Custom dashboards let you build personalized reports tailored to your specific business questions—without needing to know how to code. Whether you're preparing quarterly business reviews, diving into ad-hoc analyses, or tracking invoice reconciliation, custom dashboards give you complete control over what data you see and how you visualize it. Use this article to create, edit, and manage your custom dashboards in Perk.

Understanding how dashboards work

When you build a custom dashboard in Perk, you'll be working with an embedded dashboard canvas powered by Looker. Think of it like building a puzzle: you choose data fields (the pieces), click Run to execute your query (put the pieces together), and then see your results on the canvas. 

Here's the key mental model: custom dashboards are not live or auto-updating. You need to select your data fields first, then click Run to apply your selections and see the results. This two-step process makes sure you're in control of exactly what gets pulled and displayed.

Accessing your dashboards

To see all your custom dashboards, go to Analyze > Travel reporting. The My dashboards tab shows all the dashboards you've created or have access to.

Creating a new dashboard

1. Go to Analyze > Travel reporting.
2. In My dashboards, click the button to create a new dashboard.
3. Choose a quick-start option to get started. Perk gives you several quick-start options you can use, including:
   • Executive summary: Shows your top spend by entity, perfect for high-level reviews.
   • Invoice reconciliation: Displays cost object, total spend in EUR gross, and breaks down spending by tax code.
4. Click Create. Your new dashboard opens and you're ready to start editing.

Editing your dashboard

Once you're in your dashboard, you can shape it to fit your exact needs.

Selecting and running data

1. In the dashboard editor, click on a tile (chart or table) to select it.
2. Choose the data fields you want to include. You can select from any field aligned with Perk's Custom Report Data (CRD) tables, including:
   • Standard CRD fields
   • Concierge (True/False flag)
   • Employee ID
   • Custom fields (using their actual names as you've defined them)
3. After you've selected your fields, click Run to execute the query and see your data populate on the canvas.

Adding and removing tiles

To add a new chart or table to your dashboard, click Add tile and choose your visualization type (bar chart, table, line chart, etc.). To remove a tile you no longer need, hover over it and click the delete icon.

Changing visualizations and adjusting filters

Click a tile to change its visualization type (for example, swap a bar chart for a table view). The tile controls let you pick from different chart types depending on your data. Use the filter controls to narrow your results by date range, company, cost object, category, or other dimensions. Apply your filters and click Run to update what you see.

Saving your dashboard state

Perk doesn't save your dashboard automatically. After you make changes—selecting fields, adjusting filters, adding or removing tiles, or changing visualizations—click Save to keep them.

Updating dashboard title and description

1. Go to My dashboards.
2. Find the dashboard you want to rename or update.
3. Click the edit icon or title field to change the dashboard's name and description.
4. Save your changes.

Scheduling dashboard delivery

Dashboards can be scheduled and delivered to users at a given time. To do so:

1. Go to My dashboards.
2. Find the dashboard you want to schedule.
3. Click the edit icon in the top-right corner and click Schedule delivery.
4. Add the preferred options, mail addresses and recurrence.
5. Save your changes.

Downloading dashboard data

1. Go to My dashboards.
2. Find the dashboard you want to download.
3. Click the edit icon in the top-right corner and click Download.
4. Select the preferred format (CSV or PDF).
5. Download.

Deleting a dashboard

1. From My dashboards, locate the dashboard you want to delete.
2. Click the delete icon or the menu button for that dashboard.
3. Confirm that you want to remove it. Perk moves the dashboard and all its saved settings to trash.

Custom dashboard limitations

Keep these limitations in mind as you work with custom dashboards:

• Creating new tiles: Custom dashboards support adding and editing pre-built tiles and templates only. Creating or saving new "Looks" (individual tiles or saved charts) directly inside a dashboard isn't supported.
• Scheduled reports: If you need scheduled reports, you'll manage them individually per dashboard. There's no centralized view for all scheduled reports across dashboards.
• Sharing dashboards: Custom dashboards aren't shareable between users. To share a dashboard's data with someone else, schedule a send instead—this emails them a static snapshot (PDF, CSV, etc.), not access to the live dashboard.
• Learning curve: Because Perk's dashboards are powered by Looker, the interface may feel different from other tools you've used. Expect a small learning curve as you get comfortable with the dashboard editor.
• License access refresh delay: Dashboard access is managed using Looker's System Activity tables, which are refreshed approximately once per hour. Your account has 10 user licenses. When a user license is allocated or freed, the change may take up to an hour to be reflected. In practice, this creates two edge cases: a user who should be blocked may temporarily retain access after the license cap is reached, and a newly freed license slot may not become available to another user until the next refresh cycle.

Next steps

Once you've mastered the basics, try:

• Building multiple dashboards for different stakeholders (one for finance, one for operations, etc.)
• Using filters to create focused views of your spending data
• Sharing dashboard insights with your team during QBR meetings