Navigation - find your way around Phocas

Owned by Denise McGettigan
Last updated: Apr 09, 2024
7 min read

Phocas is organized into three areas: the Phocas menu, the top bar, and the content area, which initially displays your homepage.

image-20240409-040802.png

1. Phocas menu

Use the Phocas menu on the left of your screen to move around your site. This menu is collapsable, allowing you to get a better view of whatever page you open. Hover over the menu to display and click the Collapse button. The menu options are still available, they just take up less space. You expand the menu in the same way.

The menu contains the following items:

  • Home - Click this item to return to your homepage.

  • Analytics, Financial Statements, Budgets & Forecasts, Rebates and CRM - Click a module to either open its homepage or view a list of its items - the outcome depends on the module.

  • Recents - Click this item to view a list of the items you have last opened in Phocas. The Recents menu allows you to see where you've been and get back there quickly, to pick up where you left off. Click an item to open it in the corresponding module.

  • Favorites - Click this item to view a list of your favorites. A favorite is an analysis point, such as a chart or particular view of a grid, that has been saved for quick reference. You can filter the list by keyword and click a favorite to open it in the corresponding module.

  • Dashboards - Click this item to view a list of your dashboards. A dashboard is a custom page with a collection of widgets that contain content such as charts, lists, nested tables, text, images, videos and web content. You can filter the list by keyword and click a dashboard to open it.

  • Administration - Available only if you are an administrator, click this item to open the Administration module, where you can manage users and databases, configure your Phocas site, and more.

  • Resource Centre - Click this item to launch the Resource Centre, where you can access Phocas QuickStart, which has in-product tours, video tutorials and links to this user documentation site. The content is contextual, so depending on whether you are on your homepage or in a database, the Resource Centre menu will show you relevant content. It’s a great way to get started with Phocas.

  • Give Feedback - Click this item to launch a feedback form, where you can provide feedback and comments to help us improve Phocas.

2. Top bar

The bar along the top of your screen displays the following items:

  • Build status of the database, where applicable (indicated by a colored dot). The color of the dot indicates the status: Green = Available, Yellow = Queued, Blue = Building and Red = Failed. You can hover over the dot to view the status information.

  • Title of the page you are viewing, such as the favorite, dashboard or database you have opened.

  • Actions - Click the arrow next to the page title to display a context menu of related actions you can take. The available options depend on the page you are viewing and your user permissions. Common actions are setting your default view, saving favorites, and adding content to dashboards.

  • User menu - Click your initials on the right-hand side of the bar to access links your account settings page and sign out.

3. Content area

The content in this area is dynamic, it displays whatever page you are on, which could be a favorite, dashboard, database, or a module such as Budgets and Forecasts or Rebates. Typically, this is where you view and analyze your data.

Keyboard shortcuts

Here’s a list of handy keyboard shortcuts you can use in Phocas Analytics:

  • Alt+C - Custom mode

  • Alt+H - Goes to Home page

  • Alt+i - Displays Information dialog

  • Alt+R - Reset

  • Alt+S - Advanced search

  • Alt+Up, Alt+Down - Switches between dimensions

  • Ctrl+C - Copy from the grid

  • Ctrl+P - Dashboard print

  • Ctrl+Space - Focuses on a selection

Mobile navigation

You can view Phocas on your mobile device. However, the mobile version has less functionality, as you are not expected to complete certain tasks from such a small screen. For example, you cannot create new databases or dashboards.

After you sign in to your Phocas site, click the button in the top-left corner to display the menu. The menu takes up the full screen. Select an option as usual. The sub-menu displays over the top. You can then select an item to open it, or go back or close the menu.

If you want to switch to a desktop view, you can do this via the browser settings on your mobile device. For example:

  • In Safari, open Phocas, then tap and hold the Refresh button in the address bar at the top of the Safari window. This button is typically located next to the address bar on the right side. Tap the Request Desktop Site option in the menu that displays.

  • In Chrome, open Phocas, then tap the menu button on the right of the browser bar and tap the Desktop Site option in the menu that displays.

FAQs: Navigation changes

Yes, some things have changed or moved! We released the new look Phocas navigation in September 2023 and in February 2024, we removed the option to switch back to the old navigation. We put a lot of thought into creating a more intuitive design and layout but here are answers to some questions you might have …

  1. Where has the Actions (star) menu gone?
    Quick access to common actions is still available! It’s in the top bar, next to the page title, accessible via the new blue arrow icon.

     

  2. Where’s the databases menu? How do I open a database?
    You now open each database via its corresponding menu in the sidebar. For financial databases, use the Financial Statements menu and for all other (operational) databases, open the Analytics menu. We retired the original Databases menu.

     

  3. My Recents used to be in the Actions menu, where are they now?
    In Recents in the side menu.

     

  4. Where has the New Dashboard button gone?
    You can now create a new dashboard via the Dashboards menu. We retired the old plus sign in the top bar. ‘Add to dashboard’ moved as part of repositioning of the Actions menu (see the Answer to Question 1 above for more detail).

     

  5. How do I add content to the dashboard now that the Actions (star) menu has gone?
    Click the new blue arrow next to the database or favorite name and select Add to dashboard.



  6. Where do I go to save a favorite now that the Actions (star) menu has gone?
    Click the new blue arrow next to the database name and select Save as favorite. See the previous image.

     

  7. The Navigate to (global search) box is gone - how do I find items on my Phocas site now?
    In the side menu, select the Analytics or Financial Statements modules to access a search box that you can use to filter the list of items and find what you need. Recents, Favorites and Dashboards all have this search box.

     

  8. The Help button is gone - how do I turn on the in-product help?
    We’ve decluttered the workspace by removing the contextual help, or ‘hover’ descriptions and links that went to the User Documentation on this site. You can access the documentation, which contains all the latest information, from the Resource Centre.

  9. The Help button is gone but I want to access the links to the product Documentation, Academy, Release Notes and Support. What can I do?
    The Resource Centre can be accessed directly from within Phocas, from the side menu. It has links to all of those items and more!

     

  10. How can I add comments now?
    We retired the comments feature, which was previously available in the top bar and Actions menu, as it was seldom used. If you would like to add comments, notes or other information to a dashboard, we suggest you use the text widget.

  11. What happened to the New experience toggle for the homepage?
    This was removed. An updated homepage was released for all users in April 2024.