Overview
Dashboard Templates are the admin-built designs behind every dashboard your Users see in Mobaro. A Template defines which widgets appear, in what order, sized how, with what filters available — and which Users or User Groups have access. End-users see the rendered dashboard; admins maintain the Template. This article covers the full setup flow: enabling the permission, creating a Template, adding widgets, and configuring filters.
Why Templates exist: Different teams need different views of the same data. A maintenance manager wants Downtime + MTTR + open Assignments. A Park Director wants compliance scores + Location Overview. A safety lead wants Checklist Results + Categories. Templates let you build each view once and distribute to the right audience.
Required access: To create or edit Dashboard Templates, your Role needs Manage Dashboard Templates. Without it, you can use existing dashboards but won't see the Templates module in your menu.
Enabling Dashboard Template management on a Role
1. Go to Roles
Open Roles in the Mobaro Backend. Pick the Role you want to grant Template management to.
2. Edit the Role
Click Edit on the Role to open its permission list.
3. Tick Manage Dashboard Templates
In the permissions list, find and enable Manage Dashboard Templates.
4. Save
Users assigned to this Role will now see Dashboard Templates in their menu under the Organization section.
Creating a new Dashboard Template
1. Go to Dashboard Templates
Open Dashboard Templates in the Mobaro Backend.
2. Click + to create
Press the + in the top-left corner. A blank Template opens.
3. Name and describe the Template
Give the Template a clear name (e.g., Maintenance — daily review, Park Director — compliance overview). Add a description if it helps your team understand the intent.
4. Limit access via Users or User Groups
In the Limit to field, pick the Users or User Groups who should see this dashboard. Leave it open if everyone with Dashboard access should see it.
5. Save
Save the empty Template. You can now add widgets and filters.
Note: Only the name is mandatory at creation. Limit-to access, description, widgets, and filters can all be added or edited later. To work on a Template privately while building it, set Limit to = yourself; remove the limit when you're ready to share.
Adding widgets
Widgets are the data tiles on the Template. The dashboard layout is a series of rows, each holding one or more widgets sized as percentages of the row width. A row's bottom-left corner shows the percentage of the row currently occupied.
1. Click Add widget on a row
The widget toolbox opens, showing every widget type available.
2. Drag the widget into the row
You can drag widgets to reorder them, drag them between rows, and use the + and − controls to resize them within their row.
3. Edit the widget title (optional)
Hover over the widget's title — a small edit icon appears. Click to rename. The title is part of the filter context (see below) and helps Users understand what each widget shows.
Note on widget heights: Widget width is flexible (scales with browser/screen size based on its row percentage); widget height is determined by the tallest widget in the row. A short fixed-height widget (e.g., Profile Picture) placed next to a tall one (e.g., Assignments list) will inherit lots of empty space. Group widgets of similar heights in the same row when possible.
Setting up filters
Filters are saved presets that change what the widgets show. Common Template-level filters: Today, Week to date, Month to date, This Location Group. End-users switch between filters with one click rather than configuring each widget every visit.
Key facts about filters:
Each filter saves the state of every widget on the Template, including each widget's title.
Filters can be mixed and matched — different widgets can have different per-widget filter settings within the same dashboard-level filter.
Some widgets (e.g., Average score by page) need a minimum filter applied (a Checklist scope, for example) before they show data.
Each widget has its own filter settings accessible at the top of the widget. Configure those, then save the dashboard-level filter to capture the state.
Two contexts of filters exist:
Organization filters — created by you (the admin) on the Template. Available to every User who can access the dashboard.
Personal filters — created by end-users on their own dashboards. Visible only to them, only on the dashboard where they were created.
For deep treatment of how to design filters and the trade-offs between Organization and Personal, see Dashboard filters — Organization vs Personal.
A critical caveat about admin-built filters
Critical: As an admin, you typically have access to more data than your end-users. If you build a filter that includes Locations or data the end-user can't access, the filter still appears on their dashboard but produces empty/partial results. Test admin-built filters using a sample User account if you can't be sure of the result. This is the single most common source of "the dashboard isn't showing data" support questions.
Worked examples
Example 1: Maintenance daily review template
Scenario: A maintenance manager wants a focused dashboard that shows them open Assignments, Downtime status, and yesterday's PM Checklist completion at a glance.
Setup: Create Template Maintenance — daily review. Limit to Maintenance User Group. Add three widgets: Open Assignments (filtered by Maintenance category), Location Overview (scoped to maintenance-relevant Locations), Completed Checklists count (PM Checklists, last 24h). Save filters: Today, Yesterday, This week.
Result: Maintenance team opens Mobaro, lands on this Template via Favorites, and has the three answers they need without configuring anything.
Example 2: Park-wide compliance overview
Scenario: Park leadership wants a single big-screen dashboard that shows compliance trends, Location operational status, and missed Result counts for the entire park.
Setup: Template Park — compliance overview, no Limit-to so all leadership can access. Widgets: Average score by page (last 7 days), Location Overview (entire park), Missed Results count, Compliance score trend. Save Organization filters: Today, Week to date, Month to date.
Result: A wall TV in the park HQ cycles through three time ranges of the same view. Anyone walking past can read park-wide compliance status.
Anti-patterns to avoid
Watch out for these patterns, which produce confusing or broken dashboards:
Building one Template for everyone — packing 20 widgets into a single Template to cover every audience makes nobody happy. Build focused Templates per audience.
Filters that work for the admin but not the end-user — see the critical caveat above. Test with the actual User context.
Mismatched widget heights in the same row — short and tall widgets side-by-side leave dead space. Group similar widgets in rows.
Naming widgets and filters generically — "Filter 1" and "Widget" mean nothing in 6 months. Use specific names that explain context: "Last 7 days — coasters only".
Forgetting to limit access on sensitive Templates — if a dashboard surfaces financial or HR data, set Limit to appropriately. Once a Template is broadly accessible, you can't undo what's been seen.
See also
How to use the Dashboard — for the end-user experience that consumes Templates.
Dashboard filters — Organization vs Personal — for the deep filter design treatment.
Setting up Roles — for the Manage Dashboard Templates permission.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can I copy an existing Template as a starting point?
A: Templates can be duplicated from the Templates list view (look for a copy/duplicate action). Useful for spinning up variants of a working Template rather than building from scratch.
Q: What happens to dashboards if I delete a Template?
A: Users lose access to that dashboard. Personal filters they'd saved on it are also lost. Be deliberate about deletions — consider just unpublishing/limiting access instead.
Q: Can I limit a Template to a specific Location Group rather than User Group?
A: Limit to targets Users or User Groups, not Locations. To get Location-specific dashboards, set up the Template's filters to scope to specific Location Groups, then limit access to the Users responsible for that area.
Q: How do I see what a Template looks like to a User who isn't me?
A: Mobaro doesn't have a built-in "view as User X" preview for dashboards. Easiest approach: have the User in question pull it up briefly while you watch, or use a sandbox account configured the same way to test.
Q: My widget shows blank but I can see the underlying data elsewhere. Why?
A: Most often, the widget needs a minimum filter applied that you haven't set. Some widgets (like Average score by page) only render when scoped to specific Checklists. Check the widget's filter requirements.