Dashboard

• Dashboards are graphical representations of reports. 
• Dashboards can be generated for summary or matrix reports (and not for tabular reports). 
• Dashboards display data as per the last time the report was run.
• A dashboard can have up to 20 components.

Dashboard Component Types

1. Chart
2. Gauge
3. Metric
4. Table
5. Visualforce Page
6. Custom S-Control

Data Source of Dashboard

1. Report
2. VisualForce Page

The chart in the Dashboard:

1. Vertical column
2. Horizontal bar
3. Line
4. Donut
5. Funnel
6. Pie

Important Points:

• Dashboard also support automatic refresh and email. The refresh and email can also be scheduled at intervals - daily, weekly, monthly.
• The folder in which dashboards are stored determines which user has access to running the dashboard. The dashboard data is based upon the reports data. When a user views the drill-down report for a dashboard component. running user's access permissions determine what data is displayed on the drilldown report. Hence it is possible that the data in the drill down report does not match the cumulative dashboard data.
• Dashboard also support automatic refresh and email. The refresh and email can also be scheduled at intervals - daily, weekly, monthly.
• Two things that determine access to dashboards: Dashboard Folder & Running User