The Dashboard shows the current state of your ISMS on one page: at the top a status line with what is due now, below it widgets with metrics, deadlines and your tasks. Which widgets you see depends on your functional role; you can adjust the layout for yourself. This article explains what you see there and how you set up the dashboard.

Before you start

  • The dashboard is included in all plans and is located in the menu directly below My tasks.
  • What you see depends on your permissions. You only see a widget for an area if you may see the whole area or have access to the management review, as the functional roles ISMS manager and Top management have by default. Widgets such as My risks, My assets and Your obligations show what you yourself are responsible for.
  • The dashboard shows counts, rates and dates, not the content of individual entries.
  • The Readiness check widget is included from the Starter plan, the Maturity level widget from the Pro plan. Without the required plan, they appear with a note about the plan.

What the dashboard shows

Set up ISMS

As long as setup is open, a card at the top shows the progress, for example “Set up ISMS: 8 of 22 steps completed”, and the next step. With Continue setup, you go straight there. More on this under Setup step by step.

Status line

The status line summarises in at most five points what needs your attention now, overdue items first: for example overdue tasks, measures or risk reviews, open major nonconformities, decisions waiting for you, deadlines in the next 14 days or a missing internal audit. Each point leads to the matching page.

Widgets

Each widget shows an area, for example:

  • Your tasks and Your decisions: your open tasks or the approvals and acceptances waiting for you.
  • Open risks, Risk overview and My risks: open risks, their distribution by level and the risks you own.
  • Measures, Findings, Internal controls and Objectives: open and overdue entries. Internal controls are the internal control system (ICS), not the Requirements from the catalogues.
  • Security incidents: incidents per month over 12 months.
  • Training and acknowledgement or Your obligations: rates of mandatory training and acknowledgements in the organisation, or your own open obligations.
  • Implementation by catalogue: for each requirement catalogue, the share of applicable requirements implemented. Catalogues are not added together because they overlap.
  • Deadlines in the next 90 days: audits, management review, reviews of risks and policies, expiring exceptions, ending supplier contracts, due internal controls and measurements of objectives.
  • Scope and SoA, Audit and management review: status of approvals, last and next audit or management review.
  • Readiness check and Maturity level: status against ISO/IEC 27001 per clause, or maturity level per catalogue against the target.
  • My assets, Suppliers and Data protection impact assessments: your assets, due supplier reviews and DPIAs in progress.

Each widget states its status in words, not just in colour. A click leads to the matching list. Widgets for areas you may not open cannot be clicked.

Choosing a view

The dashboard has templates per functional role: ISMS manager, Management, Risk, Owner, Data protection, Internal audit and Employees. Varmo chooses the template that matches your permissions; it is marked “(your role)” in the selection.

  1. Open Dashboard in the menu.
  2. At the top right under View, choose another template, for example Management, to see what top management sees.

The view only shows widgets for which you yourself have permissions. If you switch back to your role, you see your own view again.

Customising the dashboard

Each person can customise every view for themselves. Others do not see your layout.

  1. Click Customise dashboard.
  2. Move widgets forwards or backwards with the arrows, choose the size or remove a widget.
  3. With Add widget, you add further widgets for which you can see data.
  4. Click Done. Varmo saves the layout; Cancel discards the changes.

With Reset to template, you delete your layout of the view; afterwards the template widgets apply again.

Setting targets

There are targets for metrics such as overdue measures, findings, internal controls, measurements of objectives and risk reviews, or the rates of mandatory training and acknowledgements. The dashboard rates each metric against its target: “on target”, “close” or “off target”.

  1. Click Targets at the top right. The button is visible to people who manage the management review; by default, the ISMS managers.
  2. Enter a value for each metric. Next to each field, it says whether it is a maximum or minimum value, together with the Varmo default. If you leave a field empty, no target applies to that metric.
  3. Click Save.

The targets apply to the whole organisation. The next management review adopts them together with the metrics.

History

Varmo records the metrics every day. In the widgets, you therefore see the history of the last 90 days as a small curve and the change in words, for example “+3 in 30 days”. The history begins on the day Varmo first recorded the metrics.

What happens next

The dashboard recalculates the values every time it is opened. If you complete an overdue measure, for example, it disappears from the status line the next time you open it. You find the actual tasks under My tasks.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I only see a few widgets?

You only see areas for which you have permissions, and the template of your role only contains the widgets that matter for it. You add more under Customise dashboard with Add widget. You receive further permissions through functional roles, see Setting functional roles and permissions.

Why is the “Maturity level” widget missing?

It only shows catalogues for which the maturity level is turned on. The maturity level per requirement is included from the Pro plan.

Can I customise the dashboard?

Yes. Under Customise dashboard, you arrange the widgets of each view for yourself, change their size, remove or add widgets. The layout only applies to you. The targets are set by the ISMS managers for the whole organisation.

Do others see how I have customised my dashboard?

No. Your layout only applies to you. Other people see the template of their role or their own layout.