Create a dashboard metric

Dashboard metics are custom metrics that can be displayed on the Dashboard for members. Using RASNET, they can be added and removed at any time.

Metrics will show a formatted value specific to the member viewing the dashboard. The metric will however be visible to allow members.

The process of creating a dashboard metric involves the following steps:

  • Create the metric within RASNET (once off).
  • Creating a CSV file with the data specific to the metric.
  • Uploading the CSV file via FTP (on a regular basis, as required).

Metric types

There are two types of metrics that can be displayed on RASNET.

The first is a standard metric used to show one value. The second is a target metric used to show a value, and a target value.

Standard metric CSV

The CSV should contain only numbers and text, no formatting such as %, $ or commas will be accepted (these are added through the custom metric set up in RASNET admin). 

Each file should be formatted with two columns. 

The first row will contain the CSV headers: code and metric.

Column A will contain the member code. Column B will contain the corresponding data to the member code in column A. Example below;

Target metric CSV

The target metric CSV is formatted similarly to the standard metric CSV, but contains an extra column of information.

The CSV should contain only numbers and text, no formatting such as %, $ or commas will be accepted (these are added through the custom metric set up in RASNET admin). 

Each file should be formatted with two columns. 

The first row will contain the CSV headers: code and target value and actual value.

Column A will contain the member code. Column B will contain the corresponding target value to the member code in column A. Column C will contain the corresponding actual value to the member code in Example below;

Creating a new metric in RASNET

This step must be completed before uploading the CSV file over FTP.

  1. Log into RASNET.
  2. Select dashboard metrics from the navigation menu.
  3. Click the create new dashboard metrics button and fill in the following details;
    1. Label: This will be the title of the metric on the dashboard e.g. Team Repco Points.
    2. Link: Use this to optionally link off to more information about a specific metric, this must start with `http://` or ` https://`.
    3. Metric type: If you are only showing one value, select `single`, if you are showing a target value and progress value select `target'.
    4. Data format: Select the format you would like data you are uploading to be presented as on the dashboard (percentage, number, currency, text).

      Info: The data uploaded via CSV contains only numbers and text (don't use $, % or comma separators), formatting is added through this data format field.
    5. Alias: This needs to match the name of the CSV file that will be uploaded via FTP; exactly, minus the .csv. So if your file is called team-repco-points.csv, then the alias will be team-repco-points.
    6. Order: This will allow you to order the two rows of metrics in order from left to right, by row. Always use tens when ordering metrics to enable quick editing e.g. the first metric should be 10, the second 20 and the third 30. This way if you decide to add one between 10 and 20 all you need to do is set the order to 15.

      Info: The custom metrics area support metrics in the following quantities:

      1-3: one row of one to three metrics
      4-5: one row of four
      6-7: two rows of three
      8 & up: two rows of four

      Eight is the maximum number of metrics that will be displayed.
    7. Contextual help: This is the text that will be shown when the question mark hint is clicked.
    8. Publish: If you are ready to publish, select 'yes', otherwise, select 'no'.

Uploading a dashboard metric file via FTP

Create the metric in RASNET admin before starting the upload.

  1. Log in to Exavault;
  2. Upload the CSV file containing the data to create the metric to the FTP root folder.
  3. Visit file import tasks on RASNET to see the import progress. Please allow a couple of minutes for this process to complete.