Getting started with Zendesk Explore: Hands-on tutorial


In this article, you’ll use what you've learned in thegetting started guideto create and share a simple Zendesk Explore dashboard that reflects a common business scenario.


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In this article, you’ll use what you've learned in the getting started guide to create and share a
simple Zendesk Explore dashboard that reflects a common business scenario.
This dashboard shows the following information:


For each agent in your organization, show the number of tickets assigned to
them.
Give the ability to filter the tickets by status. For example, for a selected
agent, show only their tickets in a solved state.



Tip: These steps are an introduction to the basic workflow of creating and sharing a
dashboard. However, we encourage you to experiment. If you want to choose different
metrics and attributes, change the chart type, or wonder what an option does, try
it! If you need more help with anything you find, take a look at the Zendesk Explore resources
article.

This article contains the following sections:

Before you start
Step 1: Create a report
Step 2: Create a dashboard
Step 3: Share your dashboard
Next steps



Before you start

Before you can complete this walkthrough, ensure that:


Zendesk Support contains ticket and agent data. While Explore integrates
with all Zendesk channels, for this example, you'll use the Support:
Tickets dataset. If you are just starting with Zendesk, the reports
you generate might not show much data for the first few days.
Your user account is set up to use Explore. Additionally, ensure you have
the Admin or Editor user role. For more information, see Adding users to Explore.





Step 1: Create a report

In this step, you'll create a report that asks questions about your
business data in Zendesk Support. You'll start by connecting to a
dataset.


Get started


Click the Zendesk products menu in the top bar, then select
Analytics.
Click the Reports icon ( ) in the sidebar.
On the Reports page, click New report.
On the Select a dataset page, choose Support >
Support - Tickets, and then click Start report.

The report builder opens with a blank report.




Define the report's metric

The first thing you need to add is the metric for this report. This
means what you are measuring. In this example, it’s the total number of tickets
stored in Zendesk Support. Perform the following steps to define your report's
metric.

In the Metrics section of the report builder, click
Add.
From the list of Metrics, expand Tickets, choose
Tickets, then click Apply.
Explore takes the metric you added, and automatically displays
results based on it.


While simple (a count of how many tickets you have), it’s a good example of how
Explore dynamically displays results based on your metrics and attributes. Now,
you can add attributes to get more interesting results.



Define the report's attributes

Now that you’ve defined your report's metric, you’ll make this report more
interesting by adding some attributes. First, you’ll add a column to the report
so you can see which agents are assigned which ticket.


Add the assignee name



In the Columns section, click Add.
From the list of attributes, expand Assignee, choose
Assignee name, and then click Apply.
Once again, Explore automatically processes the change you’ve
made, figures out the best way to present it (in this case, a bar
graph), and displays your results.






Add the ticket status

Remember that we also want to be able to filter the results by the
ticket status. For example, we might want to only display tickets for ‘Robert
Stack’ with a status of Solved.

In the Rows section, click Add.
From the list of attributes, expand Ticket, choose
Ticket status, and then click Apply.
Once again, Explore recalculates the report and displays the
results. Now, when you choose a ticket status, you’ll see only the
number of tickets with that status for each agent.

Note: You can select one or more of the Ticket Status items, or
select them all by clicking the Ticket Status
heading.








Name the report

Explore automatically names the report when you save it. In the case of the
example report above, Explore saves it as COUNT (Tickets) crossed with Ticket
status per Assignee name. You can either use this name, or give the
report a name of your own.
To name the report


In the report builder, click the report name text.
Enter a name for the report (for example, New test report).





Save the report

Now you have a completed the report, make sure that you save it. If you close
your browser, or navigate to another page without saving, your changes will be
lost.


In the report builder, click Save.
You'll see a confirmation message to indicate your report was
saved.



Tip: You can also save a report directly to a new dashboard by
selecting Add to Dashboard.




Step 2: Create a dashboard

Usually, after you've created reports, you’ll want to group a bunch of them together,
add some interactivity (for example, selecting a date range), and add other text and
graphics to make a really great looking report. In this step, you’ll learn how to
make a dashboard from the reports you created in Step 1.
There are two ways to create a dashboard. You can save a report right into a new
dashboard, or you can create the dashboard first, and then add in the report. In
this example, you’ll use the second method.


Get started


Click the Zendesk products menu in the top bar, then select
Analytics.
In the sidebar, click the dashboards icon ( ).
On the Dashboards page, click New dashboard.

A new, blank dashboard opens in the dashboard builder.




Add a widget

If you've read Getting started with Zendesk Explore,
you'll know that widgets add information and interactivity to a
dashboard. Widgets might include a report, an image, and interactive elements
like a date chooser.
The most important widget you need in this dashboard is your report. Use the
following steps to get the report onto your dashboard:


In your blank dashboard, click Add > Add report.
On the Add report page, click the report you created in Step 1: Create a report, then click Add
reports.
After a moment, the report will be displayed on your dashboard.
Click and hold in the title bar of the widget to move it where you want
it on the dashboard.
Select the widget, then drag any corner or edge to resize the
widget.


Finally, give your dashboard a title like People and tickets analysis.
Double-click the existing title (on a new dashboard, it will read
Untitled), then enter your new title. You'll end up with something
that looks like the following:

You've now created a simple dashboard. We encourage you to explore all of the
settings and widgets on the Dashboard page. There is a lot you can do!
For example, you could add a graphic containing your company logo, change the
colors and fonts used, or create and add more reports. If you want some starting
points for further exploration, see Creating dashboards and Customizing dashboards.




Step 3: Share your dashboard

In the previous lesson, you created a dashboard but, currently, only you can view it.
To get the most from it, you will likely want to share it with others. There are a
number of ways you can do this (see Sharing dashboards), but as you are
already in the dashboard builder, you'll use that here.


In the dashboard you created, click Share.

In the Share dashboard list, choose the Zendesk groups who you want
to share this dashboard with.
Tip: Groups are collections
of users that you set up in Zendesk Support. For details, see Creating groups.

Click Invite.


After a few moments, the people you invited will receive an email with the subject line "(your
name) has shared a Zendesk Explore dashboard with you". If they click the
Start Exploring link in the email, they will see the dashboard you
created.
Finally, an important point to remember. If you make changes to this dashboard after
you share it, you'll need to click Publish to make the changes visible to
anyone you shared the dashboard with.



Next steps

These steps have covered the basic Zendesk Explore workflow. However, Explore is a
powerful product that gives you many capabilities to query, present, and share your
business information. To continue learning about Explore, visit the following two
links:



Getting started with Zendesk
Explore - Contains overview information about Explore, and links
to more in-depth information.

Zendesk Explore resources -
Contains links to Zendesk and community tips to help you get the most from
Explore.




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