Dashboard not appearing in test but appearing in dev instance

[LJ_23]

Hi everyone I am having a few issues with viewing a dashboard when impersonating a user within a group in the test instance in service now.

The dashboard is appearing for admins and users within said group in the development instance fine. 

And is showing for 1/42 of the members in test

I have checked the ACLs and user roles.

But still not having any luck

When I try load the dashboard from the filter navigator it just refreshes the page and stays on a different dashboard it does not even load for user i am impersonating.

But again works for me as an admin within test.

Its interesting to note this was in actual fact working fine in test for all users within said group a few weeks ago. And like I said I have checked the roles/permission for the group and also check the widget report to see if anything had changed. Nothing.

[DiveshTyagi]

Hi @LJ_23 ,

This behavior usually points to a difference in user preferences or dashboard record visibility between your Dev and Test instances, rather than ACLs or roles (since you’ve already validated those). A few things to check:

Common Causes

• User Preferences (sys_user_preferences)
  Each user can have a default dashboard stored in their preferences. If the impersonated user has a stale or conflicting preference record, the system may keep redirecting them to another dashboard instead of loading the one you expect.
• Portal Page / Dashboard Records (sys_portal_page)
  Compare the dashboard record in Dev vs Test. Check the Roles and Groups fields on the dashboard definition. Sometimes an update set misses a related record, so the visibility rules differ.
• Personalization / Cloning Issues
  If the dashboard was cloned or updated, some widgets may reference reports that aren’t available in Test. This can cause the dashboard to silently fail to load.
• Caching
  
  Browser or instance cache can sometimes interfere. Try impersonating the user in a fresh incognito session or clear cache.
  • Update Set Migration
    Ensure all dependent records (dashboard, widgets, reports, roles) were moved together. Missing dependencies can cause partial visibility.

  Troubleshooting Steps:

  1. Check sys_user_preferences for the impersonated user in Test. Delete any dashboard preference records and retry.
  2. Open the dashboard record in Test and confirm the Roles and Groups fields match Dev.
  3. Verify widget reports exist in Test and are accessible to the group.
  4. Run impersonation in incognito mode to rule out browser caching.
  5. Audit update sets to confirm all related records were migrated from Dev to Test.

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If this information proves useful, kindly mark it as helpful or accepted solution.