What is the Metrics Feature?
The Metrics Feature allows app end users to see and and track either individual or group performance metrics. Those metrics could be a company’s annual sales quota, the amount of donations received for a charity event, or the amount of hours worked in a given time frame.
This article covers:
How to set up a New Metric
Step 1: Create a new Metric
Create a new metric by clicking the “+ ADD” button next to the sort by field.
Step 2: Choose wether you want this to be a new Metric or a Parent Metric
Metric: Displays a single metric either on the main page of the feature or nested within a parent metric.
Parent: Creates a parent metric that multiple other metrics roll up into. The Parent will show an aggregate of all metrics contained within it.
Step 3: Add a title, minimum, and maximum values
Add a title to your Metric, this title will be displayed directly on the app and on the App Editor.
Next, add the minimum and maximum values that the end user can input for this metric. This must be a numerical value.
Step 4: Add an Image
Add an icon or image that you would like to be displayed next to the title of the Metrics. Dimensions for icons and Images for this input is 400 x 400.
Step 5 (Optional): Add an Action Item
Create or add an “Action Item” to the title of the metric. This will link to that action every time an end user clicks on the title within the app.
Step 6: Save your Metric by clicking the green “+ CREATE METRIC” button
How to set up a Parent Metric
What is a Parent Metric? Think of a Parent Metric as parent folder that can house multiple different Metrics. All of the “children” metrics are rolled up to create an aggregate Parent Metric.
Step 1: Create new Metric
You create a new Parent Metric just as you would a general new metric. First click “+ ADD” next to the sort filer on the App Editor.
Step 2: Select Parent Metric
Step Three: Title your Parent Metric
Step 4: Add an Image
Add an icon or image that you would like to be displayed next to the title of the Metrics. Dimensions for icons and Images for this input is 400 x 400.
Step 5: Save your Parent Metric by clicking the green “+ CREATE METRIC” button
Step 6: Add a child metric to your newly created Parent Metric
In the App Editor, click the title of your Parent Metric to open it
Once you have opened the Parent Metric, click “+ ADD” to create a new child Metric to live within that Parent Metric
Follow the steps above on How to Set Up a New Metric
NOTE: All Children Metrics will roll up to the aggregate score displayed on the Parent Metric
Settings
Show Summary
The Show Summary button enables and disables the roll up (aggregate data summary) graph on the main page of the featue. This applies to the main page summary only. This will not disable Parent Metric summary graphs. Disabling Parent Summary graphs is currently not supported.
Data Policy Type: Public vs. Private
Public allows for any app user with access to this feature to see and update the content and history. Think of this as a global view of the data that everyone with access to that feature will be able to see
Example: if a user updates their teams section of a holiday toy tracker, all users regardless of team will be able to see that data as it is updated.
Private: each user can only see their history and data. Think of this as their own private version of the feature. This is great for individual users who want to track and record their progress toward a personal goal.
You as the app owner still get to control and title the Parent and individual Metrics. The major difference is that each End User has a personal view of what they input vs a global view of what all users have inputted.
Tagging
Within this feature we’ve added an extra layer of control. You as the App Creator can restrict who can update metrics via tagging. This will allow users to still see the data, but they will not be able to input new data if they do not have the required tag or tags.
How to to add to a tag:
On the App Editor Panel, select the Settings Tab.
Navigate to the User tags section and click the “+ SELECT TAGS” button.
Then select the User Tags you would like to assign by clicking the check box next to the tag. You can select multiple tags at once.
Click the blue “Select” button in the bottom right hand corner to save.
How to remove a tag:
On the Settings Tab, navigate to the Users Tag Section.The tags you have assigned will be displayed in a blue bubble.
To remove a tag, click the “x” next to the tag to remove it from the feature.
*Note: this is separate from the standard Security Settings and Tagging functionality that is on all features.
Use cases of the Metrics Feature
The Metrics feature is great tool for tracking progress to goals. Here are a couple of use cases we see the most for this feature:
For Workforce or Business Apps, you can use the Metrics feature to track quarterly sales team goals.
For Non Profit Apps, you can use the Metrics to have staff quickly update fundraising progress directly from the app for all to see.
Here is what the feature looks like from the End User’s Perspective:
Pro Tips for using this feature
Pro Tip 1: Create your Parent Metrics before you create your Child Metrics
With App Building its always recommended to start with your outline or structure before adding in the smaller components. The Metrics Feature is no exception! Start by creating your Parent Metrics first and then nesting the Child Metric within it.
Pro Tip 2: Use Multiple instances of the Feature top track different metrics
All Metrics within one instance of the feature roll up into the main metrics summary on the home page of the feature. If you have two completely different types of Metrics you’d like to track, create two separate instances of the Feature.
Example: Say you want to track your sales team progress toward their annual quota and you want to track the number of tickets your support team have answered. As these are two separate data points, you wouldn’t want to house them in two parent folders, you’d want to create two instances of the featue.
Commonly Asked Questions
Q: Can end users edit the type of metrics or make their own metrics?
A: No, the metrics are set and created by the App Owner. However, end users can input data pertaining to the Metric.
Q: Can you set inputting permissions for each individual metric based on tags?
A: No, the tagging feature will allow that user to input data for all metrics within the feature. However you could create a separate instance of the feature and have different apply to create the same effect.
Related articles
In addition to this article, we recommend checking out the following related articles so that you have a better insight into how to best use our system: