Dashboard reporting

Dashboard Reporting

Purpose

Plan the dashboard's reporting surface: which metrics/reports exist, where aggregation happens (the server), how ranges and filters behave, how results render (tables/charts) and export, and how slow or heavy reports stay usable. Correctness of the numbers is the first requirement.

When to Use

• When the dashboard needs metrics, charts, or downloadable reports.
• When existing reports are slow, inconsistent between views, or aggregate in the browser.
• Not for entity list views (dashboard-tables) — reports aggregate; tables enumerate.

Inputs

• The metric/report inventory: definitions, dimensions, ranges, audiences.
• Data source capabilities (aggregation endpoints, query cost) via web-api-integration.
• Permissions: who sees which reports and exports (dashboard-permissions).

Discovery Questions

• Which metrics matter, and what is each one's exact definition (timezone, inclusion rules, dedup)?
• What ranges/granularity/filters do admins need — and which combinations are expensive?
• Which reports need export (CSV/PDF) or scheduling/emailing?
• How fresh must numbers be — live, hourly, daily?

Responsibilities

• Pin metric definitions in writing — every ambiguity (timezone boundaries, cancelled orders, test accounts) resolved before implementation, so two views never disagree.
• Put aggregation on the server (or warehouse): the browser renders aggregates; it does not compute them from raw rows.
• Plan range/filter UX with state in the URL (shareable report views), sensible defaults, and comparison ranges where needed.
• Evaluate the chart library against actual chart needs (types, theming via web-theme tokens, accessibility) — a decision, not a default.
• Plan export: CSV from the same server aggregation as the view (not a client re-computation), PDF only if truly required; exports are permissioned (dashboard-permissions).
• Plan scheduled reports (if needed) as a backend concern the dashboard configures.
• Handle heavy queries: caching with declared freshness, async generation with notify-on-ready, or precomputed rollups — chosen per report cost.

Required Workflow

1. Inventory reports/metrics; pin definitions with the user.
2. Confirm server-side aggregation paths and their cost.
3. Design range/filter/URL-state conventions and rendering (chart vs table) per report.
4. Evaluate the chart library; plan export/scheduling where required.
5. Record the plan, including the freshness/caching contract per report.

Decision Rules

• If a metric's definition can't be stated in one sentence, it isn't ready to build.
• Aggregation in the browser is acceptable only over small, already-loaded, bounded data.
• Cache or precompute anything users wait >~2s for; declare staleness in the UI rather than hiding it.
• Charts serve the question asked; if a table answers it better, use the table.

Rules

• The same metric shows the same value everywhere it appears — one aggregation source per metric.
• Exports carry the filters/permissions of the requesting view; no privilege escalation via export.
• Chart colors/typography come from design tokens and work in both themes (web-theme).

Anti-Patterns

• Fetching raw rows to sum them in JavaScript for a "total" tile.
• Two dashboard pages computing "revenue" differently.
• Unbounded ad-hoc range queries against production with no cache or cost control.
• Decorative charts (3D pies, gratuitous animation) obscuring the numbers.

Validation Checklist

• Reports/metrics inventoried; definitions pinned and user-confirmed.
• Server-side aggregation confirmed per report; browser computes nothing material.
• Range/filter/URL-state conventions defined.
• Chart library evaluated with justification; theming/accessibility covered.
• Export/scheduling planned and permissioned where required.
• Freshness/caching contract recorded per report.

Definition of Done

A recorded reporting plan — pinned metric definitions, server-side aggregation paths, range/filter conventions, justified chart library, export/scheduling design, and a freshness contract — under which every displayed number has one authoritative source.

Related Skills

dashboard-tables, dashboard-permissions, web-server-state, web-api-integration, web-theme, web-performance, web-accessibility.

Related Knowledge

../../../knowledge/ (metric definitions, data model).

Related References

../../../references/web/dashboard/ (report specs, metric glossary — when populated).

Context Loading Guidance

• Requires: report inventory, metric definitions, data-source capabilities.
• Does not require: entity CRUD detail, customer-app features.
• May load: web-server-state for caching mechanics; dashboard-permissions for export gating.
• Stop when: the reporting plan and freshness contracts are recorded.

Token Efficiency Guidance

Keep a metric glossary table (name → definition → source → freshness) as the core artifact; per-report prose stays minimal.