Metabase tutorial: how to build a BI dashboard (step-by-step)
Overview
What is Metabase?
Metabase is an easy-to-use, open source business intelligence tool that lets you analyse data from a variety of data destinations and sources. It also follows a simple and fast setup process.
What is Metabase used for?
Metabase can be used to share live dashboards, automated reports, and business questions across the organisation. Its data visualisation capabilities are exceptional and can be showcased in a user-friendly way—without using SQL. For those who are comfortable with using SQL, however, the option exists.
What are the benefits of using Metabase?
The platform allows users to ask simple queries without using SQL or any code. Additionally, the set up process is fast and easy to implement, taking under 5 mins. The drag and drop interface makes it easy to use as well. New users can benefit from a free 14-day trial and get familiar with the platform. Compared to other BI tools, Metabase is also reasonably priced and allows users to easily share dashboards across the organization via slack or email.
Table of Contents
1. Overview
What is Metabase?
What is Metabase used for?
What are the benefits of using Metabase
Who will benefit from this use case?
What kind of dashboard will we learn to build in this use case?
2.Getting started with Metabase
How to add a database or data warehouse to Metabase?
3. All you need to know about Metabase ‘questions’
What are Metabase questions?
Example question in Metabase (step-by-step)
How to summarize by a custom impression
4. Creating a dashboard in Metabase
How to add your question to a dashboard
How to add two or more questions to a dashboard in Metabase
How to add descriptive cards to your dashboard
How to add filters to your Metabase Dashboard
How to share my dashboard with team members
Who will benefit from this use case?
This use case can be most useful for either those in positions of Management, that are not familiar with SQL but would like to set up dashboards in Metabase to answer key business questions. Or those who are completely new to Metabase and would like to get a beginner level tutorial.
What kind of dashboard will we learn to build in this use case?
Below is the dashboard we will build together in the steps to follow. Feel free to use the filters to see how it performs.
Let’s get started…
Getting started with Metabase
The BI tool offers a 14-day free trial for anyone who wants to test it out before using it. Once you’ve set up a free trial, the first step then is to connect your database with Metabase. For this use case, we will be using our own database “Mediation Revenue.”
How to add a database or data warehouse to Metabase?
For first-time users who want to get familiar with the platform, the option to use Metabase’s sample data exists. All you have to do is click on the “Browse data” icon at the top right of your screen, as displayed in the screenshot below.
For those who want to work with their own database, you can easily connect it by clicking the gear icon on the top right >> Admin >> Add a database >> Add your database credentials.
If you’re running into problems with connecting your database, check if it is included in Metabase’s list of officially supported databases.
All you need to know about Metabase ‘questions’
What are Metabase questions?
The first step towards creating a dashboard in Metabase is by asking a business question. The answer to your question can take the form of a graph, chart or table—whatever you choose. The most important thing to note here is that you can share your business questions across the team and organisation. We will learn how to do this as this use case progresses.
Example question in Metabase (step-by-step)
Start by clicking “Ask a question” >> Simple question >> Pick the data you want to work with >> View the raw data. These steps can be visualised in the graphic below.
Next, say we want to visualise some important metrics. In our case, the first thing we want to visualise are the sum of impressions. So I go to Summarize (on the top right of my screen) >> under summarize by I choose “sum of” by adding a metric and then #impressions. I then choose to group by “Dataset Date”. In the end, my side bar looks something like this:
Optional: How to summarize by a custom impression
At this point we can also choose to summarize by a custom impression. I won’t be doing that for this graph here but am sharing the process for your knowledge. Let’s say your data has a column of revenue and impressions, and you wish to visualise Revenue per impressions (RPM). All you have to do is click show editor >> Summarize by and choose custom question in the drop down >> add a formula (in this case it will be “Sum([Revenue]) / Sum([Impressions]) / 1000″), name the metric and hit done >> save.
The visualization of my choice will be displayed on my page. At the moment, this is what I see:
The bar chart above doesn’t tell me much though. I can now choose to make it more informative and customise it to fit my needs. To do this, I click on “Visualization” on the bottom right and pick the visualization style of my choice (in my case this is a line graph). By clicking on “Display” next, I can make the chart more informative. For example, by toggling on the button under “Show values on data points”.
After clicking done, I can also Filter the Dataset Date by clicking Filter >> Dataset Date >> Selecting ‘Between’ in the drop down menu and inputing a date range.
The graph I end up with now helps me answer the business question “what are my daily total impressions between 9th April to 17th April?” Here’s what my line graph looks like:
Important note: remember to save your visualizations often as they don’t autosave! Once you’ve done so, you will see a prompt ti add your question to a dashboard. This is what we’ll discuss in the next section.
Creating a dashboard in Metabase
How to add your question to a dashboard
Once you’ve finalized your visualization, go ahead and save it and add it to your dashboard. At this point, you can either create a new dashboard or add it to an existing dashboard. If you’re creating a new dashboard, we recommend making the title of your dashboard as precise as possible. At this point your business question now becomes the first item in your dashboard.
The aim for my dashboard is to help me, and my team members answer any revenue-related questions between April 9th and 17th. Hence, I will focus my next questions on creating visualizations around sum of daily revenue and cumulative revenue.
Important note: At this stage remember to switch on auto-refresh and choose the time of your choice in the drop-down.
How to add two or more questions to a dashboard in Metabase
After repeating the process of adding a new question to make two additional charts, I clicked the pencil icon at the top right of my dashboard >> clicked the plus sign >> and searched for the title of my question to add the charts to the same dashboard.
I adjusted the size of the charts and ended up with the following:
How to add descriptive cards to your dashboard
To create descriptive cards like the one below, ask a question >> simple question >> summarize by (choose your metric of choice) >> click “visualizations” on the bottom left and choose “Number”. Add it to your dashboard the same way you would add the other questions – by saving first.
How to add filters to your Metabase Dashboard
Lastly, we should add filters to our dashboards to make it easy to navigate. One of the most used filters are “date range”. To add this filter, we will first put our dashboard in edit more by clicking the pencil icon on the top right >> add a filter >> Time >> Select your preferred option (in my case it will be date range).
Next, you need to name the Date Range and also select the metric related to the date range in the individual drop down options that appear on each of your different questions. Refer to the graphic below for a visual guide.
How to share my dashboard with team members
One of the best things about Metabase is that it allows you to share your dashboard easily across the organization, even with those who do not have a Metabase account. All you have to do is click the slanted arrow at the top right of your dashboard that says sharing >> sharing and embedding >> toggle the “Enable sharing” button on.
At this point you can choose to share with a public link (which can be accessed by non-Metabase users too) or use the embed code to embed your dashboard to a webpage.
Thanks for your attention!
Send us your feedback
Your feedback helps us constantly improve and update our current use cases, or in creating new use cases as per demand. If you have any questions regarding this use case, or would like to have a further discussion on the topic, then reach out to us at info@growthfullstack.com.
