Keeping a dashboard up to date
A dashboard shows the data captured the last time it was refreshed. You can keep it current in two ways: make it Live so it refreshes automatically on a schedule, or refresh it yourself with Update now.
How refreshing works
Each refresh gathers the figures again from the dashboard's sources, recalculates them and replaces the numbers. The design (charts, layout and theme) stays exactly as it was, including on locked dashboards. If a source can't be read, the dashboard keeps its existing data, the refresh reports the problem, and no figures are made up.
Each dashboard shows when it was last Updated. This is the last time the dashboard changed in any way, including design, sharing and lock changes, so it isn't always the time the data was last refreshed.
Make a dashboard Live
In the dashboard's chat, ask SoterAI to refresh it on a schedule. For example:
You can also click Make Live at the top of the dashboard while it's open beside its chat. It writes the request in the message box for you, for example Make "Incident overview" Live: create a workflow that refreshes its data every day. Edit it if you like, then send it.
SoterAI creates a refresh workflow named after the dashboard, links it to the dashboard and sets the schedule in your local time zone. You can choose:
| Frequency | Runs |
|---|---|
| Hourly | Every hour |
| Daily | Every day at the time you choose (recommended for most dashboards) |
| Weekly | On the days you choose |
| Monthly | On the day of the month you choose |
Hourly refreshes are rarely needed: every run uses resources, so choose the least frequent schedule that keeps the dashboard useful.
If your dashboard's data changes over time, SoterAI offers to make it Live once the dashboard is first built.
The refresh workflow is saved for you
SoterAI saves and publishes the refresh workflow for you, so there's nothing to click. The workflow's card in the chat changes to Published as soon as it's set up, without reloading the page.
If SoterAI can't finish the setup, for example because a required detail is missing, it tells you why in the chat and the workflow stays a draft. Answer its question in the chat, or go to Records › Custom Workflows, open the dashboard's refresh workflow (its status is Draft) and click Publish.
Once saved, the workflow is visible only to you. It isn't listed on the Workflows page; you manage it from the dashboard. To check what it does, open the dashboard's chat and ask SoterAI, for example "Show me the refresh workflow for this dashboard."
The dashboard is then Live: Update now and Schedule update appear at the top of the dashboard and become available in the card's ⋯ menu, and the card shows the schedule, for example Every day at 8 AM Europe/Warsaw.
Refresh now
On a Live dashboard, click Update now in the dashboard's header or in the card's ⋯ menu to refresh the data straight away. You stay on the dashboard: a message confirms that the update has started, with a link to the refresh conversation, and the dashboard shows that it's updating. While it runs, the button shows Updating…. To follow the refresh, click Open update conversation in the dashboard's header.
Only the dashboard's author can use Update now.
When Update now is greyed out, hover over it to see why: Make this dashboard Live in its chat to enable updates. (the dashboard isn't Live yet) or Its workflow isn't saved yet or is no longer available. (save or publish the refresh workflow). In the card's ⋯ menu on the Dashboards page, the reason is shown directly under Update now.
If a refresh is already running, clicking Update now again shows An update is already running and doesn't start another one.
Open dashboards update themselves
If a dashboard is open when a refresh finishes, the new data appears automatically within about 30 seconds, without reloading. This applies in SoterAI, in the full-page view and through a public link.
Changing or stopping the schedule
On a Live dashboard, click Schedule update at the top of the dashboard, or choose it from the card's ⋯ menu on the Dashboards page. In the Schedule update dialog you can:
- choose Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Advanced, and set the time and time zone;
- switch Schedule Enabled off to stop scheduled updates, or on to start them again;
- choose whether to be notified in the app, by email or both.
Click Save Changes. The dashboard's card on the Dashboards page shows the new schedule, or Not scheduled when scheduled updates are off.
Schedule update is greyed out until the dashboard is Live, with the reason shown under it. Only the dashboard's author can change the schedule.
You can also ask SoterAI in the dashboard's chat, for example "Change the refresh to weekly on Mondays" or "Stop refreshing this dashboard."
Notifications
Each scheduled refresh notifies you once, in the app and by email, with a link to that run. To change this, use the notification options in Schedule update. Refreshes you start with Update now don't send a notification. See Notifications in SoterAI.
Archived dashboards
While a dashboard is archived, Update now is unavailable. Archiving doesn't stop its schedule: the refresh keeps running but can't update an archived dashboard. If you no longer need the refresh, switch scheduled updates off in Schedule update before you archive the dashboard. If it's already archived, restore it, switch the schedule off, then archive it again. Restoring the dashboard doesn't change the schedule.
Things to know
Dashboards don't query your data continuously
They show the data from the last refresh.
Live dashboards depend on your connections
If a connector is disconnected or its access expires, refreshes from that source fail until you reconnect it. See Connecting External Apps to SoterAI.
Locked dashboards still refresh
Locking protects the design only. See Locking a dashboard.