Understanding the Dashboard

Article Number: 231 | Rating: Unrated | Last Updated: Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 2:50 PM

Purpose:

To explain how to use and understand the Dashboard on the admin panel.

Solution:

By default, the Dashboard is the primary page viewed when you log into the admin panel as an administrator. The Dashboard gives a quick overview of information pertinent to your store. You can see high level information about sales, orders, search terms, customers, and more. Another article will describe how you can generare more detailed reports.

TIP: If you want to change the deault admin page displayed when logging in:

Select System (top horizontal menu) / Configuration / Advanced / Admin
Once the Admin tab is selected, several panels on the right will be displayed.
Select the Startup Page panel, and from the drop down menu, select your new starting page.
Click on Save Config in the upper right.

The left side of the dashboard displays the following information about out store:

Lifetime Sales - The total amount of sales in your primary currency.
Average Orders - The average total sale per order based on your lifetime sales.
Last 5 Orders - Information about the five most recent orders including customer information, items ordered, and the order total.
Last 5 Search Terms - Information about the five most recent search terms used in your store including the term, the search results, and the total number of searches using that term.
Top 5 Seatch Terms - Information of the five most popular search terms used in your store including the term, results, and total number of searches using that term.

The right side of the Dashboard displays a graph that will visually display information about orders or monetary totals. Here's how to switch between those options:

On the right side of the Dashboard graph, select the Select Range box, choose the date range you want see.
Select the Orders or Amounts tab on the upper left of the Dashboard graph.
- To view a chart of the number of orders placed in your store over a period of time, click the Orders tab at the top left of the chart area
- To view a chart with the same information using monetary totals of orders, rather than the number of orders placed, click the Amounts tab at the top of the chart area.

At the botton of the chart, you should see the following information about your chart data:

Revenue - Total amount of all orders.
Tax - Total amoun of all taxes paid.
Shipping - Total amoun of all shipping paid.
Quantity - Total number of all orders.

TIP: If you want to enable or disable charts on your Dashboard:

Select System (top horizontal menu) / Configuration / Advanced / Admin
Once the Admin tab is selected, several panels on the right will be displayed.
Select the Dashboard panel, and from the drop down menu, select yes or no.
Click on Save Config in the upper right.

The final section of the dashboard displays comparative sales statistics across multiple tabs. To view detailed information about any item on the list, click the item. To return to the Dashboard after you view details, click the browser's back button.

Bestsellers - Contains links to your five most purchased products including name, price, and quantity ordered.
Most Viewed Products - Contains links to your five most viewed products including name, price, and number of views.
New Customers - Contains links to your five most recently created customer accounts including name, number of orders, average order amount, and total order amount.
Customers - Contains links to the five customer with the highest total order amount in your store including name, number of orders, average order amount, and total order amount.