A dashboard message is an announcement shown on the dashboard when your team signs in. It is the right place for the things everybody needs to know and nobody reads in an email — a price rise taking effect on Monday, a supplier changing, a training session, a system going down for maintenance.
Select Dashboard Messages in the left-hand menu, then Create Dashboard Message.
What goes on a message
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Heading | The headline. This is the part that gets read, so put the news in it. |
| Message | The detail underneath. |
| Image | A picture on the card. Optional. |
| Link URL and Link Text | A button taking the reader somewhere — the full announcement, a booking form, a document. Link Text is what the button says. |
| Start Date and End Date | When the message appears and when it stops. Set an end date on anything with a date in it. |
| Dismissible | Lets the reader close the message. Leave it on for most things; turn it off only when the message must stay in front of everybody. |
| Pinned | Holds the message at the top, above the others. |
| Position | Where it sits among the messages that are showing. |
| Enable Public View | Gives the message its own address, so it can be shared with somebody who does not sign in to Gorilla Dash. |
Seeing whether it worked
The list shows each message with its status — Active or Expired — and its Link Clicks, so you can tell whether anybody acted on it. A message with a link and no clicks after a week was not read, whatever the heading said.
ONE MESSAGE AT A TIME IS READ; FIVE ARE NOT
Dashboard messages work on scarcity. A dashboard carrying one announcement gets that announcement read; a dashboard carrying five teaches everybody to ignore the whole panel, including the one that mattered. Set end dates so old messages remove themselves, and resist the urge to leave a standing notice up permanently.