Cannelle.io

The dashboard,
your way.

May 1, 2026 by Claire

Introduction

The dashboard is the first screen you see when you log in to Cannelle. Out of the box it shows everything — open projects, revenue, draft invoices, uninvoiced work, a shared whiteboard, Atelier workspaces, and your followings feed. That is a reasonable overview of the whole business, but it is probably too much for any one person's daily workflow.

The dashboard is fully configurable. You can toggle individual widgets on or off, and drag them into any order you like. Your choices are saved in the browser, so everyone on the team can set up their own view without affecting anyone else's. Click the grid icon in the top-right corner of the dashboard to open the widget selector.

Below are four setups worth trying — one for each of the main roles in a typical professional services team.

The seven widgets

Before diving into role-specific setups, here is what each widget actually does.

Open Projects

A list of every project currently active in the system, with its client, status, and deadline. Clicking any row takes you straight to the project record.

Revenue Chart

A rolling chart of revenue invoiced over recent months. Gives you a quick visual sense of whether the business is trending in the right direction.

Draft Invoices

All invoices that have been created but not yet sent. A reminder that money is sitting in draft, waiting to go out the door.

Uninvoiced Projects

Projects that are complete but have not yet had an invoice raised. The gap between work done and work billed.

Whiteboard

A shared team message board, visible to everyone in the company. Good for pinned announcements, reminders, or anything that should not live buried in a chat thread.

Workspaces

Your most recently active Atelier workspaces — the shared spaces where your team collaborates with clients on documents, tasks, and chat. Only relevant if you have Atelier enabled.

Followings

A live feed of recent activity across all the clients, projects, and invoices you are following. New quotes, status changes, notes — everything in one place.

The Cannelle dashboard showing all seven widgets
The default dashboard layout showing all seven widgets.

If you are in sales

A salesperson's day revolves around relationships — keeping track of who you are talking to, where each conversation is in the pipeline, and what needs a follow-up. Most of the dashboard's operational widgets are noise for you. Strip them out and focus on what actually matters: the people.

// suggested setup

Followings
● on Your primary tool. Follow every lead and prospect you are actively working — this feed becomes your real-time view of what is happening across your pipeline.
Whiteboard
● on Stay in sync with the rest of the team. Good for knowing about pricing changes, new service offerings, or anything that affects what you pitch.
Open Projects
● on Useful so you know which of your prospects have already converted and are being delivered. Avoid pitching work that is already in progress.
Revenue Chart
○ optional Motivating context — are the deals you are closing actually moving the needle? Keep it on if you like the visibility, turn it off if it distracts.

// pro tip

Drag the Followings widget to the top-left position so it is the first thing you see. Then arrange the Whiteboard directly below it. That way your first thirty seconds of the day are spent on people and team context — not invoices or project lists.

[ screenshot: dashboard — sales setup (Followings + Whiteboard + Open Projects) ]
A sales-focused dashboard: Followings at the top, Whiteboard and Open Projects below.

If you manage projects

Project managers need to see what is in flight, what is about to be late, and what has finished but still needs invoicing — because that last part is the handoff signal to finance. Revenue and draft invoices are not your problem, but the work that generates them is.

// suggested setup

Open Projects
● on Your primary view. Keep it at the top so you can immediately see every active project, its status, and its deadline.
Uninvoiced Projects
● on Closed or overdue projects that have not been invoiced yet. This is your signal to nudge the finance team — or to check whether the project really is complete.
Workspaces
● on If you use Atelier to collaborate with clients, this keeps your most active client workspaces one click away.
Followings
● on Follow the projects and clients you are responsible for. This feed surfaces changes you might otherwise miss — a status update, a new event, a document upload.
Whiteboard
● on Team-wide announcements and reminders. Useful when you need to flag something that the whole delivery team should know.

// suggested order

Open Projects top-left, Uninvoiced Projects top-right, Followings bottom-left, Workspaces bottom-right, Whiteboard spanning the bottom. This puts operational status at the top and context at the bottom.

If you handle invoicing

The invoicing person's job starts where the project manager's ends. Your two core questions are: what needs to be invoiced, and what has already been invoiced but not yet sent? Everything else on the dashboard is operational context you do not need every day.

// suggested setup

Draft Invoices
● on Your to-do list. Every invoice sitting in draft is money that has not been sent yet. This widget keeps that queue visible at all times.
Uninvoiced Projects
● on Work that is done but has not yet been turned into an invoice. This tells you what to create next.
Revenue Chart
● on The result of your work: what was invoiced and what was actually collected. Useful for spotting slow payment periods or months where invoicing lagged behind delivery.
Open Projects
○ optional Helpful context if you want to see what is still in progress — so you know what is coming next in the invoicing queue.
Followings
○ optional Handy if you have clients with complicated payment histories — follow their invoices directly and get notified of any status changes.
Whiteboard
○ off Optional. Worth keeping on if your team uses it actively for finance-related notes.

// suggested order

Draft Invoices top-left, Uninvoiced Projects top-right, Revenue Chart spanning the bottom. The two action items at the top, the big-picture metric below.

If you oversee the whole company

As an owner or director, you are not executing — you are monitoring. Your dashboard should answer three questions at a glance: how is the pipeline looking, how much work is in flight, and is there any cash flow risk I should know about. Everything else is detail you can dig into when you need to.

// suggested setup

Revenue Chart
● on The headline number. Is revenue growing? Is there a seasonal dip? Are collections keeping pace with invoicing? One glance tells you a lot.
Open Projects
● on How much work is the team carrying right now? Are any projects overdue? This is your workload and delivery health check.
Uninvoiced Projects
● on Unbilled completed work is a cash flow risk. This widget tells you if money is sitting in delivered projects that have not been invoiced yet.
Draft Invoices
● on Invoices ready to go out but not yet sent. Another cash flow signal — a large draft queue might mean the invoicing process has slowed down.
Followings
● on Follow your most important clients and strategic projects. This feed gives you visibility over key relationships without having to open each record individually.
Whiteboard
○ off You may not read it every day, but as a manager you will occasionally want to post to it — an announcement, a priority shift, a company-wide reminder.

// suggested order

Revenue Chart top-left (the number you care most about), Open Projects top-right, Draft Invoices and Uninvoiced Projects in the middle row, Followings at the bottom. Revenue and workload first, cash flow risk second, relationship pulse third.

// one more thing

The dashboard is personal — your configuration does not affect anyone else's. So there is no wrong answer. Start with the setup closest to your role, live with it for a week, and adjust from there. The widget selector is always one click away.

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