Sections in this Article:
Getting & Transforming your Data
Step 1: Get Your Data
When you click "Add New" from your dashboard screen and select "Metric" you will be taken straight to the Add Data page. Here you can see all the data sources you have already connected to Grow, and connect new ones.
If you haven’t connected your data to Grow yet, select the blue "Connect" button and follow the prompts to allow Grow to pull in the data. If you have already connected your data source you can start getting your data right away.
Note: To see the specific information required to connect your data source, search the Help Center for that data source and look for the section titled “How to Connect”.
Every data source is unique in how it allows Grow to get your data. It may ask for a saved report name or number, pull in a predefined report (often termed as an endpoint), select from a dropdown check list, or use the Grow Data Warehouse. Once the selections have been made, simply select "Get Data" and the data will load.
Step 2: Transform Your Data
Once you have the data loaded into the Metric Builder you may need to clean it up, or transform it, before it is ready for charting. This will be done in the Data tab, so if you are not already there, navigate to the Data tab of the Builder by clicking the "Data" button at the top middle of your screen.
On the left-hand side of the Data tab is the Transform Pipeline. In this area you can filter, group, pivot, perform calculations, remove columns, rename columns, compare time periods, use SQL, and more to prep your data. Whether you will be using Data Explorer or Basic Builder, you will want to do all your Definition Transforms on the Data tab.
“Definition” transforms are used to define what your data actually is. They often reduce the amount of data your metric works with, making it more specific to the metric you are building. For example, if your metric is looking at new sales, but your data is a list of transactions that include sales, refunds, and upgrades, a Filter transform to remove the refunds and upgrades is a definition transform. You don’t want your metric to include refunds or upgrades, so using the Filter transform defines what a sale is. Other definition transforms could be adding a Tag Transform to label sales teams or Formatting a Date.
If you will be using Basic Builder, you will also want to do your Presentation Transforms on the Data tab. If you are using Data Explorer, these transforms should be done on the Chart tab which will allow you further flexibility when using dashboard filtering and dynamic date ranges.
“Presentation” transforms are used to specify the data you want to view and how you want it displayed in your chart. These transforms usually limit, group, and slice data. For example, using a Group Data transform to group your data by week and aggregating the Sum of the Total Sales could be a presentation transform. Other presentation transforms could be Filtering to the Last 30 days, Sorting Desc, and Pivoting your data to slice it by a specific column.
Once you have selected your desired transform, in the middle top area of the screen you will see the transformation tool details. This is called the Working Area. In this area fill out the required selections and click "Run". This will process your data with the applied transform.
If you have more than one transform applied, it will run them in order, top to bottom. You can rearrange the order of your transforms by selecting the dotted portion of the transform, which is on the far left, and dragging it into a new position.
If this data is something you would like to use for multiple metrics, you can save it as a dataset. When you are done transforming your data, Click on "Create Dataset" at the far right. For more on Datasets, read here.
Now you are ready to move onto the next step of Charting.
Charting Using Data Explorer
NOTE: Dashboard-level filtering is only compatible with Metrics built using the Data Explorer Metric Builder. Here is a list of Supported Chart Types.
Here is a short demonstration of the process of building a new metric using Data Explorer:
Step 1: Chart your data
From the Data tab switch over to the Chart tab of the Builder by clicking on the "Chart" button at the top of the page. You can also click "Build Chart" or "Create your Chart" in the Chart Mini Preview at the bottom left to navigate to the Chart tab.
When you use Data Explorer you need to tell Grow what date column to work off, and how to group and calculate (aka Count, Sum, Average) for each column you want to display.
Here is how to set those two things in the Chart tab of the metric builder.
- For each of your Data Series, select how you want it to calculate when it groups. You can pick from Sum, Count, Average, Min, Max, Median, and more.
- Select the column you want to use for the grouping (x-axis). The Metric Builder will automatically select the first date column in your data, but you can change that to any column.
- Go to "Date Range" and select the date column you want to use as your date range filter. This can be any date column, even if it is not charted.
Step 2: Add any other customizations to your Metric
You can change the Data Series title, number formatting, color, and much more. Just click on the three-dot menu on the right side of the Data Series or Grouping selection to see all the different customization options.
Now is when you add your “Presentational” Transforms. To do this you can:
- Add any dynamic key values. These are also affected when filters are applied.
- Select what default date range is displayed. Each chart on the dashboard can show a different date range, and when a date filter is applied, they all update to show that filtered range.
- Slice the data by the values in another column.
- Compare two date ranges in the chart.
- Sort the data in ascending or descending order, and limit how many rows display. For example, you could display your top ten lead sources, or your bottom five sales reps.
As you add the values and customization to the chart, you might notice that the data in the table doesn't change. If you want to see how the data is arrange to create the chart, you can toggle between the chart and table views at the top right of the chart preview area:
Step 3: Save the Chart to the Dashboard
Give the metric a title, a description (optional), and click "Save" in the top right corner of the Builder. A window will pop up so you can pick which dashboard it should appear on.
Once saved, the metric will show up in the upper left-hand corner of the dashboard you selected. You can move it around by selecting it with your mouse and dragging it. And you can also make it smaller or larger to fit the space. If you have an intricate chart, with many labels you may want it bigger for easier viewing.
Charting Using Basic Builder
To switch to the basic builder, go to the Data tab of the Metric Builder and uncheck the box labeled "Use Data Explorer." You will see a message about how dashboard filtering and other features won't work with the metric if it's using the basic builder. Click "Continue" to confirm the change.
Step 1: Chart Your Data
Switch over to the Chart tab of the Builder by clicking on the "Chart" button at the top of the page. You can also click "Build Chart" or "Create your Chart" in the Chart Mini Preview at the bottom left to navigate to the Chart section.
Now you just need to select data. You can use the "Add value" button on the left hand side, or click the floating button on the chart.
Once you click on a column of data as a data series, Grow will automatically select the first date column in your report (if one exists), but you can change this if you desire. You may need to manually select your x-axis by selecting the "Add New" button under the Grouping section and selecting it from the chart. To select the entire column, click on the top gray row with the column letter.
Step 2: Add any other customizations to your Metric
You can change the Data Series title, number formatting, color, and much more. Just click on the three-dot menu on the right side of the Data Series or Grouping selection to see all the different customization options. You can also add in Key Values and make additional changes depending on the chart type.
Once the metric is formatted how you'd like, you are ready to save it to the dashboard.
Step 3: Save the Metric to the Dashboard
Give the metric a title, a description (optional), and click "Save" in the top right corner of the Builder. A window will pop up so you can pick which dashboard it should appear on.
Once saved, the metric will show up in the upper left hand portion of the dashboard. You can move it around by selecting it with your mouse, and dragging it.
Using the edges of the metric you can make it smaller or larger to fit the space. If you have an intricate chart, with many labels you may want it bigger for easier viewing.
And that’s it! Rinse, repeat, and in no time you will have a full dashboard! You can learn more about the options and menus in the dashboard and each metric in our dashboard overview.