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Dashboard Guide: Alerts
Alerts are a powerful feature that can help you monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and other important metrics in real time, ensuring you stay on top of your business performance.
Imagine you are a regional sales manager for a retail company. You are responsible for monitoring the sales performance of various stores in your region. You have a dashboard that displays the daily revenue for each store, and you want to set up an alert to notify you whenever a store’s daily revenue drops below a certain threshold.
Step 1: Identify the metric and threshold
Before setting up an alert, you need to identify the specific metric you want to monitor and the threshold that will trigger the alert. In our business case, the metric is the daily revenue for each store, and the threshold could be a 20% decrease compared to the previous day’s revenue.
Step 2: Access the alert settings
In your dashboarding tool, locate the feature that allows you to create and manage alerts. This may be called “Alerts,” “Notifications,” or something similar. Once you find it, open the alert settings.
Tip: The alert settings are typically accessible through the main menu or within the settings of a specific dashboard or visualization.
Step 3: Create a new alert
You should see an option to create a new alert in the alert settings. Click on this option to start the process. You may be prompted to give your alert a name and a brief description to help you remember its purpose later on.
Step 4: Choose the metric and visualization
Next, you will need to select the metric and visualization the alert will be based on. In our example, you will choose the daily revenue metric and the visualization displaying the daily revenue for each store.
Step 5: Set the condition and threshold
Now it’s time to define the condition and threshold for your alert. Depending on your dashboarding tool, this could be done using a combination of drop-down menus, text input fields, or visual tools. For our business case, you will set the condition as “Daily revenue decreases by 20% compared to the previous day.”
Step 6: Configure the notification settings
Once you set the condition and threshold, you must configure the notification settings. This usually involves selecting the preferred notification method (e.g., email, SMS, or in-app notifications) and specifying the recipients (e.g., yourself or a group of team members). You can also customize the message content and frequency of notifications.
Tip: If your dashboarding tool allows, you can set up multiple notification channels for a single alert to ensure you don’t miss any critical updates.
Step 7: Save and test your alert
After configuring the notification settings, save your alert. Most dashboarding tools offer a way to test your alert, either by simulating a triggered event or by manually triggering the alert. This step is crucial to ensure that the alert is working as intended and that notifications are being delivered correctly.
With your alert now set up, you will be notified whenever a store’s daily revenue drops below the specified threshold, allowing you to take prompt action to address potential issues.
While the steps outlined in this tutorial can be applied to most dashboarding tools, be sure to consult your tool’s specific documentation for detailed instructions on creating and managing alerts.