Navigating MotorDesk & Your Dashboard

Getting to know the layout of MotorDesk will vastly improve your user experience. In this guide we've broken down the navigation bar into its main components.

1. Menus

Navigating MotorDesk is very straightforward, using the header menus.

The headings should be fairly self-explanatory. Looking to add a vehicle? It'll be in the Vehicle menu. Looking to edit the footer of your website? It'll be under the Website menu.

2. Help

This brings us nicely onto MotorDesk's extensive help articles, guides and instructions. In the top corner of most MotorDesk pages you will have a help button.

These contain video tutorials, explanations and step-by-step instructions with screenshots which are specific to the page you are on in MotorDesk.

3. Profile Settings

This is where to go when you need to change personal/security information and check MotorDesk alerts. There are also a number of other helpful tools such as mobile/desktop app downloads, MotorDesk referrals, your account billing details, and a link to every MotorDesk help guide.

4. Leads & Chat

You will see customer notifications here and clicking this icon will take you directly to the Leads & Chat section where you can review enquiries and communicate with customers. A similar icon is also shown for MotorDesk's Deal Builder when enabled.

Dashboard Views

Your dashboard has a 'Default' view, however there are other options that you can choose in the top-left corner.

Calendar: This is a full-screen calendar for better managing your tasks.

Columns: This offers the same content as 'default' but arranged differently on the screen, see which one you prefer.

Classic: This is a minimal arrangement with just your calendar, activity log and a few reports figures at the top.

Your Dashboard

When using the Default view you have your calendar in the centre to see what events you've got coming up, or to arrange any future bookings. At either side, there's a summary of your latest figures for sales, sold vehicles, current vehicles and latest stock. The bottom of the page documents your activity in MotorDesk and at the top of the page you'll be notified of any new MotorDesk features or software updates.

Calendar

The calendar of course shows what events you have coming up on any given day, week or month, depending on the time period you choose in the top-right of the calendar. The Timeline and Grid options provide views which display events from multiple calendars at once.

There are two buttons at the bottom, one for adding custom appointments and if you've enabled website bookings another for finding booking slots. The calendar is also interactive meaning you can drag and drop appointments, and you can click into and edit any appointments that you have.

Activity Log

This is an interactive activity log that not only lets you track what's been actioned in MotorDesk, but also lets you click on each activity listed and immediately jump to the relevant section in MotorDesk. For example, if you've seen that 'vehicle AA11AAA has been reserved by James Matthews', clicking on this will take you to the 'Reserve Vehicle' section for this vehicle in MotorDesk.

Reports Summaries

Your dashboard displays some important stats so that you can keep track without having to run full reports. You have sales figures and web traffic figures on the left hand side, and current vehicles, sold vehicles and latest vehicles on the right-hand side.

In the top right, there is a choice of 7 days right through to a month, which is the time period it'll show you analytics for.

The Latest Vehicles and Overage Vehicles summaries are also interactive and you can quickly jump to view any vehicle from that section.

Latest Updates

You will periodically see any notices from MotorDesk (such as software updates, new features or warnings of limited customer support during national holidays etc) at the top-middle of your dashboard. You can hide or 'mark as read' to remove these.

Including/Excluding VAT

You can choose whether the sales report summaries you see are including or excluding VAT by choosing either option at the top of the page.

Refresh On/Off

This is an auto-refresh feature that ensures everything that is on display is constantly up to date. Note this will automatically be turned off when you drag and drop appointments but will be re-enabled when you next visit the dashboard.