executive-presentations
sidebar_position: 40 title: "Executive Presentations" description: "Build slide-based executive presentations directly from ProBeya data using a drag-and-drop canvas editor with 25 widget types, theme customization, PPTX/PDF export, and scheduled report generation."
Executive Presentations
The Executive Presentation Engine lets you build, deliver, and schedule slide-based reports from within ProBeya — no PowerPoint required. Slides are composed on a 16:9 grid canvas by placing widgets that pull live data from KPI boards, action logs, project portfolios, and other ProBeya modules. Finished reports can be exported as PPTX or PDF files, shared via secure embed links, or scheduled for automated delivery on a recurring basis.
The engine is designed for OpEx coordinators, PMO teams, and business leaders who need to communicate operational performance and strategic progress without manually assembling data from multiple sources each time.
Overview
Preparing executive reporting is one of the highest-overhead activities in a transformation program. Data is extracted from operational systems, pasted into slides, formatted, and reviewed — a process that takes hours and produces a report that is out of date the moment it leaves the author's hands.
The Executive Presentation Engine eliminates the assembly step. Widgets are bound to live ProBeya data, so a report built once stays current. Template galleries and reusable themes reduce design time to minutes. Scheduling means the report arrives in inboxes without any manual action.
Getting Started
- Navigate to Presentations in the workspace menu.
- Click New Presentation.
- Enter a title and select a type (
presentationfor slide decks, other types for specialized report formats). - Add slides using + Add Slide. Each slide has a title and optional subtitle.
- On each slide, use the + Add Widget button to place content on the canvas.
- Select a widget and use the property panel on the right to configure its content, data source, and style.
- Apply a theme from Themes to set consistent colors, fonts, and backgrounds across all slides.
- Preview the presentation using the slide panel on the left.
- Export as PPTX or PDF, create a share link, or set up a schedule for automated delivery.
The Template Gallery contains pre-built report structures for common use cases (weekly operational review, portfolio status, safety performance). Import a template and replace placeholder widgets with your live data connections — this is faster than building from scratch.
Key Concepts
Report — The top-level container for a presentation. A report has a title, type, status (draft or published), optional theme, and a collection of slides.
Slide — A single page within the report. Slides have a title, optional subtitle, layout metadata, and an ordered collection of widgets. Slides can be reordered by dragging in the slide panel.
Widget — A content element placed on a slide canvas. Each widget occupies a position on the 12-column by 8-row grid and can display text, charts, KPI cards, images, diagrams, timelines, and more.
Grid — The 12×8 grid canvas underlying each slide. All widget positions are expressed in grid units (not pixels), making the layout scale responsively across screen sizes and export formats. 12 columns were chosen for their divisibility by 2, 3, 4, and 6 — the standard column divisions in executive decks.
Theme — A reusable set of color, typography, and background settings applied across all slides in a report. Themes ensure visual consistency and allow the design to be updated in one place.
Template — A pre-built slide structure that can be instantiated into a new report. Templates define the slide count, widget layout, and placeholder data bindings.
Share link — A secure embed token that provides access to a published report without requiring a ProBeya login. Used for embedding in portals, sharing with board members, or displaying on dashboards.
Schedule — An automated delivery configuration that generates and distributes the report at a defined cadence (daily, weekly, monthly, or custom cron).
How It Works
Canvas Editor
The slide canvas is a 16:9 editing surface rendered as a responsive grid. Widgets are placed, moved, and resized on this grid:
- Adding a widget — Click + Add Widget in the canvas toolbar, select a type from the categorized dropdown, and the widget is placed at the first available grid slot with a default size of 4×3 grid units.
- Selecting a widget — Click any widget to select it. A selection ring appears around it along with corner resize handles and a floating action bar.
- Moving a widget — Use the move control in the action bar to shift the widget by one grid unit in any direction.
- Resizing a widget — Click a corner handle to adjust the widget's width and height by one grid unit per click. Size is clamped to the grid boundaries.
- Deleting a widget — Click the trash icon in the widget action bar. The deletion takes effect immediately.
- Grid toggle — The grid lines can be hidden for a cleaner view once widgets are positioned.
Widget Types
25 widget types are available, organized into seven categories:
| Category | Widget Types |
|---|---|
| Basic | Text, Image, Shape, Icon |
| Data | Chart, Table, KPI Card, Data Source, Gauge, Progress Bar |
| Frameworks | 2×2 Matrix, Pyramid, Funnel, Waterfall |
| Process & Timeline | Diagram, Timeline, Process Arrow, Roadmap |
| Organization | Org Chart, Decision Tree |
| Content | Quote, Checklist, Comparison Table |
| Other | Map, Custom |
Each widget type has a corresponding property editor in the right panel for configuring content, data bindings, and visual style.
Data Binding
Data widgets (Chart, KPI Card, Table, Gauge, Progress Bar, Data Source) can be bound to live ProBeya data through the Data Source Browser. This allows a KPI value, action count, or project status to update automatically each time the report is opened or regenerated on a schedule, without any manual refresh.
Themes
Themes define the visual identity of a report. An organization can maintain multiple themes — one for internal reviews, one for board-level presentations, one for customer-facing reports. Themes are created and edited in the theme editor and applied to reports individually.
The theme editor exposes color palette, font selections, background styles, and accent colors. Changes to a theme propagate to all reports using that theme automatically.
Slide Management
Slides are listed in the left panel in their display order. The panel supports:
- Adding slides with + Slide
- Editing a slide's title and subtitle inline
- Removing slides (with confirmation)
- Reordering slides by changing their sort order
Export
| Format | Description |
|---|---|
| PPTX | Microsoft PowerPoint file generated server-side and stored in S3. A presigned download URL is returned for immediate retrieval. |
| PDF version of the presentation, similarly stored and returned via presigned URL. |
Exported files are generated from the current saved state of the report. Widget data bindings are resolved at export time.
Share Links
A share link uses the embed-token mechanism to provide public access to a published report without a ProBeya login. Share links are scoped to the report and can be revoked by deleting the embed token.
Scheduling
Reports can be configured to generate automatically on a schedule:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Frequency | daily, weekly, monthly, or a custom cron expression |
| Recipients | Email addresses or ProBeya user IDs to deliver the report to |
| Format | PPTX or PDF |
| Active | Whether the schedule is currently enabled |
The computeNextRunAt function calculates the next execution timestamp from the frequency and the last run time, ensuring that scheduled reports are delivered on time even if a delivery cycle is skipped.
Configuration
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Type | presentation (default), or specialized report types |
| Status | draft — editable but not shareable; published — available for share links and scheduling |
| Theme | Any theme created in the organization |
| Tags | Free-form labels for organizing reports in the list view |
Permissions
| Action | Required Role |
|---|---|
| View report list | Workspace member |
| Create and edit reports | Workspace member |
| Delete reports | Report creator or admin |
| Export (PPTX / PDF) | Workspace member |
| Create share links | Workspace admin |
| Create and manage themes | Workspace admin |
| Schedule report delivery | Workspace admin |
| Access via share link | No ProBeya account required (if published) |
All report operations are scoped to the organization — reports from one tenant are never accessible to another.
Tips & Best Practices
Executive audiences absorb one key message per slide. Resist the temptation to consolidate multiple KPIs onto a single slide for brevity — a dense slide that requires explanation defeats the purpose. Use the KPI Card and Chart widgets generously; one strong number with context is more persuasive than a table of many.
If a management review or steering committee meets monthly, configure a scheduled report to generate two days before the meeting. Reviewers receive the report before they arrive, the meeting focuses on discussion rather than data review, and the distributed report becomes the formal record of the briefing.
Share links only work for reports with published status. A report in draft status cannot be accessed via a share link even if the URL is distributed. Publish the report when it is ready for distribution, and revert to draft if significant revisions are needed.
Editing a theme updates every report assigned to it. If you want to experiment with a different visual direction for one report, create a new theme rather than editing the shared one.
Related Features
- KPI Boards — the primary data source for chart and KPI card widgets
- Analytics — deeper analytical views complementary to executive summary slides
- Action Log — action counts and status data available for widget binding
- Embeddable Widgets — an alternative to share links for embedding individual KPI views in external portals
- Reports & Export — tabular report export for raw data distribution alongside slide presentations