Hi Ryan, allow me to answer your questions.
1. If the end users are added to the child workspaces only (via user groups), they will not see the complete hierarchy as shown in the screenshot, but only a list of the child workspaces they have access to, however, if the previous UI suited your needs better, I can check internally if we can re-enable this for your organization.
2. This is currently not possible from the platform, but if you are embedding GoodData into your own app, you may define the dashboard in the URL, as shown in this
documentation. May we know your use case and how critical this is for you?