1. Introduction
The Dynamic Colored Counter is a chart type available on Step 4 of the report builder. It displays a single large number — the Total or Count for a report — inside a coloured background that changes according to the thresholds you define. This makes it easy to see at a glance whether a KPI has crossed a critical level, without having to read a chart or open the underlying report.
Typical uses include monitoring Pending VOBs, active patient counts, overdue collections, unassigned leads, or any other figure where the value alone is meaningful and a colour cue speeds up decision-making.
2. Who Can Use It
CRM Admins who build Reports and pin them as dashboard widgets.
End users with permission to view dashboards — they see the colored counter on the dashboard but do not configure the colour thresholds.
Admissions Directors, RCM teams, and Sales managers monitoring volume thresholds.
3. Accessing the Feature
Sign in to the CRM and open the Reports module from the left sidebar. The Add Report option in the top-right of the Reports list opens the report-type chooser, where Chart & Detail Report starts the four-step builder used to create a Colored Counter.
4. Creating a Colored Counter Report
4.1 Start a New Chart & Detail Report From the Reports list, click Add Report in the top-right and choose Chart & Detail Report. The builder opens on Step 1.
4.2 Step 1 — Report Details Enter a clear Report Name (for example, 'Pending VOBs Counter'), choose a Folder, and pick the Primary Module that the counter will count over (such as Leads, Accounts, Contacts, or Intake Opportunities). Click Next to continue.
4.3 Step 2 — Select Columns Choose the fields you want to appear in the detail table that accompanies the chart. Drag fields from the Available list into the Selected list, or use the click-to-add controls if your layout shows them. Click Next when finished.
4.4 Step 3 — Filter Conditions (Optional) Add any conditions needed to scope the data — for example, only Open records, only the current Financial Year, or records owned by a specific team. Filters are optional; leave the section empty if the counter should reflect every record. Click Next to advance to Step 4.
4.5 Step 4 — Select the Colored Counter Chart Type On Step 4 you will see the chart-type grid (Summary, Bar, Pie, Funnel, Gauge, Colored Counter, and more). Click the Colored Counter card. The card becomes highlighted, the Sub Group-By field hides (the counter is a single-metric chart), and the Color Ranges section appears below the Group-By and Data Field selectors.
4.6 Choose the Group-By and Data Field Below the chart-type grid, pick a Group-By field (the dimension the counter aggregates across) and a Data Field (the numeric value to total or count). For a simple record count, choose the record's ID field as the Data Field — the counter will display the total number of records that match the filters.
4.7 Configure the Color Ranges The Color Ranges block defines the threshold and colour bands. Each row represents one range with a threshold limit and a colour. The last range has no upper limit and covers every value above the previous threshold. Use the + Add Range button to add more bands. A minimum of two ranges is required, and each threshold must be greater than the one before it.
💡 Tip: Read ranges from left to right as ascending thresholds. If two limits are out of order, the report will not save until they are corrected.
4.8 Generate the Report Click Generate Report at the bottom of Step 4. The report opens with the Colored Counter shown as the header — a large number on a colour that reflects the range the current total falls into. The existing View Report hyperlink remains available so users can open the underlying report at any time.
5. Pinning the Counter to a Dashboard
Once the report has been saved, you can pin it to any dashboard so the counter is visible without navigating to the report.
Open the saved Colored Counter report.
Click the pin icon in the top-right of the report header.
Choose the dashboard where the widget should appear.
Open the dashboard — the Colored Counter widget renders at the position you placed it, with the colour that matches the current value.
Large totals are abbreviated automatically inside the widget (1.2K, 3.4M, 1.1B) so the value never overflows the tile. Clicking the View Report link from the widget header opens the source report — the same behaviour as every other dashboard widget.
6. Editing an Existing Colored Counter
Thresholds change over time. To update the colour bands on a report you have already saved:
Open the report from the Reports list.
Click Customize (or the Edit pencil) to re-enter the builder.
Step through the wizard to Step 4 — the Colored Counter card is already selected and the saved ranges are loaded into the editor.
Adjust the ranges (add, remove, or change colours and thresholds) and click Generate Report again.
Changes are reflected immediately in the report header. Any dashboard widget that uses this report picks up the new colours the next time the dashboard refreshes.
7. Validation Messages
The builder validates the Color Ranges before letting you generate the report. The following messages appear inline beside the Color Ranges block and disappear automatically as soon as the issue is corrected:
At least 2 color ranges are required — shown when only one range is defined.
Range limits must be positive numbers — shown if any limit is empty or negative.
Each limit must be greater than the previous one — shown if thresholds are not in strictly ascending order.
Generate Report stays disabled while any of these messages is active, so a Colored Counter report can never be saved with invalid ranges.
8. What Gets Saved
Chart type = Colored Counter.
Group-By field and Data Field selected on Step 4.
All Color Ranges (threshold + colour).
Report name, folder, primary module, columns, and filter conditions.
Dashboard placement when pinned — the chosen dashboard and tile position.
9. Helpful Tips
Use the Colored Counter for KPIs that have a clear good-versus-bad threshold — Pending VOBs, overdue collections, open intake requests, unassigned leads.
Choose a Summary chart instead when colour alerting is not needed.
Set thresholds in their natural numeric units. The abbreviation shown on the widget (K, M, B) is presentation only and does not affect range matching.
Click the View Report link from the dashboard widget to drill into the underlying records.