We have customers in different timezones that use the same dashboard. I’d like to be able to add a dropdown or something that would allow the user to change the timezone on the dashboard they are viewing.
Unfortunately, the upcoming feature allowing us to specify the timezone of the dashboard doesn’t quite work for us because it doesn’t allow users to change the timezone of the same dashboard.
Having multiple dashboards that are essentially identical but only differ by the timezone setting is also not practical for us because we expect to have customers from around the globe and wouldn’t be able to effectively manage multiple copies of the same dashboard.
Hi @SterlingParamoreMSE
We totally agree that our upcoming feature cannot perfectly solve your issue, because it’s designed to support another use case.
To make it clearer, when talking about “different timezones for different business units”, we figured out that there are too many different use cases. Therefore, we decided to prioritize the cases that most customers request.
1/ Phase 1: Allow admins to identify the fixed timezone at dashboard level (the upcoming one)
This feature will help solve the case where:
Most of your reports follows the same timezone (or organization timezone)
But, a few reports follow different timezones
2/ Phase 2: Allow users to flexibly change the dashboard timezone
We guess that it’s what you’re looking for. This feature provides admins/dashboard owners with a configuration to allow users change the timezone themselves.
However, it’s still under research & (very early) development; and we are still waiting for more requests on it.
Yes, Phase 2 is what I’m looking for. I have customers located across many different timezones and they want to see the dashboard in their local timezone. Allowing them to choose the timezone of the dashboard would help to solve for this. One additional nice to have feature would be the ability to set up a default timezone as a user attribute, so they wouldn’t always have to change the timezone when they view a dashboard.
However, our customers may also be regional manager that oversee products that span multiple timezones, so I wouldn’t want the dashboard to ONLY in the user’s default timezone, but would also want them to be able to change the timezone for a dashboard.
Thanks @SterlingParamoreMSE for your suggestion.
We did an in-depth research on phase 2 last week, and find out that we need more requests (or feedback) before implementing it. Therefore, we’re afraid that the flexible dashboard timezone might not be supported this year, and we seek your understanding during this time.
However, I have some followup questions on your case: 1. Is there any case where the fixed dashboard timezone still benefits you?
For example, you have two dashboard A and B:
For dashboard A, you want your viewers to see the data in their local timezones
For dashboard B, you want all of your viewers to see the data in a predefined timezone (and they cannot change it)
2. Is there any case where you want your viewers to see the data in their local timezones only, and don’t allow them to change to the other timezones? Or everyone should be able to flexibly change the timezones?
3/ How about the timezone applied on exporting files, data schedules, shareable links and embedded links?
Assuming that we had already supported the flexible timezones, what are your expected behaviors when using these features?
Hi Di, thanks for getting back to me. Answers are below.
1. Is there any case where the fixed dashboard timezone still benefits you?
No. I can’t think of a scenario where I would want to set the timezone for a specific dashboard.
2. Is there any case where you want your viewers to see the data in their local timezones only, and don’t allow them to change to the other timezones? Or everyone should be able to flexibly change the timezones?
No, I can’t think of a situation where I would want to enforce that viewers could only see things in their local timezone. This could really backfire in two scenarios: 1. If you auto-detect timezone based on IP address, then when users are traveling, they wouldn’t be able to see reports in the timezone they are used to. 2. If I have a dashboard for a sales rep and most of their clients are in the US Pacific timezone, they might struggle communicating with the few clients they have on the east coast.
3/ How about the timezone applied on exporting files, data schedules, shareable links and embedded links?
Yes, the timezone should be configurable for all of these situations. I’d like to think of timezones working like a filter dropdown that can be set for all of these cases.
We are thrilled to announce that the feature you asked for is now fully supported. I understand that the wait might have been longer than expected, and we appreciate your patience. The reason for the time taken is that we wanted to ensure a seamless experience for you
Here’s a brief overview of the updates:
1. Dynamic Dashboard Timezone
You can now allow your users to easily adjust the timezone for any dashboard. Simply navigate to Dashboard Preferences > Timezone Settings > and activate the toggle as follows:
2. Timezone Settings for Embedded Analytics
In addition to internal dashboards, you can now set the default timezone and allow viewers to customize the timezone for embedded analytics:
We are thrilled to share that we have recently introduced some exciting new features. These updates now allow your team to have more control over timezone conversions at the dashboard level, making it easier to manage both internal and embedded dashboards. Plus, viewers can customize their own timezones for a more personalized experience!
Timezone Settings | Holistics Docs