Sometimes the people who need to see your data do not have an account in your BI tool — and should not need one. Investors reviewing your board deck, clients checking campaign performance, partners monitoring shared metrics, or prospects viewing a demo dashboard all benefit from public dashboard sharing. clariBI lets you share any dashboard via a secure link without requiring the viewer to log in. Here is how to set it up and the best practices for doing it safely.
Use Cases for Public Dashboards
- Client reporting: Share a live, always-current dashboard with clients instead of emailing static PDF reports. Clients see real-time data without needing access to your internal tools.
- Investor updates: Give board members and investors a link to a KPI dashboard they can check anytime, reducing the frequency of "can you send me the latest numbers?" emails.
- Team transparency: Share a company metrics dashboard on a lobby screen or an internal web page accessible without individual logins.
- Sales demos: Create a sample dashboard with demo data to show prospects what clariBI can do, embedded on your website or shared as a link.
- Partner reporting: Share relevant performance data with channel partners or affiliates without giving them access to your internal systems.
Step 1: Prepare the Dashboard for External Viewing
Before sharing publicly, review the dashboard with external eyes:
- Remove sensitive data. Does the dashboard contain employee compensation, individual customer names, proprietary costs, or competitive intelligence? Either remove those elements or create a separate "external" version of the dashboard with only the metrics appropriate for the audience.
- Add context. Internal users understand your acronyms and metric definitions. External viewers may not. Add chart titles that explain what each metric means, and consider adding a brief description or legend at the top of the dashboard.
- Simplify the layout. External viewers will spend less time on the dashboard than your team does. Keep the public version focused on the 5-8 most important metrics. Save the detailed drill-downs for internal use.
- Check the branding. If this is going to a client or investor, make sure the dashboard looks professional. Clean titles, consistent colors, and proper formatting matter for external perception.
Step 2: Enable Public Sharing
- Open the dashboard you want to share
- Click the Share button in the top right corner
- Toggle Public Link to on
- Configure sharing options:
- Password protection (recommended): Require a password to view the dashboard. Share the password separately from the link.
- Expiration date (optional): Set the link to expire after a specific date. Useful for time-limited sharing like board meeting prep or client campaign reports.
- Click Generate Link
- Copy the link and share it with your intended audience
The public link provides view-only access. Viewers can see the data and interact with filters, but they cannot edit the dashboard, access other dashboards, or see any data outside what the specific dashboard displays.
Step 3: Share the Link
Send the link to your audience via email, Slack, or any other channel. If you enabled password protection, send the password through a different channel than the link (e.g., link via email, password via text message) for better security.
For ongoing sharing (like a client reporting dashboard), bookmark the link on the client's side. The dashboard will always show the latest data when they open it.
Security Best Practices
Principle of Minimum Exposure
Only share what the external viewer needs to see. Create a dedicated "external" dashboard rather than sharing your internal dashboard and hoping viewers do not notice the margin data in the corner.
Use Password Protection
Public links are accessible to anyone who has the URL. Password protection adds a layer of security. Use a strong password and change it periodically, especially if sharing with multiple external parties.
Set Expiration Dates
For one-time sharing (board meeting, quarterly client review), set the link to expire after the relevant date. This prevents stale links from providing access indefinitely.
Audit Shared Links Regularly
Periodically review which dashboards are shared publicly and whether each share is still needed. Revoke links that are no longer required. In clariBI, you can see all active public links from the Settings > Sharing panel.
Do Not Share Links That Include Sensitive Data
This seems obvious, but it bears repeating. Review every element of the dashboard before making it public. Revenue trends are usually fine. Individual customer names, employee performance data, and competitive pricing intelligence are not.
Advanced Sharing Options
Embedding Dashboards
If you want to display a dashboard on your website, in a client portal, or on a TV screen, you can embed the public dashboard using an iframe. The dashboard renders within the page and updates automatically.
Multiple Audiences, Multiple Dashboards
Create separate public dashboards for different audiences:
- Client A dashboard: Shows Client A's campaign metrics, shared with Client A
- Client B dashboard: Shows Client B's campaign metrics, shared with Client B
- Investor dashboard: Shows company-level KPIs, shared with the board
Each has its own link, password, and expiration. This ensures each viewer only sees what is appropriate for them.
Combining Public Sharing With Automated Reports
For the best of both worlds, share a public dashboard link for on-demand viewing AND set up an automated weekly report that emails a snapshot. The dashboard gives real-time access. The email report ensures the audience sees the data even if they do not remember to check the dashboard. See the automated reports tutorial for email setup.
Troubleshooting
Viewer Reports Dashboard Is Empty
The dashboard may rely on data sources or filters that are not accessible via the public link. Verify that all visualizations on the public dashboard load correctly by opening the public link in an incognito browser window.
Dashboard Loads Slowly for External Viewers
External viewers may have slower connections than your internal network. Optimize by reducing the number of charts on the public dashboard, using aggregated data rather than row-level detail, and avoiding auto-refresh intervals shorter than 5 minutes.
Password Is Not Working
Passwords are case-sensitive. Verify the exact password, including any special characters. If necessary, reset the password in the sharing settings and redistribute.
Public dashboard sharing turns clariBI from an internal tool into a communication platform. Instead of spending time building client reports, investor updates, and partner summaries, create the dashboard once and share a live link. The data stays current, the formatting stays consistent, and you reclaim the hours you used to spend on manual reporting.
