 5: Customize your dashboard

After creating your dashboard, you can continue customizing it from the Manage Dashboards page.

To customize the dashboard:

  1. Navigate to the Reports tab.
  2. Open the dashboard from Manage Dashboards.
  3. Click Edit in the top right corner.

From the dashboard edit view, you can:

  • Rearrange charts
  • Resize charts
  • Add filters
  • Add controls
  • Add text tiles

For more information about editing dashboards, review our Manage Dashboards help guide.

Add filters

Filters help you narrow the data shown in your dashboard.

For example, you can filter by:

  • Department
  • Location
  • Employment status

Start with one or two filters to keep your dashboard easy to use.

To add a filter:

  1. Open the dashboard from Reports > Dashboards > Manage Dashboards.
  2. Click Edit in the top right corner.
  3. From here, click Add and select Filter from the dropdown menu.
  4. Select the field(s) you want to filter data by.

By default, the filter will be applied automatically to all charts that pertain to the selected topic, but you can choose to remove the filter from certain charts by clicking on the blue funnel icon.

Each filter added will have additional settings you can configure:

  1. Label: Name the filter how you want it to appear in the dashboard.
  2. Description: Add an optional description that appears as a tooltip when users hover over the filter.
  3. Filter type: There are two filter control types:
    • Advanced: Allows users to select multiple options
    • Single value dropdown: Limits users to one option
  4. *Default value: Select a filter value that will automatically apply when the dashboard opens. In the example above, setting the employment type filter to "Full-Time" will show only full-time employee data by default. Or, leave this setting as "is any value" if you want users to apply their own filters.
    • Setting the default value to "matches user attribute" can personalize dashboard views automatically. For example, a sales dashboard can show each account executive only their own deals.
  5. Apply to new queries: The filter will be applied automatically to new charts in the dashboard.
  6. Require a filter value: Users with access to the dashboard are required to select a value from the filter dropdown menu in order to view the data.
  7. Hide this filter: Use this option if you do not want users to access the filter from the dashboard. The filter will still apply to the dashboard, but users will not see or interact with it. Hiding dashboard filters does not restrict access to sensitive data. Use access level settings to control who can view dashboard data.
  8. Delete filter: Remove the filter from the dashboard.

Charts with applied filters are highlighted in blue. To add or remove a filter for a specific chart, simply click the blue funnel icon.

When using multiple filters, dashboard filters support Any or All logic. More complex filter combinations that mix multiple logic groups (such as combining multiple AND and OR statements within the same filter set) are not supported. If you need more advanced filtering, consider simplifying the filter criteria or creating separate charts to display different data views.

Add controls

Controls let users switch between different views of the data without editing the dashboard.

For example, controls can help users:

  • Change timeframes
  • Switch between metrics
  • Compare time periods
Reports

 To add a control:

  • Open the dashboard from Reports > Dashboards > Manage Dashboards.
  • Click Edit in the top right corner.
  • Click Add and then select Control from the dropdown menu.
  • Select the charts the control should apply to.

The following control types are available:

  1. Field switcher: Switch between dimensions or measures, such as changing from country to city.
  2. Multi-field switcher: Switch between multiple dimensions or measures, such as comparing employee compensation metrics like base salary and total benefits.
  3. Time frame switcher: Change the timeframe shown in charts, such as switching from daily to weekly views.
  4. Period over period: Compare two different time periods directly from the dashboard.
  5. Top N limit: Choose how many of the highest or lowest values to display in a chart. For example, a chart can show the top 5 departments by employee count or the bottom 5 departments by turnover.

At least one of the fields being controlled must already exist in the chart.

Example

In the example above, the field switcher is used to adjust charts.

Add text tiles

Text tiles let you add headings, notes, links, and images to a dashboard using markdown.

To add a text tile:

  1. Open the dashboard from Reports > Dashboards > Manage Dashboards.
  2. Click Edit in the top right corner.
  3. Click Add and then select Text from the dropdown menu.

You can use text tiles to:

  • Add dashboard instructions
  • Provide context for charts
  • Organize sections of a dashboard
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