Where to find them
Open Analytics > Custom dashboards to see your dashboards. From here you can:- Browse existing dashboards, search by name, and filter by folder or access
- Group by folder into collapsible sections (like Sites), or view all dashboards together and sort the table by column
- Create a new dashboard with Create dashboard — new dashboards start Uncategorized until you (or Agent) assign a folder
- Open any dashboard to view it, or open one you created to edit it and assign a folder
How a dashboard is built
A dashboard is a grid of widgets. Each widget is one self-contained chart or number — it has its own data, its own filters, and its own time window. Because every widget is independent, one dashboard can compare different sites, commodities, or periods side by side without forcing everything onto the same settings. To add a widget, click any empty cell on the grid in the editor — the widget editor opens with the new widget in that spot. Drag widgets to move them and drag an edge to resize them. A dashboard can hold up to 24 widgets. Grid rows are a fixed height, so a tall dashboard scrolls rather than squeezing to fit one screen. Give a detailed chart more rows when it needs the room.Widget types
When you add a widget, you first choose how the result should be displayed.
When a top list is cut to its limit, its total still covers every item: it reads Total (all N)
and shows an N more hint.
Building a widget
Clicking an empty cell, or Edit widget on an existing widget, opens the widget editor on its own page. The settings are on the left and a live preview is on the right (on a small screen, the preview sits above the settings). Change the settings in any order and the preview updates as you go. If something needs finishing or fixing, a note above the preview says what — click it to jump to that setting. If Save widget is unavailable, hover it to see why. The settings are grouped into these sections:1
Visualization
Pick whether the widget is a time series, bar chart, key value, top list, or table.
2
Title
Give the widget a title. Nectar suggests one based on your settings until you type your own.
3
Measure
Choose what the widget measures: Usage, Weather-normalized energy, Cost, Supply
cost, Delivery cost, Demand charges, Billed demand, Late fees, Site EUI, or
a count of Anomalies or Issues.Time series, bar charts, and tables can show several measures — click Add measure (up to
six). On a chart each measure is its own series; in a table each is a column. Every measure has
its own name and utility type, and can use its own time window — for example, this year’s cost
next to last year’s. On a chart you can also draw a measure as a line or bars and put it on the
right-hand axis. A chart with several measures can’t also split into series. Key values and top
lists show one measure.Once a widget has several measures, click Add a filter for this measure to narrow just that
measure — for example, one line for Electricity at one site and another for Electricity at a
second site on the same chart. These filters work like the ones in Time & filters, and the
widget’s own filters still apply. A field can be filtered for the whole widget or per measure,
not both: once the widget filters sites, the measure has no site filter, and the other way
around.To set last year next to this year, click Add last year’s comparison on a measure: it adds a
copy of the measure, one year back, named “(last year)”, lined up with the current period. On
the copy you can change how far back it goes — any number of months or years. On a quarterly or
yearly time axis, shift by whole quarters or years. To drop the comparison, remove that measure.Usage and weather-normalized energy have a Unit picker once you choose a utility type — for
example, show water in gallons or liters instead of your company’s default. Every measure also
has an optional Display unit, a label shown next to its values (such as
kWh per barrel).
It doesn’t change the numbers, and it’s cleared when you pick a different measure or change the
formula.- Supply cost and Delivery cost include only the charges your bill labels as supply or delivery. Charges without a label, often taxes, fees, and riders, are left out, so supply plus delivery can be less than total cost. Demand charges are usually part of delivery, so don’t add them on top of delivery cost.
- Supply cost and Delivery cost need Electricity, Gas, or both as the utility type. Demand charges and Billed demand are electricity only.
- Billed demand is the electric demand (kW) on your bills. Each month adds up your meters’ peaks. A quarter, a year, or the whole time window shows its highest month, not a total.
- Weather-normalized energy adjusts energy use to typical weather, so a hot summer or cold winter doesn’t look like an efficiency change.
- Site EUI uses the same annualized math as EUI & Intensity. Pick the utility type and denominator (square footage or a numeric custom variable) in this section.
- Formula combines up to three values step by step. Start with a value, then add steps that add (+), subtract (−), multiply (×), or divide (÷) by the next value. Each step applies to the result so far — for example usage ÷ 31 ÷ production, cost − supply cost − delivery cost, or usage × 3.412 ÷ floor area. A value can be a measure, a number, or a site value (floor area, occupancy, or a numeric custom variable). The result isn’t annualized. Without a site breakdown, sites are added up first (total usage ÷ total area). If a site has bills but no value for a month, the widget shows a Some sites missing badge.
4
Breakdown & display
Decide how the data is split — by site, account, or meter, and (for time series) which time
bucket to use: month, quarter, or year. On a time series, Split into series draws one line
per value, such as one line per site. On a key value, Advanced calculation shows the
highest, lowest, average, or summed complete period instead of the total for the whole window.
A bar chart with several measures can be sorted by any of them. Site EUI widgets break down by
site (and time on time series). For a table, choose up to four row groupings that nest inside
each other — for example sites, then months — and optionally show the periods (month, quarter,
or year) across the columns. Display options are in this section too (see
Display options).
5
Time & filters
Narrow the widget to exactly what you want. Add filters (by site, site tag, account, meter, meter
tag, connection, provider, water type, or finding type) and set the time window:
- Live window of dates — such as the last 12 months, which moves forward over time. Turn on End at last full month to leave out the current month, which may not be fully billed yet.
- Period to date — the year, quarter, or month so far, on a calendar or fiscal year.
- Fixed dates — a start and end that never change.
Display options
Time series and bar chart widgets have Display options in the Breakdown & display section:- Stack series — stack the series on top of each other.
- Show value labels — print the value on each point or bar.
- Show stack totals (bar charts, once Stack series is on) — show the total above each stacked bar.
- Horizontal bars (bar charts) — flip the bars sideways.
- Fill area under the line (time series) — turn the line into a filled area chart.
- Goal lines — add up to five labeled horizontal lines at a target. A goal can be a number or a site’s numeric custom variable; a custom-variable goal shows only when the widget covers exactly one site. When a measure is on the right-hand axis, choose which axis each goal line uses.
- Show total row — add a grand total at the bottom.
- Show subtotals for each group (tables with more than one row grouping) — add a subtotal under each group.
- When the table opens — start with every group expanded, only the first, or all collapsed.
Managing widgets
Open a widget’s menu (or right-click it) in the editor to:- Edit widget — open the widget in the widget editor.
- Add marker (shown as Markers once a widget has some) — on time series widgets, add labeled vertical lines at points on the chart to mark milestones such as “LED installed.” Choose whether the chart shows the lines and their captions. A widget holds up to 20 markers.
- Duplicate widget — copy the widget into free space on the grid.
- Move or resize — type the column, row, width, and height instead of dragging.
- Delete widget — remove it from the dashboard.
Dashboard settings
Click Dashboard settings in the editor to change the dashboard’s name, folder, and grid size. A dashboard can have 1–6 columns and 1–40 rows. The editor also adds rows as you place widgets.Site EUI widgets
Prefer the Site EUI measure when you want energy use intensity on a custom dashboard — a KPI tile for portfolio EUI, a ranking of sites, or a trend over time. It uses the same calculation as EUI & Intensity:- Square footage (default) — annualized intensity in
…/sqft/yr. Single numbers use days with bill coverage; trend points use each period’s calendar length. - Custom variable denominator — matched months only (usage and a positive variable value), not annualized.
- Electricity and Gas — combined site energy in your company’s combined-energy unit (kBtu by default). Available on usage, Site EUI, and weather-normalized energy, but not on cost.
- A key value widget with no site breakdown is the area-weighted portfolio figure, not an average of per-site EUIs.
Viewing a dashboard
Open a dashboard to see its widgets with live data. Click Add to favorites (the star) to pin it to the Favorites card on Home, and Remove from favorites to take it off. If you created the dashboard, Share and Edit are next to the favorite button.Filtering the whole dashboard
When you open a dashboard, a filter bar sits above the widgets. Pick sites, a month range, or any of the other filters and every widget narrows to match — without changing what is saved. Most filters live in the page address, so a copied link reproduces them; your site selection is kept for your current browser session instead. Anyone viewing through a public link can change the month range only. Two rules keep the results honest:- Filters only narrow. If a widget is already restricted to one site, choosing a different site in the bar leaves that widget empty rather than widening it. The widget shows a Filtered out label.
- Filters that don’t apply are skipped. Water type on an electricity widget, for example, is skipped for that widget instead of emptying it. The info icon next to the widget title names the filters that were skipped.
Sharing a dashboard
Dashboards you create start out private to you. You control who else can see them:- Keep it private — only you can see it.
- Share with your company — everyone in your company who can view analytics sees it in the dashboards list. Only you, the creator, can edit or delete it; everyone else gets a read-only view.
- Create a public link — generate a link that anyone can open in a browser, with no Nectar login required. This is handy for sharing a snapshot with someone outside your team. The public view is read-only and shows live data. You can regenerate the link (which invalidates the old one) or revoke it entirely at any time.
Only the person who created a dashboard can edit it, change its sharing, or delete it. If you need
changes to a dashboard someone else created, ask them, or copy the idea into a new dashboard of
your own.
Building a dashboard with Agent
If you’d rather describe what you want than build it by hand, ask Agent. Tell it something like “show me electricity cost by site for the last year” and it drafts a dashboard for you to review. Once you approve it, the dashboard opens in the editor as a normal, editable dashboard — so you can keep refining it just as if you’d built it yourself. Agent builds the dashboard’s widgets and can file it into an existing folder (or leave it Uncategorized). Sharing and publishing stay with you in the dashboards interface.Related pages
- Analytics overview — the built-in commodity dashboards and quick-access views
- EUI & intensity — the built-in view for energy use per square foot
- Data Export — download the data behind any chart
- Data Quality — investigate the anomalies and issues you can surface as findings
- Methodology — how bill data is calendarized into the monthly values your widgets use
FAQ
How is a custom dashboard different from the home dashboard?
How is a custom dashboard different from the home dashboard?
The home dashboard (the screen you see when you log in) is a fixed overview of stats, issues, and
recent bills across your whole organization. A custom dashboard is one you design yourself under
Analytics > Custom dashboards, choosing exactly which numbers, charts, and filters appear.
How is it different from a saved view?
How is it different from a saved view?
A saved view remembers a set of filters on an existing
analytics page. A custom dashboard is a brand-new layout you build from scratch, combining several
independent widgets — each with its own measure, filters, and time window — onto one grid.
Can each widget cover a different time period?
Can each widget cover a different time period?
Yes. Every widget carries its own time window, so you can put a “last 12 months” trend next to a
“this year to date” ranking on the same dashboard.
What can I measure on a widget?
What can I measure on a widget?
Usage, weather-normalized energy, cost, supply cost, delivery cost, demand charges, billed
demand (kW), late fees, Site EUI, and counts of anomalies and issues. Site EUI matches
EUI & Intensity.
You can also build a Formula of up to three values — for example, usage divided by floor
area — for raw intensity that is not annualized.
Do the dashboard filters change what is saved?
Do the dashboard filters change what is saved?
No. The filter bar narrows what you are looking at right now. The widgets keep the filters and
time windows they were saved with.
Does a public link require a login?
Does a public link require a login?
No. A public link opens a read-only view of the dashboard in any browser, no Nectar account needed.
It shows live data, and you can revoke or regenerate the link whenever you want.