The KPI editor, as a recipe

A KPI's editor now reads the way the chart editor does — Show a number, Only under some conditions, Compared with something, and its Appearance — with the KPI beside it as the dashboard draws it, and both numbers side by side underneath.

Say what differs

A comparison used to open on a question few people could answer yet — Compare value, Percentage change or Absolute change? — and the most common case meant dragging the same number a second time. Compare with… now starts from a copy of your number — the same measure, the same conditions, the same dates — and asks only what differs: the period before, the same period last year, another period…, a different slice… or another number…. Each answer becomes a row; Refine… adds another, so net revenue, last year, in Germany is three rows. A slice on a field the KPI already narrows replaces it and says so — Germany · instead of France — and a row's × takes its difference away.

Periods that follow the KPI

The period before and the same period last year follow the KPI's own dates — the tab's date filter, or a date condition on the KPI — instead of naming dates of their own. A KPI on this month is compared with the same days of the month before, and keeps being so as the tab moves from September to October; the last 30 days meet the 30 days before, 2024 meets 2023, and a week meets the same weekdays a year earlier. The list shows the days each would cover today.

Both numbers, side by side

Under the KPI, two columns read the number and what it's compared with, part by part: the measure, each condition, and the dates, resolved to the days they cover today. What the two share is gray and says same; what differs is written out. The two answers sit at the bottom, in full, with the change between them — and when the comparison can't be computed, it says why. Click any part to change it.

The KPI, as the board draws it

The editor draws the KPI at its size on the dashboard, with its title, its number and its one comparison line. Click the number to swap it, or the line to change what it's compared with. The title is edited in place, and a KPI without one is offered the title its readback suggests — Total revenue this month.

Good news in color

For a change, you say which way is good news: Up is good for revenue, Down is good for costs or refunds. The arrow now always says what happened, and the color whether it's good news — a cost that rose shows a red up arrow, where it used to show a green down arrow. KPIs set to down is good change color accordingly.

A place to start, and Axi in the editor

Adding a KPI opens its editor straight away, on a question — What do you want to measure? — and up to four numbers drawn from your data: your company's metrics, the most used first, and a count, two of them already compared with the period before and the same period last year when the tab has a date filter. One click fills the recipe. Or describe the KPI in the box under the question — revenue this month, compared with last month — and Axi builds it. Ask Axi, at the top of the editor, opens that same Axi at the foot of the recipe on any KPI, already attached: the steps it changes are marked changed by Axi until your next edit.

The rest is the chart editor's

The list of every field (Browse all fields), the pickers, the condition editor and the ⋯ menu are the chart editor's: Show SQL — with the comparison's own query when it runs one — Data map, Reset KPI and Change data source…, which asks before it clears the KPI.

📖 KPI cards · Start from a suggestion · Add a comparison · Compare against another period · Both numbers side by side · Browse all fields · Ask Axi · The More menu