Explore recipe: Getting to know dashboard filters

In this recipe, you'll create a simple query that lists agents and the number of solved tickets for each and add the query to a dashboard. You'll then explore how dashboard filters can allow the report viewer to change the results of your query in the dashboard without changing the underlying query itself. This can be a powerful way to give report viewers the chance to configure reports just how they want. It can also save you the time creating multiple reports.

This article contains the following topics:

• Creating the base query and dashboard
• Opening your dashboard
• Adding a time filter
• Adding a data filter
• Adding a metric filter
• Adding a change metric
• Adding a change attribute
• Next steps

What you'll need

• Zendesk Explore Professional
• Editor or Admin permissions (see Giving agents access to Explore)
• Ticket and agent data in Zendesk Support

Creating the base query and dashboard

Before you start exploring filters, create your query using the instructions below. The query lists agents and the number of solved tickets for each

To create the query

1. In Explore, click the queries () icon.
2. In the Queries library, click New query.
3. On the Choose a dataset page, click Support > Tickets > Support: Tickets [default].
4. Click New query. Explore creates the new query and opens query builder.
5. In the Metrics panel of query builder, click Add.
6. From the list of metrics, choose Tickets > Solved Tickets, then click Apply.
7. In the Rows panel, click Add.
8. From the list of attributes, choose Assignee > Assignee name, then click Apply. Explore generates a table showing all of your agents, and the number of tickets they've solved.
   Tip: If your organization has a lot of agents, consider applying a filter to the Assignee name attribute to select only the names you want returned.

   

9. Give the query a name, for example "Agent solved tickets", then click Save > Add to dashboard.
10. On the Save new query to page, choose a new dashboard, enter a name for the dashboard, for example "Dashboard filters test", then click Save. Explore creates a new dashboard named "Dashboard filters test" and adds the "Agents solved tickets" query to it.

Opening your dashboard

1. In Explore, click the dashboards () icon.
2. On the Dashboards page, choose the dashboard you just created, Dashboard filters test.
3. The dashboard opens in preview mode containing the Agent solved tickets query you created. Click Edit to start making changes.

Adding a time filter

Use this filter when you want to enable report viewers to see solved tickets (or any other metric) for a date range they specify.

To add a time filter

1. In the dashboard you just opened, click Add > Add time filter.
2. On the Time filter widget page, choose the attribute you want to use when selecting a date range. You can only choose from time-based attributes. Choose Support: Tickets [default] - tickets_solved_at.
   Tip: The attribute names are displayed as their internal Explore names. Zendesk plans to change these to friendly names in a future update.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the Time filter widget page. From the Render as drop-down list, choose Calendar.
   Tip: Feel free to experiment with the other date picker types in the Render as list. These give you options to let your viewers choose simple, or advanced date ranges.
4. When you are finished, click Close. For more details about the options on this page, see Adding interactive dashboard widgets.
5. Explore displays the time filter. You might need to drag it to another position on the dashboard if it's obscuring your query.
6. In the left month of the time filter calendar, choose the start date for your report.
7. In the right month of the time filter calendar, choose the end date for your report.

Explore recalculates the query and displays the number of tickets solved in the date range you specified.

If you want to delete the time filter before you move onto the next example, click the arrow on the filter and choose Delete. Don't delete the Agent solved tickets query.

Adding a data filter

You can enable report viewers to choose from a list the names of agents who they want to see solved tickets for.

To add a data filter

1. In your dashboard, click Add > Add data filter.
2. On the Choose data filter columns page, choose the attribute Assignee name because you want to give the report viewer the ability to filter the report based on the agent name. You can select multiple attributes to give the viewer more flexibility.
3. When you are finished, click Close.
4. Explore displays the data filter. From the Assignee name drop-down list, choose one or more names, then click Apply.

The query table updates to show only the names you selected.

Adding a metric filter

You can enable report viewers to filter the range of results shown. For example, don't show agents with less than 50 solved tickets.

To add a metric filter

1. In your dashboard, click Add > Add metric filter.
2. On the Choose metric filter page, choose the metric that you want to limit results for, in this case COUNT(Solved tickets), then click Apply.

Explore displays the Metric filter slider. You can drag the two circles left and right. Explore only displays query results that are between the two values you select.

Adding a change metric

In addition to being able to see the number of solved tickets for your agents, some report viewers might also want to see a different metric like the number of unsolved tickets. You can use a change metric to give them this option without changing the original query.

To add a change metric

1. In your dashboard, click Add > Add change metric.
2. On the Choose change metric page, choose the metric that you want to let viewers change, in this case COUNT(Solved tickets).
3. In the Restrict to this list of metrics field, choose Unsolved tickets and Solved tickets (you add Solved tickets so that viewers can switch between the two metrics). You can select multiple metrics to give the viewer more flexibility.
4. When you are finished, click Apply.

Explore displays the Change metrics widget. You can now use the COUNT(Solved tickets) to metrics drop-down list to change the query table to display the Unsolved tickets metric.

Adding a change attribute

You can give agents the option of displaying a different attribute than the assignee name, for example the number of tickets solved for each ticket channel. You can do this by using a change attribute.

To add a change attribute

1. In your dashboard, click Add > Add change attribute.
2. On the Choose change attribute page, choose the attribute that you want to let viewers change, in this case Assignee name.
3. In the Restrict to this list of attributes field, choose Ticket channel and Assignee name (you add Assignee name so that viewers can switch between the two metrics). You can select multiple attributes to give the viewer more flexibility.
4. When you are finished, click Apply.

Explore displays the Change attributes widget. You can now use the Assignee name to attributes drop-down list to change the query table to display the Ticket channel metric.

Next steps

In this article, you've learned what some of the dashboard filters and widgets can do. Bear in mind that you don't have to use one of these at a time. You can combine them on the same dashboard to produce powerful interactive reports. To dig deeper into dashboard interactivity, read the following articles:

• Adding interactive dashboard widgets
• Interacting with dashboards