Adding fixed calculated metrics

Standard calculated metrics in Explore are dynamic. They can recalculate based on the attributes used, date periods specified, and filters applied (see Standard calculated metrics). However, if you are comparing across categories or benchmarking, you might want the calculation to remain constant. To achieve this, you can use fixed calculated metrics.

This article contains the following sections:

• Creating a fixed calculated metric
• Creating a constant average using fixed calculated metrics

Creating fixed calculated metrics

At the most simple level fixed calculated metrics can be used to produce unchanging metric results. For an example of a more complex use, see Creating a constant average using fixed calculated metrics.

Advanced fixed calculated metrics enable you to construct a formula in the same way as a standard calculated metric (see Standard calculated metrics and attributes). Simple metrics do not require you to enter any formulas, but the range of metrics from which you can choose are more limited.

This topic contains the following sections:

• Creating a simple fixed calculated metric
• Creating an advanced fixed calculated metric

Creating a simple fixed calculated metric

In this example, you'll create a simple fixed metric containing tickets that were reopened, that contain the tag 1st_floor.

To create a simple fixed calculated metrics

1. In Explore, open a new report using the Support: Tickets dataset.
2. In the report builder, open the calculations menu ().
3. Select Fixed calculated metric.
4. Enter a name for the metric, in this example, Tickets reopened with 1st_floor tag.
5. Select the Simple option for creating the metric.
6. From the Will always return the value of this metric drop-down list, select Reopens.
7. Choose the computing options you want to apply. There are two available:
   • Compute according to the filters in the report restricts results to your applied filters. If you do not select this, the fixed calculated metric will not be affected by your result manipulations.
   • Restricted for the values of an attribute restricts results to a specific attribute's values. If you do not select this, the fixed metric will not be divided by any attribute.
   This example is calculating the number of tickets tagged 1st_floor, so the Reopens metric is restricted to the 1st_floor tag. The metric should look something like the following example:

   

8. When you are finished, click Save.

Creating an advanced fixed calculated metric

In this example, you'll create an advanced metric that uses a formula to display only the tickets tagged support.

To create an advanced calculated metric

1. In Explore, open a new report using the Support: Tickets dataset.
2. In the report builder, open the calculations menu ().
3. Select Fixed calculated metric.
4. Enter a name for the metric, in this example, Tickets with support tag.
5. In the formula window, enter If ([Ticket tags]="support") THEN [Ticket ID] ENDIF".

   

6. When you are finished, click Save.

Creating a constant average using fixed calculated metrics

Fixed calculated metrics can also be used to help you measure whether results are higher or lower than a constant average. This section shows you how to compare the average number of replies per month against the sum of replies per month.

Note: This example uses custom formulas. For help writing formulas in Explore, see Formula writing resources.

This section contains the following topics:

• Creating your fixed calculated metrics
• Creating your standard calculated metric

Creating your fixed calculated metrics

You will need to create two fixed calculated metrics to use in your average calculation. The first calculated metric will return a fixed number of replies and the second will return the fixed number of month values.

To create a fixed replies calculation

1. In Explore, open a new report using the Support: Tickets dataset.
2. In the calculations menu (), click Fixed calculated metric.
3. On the Fixed calculated metric panel, enter a name for your metric, for example, Fixed agent replies.
4. Select the metric you want in your fixed average from the Will always return the value of this metric drop-down list. This example uses the Agent replies metric.

   

5. Click Save.

To create your fixed number of months metric

1. In Explore, open a new report using the Support: Tickets dataset.
2. In the calculations menu (), click Fixed calculated metric.
3. On the Fixed calculated metric panel, click Advanced.
4. On the Advanced fixed metric panel, enter the name for your second fixed metric, for example Fixed month.
5. In the Formula box enter [Ticket created - Month].

   

6. Click Save.

Creating your standard calculated metric

After you have created your fixed calculated metric, you can create your average metric. This example uses a standard calculated metric.

To create your constant average comparison

1. In Explore, open a new report using the Support: Tickets dataset.
2. In the calculations menu (), click Standard calculated metric.
3. On the Standard calculated metric panel, enter a name for your average. This example uses Monthly average agent replies.
4. In the formula field, type the following formula (replace the example metrics here with your own metrics):

   SUM(Fixed agent replies)/D_COUNT(Fixed month)

   Your metric should look like the following example:

   

5. Click Save.
6. Add your standard calculated metric to your report as a trend line (see Adding metrics as trend lines).

You will now be able to see how your monthly replies compare against the average. Your report should resemble the image below: