# Dashboard

The Job Book home screen: every card and where it goes, the Navigate and Settings menus, what each role sees, the Actions required banner, and setting up your signature.

Source: https://getjobbook.com/help/Dashboard
Last updated: 2026-09-17

## Key Concepts

The dashboard is where Job Book puts you when you sign in, and it is where the rest of this manual starts from:
most instructions here begin "On the dashboard, in the **X** card, click **Y**." For daily work, most staff
won't need the Navigate or Settings menus. If Job Book itself is new to you, the [Overview](https://getjobbook.com/help/Overview) says
what it is for before this page says where things are.

![The Job Book dashboard with all sixteen cards](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dashboard.C_DZeKiB.png)

*Hover the ? on a card's title bar for a one-line description of what the card is for. The same descriptions are in the table under The cards.*

The blue bar across the top is the same on every screen in Job Book:

- **Navigate**, in the top-left corner, opens a menu panel down the left side of the page. It holds groups of
  screens the cards do not show.
- Your company's name in the middle.
- **Settings**, in the top-right corner with a gear icon, opens your account menu.

Below the bar is a grid of cards, five across on a wide screen. Each card is one area of the app, and every card is
built the same way:

- A grey title bar with the card's name, and a **?** icon at its right. Hovering the **?** shows a one-line
  description of the card.
- A blue panel with a line-art icon.
- One to four text links, in orange.

Two of those links come up over and over. **Explore** opens the list of records already saved, and **Create New**
opens a blank form for adding one. Clients, Jobs, Daily Work Records, Invoices, Rate Sheets, Expenses, Leave
Requests and Assets all carry the pair. Any report or utility the card offers sits above them, except on Rate
Sheets, where **Standard Rates** sits below.

Depending on the modules your company has and the permissions you have been given, you might see fewer cards than
the picture above shows. Tasks / Scheduling, Leave Requests, Assets and Safety are separate modules, and the
card for one your company has not licensed is not there. Roles are the other half of it, and they are covered in
[What each role sees](#what-each-role-sees).

### The cards

The cards, in the order they appear on an Administrator's dashboard, reading left to right along each row.
The middle column is the sentence the card's **?** icon shows.

| Card | What it is for | Links |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [**Clients**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Clients) | Manage your clients, contacts and office locations. | **Create New**, **Explore** |
| [**Jobs**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup) | Set-up new jobs and search for existing jobs. | [**Active Job Dashboard**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Active_Job_Dashboard), **Create New**, **Explore** |
| **Tasks / Scheduling** | Task planning and scheduling for jobs | [**Task Dashboard**](https://getjobbook.com/help/task-dashboard), [**Task Scheduler**](https://getjobbook.com/help/task-scheduling), [**Explore Task Templates**](https://getjobbook.com/help/task-templates) |
| [**My Tasks**](https://getjobbook.com/help/personal-task-management) | See the scheduled and unscheduled tasks for the current employee. | **My Schedule**, **My Unscheduled Tasks** |
| [**Daily Work Records**](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Entry) | Fill in timesheets and equipment / material costs for a job. | **Create New**, **Explore** |
| [**Invoices**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoices) | Convert daily work records into invoices to bill your clients. | **Invoice Export**, **Create New**, **Explore** |
| [**Rate Sheets**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Rate_Sheets) | Create re-usable line-item templates that can be applied to clients and jobs. | **Create New**, **Explore**, [**Standard Rates**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Rate_Sheets#standard-rates) |
| **Workflow** | Batch management for approving and invoicing daily work records. | [**DWR Approval Backlog**](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Approval), [**DWR Invoice Backlog**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoicing_a_Time_and_Materials_Job), [**Expense Approval Backlog**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Approval), [**Invoice Process Backlog**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoice_Process_Backlog) |
| [**Time & Expense Reports**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Time_and_Expense_Reports) | Report on employee time and expenses against jobs. | **Time Card Report**, **Time Grid**, **Utilization Report**, **Expense Report** |
| [**Cost Reports**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Reports) | Detailed line item reporting against jobs. | **Line Item Report**, **WIP Report** |
| [**Personal Reports**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Personal_Reports) | See status of timesheets and expenses for the current employee. | **My Time Cards**, **My Expenses** |
| [**Expenses**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Expense_Entry) | Fill in expenses against jobs. | **Create New**, **Explore** |
| [**Leave Requests**](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request) | Submit leave requests for approval. | [**Leave Request Report**](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-report), [**Company Calendar**](https://getjobbook.com/help/company-calendar), **Create New**, **Explore** |
| [**Assets**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Assets) | Manage your company's assets and even assign ownership to employees. | **Manage Assets**, **Create New**, **Explore** |
| [**Safety**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Safety) | Navigate to the safety dashboard. | **Hazards / Tailgate Create**, **Hazards / Tailgate Explore**, **More...** |
| [**Job Maps**](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Maps) | Advanced geospatial view of all past and current jobs. | **Job Explorer** |

Most of the link names explain themselves. These are the ones worth spelling out, in card order:

- **Active Job Dashboard**: view all your active jobs.
- **Invoice Export**: export your invoices to Excel.
- **Standard Rates**: the default price on every Labour and every Equipment and Materials item.
- **DWR Approval Backlog**: review and approve timesheets.
- **DWR Invoice Backlog**: convert approved DWRs on Time & Materials jobs into invoices.
- **Expense Approval Backlog**: review and approve expenses.
- **Invoice Process Backlog**: export finalized invoices into your accounting system.
- **Time Card Report**: shows labour hours and can be exported to Excel for payroll.
- **Time Grid**: totals hours per employee.
- **Utilization Report**: shows utilization, chargeability and effective rate of your staff.
- **Expense Report**: lists all expenses and their status.
- **Line Item Report**: the line items used on each job and their amounts.
- **WIP Report**: a work in progress report showing all your in-flight work, and what has and has not been
  invoiced.
- **More...**: opens the safety dashboard, which carries a card for each of the safety module's forms. The
  **Safety** card on the dashboard itself only offers the hazard assessment and tailgate meeting form.
- **Job Explorer**: see all jobs in the system on a geospatial map, where you can search and filter past jobs.

### What each role sees

Every user has at least one role, and your roles decide which cards you get and which links are on them. A user
with two roles gets the cards of both.

| Role | Cards on the dashboard |
| --- | --- |
| Administrator | Every card. |
| Manager | Every card, with fewer links on Clients, Jobs and Rate Sheets. |
| Job Coordinator | Clients, Jobs, My Tasks, Daily Work Records, Rate Sheets, Personal Reports, Expenses, Leave Requests, Assets and Job Maps. |
| Technician | My Tasks, Daily Work Records, Personal Reports, Expenses, Leave Requests, Assets and Safety. |

Safety is the one card a Technician gets that a Job Coordinator does not.

Job Coordinator is usually added to another role. Technician and Job Coordinator gives the Technician's cards plus
Clients, Jobs, Rate Sheets and Job Maps. Manager and Job Coordinator gives every card, with **Create New** on the
**Clients** and **Jobs** cards.

![A technician's dashboard showing seven cards](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dashboard-technician.ys5bMHig.png)

*A Technician's dashboard keeps the cards for entering your own records and drops the ones for setting up jobs, approving and invoicing.*

A Manager's dashboard has the same cards as an Administrator's. Where a role gets a card, it does not always get
every link on it:

- On a Manager's dashboard the **Clients** card offers **Explore** and nothing else. Managers can look clients up
  but cannot create or edit them.
- The Manager's **Jobs** card offers **Active Job Dashboard** and **Explore**, with no **Create New**. A Job
  Coordinator's Clients and Jobs cards both keep **Create New**.
- Only an Administrator's **Rate Sheets** card has **Create New**. A Manager's and a Job Coordinator's shows
  **Explore** and **Standard Rates** only.
- The Manager's **Invoices** card does keep **Create New**.
- On a Job Coordinator's and a Technician's dashboard, the **Leave Requests** card shows **Company Calendar**,
  **Create New** and **Explore**, without the **Leave Request Report**. A Technician's **Assets** card shows
  **Create New** and **Explore**, without **Manage Assets**. A Job Coordinator's shows **Explore** only, because
  assets are read-only for that role.

Which role a user has is set on their user account, and role membership is managed from **Settings**, then
**Roles**. See [Users and Employee Profiles](https://getjobbook.com/help/Users_and_Employee_Profiles#user-roles).

## Performing Common Tasks

### Opening a screen from a card

The card names in this manual's instructions are the ones in the table above. To come back to the dashboard from
any screen, click **Navigate**, then **Home**.

### Using the Navigate menu

**Navigate**, in the top-left corner, opens a panel down the left side of the page. **Home** sits at the top of it,
with the screens grouped below. The groups start collapsed; click a group's name to open it, and click it again
to close it.

![The Navigate menu open over the dashboard, with all seven groups expanded](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/navigate-flyout.Doud9I0v.png)

*Navigate lists every screen, grouped, whether or not it has a dashboard card.*

- **Administration**: Asset Locations, Clients, Equipment and Materials, Expense Items, Fixed Price Items, Jobs,
  Labour Cost Items, Offices, Training Courses and Vehicles. Most of these are the lists an Administrator sets up
  once; see [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings).
- **Bidding**: Rate Sheets.
- **Expenses**: Expenses.
- **Forms**: DWRs, Invoices and Leave Requests.
- **Inventory**: Assets.
- **Safety**: Employee Incident Reports, Hazard Assessments / Tailgate Meetings, Hazard Near Miss Reports, HSE
  Inspection Forms, Light Vehicle Inspection, Policy Documentation, Training Records, Unsafe Work Refusal Forms,
  Witness Statements and Worksite Observation Audits.
- **Scheduling**: Task Templates.

This is where the menu earns its place: most of the Administration lists have no dashboard card at all (only
Clients and Jobs do), and the Safety group holds ten form types where the Safety card offers one.

### Opening Settings

**Settings**, in the top-right corner with the gear icon, opens a panel down the right side of the page. It is
where you go when something about your own account has to change.

![The Settings menu open on the right of the dashboard](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/settings-menu.BJs0ZluY.png)

*For an Administrator, users, roles and employee profiles are managed from here too; there is no card for them.*

- **Log out**: ends your session and returns you to the sign-in page.
- **Change password**: changes the password on your account while you are signed in.
- **Update profile**: your name and an email-contact preference. This is a different screen from your employee
  profile, and it carries no signature, so it is not where a signature is set.
- **Users**: the login accounts. See [Users and Employee Profiles](https://getjobbook.com/help/Users_and_Employee_Profiles#user-accounts).
- **Roles**: which users belong to Administrator, Manager, Job Coordinator and Technician.
- **Employee Profiles**: the employee records that jobs, timesheets and signatures attach to. Its **My Profile**
  view holds one record: your own.
- **Groups**: employee groups, which let you pick several employees at once elsewhere in the system, such as on
  the [Task Scheduler](https://getjobbook.com/help/task-scheduling#filtering-the-calendar).

### Acting on "Actions required"

When something is waiting for you, a pale-blue banner appears between the top bar and the first row of cards,
headed **Actions required**, with a bulleted list of links under it. Each line says how many records are waiting
and what they are, and the line is a link to them.

![The Actions required banner above the dashboard cards](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/actions-required.9CRgyDVk.png)

*Once everything on a line has been dealt with the line goes, and when nothing is waiting the whole banner goes with it.*

- Read the line to see what is waiting. A leave request submitted to you for approval reads
  **1 Leave Request(s) awaiting my approval**, with the count changing as requests come in.
- Click the line to open the records it names. Approving or rejecting a leave request is covered in
  [Leave Requests](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request#reviewing-a-leave-request).
- Leave requests are not the only thing that puts a line here; a signature not yet on file is another.
- The other pictures on this page show no banner because nothing was pending when they were taken.

### Setting up your signature

If this is your first time in Job Book your signature is not set yet, and a blue notification bar sits across the
top of the dashboard reading:

> We do not have your signature on file. Click here to edit your profile and set up your signature, so you can
> automatically sign forms and save time.

Click the link in the bar. Recording the signature and saving it, and changing one later, is on
[Site Staff Initial Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_Initial_Setup#adding-your-signature); once it is saved the
notification bar is gone.

## Video

Watch the video: [Job Book How to Use Guide #2: Dashboard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3GgULb992M)

## Related Guides

- Dashboard
- [Overview](https://getjobbook.com/help/Overview)
- [Users and Employee Profiles](https://getjobbook.com/help/Users_and_Employee_Profiles)
- [Site Staff Initial Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_Initial_Setup)