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Introduction to creating metrics

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This article provides an overview on adding and configuring all metric types.
Metric options depend on your PowerMetrics plan. All plans include the ability to add instant and custom data feed metrics, multi-metrics, and calculated metrics. Depending on your pricing plan and add-ons, you may also be able to create data warehouse metrics and semantic layer metrics (dbt Semantic Layer and Cube).

PowerMetrics offer a wealth of opportunities for you to visualize, learn from, and share your data. As with all PowerMetrics features, the metric creation and configuration process is highly flexible, with multiple options to help you envision your most essential data and track your business metrics meaningfully.

Before adding a metric, consider the data you want to visualize. Where is the data located? What metric do you want to measure?

This article contains the following sections:

Metric options

PowerMetrics includes a metric type for every use case - from smaller businesses handling moderate volumes of data to larger organizations with a mature BI stack and data stored in a warehouse or managed via a semantic layer.

As a hybrid analytics solution, PowerMetrics lets you combine metrics of every type in calculations and multi-metrics and in dashboards and reports – an essential feature for organizations where teams access data from different sources (for example, the marketing team relies on customer data from cloud services, like HubSpot and Facebook Ads, and the sales team tracks revenue data that’s stored in Snowflake or a dbt Semantic Layer project).

Instant data feed metrics

  • Instant data feed metrics get their data from 3rd-party services. They provide fast access to the most popular metrics for the most essential data services. Created for you based on best practices and industry expertise, instant metrics are a great way to start! You don’t have to be a data expert to create powerful, meaningful metrics. No data modelling, formula writing, or further configuration is required. Managed by Klipfolio, Instant data feed metrics can be “unlocked”, freeing them up as learning tools or as templates for customization. Learn how here.

Custom data feed metrics

  • Custom data feed metrics get their data from data feeds you create and manage. They can be based on something as simple as a spreadsheet or as sophisticated as an SQL query. Custom data feed metrics give you access to hundreds of data services. They’re the perfect solution when the data you’re looking for isn’t available from an instant metric. Using the query builder and data feed editor, you can retrieve whatever data you need.

Data warehouse metrics

  • Data warehouse metrics get their data from a warehouse. Data remains in the warehouse and is visualized and explored in PowerMetrics. PowerMetrics is updated to align with changes in the source data automatically with a webhook, or manually by clearing the cache, or using a cache expiration strategy.

Semantic layer metrics

  • Semantic layer metrics get their data from dbt Semantic Layer project(s) or Cube. Data remains in the source (for example, a warehouse or dbt Semantic Layer project) and is visualized and explored in PowerMetrics. PowerMetrics is updated to align with changes in the source data automatically with a webhook, or manually by clearing the cache, or using a cache expiration strategy.

Calculated metrics

  • Calculated metrics get their data from formulas that combine metrics. Fully customizable, they enable you to create the exact metric you need for every situation. Calculated metrics are cross-service – they can combine any metric type, from any service. Calculated metrics are described in depth in this article.

Multi-metrics

Data service options - Where is your data coming from?

When adding new metrics, one of the first steps is choosing the service you want to get data from. The metric options available to you depend on the service you choose:

Are you connecting to data for a service that includes support for instant and custom data feed metrics? These services include: Facebook, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google Analytics 4, HubSpot, Instagram Business, LinkedIn Ads, LinkedIn Pages, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Shopify, Stripe, X Ads (Twitter Ads), Xero, YouTube, and Zendesk. When connecting to data from these services, you can create instant or custom data feed metrics. Learn how to add instant metrics. Learn how to create custom data feed metrics.

Are you connecting to data for a service that only includes support for custom data feed metrics? These services include file-based and query-based services such as: file upload, SQL and REST/URL queries, and FTP & SFTP. They also include services with public APIs that aren’t enabled for instant metrics. Some examples of such services are: Insightly, Moz, and Twilio. When connecting to data from these services, you can create custom data feed metrics only. Learn how to add custom data feed metrics for these services.

Are you connecting to data that’s managed and stored in a warehouse? Data is visualized in PowerMetrics as data warehouse metrics. Learn how to add metrics for each warehouse integration in this section of our Knowledge Base.

Are you connecting to data that’s managed in a semantic layer? Data is visualized in PowerMetrics as either dbt Semantic Layer metrics or Cube semantic layer metrics. Learn how to add dbt Semantic Layer metrics. Learn how to add Cube semantic layer metrics.

Adding instant data feed metrics

Our instant data feed metrics cover the most popular metrics for the most popular data services. They get you to your data fast! Note that instant metrics use data feeds that are created and managed by Klipfolio.

When you add instant data feed metrics, you:

  1. Connect PowerMetrics to your data.
    You create a reusable account connection by logging into your service account and giving permission for Klipfolio PowerMetrics to access your data. Learn more about managing your account connections.
     
  2. Select metrics to immediately add them to your metric list.
    You can start tracking and analyzing your data immediately. No further configuration is required.

Click the links below to go to specific instructions for adding instant data feed metrics for these data services:

Creating custom data feed metrics

Unlike instant data feed metrics, with custom data feed metrics you create and manage the data feed used for the metric.

In general, when creating custom data feed metrics, you:

  1. Connect PowerMetrics to your data.
    For data from account-based services, you create a reusable account connection by logging into the service and giving permission for PowerMetrics to access your data. Learn more about managing your account connections.
    For data that’s stored in local files or on an FTP or SFTP server, and data that’s retrieved using a REST/URL or SQL query, the method for connecting to your data differs depending on where the data is coming from.
     
  2. Create a new data feed (or choose an existing one).
    In the query builder, you choose the data to include in the data feed. If needed, you further refine the data in the data feed editor. Learn more about data feeds.
     
  3. Choose settings for your metric.
    After connecting to your data and creating a data feed, you choose the metric’s display properties. For example, you select the measure, a date column, and segmentation. As you choose settings, the impact of each choice displays as a live preview, enabling you to experiment with the metric's properties before saving.

The method used to create custom data feed metrics varies depending on whether the data service supports instant and custom metrics or only custom metrics:

Creating custom data feed metrics for services that support instant and custom metrics

If your data service includes instant metrics but you don’t see the metric you’re looking for, you can create a custom data feed metric instead.

Click the links below to go to specific instructions for adding custom data feed metrics for these data services:

  • Airtable (You create Airtable custom data feed metrics using the same technique as with the other data services listed here (getting data with the query builder and creating a data feed), however, unlike the other services, instant data feed metrics are not applicable to Airtable.)
  • Facebook and Facebook Ads
  • Google Ads
  • Google Analytics 4
  • HubSpot
  • Instagram Business
  • LinkedIn Ads and LinkedIn Pages
  • Mailchimp
  • QuickBooks
  • Salesforce
  • Shopify
  • Smartsheet (You create Smartsheet custom data feed metrics using the same technique as with the other data services listed here (getting data with the query builder and creating a data feed), however, unlike the other services, instant data feed metrics are not applicable to Smartsheet.)
  • Stripe
  • X Ads (Twitter Ads)
  • Xero
  • YouTube
  • Zendesk
  • Zuora (You create Zuora custom data feed metrics using the same technique as with the other data services listed here (getting data with the query builder and creating a data feed), however, unlike the other services, instant data feed metrics are not applicable to Zuora.)

Creating custom data feed metrics for services that only support custom metrics

This section describes how to create metrics for data services that can only be used to create custom data feed metrics (they aren’t enabled for instant metrics).

As mentioned above, custom data feed metrics get their data from data feeds. You can either create data feeds separately (by clicking the + button beside Data Feeds in the left navigation sidebar) or as you build your metrics (as described in the following procedure).

When creating a custom data feed metric, you begin by choosing either a cloud data service (for example, Smartsheet or Google Drive) or a core data service (for example, a file upload or data that’s connected to using the REST/URL connector).

Some services require you to connect to your data, usually by entering your login credentials but sometimes by entering other identifiers such as API keys and account IDs. Instructions for connecting can differ between services.

Note: The following procedure describes adding a custom data feed metric from the left navigation sidebar. You can also add custom data feed metrics from the Metric List page, or from Explorer, or from an open dashboard, in Edit mode.

To create custom data feed metrics for custom-only data services:

  1. In the left navigation sidebar, click the + button beside Metrics and select See all services.
  2. To connect to data from a cloud service:
    • Under Data Feed Services, select a service.
      Tip: To quickly see this list, select the all other services tag tag under the “Search by service” field.
    • Click Select data feed.
    • In the Select a data feed window, either click +New <service name> data feed to create a new data feed or select an existing data feed from the list.
      Note: The only existing data feeds that will display in the list are those you created. Data feeds that are automatically created when you add instant data feed metrics are managed by Klipfolio and are not available for selection.
    • If you added a new data feed:
    • If you selected an existing data feed, you're ready to configure the metric's display settings.
  3. To connect to data from a core service:
  4. To configure the metric's display settings:
    Tip: As you configure your custom data feed metric, you can click the open metric guide button, located beside “Measure”, “Date and Time”, and “Date handling”. This opens a guide for each setting that helps you decide which options to choose. As you make choices, you’ll see the result in the metric preview window on the left. Don’t worry about getting everything right the first time. Before clicking “Save metric”, you can go back and forth, making changes and observing the preview until you arrive at the configuration settings that give you the exact metric you’re looking for.
  5. Under Data source, you can see the data feed that's associated with the metric. If desired, click its name to open it for viewing or editing.
  6. Under Data source, optionally, click Filter source data to include or exclude members for columns in the data feed. Excluded members will not display or be available as dimensions in the saved metric visualization.
    You can filter by member or by condition. By default, the first time you apply filters to a metric, you’ll see the UI for member filtering. To filter by condition, click the “Condition filters” link. Note: You can apply up to 10 filter conditions/dimension.
  7. Under Measure, select the column from the data feed that contains the values you want to track in your metric.
    select measure
  8. Under Dimensions, select the columns by which you want to be able to segment and/or filter your metric value (measure). Each selection shows a unique view of your business, for example, you might choose to look at your sales data based on region, sales rep, or product type.
    • By default, selected dimensions will be available for filtering and segmentation in the final metric visualization. To modify this setting for individual dimensions, click All beside the dimension name and deselect the checkbox for as a filter or as a segment. (See below.)
      dimension filters
    • You can also create a metric with no ability to segment or filter, by not selecting any dimensions.
    • Note: When choosing dimensions, you can only select columns that have a text format. If the associated data feed doesn’t include any text columns there will be no available categories by which to segment.
    • Tip: You can optionally change a dimension’s display name by selecting the current name and typing a new one. This changes the display name only (not the name of the dimension in the data feed). If you change the display name and want to see the one that’s being used in the data feed, hover over the dimension’s name. Note: If you change a name for a dimension that’s also being used by other metric visualizations, associated filters and segmentations will be removed from those visualizations and need to be reapplied.
  9. Under Date and Time, select the column from the data feed that contains the date/time associated with each value.
    select column with date time
    If the data feed doesn’t include a date column or history, deselect the Data feed contains historical data toggle to use the date and time the data feed is refreshed. (See below.)
    use refresh time
  10. Click the Settings tab.
    select settings tab
  11. Under Date handling, select Use all values or Use most recent values only. Your choice determines the data points your metric will use when calculating the metric value for a time period.
    select use all values
    If you chose Use most recent values only, select the desired time period. (See below.)
    select most recent values
    If you need more help deciding which date handling option to choose, check out this article: Choosing the right date handling method for your custom metrics.
  12. Under Format, select from Numeric, Currency, Percentage, or Duration.
    select format
    If you selected Currency as the data format, the default currency symbol that will display is USD $. You can select an alternate Currency symbol from the drop-down list. Note: This is a display option only. Currency is not converted.
    If you selected Duration as the data format, optionally, adjust the Maximum and Minimum Granularity settings.
  13. Under Decimal places, select the number of decimals to display (from 0 - 9). The Auto setting displays up to 4 decimal places and drops trailing zeros.
    Note: If you change the decimal place setting for a metric and want to see the source data values with their original decimal places, reselect Auto.
  14. Under Aggregation, you’ll see the aggregation type. It’s based on the measure you selected for the metric. For numeric columns, the aggregation type is initially set to “sum”. For text columns, it's “count”. The aggregation type will be used when the aggregation has not been overridden by the user in a metric visualization and wherever there are no configuration options available. For example, on the Metric List page, metrics will display using an aggregation type based on your selection here.
    set aggregation
  15. Enable the Users can override aggregation option if you want to allow changes to the aggregation setting for the metric.
    disable or enable aggregation override
    Note: When metrics are created, they’re automatically visualized using the most appropriate aggregation type. As a result, we recommend disabling the ability to override the aggregation type.
  16. Under Blank values, decide how to treat empty values. Tip: For transactional metrics, we recommend you treat blank values as zeros.
    blank values
  17. Under Favourable trend, choose whether you want ascending or descending values to indicate a positive trend. For example, if your metric includes sales totals, a higher (ascending) number demonstrates a positive trend but, if your metric includes cost to acquire customers, a lower (descending) number indicates a positive trend. Favourable trends are indicated by a green arrow. Unfavourable changes in metric values are indicated by a red arrow.
    set favourable trend
  18. Click the About tab.
    select about tab
  19. Optionally, enter a new name and description for the metric.
    Note: The metric was automatically named based on the measure you chose.
  20. Under Metric image, optionally, click Edit image to change the metric’s service icon. Learn more here.
  21. Under Certification, optionally, enable the Certify this metric toggle. Learn more here.
  22. When you’re done configuring your metric, click Save metric.

If you added the custom data feed metric from the navigation sidebar or from your Metric List page, it’s added to your list of metrics. If you added the custom data feed metric from an open dashboard, it’s added to that dashboard and to your list of metrics.

Now you're ready to interact with and learn from your metric data!

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