Opening a metric displays its homepage, where you can personalize it and view it from multiple perspectives and edit the metric’s underlying data and default display properties.

The metric homepage is thoughtfully designed to present a complete picture of your data and to help you understand how your business is performing. As with all of our PowerMetrics features, the metric homepage is flexible and customizable. If our design doesn’t quite match what you’re looking for, personalize it! Made changes and want to start over? No problem. It’s fast and easy to clear your modifications and return to your original settings. Happy with your personalized views? They’ll be there for you the next time you sign into PowerMetrics.

This article describes the metric personalization and viewing experience. Go here if you want to learn how to edit your metrics.

This article includes:

• Opening a metric
• Metric homepage design
• General metric settings and actions
• Date range, filtering, and aggregation
• Metric goals and metric details
• Interacting with and personalizing your metric
• Metric views: Summary charts and textual descriptions
• Metric views: Other visualization types
• Configuring the metric homepage (video)

Opening a metric

You’ll begin by going to your list of metrics and selecting the one you want to open.

To open a metric:

1. Click Metrics in the left navigation sidebar.
2. In your list of metrics, select the one you want to open. The metric homepage opens in view mode.
   When you open a metric, it’s immediately visualized using the most appropriate aggregation type and the most effective selection of chart styles. These automatic settings are based on the metric’s data and whether the metric has segments or has metric goals applied to it.

Metric homepage design

On the metric homepage, you can view general metric settings (for example, the metric name and associated service), perform actions (for example, editing, sharing, and deleting) and view and modify the date range and filters for all of the metric views on the page. You can also see and add metric goals and access essential details about the metric. Note: Depending on the metric type and configuration, you may also be able to view and modify the aggregation settings.

In the central area of the homepage, you’ll see several representations of the metric. We call these metric views or visualizations.

General metric settings and actions

The banner that spans the top of the page includes the metric name and the service it’s connected to, for example, this metric is called “Account Impressions” and it’s connected to data from an Instagram Business account. Note: You can change the image that’s used for the service icon. Learn more here.

Beside the metric name, you’ll see the number of days of stored history in the metric and the last time your data was refreshed. (See below.) Note: Refresh information doesn’t display for direct to warehouse, semantic layer, or dbt Semantic Layer metrics. For those metric types, data is updated in PowerMetrics to align with the source data automatically via a webhook, or by using a cache expiry strategy, or manually on an as-needed basis.

Note: The amount of data history you can see at one time depends on the date range window that’s included in your pricing plan. Note: Pricing plan date range restrictions don’t apply to direct to warehouse, semantic layer, or dbt Semantic Layer metrics.

If the metric has been certified, a blue check mark will display beside its name. If there are issues with the metric, you’ll see an error overlay on top of the service icon.

Clicking the 3-dot menu in the top-right corner gives you access to these actions: Edit, Share, Open in Explorer, Add to Starred, Add to dashboard, Goals, About, Reset all views, and Delete (as described below). Note: Many of these options are also available as quick-access buttons beside the 3-dot menu.

Editing the metric: Click "Edit" to make integral changes to a metric. Learn more about editing metrics.

Sharing the metric: You can share metrics with users or groups, granting view or edit access. Recipients will see the original, default version of the metric homepage. Your personalized changes will not be visible to them. Learn more about sharing metrics.

Open in Explorer: If you notice something interesting and want to dig a bit deeper, click here to open the main metric view (the one that displays on the homepage under the micro-views) in Explorer. If you've personalized the view, the version in Explorer will include those settings. Otherwise, the default version of the view will display. Learn more about exploring.

Adding the metric to your starred list: To get quick access to the metrics you refer to most often, you can add them to your "Starred" list. Learn more about creating a list of favourite metrics.

Adding the metric to a dashboard: Either add the metric to a new or an existing dashboard. The metric will display on the dashboard using the most suitable chart type based on its data and available segmentation and will retain all personalized customizations you made to it. Learn more about displaying metrics on a dashboard.

Goals: This button hides and displays the "Goals" tab, where you view, edit, or delete existing goals and add new goals.

About: This button hides and displays the "About" tab, where you can access lots of useful information about the metric.

Resetting the metric view: Click Reset all views if you’ve made changes to the metric views but want to return to the original, default version you started with. Resetting is a quick, risk-free way to start over - your metric’s underlying data will not be affected. Note: This action resets all of the views on the homepage. You can also reset individual views.

Deleting the metric: Deleting a metric removes it (and its goals, if applicable) from the account.

Date range, filtering, and aggregation

Below the top banner is the area where you view, and optionally change, the date range, filtering, and aggregation type that’s being applied to all of the metric views on the page.

Note: The ability to view and modify aggregation depends on the metric type and configuration settings. See the "Aggregation" section below for more information.

Date range

Choose the date range you want to display for all of the metric views on the page. Select from our pre-set options, for example, "Auto", "Maximum date range", "Today", and "Last 7 days", or click Custom to apply a unique date range. You may notice some date ranges are not available. That's because the range of historical data you can access is based on the metric type and on your pricing plan.

When using the "Auto" setting (default), PowerMetrics will use the date range that it considers the most appropriate based on the time ranges available in the source data.

The default first day of the week is Monday, however, this setting can be modified by your Account Administrator if needed.

Filtering

You can filter your data by selecting the members to include or exclude for each dimension. For example, if the dimension is "Channel", you might choose to filter on "Direct", "Email", and "Organic Search" to see data for those specific channels.

You can apply filters by member or by condition. By default, the first time you apply filters to a metric, you’ll see the UI for member filtering. To filter by condition, click the “Condition filters” link, as shown below. Note: You can apply up to 10 filter conditions/dimension. Tip: If your metric includes a lot of members, use the Search feature to quickly find them.

Note: To optimize clarity in your visualization, we recommend visualizing your metric using fewer than 20 members. If your metric includes 20 members, all members above the first 20 will be grouped together under “Other” in your visualization.

After applying filters:

• To see a tooltip that lists the applied filters, hover over each filter.
• To view and modify filters, click the filter tile.
• If your browser window is too narrow to display all of the filters, click the Filters applied button (as shown below) to open the “Applied filters” dialog.
  
  In the Applied filters dialog, click the drop-down to display all filters or only the ones that are active. You can also clear all filters. (See below.)
  
• To see all of the applied filters, and, optionally, remove them, click the “Includes: x filters” link, as shown below.
  

Aggregation

Choose how you want the metric's value to be aggregated. Aggregating data is a process wherein many values are returned as a single value, for example, as a sum, an average, a count of rows, a max, and a min. Available aggregation methods depend on the type of data in your metric.

Note: The ability to modify aggregation depends on the metric type and configuration settings. You can allow the default aggregation to be overridden when creating or editing custom metrics. For calculated metrics, the aggregation type and modification option doesn’t display at all. This is because the values shown for calculated metrics are the result of a formula, and not the result of an aggregated set of values. We don’t recommend modifying the default aggregation for instant metrics, as they’re created for you using the most appropriate settings.

Metric goals and metric details

The Goals and About panels display on the right side of the homepage. You can choose to hide or display these panels, by clicking the Goals and About quick access buttons on the top right of the page. When displayed, you can also use the quick access buttons to switch between the open panels.

Metric goals

Select the Goals tab to view, edit, or delete existing goals and to add new goals.

• To view a goal in Explorer, click View goal in Explorer. This opens the metric with the goal visualized in Explorer. (See below.) Learn more about exploring metrics.
  

Note: You can also view goals in metric views on the homepage (depending on their chart type and style). See ”Other interactive options”.

• To edit or delete an existing goal, select the goal’s 3-dot menu, and click either Edit or Delete. (See below.)
  

• To add new goal(s), if you haven’t added any goals yet for the metric, click . If you’ve already added at least one goal for the metric, beside Goals & Notifications, click the button. Learn more about adding metric goals.

Metric details

To access metric details, click the About tab. Following is a list of all the information you may find, however, what you see varies based on the metric type:

• A description for the metric (if you entered one when you created or edited it).
• The type of metric (instant, instant (calculated), custom, direct to warehouse, semantic layer, dbt™ Semantic Layer, or calculated).
• For instant metrics, you can see a definition and access a link to MetricHQ (if applicable). You can also see the service the metric’s connected to, for example, Google Analytics. For instant (calculated) metrics, you see similar options, including a link to view the calculation, where you can click a metric in the calculation to open its homepage.
• For calculated metrics, you can click View calculation and select each metric to go to its homepage.
• For dbt Semantic Layer metrics, the aggregation method displays (simple, ratio, cumulative, or derived).
• The metric owner and when it was last edited.
• The amount of data history that’s being stored.
• The default value (aggregation type) that was selected when creating the metric.
• The date or time dimension (name of the date or time column in the associated data source or data feed) and available segments. These items display as pink text, indicating they are settings that were selected when the metric was created.
• The semantic layer metric name. The name of the metric in the dbt Semantic Layer project.
• The name of the service the metrics were imported from (dbt Semantic Layer metrics) or the warehouse service (direct to warehouse) or semantic layer service (semantic layer metrics).
• The metric's certification status. If a metric is certified the name of the person who certified it and the date and time of certification displays. If a metric has had its certification removed, the name of the person who removed the certification and the date and time it was removed displays. If a metric is not, and has never been, certified, “None” displays. Learn more about certifying metrics.
• A link to the associated data feed (for metrics based on data feeds). Note that data feeds for instant metrics are created and managed by Klipfolio. For custom metrics, you can see (and open) the data source or data feed the metric’s connected to. (If you see a "No access" message, either your role doesn't allow access or the data source or data feed hasn't been shared with you.)

Interacting with and personalizing your metric

A variety of metric views display on the homepage, helping you visualize your data effectively from multiple perspectives.

Each view is customizable. Your personalizations are retained so you’ll see them the next time you sign in to PowerMetrics. You can also quickly reset all or individual metric views to their original settings as many times as you like, an essential requirement when investigating and learning from your data.

Tip: If you see the No data for the selected date range message when you open a metric, it may be because the default date range of Last 30 days is not applicable to your data. Try changing the date range, for example, to Auto or Maximum date range instead.

Metric views: Summary charts and textual descriptions 

Across the top of the metric view area, you’ll see four “micro” metric views. (See below.) These can be used to display the metric’s current data and compare it to data from other periods and to display textual information about the metric.

Clicking the 3-dot menu for these metric views gives you access to the following options:

• Expand (and collapse) the metric view, by clicking the 3-dot menu on the view and selecting the appropriate choice. When a metric view is in expand mode, you can cycle through all of the views on the homepage.
• View queries: View dbt and SQL queries for dbt Semantic Layer metric visualizations and SQL queries for direct to warehouse and semantic layer metric visualizations. Learn more. Note: This option is not applicable to the textual micro view.
• Personalize view: You can display your metric information as a Summary chart or as text that tells you about the metric.
• If you choose Summary the metric view will display data as a single aggregated value for a specific time period, as selected by you from the drop-down list. (See below.) This is a handy way to see your current data at a glance and compare it to data from other periods. Note: For more information, hover over the value to see a detailed tool tip. If an asterisk (*) displays after the value, this indicates the comparison period is incomplete.

When you select Current period, the aggregated value of all the metric data in the current time range (based on when it was last refreshed) will display. When you select Previous period or Same period (last year), you can choose whether to see the comparison as a percentage change or as a value change, or to show both values for a more informative comparison. When you select Custom period (offset), you can choose either Ahead or Back and then enter the number of days, weeks, months, or years for the comparison. 

Under Display, optionally, turn off the Abbreviate long values setting. (It’s turned on by default.) When activated, this setting shortens the display for long values in the visualization.

• If you choose  Details the metric view will display textual information about the metric.

Under Type, for instant metrics, if you choose MetricHQ definition, and there’s an applicable definition in MetricHQ for the metric, it will display along with a link you can click to go to its page in MetricHQ.

Under Type, if you choose About, the view will display useful information for the metric, including, its owner, when it was last edited, the type (instant, instant (calculated), custom, direct to warehouse, semantic layer, dbt Semantic Layer, or calculated), and the associated service (for instant metrics only). 

Under Type, if you choose Description, you'll see a description (if you entered one when creating or editing the metric). For dbt Semantic Layer metrics, you'll see the definition from the dbt Semantic Layer project (or a customized description if you chose to override the default one when configuring the metric).

• Reset view: This option removes your personalizations and returns an individual metric view to its original default settings.

Metric views: Other visualization types

Under the micro metric views, you’ll see a single, full-window size metric view followed by two half-window size metric views. These views provide a larger set of visualization options than the micro views (in fact, you can personalize them to use any chart and style that’s applicable to your data). Typically, the default visualizations in this section include a line/area chart, a table, and a bar/column chart, however, the default chart types may vary depending on the metric’s data.

Changing segment by and over properties using dynamic metric view titles

For these three metric views (if the visualization includes segments), we apply a dynamic title that refers to the metric visualization’s segmentation and over properties. For example, a metric named “New Users” that includes the segments “Channel” and “Medium” and a date column, will display as “New Users by Channel over Time (selected time period)”. Clicking on an underlined title component (for example, “Channel” or “Time”, as shown below) enables you to change the segmentation and the time periodicity in the title and the visualization.

By default, the X-Axis displays time but bar charts enable you to select either a time dimension to group by or a non-time-related dimension. (See below.)

Note: You can also change the "segment by" and "over" properties when personalizing a metric view, as described in the next section "Other interactive options".

Other interactive options

Click the 3-dot menu in the upper-right corner of the metric view to access the following actions: Expand, Open in Explorer, Download as CSV, Add to dashboard, Sort, Personalize view, and Reset view. Note: You can also get quick access to several of these options by hovering near the 3-dot menu. (See below.)

• Expand (and collapse): Expand and collapse the metric view. When a metric view is in Expand mode, you can cycle through all of the views on the homepage.
• Open in Explorer: If you notice something interesting and want to dig a bit deeper, open the metric view in Explorer. You’ll be free to experiment with your data, trying out different scenarios, including adding multiple metrics into one visualization. Exploring your metrics is a free-form way to analyze your data and get answers to your questions. Learn more about exploring.
• Add to dashboard: Add the metric to a new or an existing dashboard. Learn more about displaying metrics on a dashboard.
• Sort: Sorting options depend on the selected chart type and style. For example, with stacked area charts, you can sort the x-axis and legend items, with pie charts, you can sort the order of slices in the pie, and with pivot tables, you can sort the order of rows and columns. For list and pivot tables, you can also apply sorting dynamically by clicking on the visualization’s column headers (without the need to access the 3-dot menu).

If you apply sorting and want to return to the original data order, click the Reset view button (accessed by clicking the 3-dot menu for a metric view).

Note: The sorting feature is not applicable to summary, scatter, and bubble charts, or tree maps. Ranked tables have their own built-in sorting.

• Download as CSV: Download the computed data that’s shown in the metric visualization. Learn more about downloading metric visualizations as CSV files.
• View queries: View dbt and SQL queries for dbt Semantic Layer metric visualizations and SQL queries for direct to warehouse and semantic layer metric visualizations.
• Personalize view: As you make personalized changes, the metric view dynamically updates with each choice you make. This section describes all available options. Note, however, that availability depends on the metric data and chart type/style. If, after applying personalized settings, you want to return to the visualization's original, default settings, click Reset view.
• Chart Type and Style - Choose a combination of chart type and style to display your data meaningfully. For example, if you want to display data in a chart with stacked columns, select Bar / Column as the Chart Type and Stacked Column as the Style.

Available chart types are: bar and column charts, line and area charts, pie and donut charts, tree maps, radar plot charts, waterfall charts, heat maps, summary charts, and tables. Available styles depend on the chart type chosen. Learn more about our chart types and styles.

• Wrap text - For all table styles, choose to wrap the text in columns. For pivot tables, you can define the number of wrapped rows (2 to 5) to maintain a consistent row height across the table.

• Display Top or Bottom - For ranked tables, choose whether to display the Top or the Bottom rows from your data and the Number of rows to display.

• Columns - For list and pivot tables, use the drop-down to select the columns to display.
  If the metric view is segmented by date/time, select a time periodicity, for example, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
  Display summary values by enabling the Show total(s) toggle.
  For list tables, the Total row always displays as the last row, with a value for each metric in the list. Pivot tables will also show sub-totals if multiple dimensions (columns) are selected. The option to “show total(s)” is disabled if there are no dimensions (columns) selected.
  Note: The total always reflects the values for the metric without segmentation. Depending on the aggregation and metric type, it may not be the sum of all the values you see in the chart. For example, for a calculated metric, the total will be the formula applied to the operands when they are not segmented. Total values display as orange in charts.
  If the metric view is segmented by date/time, you can choose to Hide blank periods.

• Rows - For pivot tables, use the drop-down to select the row(s) to display.
  If the metric view is segmented by date/time, select a time periodicity, for example, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
  Display summary values by enabling the Show total(s) toggle. Sub-totals will also be shown if multiple dimensions (rows) are selected.
  Note: The total always reflects the values for the metric without segmentation. Depending on the aggregation and metric type, it may not be the sum of all the values you see in the chart. For example, for a calculated metric, the total will be the formula applied to the operands when they are not segmented. Total values display as orange in charts.
  If the metric view is segmented by date/time, you can choose to Hide blank periods.

• Break lines for blank values - When there are gaps in data, for example, if data is not refreshed during a time period, you can choose to break the chart lines to show the gaps in data. Alternatively, you can display a continuous line, where a line is drawn between known data points to fill in the gaps. By default, we break lines for blank values but you can deselect this option if you'd rather see a continuous line. This option is available for line charts and radar plots.

• Show values as labels - Display values as labels in your chart. This option is not available for tables or summary charts.

• Abbreviate long values - When turned on, this setting abbreviates the format for long values in the visualization. For example, “43,213” will display as “43.2K”.

• Show points - Choose to display points in the visualization. This option is available for the following chart types: Line and combination charts.

• Line thickness - Choose line thickness for line and area charts. For area charts, you can also choose “none” to remove lines from the chart.

• Fill area - Choose from a gradient (the default choice) or solid fill area. Applicable to area charts only.

• Legend position - If your visualization includes a legend, choose to display it at the bottom, right, left, or top of your chart. You can also remove the legend by selecting None.

• Colour and Bubbles - For tree maps with a packed bubble style, under Colours, choose the dimensions by which you want to segment your data. Under Bubbles, choose how you want your data to be grouped.

• Goal - If a goal has been added to the metric, you can display it in the metric view by clicking the drop-down arrow under Goal and selecting the goal to display. If you don’t want to display a goal, select None.

Note: If the goal doesn’t display, and you see the message “Goal does not align with visualization settings”, click Match settings. If you want to return to the previous visualization settings, you’ll need to do so manually. The settings won’t auto-revert if you stop displaying the goal.

• Breakdown by - For tree maps, choose the dimension(s) by which to break down your data.

• Segment by - Choose the dimension(s) by which you want to segment your data. Breaking down your data enables you to see your business performance from different perspectives. For example, you might choose to segment your sales data based on region, sales rep, or product type.
  For donut charts, line and smooth line charts, and bar and column charts (excluding “stacked” and “colour by category” styles), you can also display total values by enabling the Show total(s) toggle.
  Note: The total always reflects the values for the metric without segmentation. Depending on the aggregation and metric type, it may not be the sum of all the values you see in the chart. For example, for a calculated metric, the total will be the formula applied to the operands when they are not segmented. Total values display as orange in charts.

• Over - Choose how you want your data to be grouped. PowerMetrics automatically sets the time periodicity to use for your metric based on the date range you select. For example, if you're viewing a metric with a date range of "Last 7 days", the auto-periodicity will be set to "Auto (Daily)". If the date range is "Last 8 weeks", the auto-periodicity will be set to "Auto (Weekly)". You can override the auto-selected time periodicity by choosing an alternate option from the drop-down list. By default, the x axis displays time but bar charts enable you to select either a time dimension to group by or a non-time-related dimension.
  Note: Quarterly time periods are designated as follows: Q1 starts Jan 1st, Q2 starts Apr 1st, Q2 starts Jul 1st, and Q4 starts Oct 1st.
  For bar and column charts, you can also display total values by enabling the Show total(s) toggle.
  Note: The total always reflects the values for the metric without segmentation. Depending on the aggregation and metric type, it may not be the sum of all the values you see in the chart. For example, for a calculated metric, the total will be the formula applied to the operands when they are not segmented. Total values display as orange in charts.

• Show as cumulative - Select this option to view data in line charts as a cumulative sequence (visualized data is based on the currently selected date range). Viewing your data from this perspective illustrates growth over a time period.
  Note: This choice is available for custom metrics when the option to “override default aggregation” is enabled. Showing data as a cumulative sequence is not applicable to instant metrics or dbt™ Semantic Layer metrics or for any metric with the aggregation set to average, count rows, max, or min.

• Comparison - Choose to either apply no comparison or to compare your data to other time periods (vs a previous period, vs the same period (last year), or vs a custom period). Comparisons are made between equivalent time period types. For example, if the date range selected is "today", then the previous period will be "yesterday". Note that the date range for the metric must be set to a time period that enables a comparison. For example, if you set the date range to Auto or Maximum date range, it will not be possible to compare to a different time period. If you choose to display a legend for the chart, the comparative period will display as the last item (when reading from left to right). You can click its name in the legend to show and hide it in the chart.

For line and area charts, the comparative period's data displays as a grey dashed line. For bar and column charts, the comparative period's data displays as lighter-coloured bars and columns.

Note: The comparison setting is only applicable to bar, column, and line / area chart types. However, this setting does not apply to line charts or stacked bar or column charts when the chart is segmented. For the comparison option to be available, you must set your segmentation to “None” and dates must display on the X-Axis (unless it's a bar chart, in which case, dates must display on the Y-Axis).

For summary charts and ranked tables:

There are a few options to choose from. You can display the percentage change or value change between the current value and the previous value (the delta), or you can show a comparison value (both values display together). Green is used to show a positive trend and red is used to show a negative trend.

When comparing data from a partial period, we compare it to a previous partial period. For example, if you’re halfway through a month and want to compare to the previous month, your metric will be compared to the same period of the previous month.

When comparing, if there is no difference in values, no data available to compare to, or the time period set for the exploration is not suitable for a comparison (for example, the date range is set to “Auto” or "Maximum date range") then the chart displays “--”.

• Analyses - Here you’ll find several options for analyzing data trends. To see the current data without any analytic overlay, select No analysis. To see a straight line, indicating the general direction of your data, select Linear trend. To smooth over fluctuating data select Moving average. To look at past behaviour and identify outliers (values outside the normal range), select Normal range (paid plans only). Learn more about normal range analysis. To see a prediction of future metric performance, select Forecast (paid plans only). Learn more about forecast analysis.

For Moving average and Linear analysis: The trend line is added to the horizontal axis title and a dashed line is added to the chart. If you also select “Show as cumulative” the trend line is drawn using cumulative data. Trend lines are applicable to bar, column, and line / area chart types (but not their stacked variations). A metric that doesn’t have multiple time values will default to a bar chart instead of a line chart. For these options to be available, dates must display on the x-axis (unless it's a horizontal bar chart, in which case, dates must display on the y-axis).

For Normal range analysis: The range is added to the horizontal axis title and a shaded area indicating the range of expected (normal) data is added to the chart. Outliers (values that are outside the normal range) display as red (below normal) and green (above normal). The colours associated with above and below normal depend on whether you selected to show ascending or descending values as positive when creating or editing the metric and configuring its favourable trend settings. This option is applicable to unsegmented, non-cumulative bar and line charts that have time on the x-axis (or on the y-axis for horizontal bar charts). Note: The Normal range option is not available if you also select “Show as cumulative”.

For Forecast analysis: The forecast data is added to the horizontal axis title and a shaded cone-shaped area and dotted line are added to the chart. This option is applicable to unsegmented, non-cumulative line charts that have time on the x-axis. Note: The Forecast option is not available if you also select “Show as cumulative”.

Configuring the metric homepage (video)

Watch this video to learn how you can quickly and easily configure and personalize visualizations on the metric homepage: