The situation: You're looking at your Dashboard "Estimates" numbers for April and seeing 9 Sent and 4 Approved. You jump over to Data Center, filter for the same month and Job Type = Projects, and see 17 Sent and 9 Approved. Same data, two different numbers. Which one is right?
Both are right — they're just counting different things.
What the Dashboard counts
The Dashboard's Estimates panel shows your active pipeline. It only counts estimates that are currently sitting in the Pending/Sent status — estimates you're still chasing.
The moment you mark an estimate Sold (it became a job) or Lost (you didn't win it), it leaves the Dashboard count. That estimate isn't part of your pipeline anymore — it's resolved.
So the Dashboard tells you: "Of the work you've put out, what's still up in the air?"
What Data Center counts
Data Center counts everything that was created in the date range you picked, regardless of where it ended up. If you sent an estimate in April and later marked it Sold, Data Center still counts it under April's "Sent" total — because it was, in fact, sent in April.
So Data Center tells you: "How much activity happened in this window, period?"
Why the numbers usually differ
If your Data Center "Sent" count is higher than your Dashboard "Sent" count, the difference is the estimates that have since been marked Sold, Lost, or otherwise moved out of the pipeline. Both numbers are real; they just answer different questions.
In the April example above, Data Center showed 17 Sent / 9 Approved. The Dashboard showed 9 Sent / 4 Approved. That means 8 of April's sent estimates have since moved to a resolved status (Sold, Lost, or Canceled), and 5 of April's approved estimates have already been marked Sold.
Which one should I use?
Use the Dashboard when you want to see what you're actively working — what's still in motion right now.
Use Data Center when you want a historical record — how much you sent, how much got approved, in a given period — without that count shrinking over time as estimates resolve.
If your numbers look off even after accounting for this — for example, you can name specific estimates that aren't showing up in either view — reach out in the chat and we'll dig in.