Explore and Follow Metrics
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the purpose of metrics in Tableau Pulse.
- List ways to find and analyze metrics.
- Describe how to follow and unfollow metrics.
- List the options for customizing the frequency and delivery of your metrics digest.
Let’s Talk About Metrics
As a business professional, you might be more familiar with key performance indicators (KPIs) than metrics. But they’re actually the same thing. Data analysts take values (typically numbers) from your organization’s data sets and add context to them to create metrics. For example, they might take $150,000 and present that numeric value to you as a metric called Quarterly Sales. When you discuss the $150,000 metric in your sales meetings, you’re likely to refer to Quarterly Sales as a KPI.
In Tableau Pulse, your data analysts or other members of your organization (with the necessary permissions) can add you as a follower to metrics. You can also find and follow metrics yourself. No matter how you start following a metric, as a follower you automatically receive updates and insights specific to your KPIs.
Find and Analyze Metrics
From the Insights Exploration page, you can understand a metric at a glance, including:
- The current metric value
- The percentage change from the prior period being compared
- Filters applied to the metric definition
- Insights about the metric
From the Insights Exploration page, choose Filter to change the time period being analyzed. You can also adjust the filtered values applied to the metric.
The Overview tab shows a line chart of your metric’s performance, including the direction the metric is trending. Hover over different points of the line chart to see the metric’s value at different points in time.
The Breakdown tab shows you how different categories contribute to the total value. You can choose the dimension by which you see your metric broken down. For example, this metric displays Region by default, but you can also break down the metric details by Regional Manager or Segment.
After you follow a metric, it appears on your Tableau Pulse homepage and is included in your digest. (More about digests and how to customize them in a minute.)
Follow and Unfollow Metrics
Follow
To see a list of metrics that you follow, choose Following from the Tableau Pulse home page.
To follow a metric:
- From the Tableau Pulse home page, search for the metric name that you’re looking for, or choose Browse Metrics.
- Navigate through the metric definitions available to you in the list. Each metric definition contains related metrics that you can follow, when available.
- Click the desired metric definition to open it, or choose See All Metrics from the Actions menu (...).
- Find the metric that you’d like to follow, and click Follow.
When you follow two or more metrics, Tableau Pulse provides an overview to help you quickly see the latest insights across your metrics of interest. When available, this insights summary appears in digests and on the Tableau Pulse home page.
Tableau AI must be turned on by your Tableau admin for insight summaries to be available. For more information, see Tableau AI in Tableau Pulse.
Unfollow
To unfollow a metric, go to the Tableau Pulse home page and click Following. You can also choose the Actions menu (...) from a metric card and choose Unfollow. If you unfollow a metric, then it no longer appears on your Tableau Pulse home page or in your digests. If you follow a metric as part of a user group, then you can’t unfollow the metric. Your group must be removed from the follower list, and then you can follow or unfollow metrics as an individual.
Remember, when you follow a metric, you receive personalized data insights in Slack or email. For guided data analysis into changes in the metrics (or KPIs) you follow, check out the Insights Exploration page.
Uncover the Power of Digests
Metrics that you follow appear on your Tableau Pulse home page and are included in your digest. Your digest is a summary that surfaces trends, outliers, and other potentially significant changes in your followed metrics. Depending on your preferences, you can receive your digest in your email, in the Messages tab of the Tableau App for Slack, or both.
Customize Your Digest’s Delivery
You determine how frequently you receive your digest and where you receive it. By default, digests are sent weekly to both Slack and email.
To configure your digest:
- From Tableau Pulse, click the icon at the top-right corner, and select Preferences.
- Choose how you want to receive digests (Slack, email, or both).
- Choose how frequently you want to receive digests (daily, weekly, or monthly).
- Click Save.
Email and Slack digests are sent to the email address associated with your Tableau site. To receive Tableau Pulse digests in Slack, your administrator must first Integrate Tableau with a Slack Workspace. You receive Tableau Pulse digests in the Tableau App for Slack automatically. But to experience all that the Tableau App for Slack has to offer–such as searching for vizzes, sharing vizzes, and receiving notifications—you must connect the Tableau App for Slack to your Tableau site. For more information about the Tableau App for Slack, see Receive Notifications, Search, and Share Using the Tableau App for Slack. Or, if you prefer, you can search, share, and interact with Tableau Pulse from Microsoft Teams.
No matter where or how often you choose to review your metrics, Tableau Pulse makes it easy to keep up to date on the data and KPIs that matter to you. Next, explore how to take advantage of AI-powered insights in Tableau Pulse.