Reporting glossary

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This glossary describes the key concepts and terminology used in Zendesk reporting. If you're looking for help getting up and running with reporting, see Getting started with Zendesk Explore.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

A

Admin

A user role. Admins have the same permissions as editors. Additionally, they can edit their own, and others permissions, and update account settings.

See Giving users access to Explore.

Aggregator

Determine how your results are calculated. When you add a metric to a report, you can select an aggregator. For example the AVG aggregator shows the average of a metric's results or MED shows the median of a metric's results.

See Setting a metric's default and visible aggregators.

Attribute

Attributes slice your results by qualitative data. Attributes represent the how in your data. Examples of attributes include ticket tags, dates, support groups, and ticket ID. For example, if you are using the metric Full resolution time and added the attribute Agent name, you would see the full resolution time for each agent.

See Adding Attributes.

B

Bookmark

A bookmark is an interactive component you can add to your dashboard. When an admin or editor is applying filters in Dashboard Builder, they can save the different filtered views as a bookmark. Viewers can then select the different bookmarks to see each saved filtered state.

See Saving filtered dashboard states and Switching between filtered dashboard versions.

C

Calculated attribute

A custom attribute you can manually create and add to your data. Calculated attributes are created in the Calculations menu (). Some calculated attributes will require you to write functions using Explore's formula writing language (see Formula writing resources), while others will provide you with templates for creating calculations. You can use any metrics or attributes in your formulas, regardless of if they're currently added to your report or calculated.

See Calculation types reference.

Calculated metric

A calculated metric is a custom metric you can manually create and add to your data. Calculated metrics are created in the Calculations menu. Some calculated metrics will require you to write functions using Explore's formula writing language (see Formula writing resources), while others will provide you with templates for creating calculations. You can use any metrics or attributes in your formulas, regardless of if they're currently added to your report or calculated.

See Calculated types reference.

Calculations menu

The Calculations menu () is found in the report builder and contains all of the available calculated metrics and attribute options. These calculated elements require you to either use Explore's formula writing language (see Formula writing resources) or pre-built templates.

Change attribute

A type of interactive component you can add to a dashboard. The change attribute interactive component lets viewers switch an attribute used on a dashboard to a different attribute from the dataset. This is useful for testing different outcomes, without having to create multiple, similar reports.

You can add a change attribute component by clicking Add on the dashboard builder toolbar.

See Changing metrics and attributes and Selecting a different attribute.

Chart configuration menu

The chart configuration menu () is found in the report builder, and contains most of the available customization options. You can customize your chart colors, text, interactions, and additional options. Depending on the visualization you are using, the options available will differ.

See Customizing reports.

Color-encoded metric

When adding metrics to your report, you can choose to make them color-encoded by clicking the icon. If you add a metric as color-encoded, the difference in results will be shown in a color gradient. For example if you are using a blue to red gradient, your highest values will be red, lowest blue, and middle varying shades of purple.

See Measuring results by color and size.

Columns

Like Rows and Explosions, when you add an attribute to Columns your metric results will be sliced by that attribute's values. Unlike Rows and Explosions, Columns will render the results in one chart.

See Adding metrics and attributes to reports.

Comparison lines

Comparison lines can be enabled as an addition to datatips. When a user hovers over a data point, a dashed line will connect the different metrics' results for the data point's attribute value. For some visualizations, comparison lines will highlight the difference between the data point and the highest result.

See Working with datatips .

Component

Everything you add to a dashboard, excluding tabs, is called a component. This includes reports, text, filters, and other interactive options. There are two types of component; static and interactive.

See Adding and arranging dashboard components.

Static components

This component type cannot be used to change report results or how users interact with your dashboard. Static components include text, and reports.

See Adding and arranging dashboard components.

Interactive components

Enable users to set which report results to view and how to view them. Interactive components include the data and time filters, as well as the change metric and attribute.

See Adding interactive dashboard components and Interacting with dashboards .

D

Dashboards

Dashboards are customizable locations where you can share multiple reports with several viewers at the same time. You can break dashboards into different tabs, add interactive components, and share reports.

Dashboard builder

The dashboard builder is the primary location for creating, customizing, and sharing dashboards. The dashboard builder is automatically launched whenever an editor or admin edits a dashboard. You can make all of your changes to a dashboard in Dashboard builder, then share it with viewer groups.

See Creating dashboards.

Dashboards library

The Dashboards library () lists all of your created and shared dashboards, as well as your pre-built dashboards for Zendesk products.

If you are an editor or admin, you can share, edit, delete, and duplicate dashboards from the Dashboards library.

See Creating dashboards.

Data filter

A data filter is one type of dashboard filter. You can use data filters to restrict your report results to specific attribute values. For example you can add a data filter for the attribute channel, then select Chat to only view results from the Chat channel.

Data filters are added as interactive components by clicking Add from the dashboard builder toolbar.

See Adding data filters and Filtering by attribute values.

Datasets

To access your information in Explore, you must choose a dataset. Datasets represent the different Zendesk data models and contain metrics and attributes relevant to each product.

See Working with datasets.

Datatips

Datatips (sometimes known as tooltips) can be added to your report to show any additional information about your results. Datatips appear in a text box whenever a viewer hovers over a data point. You can enter custom information for the datatip to display or add a metric as a datatip to show a metric's results only in the text box.

See Adding datatips to reports.

Date range calculated metric

A date range calculated metric is a type of calculated metric that enables you to limit one metric's results to a specific date range before adding it to your report. You can create a date range calculated metric in the Calculations menu. A date range calculated metric limits results before they are processed, which can improve your report load time.

See Adding date range calculated metrics.

Decompose

Decompose is one option you can use to drill in to your results. Like drill in, you can decompose your results by clicking on a data point. Decompose will filter your results by the attribute value used in the selected data point, then allows you to slice the filtered results by additional attributes. The attributes you select are added to Columns, and the original attribute of the selected data point will be added to Filters.

See Interacting with reports.

Drill in

Use drill in to refine the results of your Explore report by slicing the result using extra attributes you choose or by allowing the report viewer to choose from a range of attributes. For example, you create a report showing all of your tickets by assignee name. You could configure drill-in to additionally display the status for each ticket or add an optional attribute for the ticket channel.

See Using drill in to refine your reports.

Dual axis

On some chart types, you can add a metric as a dual axis, or secondary axis. When you add a metric as a dual axis, a second axis will appear on your chart for the metric. This can be useful if your added metrics contain drastically different scales. You can add a dual axis metric by clicking the dual axis icon ().

See Adding metrics and attributes to reports.

E

Editor

A user role you can assign to your agents. Editors can create and customize new dashboards, reports, and datasets. They can also edit shared dashboards, reports, and datasets. Unlike admins, editors cannot set their own permissions. An admin must give editors permissions manually in Admin() > Editor authorizations ().

See Adding users to Explore.

Explosions

Explosions are accessed from the report builder. Similar to Rows, Explosions present you with multiple charts, each representing a different value for the added attributes. If you add more than one attribute, Explosions display charts for every combination.

See Adding metrics and attributes to reports.

F

Filters (report)

When adding attributes to your report one of the available locations is Filters. Filters will allow you to restrict which results are shown without the attribute appearing on your report. You must select attribute values to include or exclude, or else your results will not be filtered.

See Adding attributes to filter.

Filters (dashboard)

When building a dashboard, you can add filters, so viewers can restrict results to specific attribute values, date and result ranges, or the highest and lowest results. Filters are a type of interactive component. Dashboard filters include the data filter, time filter, metric filter, and top/bottom filter.

See Filtering results.

Forecasting

Forecasting is a result manipulation that analyzes patterns in your data to predict future results. Forecasting will show you a selected number of future date values. If you are looking to test the different outcomes when results are affected by a specific factor, you should use a global variable.

See Using forecasting to predict results.

G

Group

An alternative to a set for organizing attribute values. You can use groups to aggregate an attribute's values together under one new value. The new group attribute will show all results for the aggregated values as the new value.

See Creating groups.

I

Interactive components

When you are building your dashboard, you can add interactive components to allow your viewers to customize what results to view and how to view them. Interactive components include filters, change attributes, and more. Interactive components can be added by clicking the + icon in dashboard builder toolbar.

See Adding dashboard interactivity and Interacting with dashboards.

L

Legacy dashboards

In November, 2024, Zendesk introduced a new dashboard builder that simplifies how you can create and share dashboards. All dashboards created before this time are known as legacy dashboards.

M

Metric

Metrics are quantifiable results like the number of tickets, the agent wait time in minutes, the number of replies, first reply time in minutes, and more. A report must always contain at least one metric. When you add an attribute, your metric results will be divided into the different attribute values. By default when you add a metric to your report, the sum of results is calculated. You can change this by selecting a different aggregator.

See Adding metrics.

Metric filter

When used in reports, metric filters are a result manipulation. Metric filters let users filter reports to a specific numeric range. For example, you can use a metric filter to show only the months where the number of tickets solved was between 10 and 20.

See Selecting the metric result range for information about metric filters on reports.

O

Ordered set

An ordered set is a type of set that lets you list attribute values in a custom order. In an ordered set attribute, you can drag an attributes' values above or below each other to set their position. Ordered sets can be created in the Calculations menu.

See Organizing values by ordered sets for more information.

P

Preview (dashboards)

When you preview a dashboard, you'll see a view of how the dashboard will appear to viewers. However, until you initially share or subsequently publish the dashboard, users won't see your changes. See Sharing dashboards.

Publish (dashboards)

When you make changes to a dashboard, dashboard viewers don't automatically see those changes. To make them available, you must publish the dashboard changes. See Sharing dashboards.

Q

R

Renamed set

A renamed set is a type of set that allows you to enter new names for your attribute values. You can use renamed sets to create aliases, shorten results, or replace technical text with more common labels. This is the only way to rename an attribute's values. Renaming the metric or attribute is performed separately (see Editing metric and attribute names). You can create renamed sets in the Calculations menu.

See Organizing values by renamed sets.

Reports library

You can view all of your report in the Reports library. You can create a new report or edit, delete, and duplicate existing reports. You open the library by clicking the () icon on the left sidebar. Only admins and editors can see the Reports library.

See Creating reports.

Result manipulation

Result manipulations are simple calculations you can create that do not require you to enter any formula or create new metrics or attributes. You can add result manipulations to calculate the percentage difference, total, future results, and more. After you add a result manipulation it will appear in the list of applied filters, directly above the Filters panel.

You can find result manipulations in the Result manipulation menu (). Result manipulations are applied after your report results are processed and can only use metrics and attributes already added to your report. If you want to apply calculations before your report results are processed or use elements not on the report, create a calculated metric or attribute from the Calculations menu.

See Result manipulation reference.

Result metric calculation

The result metric calculation allows you to create calculations on already manipulated results. The result metric calculation is an available result manipulation and requires you to enter functions using Explore's formula writing language (see Formula writing resources). Unlike calculated metrics and attributes, the calculation will be applied to the report's current state, including other result manipulations applied.

See Performing calculation on manipulated results.

Result path calculation

The result path calculation is the easiest and fastest way to perform important calculations on your results. The result path calculation is an available result manipulation that enables you to perform the following calculations on your results like percentage, rank, and running totals.

See Performing calculations without calculated metrics.

Rows

When adding attributes to your report one of the available locations is the Rows panel. Rows show you individual charts for each of your attribute's values. For example, if you add the Ticket Type attribute to the Rows panel, you will see individual charts for Incident, Problem, Question, and Task. You can flip through each value by using the Row Selector to the left of the chart.

See Adding attributes to Rows.

Row Selector

When you add an attribute to the Rows panel, all of the attribute's values will be shown to the left of the chart in the Row Selector. You can click on an attribute value to show a chart for that value.

In the Chart configuration menu you can edit various row selector options like type, width, and header color.

See Adding attributes to Rows.

S

Set

In Explore, attribute values are arranged by their default import order. You can modify this by creating a set. Sets let you arrange your attribute's values in a custom list, or remove them from the set completely. There are two other types of sets you can create, an ordered set and a renamed set. You can create sets in the Calculations menu.

See Organizing values by groups and sets.

Size-encoded metric

When adding metrics to your report, you can choose to make them size-encoded by clicking the icon. If you add a metric as size-encoded, the difference in results will be shown by width or circumference, depending on your visualization. For example, if you are using a bar chart, values with a higher number of results will have wider bars, while values with fewer number of results will have narrower bars.

A size-encoded metric cannot be the first or only metric on your report and is not available for all visualization types.

See Measuring results by size.

Sort

When you add data to your report, your results will be displayed in the default order, such as A-Z. You can change the order your results appear in by using the sort result manipulation.

You can apply sort in the Result manipulation menu.

See Sorting results.

Standard calculated attribute

Standard calculated attributes are the most general type of calculated attributes. Standard calculated attributes are custom attributes you can create using solely Explore's formula writing language (see Formula writing resources) and elements from your dataset. You have complete freedom of what to create, and are not restricted by pre-built templates as in other attributes.

See Creating basic calculated attributes .

Standard calculated metric

Standard calculated metrics are the most general type of calculated metric. Standard calculated metrics are custom metrics you can create using solely Explore's formula writing language (see Formula writing resources) and elements from your dataset. You have complete freedom of what to create, and are not restricted by pre-built templates as in other calculated metrics.

See Creating basic calculated metrics.

T

Tab

When creating a dashboard, you can add tabs to separate your dashboard into different screens. Tabs allow you to group different reports together, while being able to share one dashboard. Tabs can be added by clicking the + button on the Dashboard Builder toolbar. After you have added a tab, you can add another by clicking the + next to the last tab title.

See Adding and arranging dashboard components and Customizing dashboards.

Time comparison calculated metric

A time comparison calculated metric is a type of calculated metric that compares a metric's results to a set dynamic time period. To create a time comparison calculated metric, you will select a metric and a time range to represent how long the time range is measuring. A time comparison calculated metric is dynamic, so as your date changes, the metric will adapt.

See Adding time and date calculated metrics.

Time filter

On your dashboards, you can limit results to a specific date ranges using a time filter. A time filter is a type of interactive component that lets viewers select dates to display. Time filters are useful for focusing into results or breaking down reports with several values.

To add a time filter, click the + icon in dashboard builder, then select Time filter.

See Selecting a specific date range and Adding time filters.

Top/bottom filter

The top/bottom filter restricts your report to the highest or lowest results. There are three different types of top/bottom filters in Explore:

Top/bottom result manipulation: This is the most simple option. The filter will only be applied after your report results have been processed, and you can only use attributes already added to the report.
See Creating a top/bottom result manipulation.

Top/bottom filtered attribute: Add a top/bottom filtered attribute from the Calculations menu. This calculated attribute allows you to filter results before they are added to the report frame.
See Creating a top/bottom filtered attribute.

Top/bottom dashboard filter: Enables viewers to limit all reports on a dashboard to the highest or lowest results.
See Adding a top/bottom filter and Filtering dashboard by top/bottom values.

Trend line

A trend line is similar to the Dual axis option for adding metrics. You can create two types of trend lines. If you add a metric as a trend line by clicking the (), the metric results will appear as a line separate from the rest of your report results. If you add trend lines in the Chart configuration menu, additional lines will be added to your report, demonstrating the trend of each metric's results.

See Displaying a metric's result as a trend line.

V

Viewer

Viewer is an available user role you can assign to your agents. Viewers cannot edit or create dashboards. They are only able to view dashboards shared with them, and cannot access the Reports library, Datasets library, and the Admin menu.

See Add users to Explore.

Viewer groups

When you share a dashboard, you can select the viewer groups to receive it. Viewer groups contain Explore users and are automatically imported from Zendesk Support. You must change a user's group in Zendesk Support to change their viewer group in Explore.

See Sharing dashboards.

Visualization selector

An interaction option you can add to your report. The visualization selector permits viewers to change the report's chart type on a dashboard. You can choose which chart types your viewers can select from in the chart configuration menu () >Visualization Selector.

See Visualization types reference.

Visualization type menu

The visualization type menu () is found on the right sidebar of the report builder, Use this menu to change your report's chart type, or select Auto to let Explore choose the most suitable type.

See Visualization types reference.