Creating custom reports and dashboards

Overview

Beyond the pre-built dashboards and reports, the new Analytics experience lets you build your own. You can create custom reports and dashboards, explore data with the Workbook Agent, and share or schedule what you build. This article is part of the new Analytics experience, currently in Research Preview.

In this article, we'll be covering how to create a custom report, build with the Workbook Agent, and export, schedule, and share your work.

The tools described here are part of the embedded analytics experience. Exact labels and steps may change during the Research Preview.

Create a custom report

Custom reports are built in the workbook builder, where you choose a starting point, add the data you want, and save your report.

1. Go to the Reports page and open the Custom reports category.
2. Select New report to open the workbook builder.
3. Under How would you like to start?, choose a starting point:
   • Select a Topic — a ready-made dataset such as Accounts, Billing, or Tickets.
   • Select Ask AI to build a query from a plain-language question with the Workbook Agent.
   • Use SQL to query your database directly, or Spreadsheet to start from a spreadsheet.
4. Add the data you want using the field panel on the left — search for a field or select Add field. Use the In-use filter to show only the fields already in your report.
5. Review your results using the Results, Chart, or Both views.
6. Open the File menu and select Save....

To add a dashboard to your report, select + Dashboard in the top-right corner. Each dashboard tile is linked to an individual query from your workbook.

A dashboard must be published before you can set up a scheduled delivery or an alert for it.

You can also start a custom report from an existing dashboard or report by selecting View in workbook, which opens its query as a starting point.

Build with the Workbook Agent

You can ask questions about your data in plain language and let the Workbook Agent build queries and visualizations for you. In the workbook builder, select Ask AI and describe what you want.

To ask follow-up questions directly on a published dashboard, use the Dashboard Agent — see the article on viewing dashboards.

Download and export

You can export the data from a report or dashboard to use it elsewhere.

1. Select Download... to open the download dialog.
2. Enter a File name.
3. Choose a File type: CSV, Excel, or JSON.
4. Optionally, select Apply data formatting like rounding, special characters to keep the report's formatting in the exported file.
5. Set the Row limit: Current limit, All possible results, or Custom to enter your own number.
6. Select Download.

If you choose Custom, the existing row limit on the query is ignored.

You can also download an entire dashboard. Open the File menu, select Download..., and choose a format: PDF, PNG, XLSX (Excel), or CSV.

Schedule deliveries

You can set up a recurring delivery so a report or dashboard is sent automatically on a schedule.

Before you can schedule a delivery, the dashboard must be published.

1. Open the File menu and select Deliveries & Alerts (or select Schedule delivery on a dashboard tile) to open the New delivery dialog, then set Delivery to Schedule.
2. Under Send, choose what to send — for example, the entire dashboard, the dashboard charts, or a specific query.
3. Under Destination, choose where to send it: Email, Slack, Google Sheets, Amazon S3, SFTP, or Webhook.
4. Enter a Delivery name.
5. On the Schedule tab, choose a frequency — Now, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Custom — then set the days, time, and time zone. For Custom, enter a Cron string.
6. On the Chart tab, choose the Format: PNG (Image), PDF, XLSX (Excel), CSV, or JSON.
7. For an email delivery, use the Email tab to set the File Name, add Recipients, and enter a Subject and Body. You can also select Personalize content with the recipient's user attributes.

Delivery times are approximate and happen within about 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

Set up alerts

An alert checks the results of a query and sends a delivery when those results meet a condition you define.

Before you can set up an alert, the dashboard must be published.

1. Open the File menu and select Deliveries & Alerts (or select Alert... on a dashboard tile) to open the New delivery dialog, then set Delivery to Alert.
2. Set the Send, Destination, and Delivery name as you would for a scheduled delivery.
3. On the Alert tab, choose the Results to check.
4. Choose a Condition: Results have changed, Results have stayed the same, No results are returned, or Any results are returned.
5. Under Schedule, choose how often the alert checks the results — Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Custom — and set the days, time, and time zone.
6. Set the delivery format on the Chart tab and the email details on the Email tab, as with a scheduled delivery.
7. Select Save. You can also select Test now to send a test.

For the Results have changed condition, the first check doesn't trigger a delivery — it sets the baseline for comparison on the next check.

Share your work

You can share a report or dashboard you've created with specific people, or make it available across your organization.

1. Open the File menu, select Share..., and go to Access.
2. In Share with users or groups, enter the people or groups you want to give access to.
3. Choose their level of access:
   • Viewer — view this document.
   • Editor — view, explore, and edit this document.
   • Manager — edit or delete this document and manage who can access it.
4. Select Share.

Use the visibility menu at the bottom of the dialog to control where the document lives:

• Personal — your personal documents and folders, accessible only by you and the people you've shared them with.
• Shared — a space for shared content across your organization.