The Home page is the first page you see in the Console. It helps you spot what needs your attention today by greeting you, listing your open tasks, and showing your overview dashboard when your organization has one. This article explains each section, what you can change, and how a training sandbox refresh works.
Open the Home Page
Go to Top navigation bar › [current application title] › Home. Home appears in the application list with the other applications; see Move Between Applications and Recent Records.
Prerequisites
- You are signed in and have selected your Rhythm account or sandbox. Like every Console page, the Home page opens after Rhythm checks what you can access; see How the Console Decides What You Can See.
What the Page Shows
The Greeting
At the top, Rhythm uses your computer’s clock to greet you by first name and time of day, such as Good morning, Sam! The next line names the Rhythm account or sandbox you are working in: Here's where your account or sandbox name stands today. Check this line when you work in more than one Rhythm account or sandbox.
Rhythm builds the greeting and the rest of the page when you open it, so the page does not update while it stays open. Reload the page when you want to see new tasks.
The Tasks Card
The Tasks card shows your open tasks:
- Only tasks assigned to you. Tasks in a shared queue are not listed, even if you work from that queue.
- Only open tasks. Tasks marked waiting for someone else, deferred, or completed are not included.
- The five due soonest, with the earliest due date first. The badge beside Tasks counts all your open tasks, not just the five shown, and is hidden when you have none.
Each row shows the task’s priority icon, task name, due date as Due Mmm D, YYYY, and the application it came from. Urgent tasks use a red exclamation mark, high-priority tasks use an amber up arrow, and normal or unprioritized tasks use a grey dash. Low-priority tasks use a grey down arrow.
In observed cases, an open task assigned to you did not appear on this card even though it met all these conditions. If a task you expect is missing, check the task manager before assuming the task does not exist. The Tasks card does not have a button to create a new task. When tasks are switched on for your organization, create one from the menu under your name instead.
A red due date means the task is overdue. Rhythm stores due dates at the start of that day in universal time and compares them with the current moment in universal time, so a task due today turns red during the previous evening in the Americas.
When you click a row or choose View all tasks at the bottom of the card, Rhythm opens the task manager. It opens the task manager’s default view, not the task you clicked, so find the task there to work on it.
The card shows one of these lines when it has no rows:
| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Loading tasks… | Rhythm is still gathering your tasks |
| You have no open tasks. | Nothing open is assigned to you |
| We couldn't load your tasks just now. | Rhythm could not read the tasks. Reload the page, or open View all tasks |
The Home Page or the Task Manager?
Use the Tasks card for a quick look at your own most urgent work. Use the task manager when you need to work on tasks. It has more configurable views than the card, including views for tasks assigned to you and tasks you have assigned to someone else. You can also search and filter tasks, save your own views, mark tasks complete, and take tasks from a shared queue. Open it from View all tasks, or from Task Manager in the menu under your name when tasks are switched on for your organization; see Use the User Menu: Privacy Mode, Record Filter, and Tips.
If choosing Create a Task while you are on the Home application opens a blank dialog that keeps loading, switch to another application first and create the task from there.
The Announcements Card
The Announcements card currently always reads There are no announcements at this time. Choose View all announcements to open the Portals & Microsites application in the same tab. That application checks your access as it opens.
Rhythm does not post service incidents in the Announcements card. During a Rhythm-wide outage or partial service disruption, use Rhythm's public status page for the latest updates. You can subscribe there for email notifications, including when an incident is resolved.
The Overview Dashboard
When your organization has the overview dashboard switched on, a dashboard of charts fills most of the page. On a wide screen, the Tasks and Announcements cards move into a narrow column on the right. On a smaller screen, they appear below the dashboard. When the dashboard is not switched on, the cards use the whole width.
| What you see | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Loading dashboard metadata... | Rhythm is preparing the dashboard |
| The dashboard | Your organization’s overview dashboard |
| Your overview dashboard hasn't been set up yet. | No overview dashboard is set up for the Rhythm account or sandbox you are working in, or Rhythm could not load it. The page shows the same card either way |
If this message appears even though your organization has a dashboard, reload the page. If it keeps appearing, contact Rhythm Support and name the Rhythm account or sandbox.
What You Can Change
The Home page has no personal settings. You cannot rearrange its cards, choose which tasks it lists, or pick a different dashboard. The dashboard belongs to your organization and is the same for everyone in the same Rhythm account or sandbox.
If you are allowed to build dashboards, you see a Customize button on the dashboard. It opens the dashboard product’s own editor inside the page, and the button changes to Close. Changes you save there are saved in that editor. Choose Close to return to the dashboard. If the editor cannot be opened, Customize disappears for the rest of your visit without a message. If you need the button and do not see it, ask your administrator.
Refresh a Training Sandbox
In a training sandbox created from a parent Rhythm account, the Home page shows a Refresh Sandbox button at the top right. Use it to replace the sandbox’s data with a fresh copy of the parent Rhythm account. The button does not appear in your live account or in other kinds of sandbox.
Refreshing Erases the Sandbox
The confirmation says only that the refresh takes a few minutes. It does not say that everything in the sandbox you are working in, including anything colleagues entered for training, is wiped and replaced from the parent Rhythm account. Agree on the refresh with anyone else using the sandbox first.
- Check that the greeting line names the training sandbox you mean to refresh.
- Choose Refresh Sandbox.
- The Are you sure? dialog reads This will take a few minutes; you will receive an email when complete. Choose Yes, create the sandbox to go ahead, or Cancel to stop.
Result
The button shows a spinner while Rhythm accepts the request, then the message Sandbox creation initiated. You will receive an email when the process is complete. appears. The refresh continues in the background, and Rhythm emails the outcome to your address. The page itself does not change. If the request is refused, Unable to create sandbox appears. Try again later, or contact Rhythm Support with the sandbox’s name and the time.
For what sandboxes are and how they relate to your live account, see Your Rhythm Account, Customers, and Sandboxes.
If the Page Does Not Look Right
| What you notice | Likely reason | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A task you expected is missing | It is assigned to a queue, it is not open, or it is not among the five due soonest | Open View all tasks |
| A task due today shows in red | Due dates are compared in universal time | Nothing is wrong with the task; it is due today |
| Clicking a task does not open it | Rows always open the task manager’s default view | Find the task in the task manager |
| New tasks do not appear | The page does not refresh itself | Reload the page |
| The page names the wrong organization | You are in another Rhythm account or sandbox | See Switch to Another Account or Sandbox |