Whilst Dashboards and Widgets are used to display data, Metrics are used to measure and filter the dataset that you chose to display. These are managed under Reports > Configure Metrics on the blue Eploymenu and allow you to either update existing or create new metrics.

Configure Metrics 

The library of existing metrics are found within the Configure Metrics menu.  From here you can filter, create, edit or delete metrics as required. You can use the Record Type filters to quickly find the metrics for the system area you are looking for, and use the information contained within the grid to understand how the metric is configured. This will include things like the aggregate types, the filters in place and if / how it is used.

Hint - Before creating a new metric, check to see if it already exists. Your library will be made up of pre-configure system metrics, as well as any others that you have access to. Unless you need something very specific, it is likely that your metric will already exist.

Creating a new Metric

If you do need to create a new metric, you can click New on the grey tool bar to begin configuring the metric you require. 

Hint - Before creating a new metric from scratch, you can chose to copy an existing metric. This can help save time, especially if you only need to make a slight tweak to one of the settings or the filter. To do this, click into the metric and click Copy Metric. You will land in the new metric, where you can begin to make any changes as required.

Once within the metric, you can set the following:

• Title - This is the name of the metric and will be visible when configuring widgets. This should be clear and concise, to help ensure that the correct metric is used each time.
  
  
• Description - This field will be visible once the metric is selected and is ideal for defining how the metric should be used. It can be useful to explain the filters and the options selected here, so that any other users know exactly what you are measuring with this metric.
  
  
• Record Type - This is used to drive the filters, date and user options available when configuring the metric. Once saved, the Record Type cannot be changed. 

• Date Field - The date field allows you to filter on when any activity took place, and there may be several options available here. For example, when reporting on applications, you may be interested the application creation date, the actual application date or when the application was last updated. Depending on what you select here, you will get very different results when creating your widgets and reports. 
  
  
• Aggregate Type - This is the mathematical function of the metric and enables you to define whether you will be counting the number of records or doing sums, min / max or averages. More often than not, you will be counting activity, so Count is set as default.

Hint - When selecting any of the calculated options, you will also be able to select the numeric field to base the calculation on. These options will be dependent on the record type selected, but tend to include options such as salary or positions available.

• User Field - This option allows you to define the user relationship with the metric, which means you can filter on record owners, creators or associated records. For example, for candidates, you may be interested in who created the record; but for applications, you may be more interested in the user on the vacancy.

• Permissions - This option allows you to restrict who can use this metric, when configuring their dashboards. As dashboards provide quick access to information from across the database, adding a permission to the metric helps to ensure that only those who have the relevant permission are able to access the information.

Hint - Unsure what to pick for the permission? Select one which relates to the record type. So if you create an application metric, select one of the application permissions. This will ensure that anyone who doesn't have access to applications wont be able to use the metric to get the information either.

• Editors - This option restricts anyone from making changes to your metrics, ensuring that they don't inadvertently break filters or modify reports without you knowing. Leave blank to allow anyone to edit, or select the approved users from the list.
  
  
• Filter - As the metric so far will be based on all records of the type selected, you can then use the filter to narrow this down. The filter uses our query builder functionality to allow you to search within the database for specific records, based on any information recorded across the database. For more information on using these filters, please see here.

Once configured, click Save to confirm the metric and make it immediately available to use on your dashboards. At any time, you can click into the metric and so long as you are an editor, make any changes to the configuration as above.