Data visualisation in M‑Files with CtrlPortals
CtrlPortals puts dashboards in the M‑Files client. They read the vault and a SQL database live, so workflow counts, overdue items and sales figures need no Excel export.
M‑Files keeps documents in order with metadata, runs the workflows around them, and records what happened. All of that is data about how the business operates. Reading it back as a number you can act on is a different job, and it is the one most vaults are not set up for.
The usual workaround#
When someone needs a metric out of M‑Files, such as how many agreements are in legal review, what the pipeline is worth or which documents are overdue, the answer is often an export. Someone pulls the records into Excel, builds the report by hand and mails a chart around. The chart is out of date the moment it is sent, and the next person who needs the same figure repeats the work.
Dashboards inside the client#
CtrlPortals adds dashboards to the M‑Files client itself. They read the vault live, so nobody leaves M‑Files or opens a second tool to see where things stand. Because everyone opens the same dashboard, there is one set of figures to argue about instead of three spreadsheets of different ages.
A cockpit of indicators#
A cockpit dashboard turns workflow figures into a row of tiles: how many documents sit in each workflow state, what is overdue, where compliance stands. Click a part of a chart and the documents behind it open as a list, on the same screen.
At a glance you see which workflows are backed up and which documents are stuck.
Sales and CRM figures#
Charts are not limited to what is in the vault. A chart can run a SQL query, so figures from an ERP system or another Microsoft SQL Server database sit next to M‑Files data on the same dashboard and refresh along with the rest of it. A sales dashboard can put customer and pipeline tiles above charts of opportunities by stage and lead probability.
What you can build#
CtrlPortals draws indicator tiles, pie charts, line graphs and bar graphs from live M‑Files data, a SQL database, or both. Charts on M‑Files data need no M‑Files Reporting Server and no separate database.
SQL is also how you report on history. If M‑Files data is exported to a SQL database, the dashboard can run larger queries and show trends over time, and each result still links back to the document or record it came from.
A dashboard is not only charts. It can also show a list of documents with filters above it, so people narrow the list by process, region, document type or workflow state and open the document from the same screen.
Filtered search for M‑Files goes through that view in more detail.
What changes#
A dashboard in the client changes three things. Reporting stops being a task somebody prepares for a meeting, because the dashboard is already current when the meeting starts. People in operations and sales, and anyone who has to show an auditor where things stand, check the workflows themselves instead of asking whoever owns the export. And because the figures come straight from the vault and from SQL, there is no separate reporting tool to license and keep up to date.
See what a CtrlPortals dashboard is made of, or book a demo and watch a dashboard like these at work.