Report and Dashboard Design Guidelines

Report and Dashboard Design Guidelines provide standards for naming and describing Report folders, Dashboard folders, reports, and dashboards.

Naming standards for reports and dashboards use the title case and Pascal case conventions.

Report Folders and Dashboard Folders

Report folders and Dashboard folders control who has access—and how much access is granted— to the contained reports or dashboards. Learn more about sharing report or dashboard folders in Lightning Experience (external) and Salesforce Classic (external).

Creating Report Folders and Dashboard Folders

In general, we recommend creating a report folder and dashboard folder for each module of Nimble AMS in which staff have created association reports or dashboards. For example, donations is a module that can include reports on donations as well as related objects such as appeals.

However, the primary factor when creating a folder is security. If you need to share association reports or dashboards with an audience that is not exclusively represented by a module-based folder, such as a cross-departmental team, then create a new folder that is shared exclusively with that audience.

For example, if your association has a donation report that needs to be shared with all staff instead of only with the donor management team, move that report out of a more private donations report folder and into a public donations report folder.

When Nimble AMS is first installed, a collection of reports and dashboards are added to help you get started.

We recommend creating a separate report folder for your association's reports instead of placing them in Nimble AMS report folders. Learn more about what report folders and reports are included in Nimble AMS.

Naming Report Folders and Dashboard Folders

We recommend naming report folders and dashboard folders with a  Folder Label in title case and Folder Unique Name in Pascal case using the following format:

Specifically:

• For [sharing scope], enter a word or phrase that identifies the group, role, or users the folder is shared with. If it is shared with all staff, use the word "Public."
• For [object/module name], enter the plural form of the Nimble AMS object or module.

For example, for the International Society for the Exceptionally Nimble that has an association acronym of ISEN:

• For Donation reports that are only shared with foundation staff, they have a reports folder named Donations (ISEN).
• For Donation reports that are shared with all staff, they have a report folder named Public Donations (ISEN).

Nimble AMS report folders have a suffix of "(Nimble AMS)." For example, the Nimble AMS report folder for Donations is named Donation (Nimble AMS).

Reports and Dashboards

Since reports and dashboards present specific information to staff, report and dashboard names and descriptions should be clearly and consistently written to indicate what records are displayed and what filters are applied.

Acronyms

Acronyms are used across all Nimble AMS report and dashboard names to keep them short and consistent.

Report Naming

Reports have a Report Name in title case and Report Unique Name in Pascal case with the format:

Only include applicable parameters. Specifically:

• Start with the word "All" when the Report has no time range.

• For [records], enter the name of the object the Report returns records of and include any applied filters.

  

  In some cases, you can use a different term to represent the record and filter criteria. For example, orders where the balance is greater than zero are generally referred to as invoices.

• For [description], if the report's purpose needs more clarity, include more information about the report.
• For [period], enter the time range of the report, if any. Refer to the Acronyms section above.
• For [grouping/sorting], enter the field the report is grouped or sorted by. If the field name has redundant words, you can exclude them.

Examples: 

• A report displaying all order records can be named All Orders
• A report displaying all coupon records grouped by Coupon Code can be named All Coupons Used by Coupon Code or simply All Coupons Used by Code
• A report displaying all payment records filtered by Credit Card Payment Method Name and grouped by Credit Card Issuer Name can be named Credit Card Payments WTD by Credit Card Issuer Name or simply Credit Card Payments WTD by Card Issuer

Dashboard Naming

Dashboards typically have multiple components, so they are not as named as specifically as reports. Dashboards are named with a Title in title case and Dashboard Unique Name in Pascal case with the format:

Specifically:

• For [object/module/description], enter the object being reported on. If there are multiple objects, enter the primary object, module, or a more general description.
• For [period], enter the time range of the report, if any. Refer to the Acronyms section above.
• End with the word "Dashboard."

Examples:

• A Dashboard showing many different components for ISEN's 50th annual conference event can be named ISEN 50th Annual Conference Dashboard.
• A Dashboard showing metrics on donations and appeals over time can be named Donations Dashboard.

Report Description

Report descriptions are written with no special capitalization and in the format:

Only include applicable parameters. Specifically:

• Start with the word "All" when the report has no time range.

• For [records], enter the name of the object the report returns records of and include any applied filters.

  

  You can also include filter criteria here if it's clearer than including it in the [description]. For example, orders where Balance is greater than zero are generally referred to as invoices.

• For [verb], specify the action that brought about these records, such as "created" or "sold."
• For [period], enter the time range of the report. Refer to the Acronyms section above. If it includes records all time, you can use the phrase "to date."
• For [description], if the report's purpose needs more clarity, include more information about the report, such as what filters are being applied.
• For [grouping/sorting], enter the field the report is grouped or sorted by.

Examples:

• Orders WTD.
• All outstanding invoices to date.
• All memberships created to date sorted by account name.
• All accounts created to date that are primary contacts for their affiliated company.

Dashboard Description

The Dashboard description does not need to adhere to a specific format or be written with special capitalization. It should clearly indicate the purpose of the dashboard, and if there are any dashboard filters.