1. Abstract
Board Presentations enable users to transform governed reports and dashboards into interactive, shareable slide decks within the Board environment. While the feature provides flexibility and real-time data interaction, users may encounter practical challenges during creation, maintenance, and distribution. These challenges are often linked to workflow design and content dependencies. Applying sound design and governance practices helps ensure presentations remain effective, reusable, and aligned with business needs.
2. Context
The Presentations feature lets users create interactive slide decks from enterprise reports and analytic screens. It bridges the gap between governed corporate reporting and customized, shareable insights tailored to specific audiences - all without leaving the Board environment.
What is a Board presentations?
A Presentation in Board is a container of ordered slides. Each slide can function either as a section header, serving as a title or divider page, or as a screen from a Capsule, such as a report or dashboard, complete with all interactive elements.
Screens added to a Presentation remain linked to their original source. This allows full embedded interactivity - including drill-downs, filters, data entry, and real-time updates - provided the user’s permissions allow it. Presentations are personal by default and are stored within the creator’s workspace; sharing is optional and governed by security profiles. A Presentation in Board does not store data itself but instead references the underlying data models associated with the linked screens.
3. Content
3.1 Common Challenges
Even with robust capabilities, users often encounter practical challenges — both technical and workflow-related.
3.1.1 Export Formatting Issues
Challenges:
- When exporting to PowerPoint, extra slides may appear unexpectedly
- Exported layouts sometimes don’t align with on-screen design or corporate styling requirements
- Certain PDF export quirks can occur (even if not related specifically to Presentations)
How to address them:
- Disable unnecessary export options (e.g., Select Page or Link) in export settings to reduce extraneous slides
- Use Board’s template controls (where available) on the linked Screens to enforce print styling
- Export first to PowerPoint and then fine-tune with external tools (e.g., adjust layout in PPT before final distribution)
3.1.2 Managing Selections
Challenge:
In many Board applications, Screens are designed with procedures that apply default selections (for example, predefined Time, Scenario, or Version). While this ensures a consistent starting point, it creates a limitation when those Screens are used in Presentations.
When a default-selection procedure is executed:
- The applied selections are always reflected in the Presentation.
- Users may change filters during a presentation, but those changes cannot be saved.
- Upon reopening the slide or the Presentation, the procedure re-applies the original defaults, overriding any user-defined context.
This behavior limits flexibility and often leads to duplicated Presentations for different business views.
How to address it: Dynamic Selections
A more flexible approach is to use dynamic selections in the Screens linked to a Presentation instead of fixed default-selection procedures.
With dynamic selections:
- Users can change filters directly within the Presentation.
- The selected values are saved by the Presentation itself.
- When the Presentation is reopened, it retains the user-defined selection context rather than resetting to defaults.
Key Benefits
- Greater flexibility for end users, reusable Presentations across multiple scenarios
- Reduced maintenance and duplication of content
- Enable users to change, save, and reuse selections directly within Presentations
3.1.3 Presentation Breakage After Platform Upgrades
Challenge:
- Some users have experienced that Presentations created in older versions stopped working after an update (e.g., Board 12.4 → 12.5). Specific slides could fail to load data or become not editable.
How to address it:
- Test Presentations in a staging environment before applying major version upgrades.
- Report issues to support and request patches; newer releases often address regression issues.
- Make backups of critical presentations (e.g., export to PPT/PDF or duplicate the Presentation) before upgrading.
3.1.4 Slide Linking & Data Refresh Problems
Challenge:
- If a Screen or the Capsule it came from is deleted or moved, the linked Slides will display empty data
How to address it:
- Keep a consistent naming and folder structure for Capsules and Screens used in Presentations.
- After reorganizing content, re-add Screens to affected slides to reestablish correct links.
3.1.5 Limited In-Presentation Editing of Objects
Challenge:
- Unlike in Capsule edit mode, some object-level sizing or repositioning isn’t fully supported within the Presentation canvas itself; this has been a recurring request.
How to address it:
- Adjust object layout in the Capsule Screen first before pulling into the Presentation.
- Build custom Screens tailored for presentation export rather than using general analytic screens.
3.2 Best Practices
✔ Design Screens with Export in Mind
Plan Capsules so that screens are presentation-ready — appropriate filters, layouts, and object sizes reduce rework during presentation building.
✔ Proactively Use Templates
Use print and export templates defined at the Screen level to control look and feel across exports.
✔ Leverage Sharing Controls
Use Board’s share settings to control who can view or edit. This is especially important for decks circulated across teams.
✔ Review After Export
Always preview exported PDFs or PowerPoints before distribution; export behavior can differ from on-screen behavior.
✔ Documentation & Versioning
Keep internal runbooks about how your organization uses Presentations (e.g., naming schemes, shared libraries, backup policies).
4. Conclusion
Board’s Presentation feature turns interactive dashboards and reports into shareable, distributable slide decks — with real-time data and interactivity preserved where possible. While most challenges stem from export formatting nuances, content reorganizations, collaborative edits, and occasional upgrade regressions, there are effective workarounds that help keep your communication both visually compelling and technically reliable.
