Key concepts used to define and build the analytics system
A dynamic data display containing a variety of metrics to answer a specific set of business questions (e.g. overall health of business, order fulfillment) in the form of dynamic visualizations. Used primarily to support monitoring of key performance indicators, such as total sales or number of fulfilled orders. A dashboard can be the size of an entire page or can be part of other pages within the admin (e.g. orders index).
An interface where users can edit or write and execute code that queries Shopify data, visualize the results, and share insights.
A representation of data that has been queried so as to answer a specific question or inform on a general topic area. Reports typically include a chart and data table, with one primary dimension, one primary metric, and may include several supporting metrics. The content of a report can be manipulated by altering the date range, time grouping, or filtering the data.
A graphic representation of data, usually in the form of points of sequential data forming a line or a series of bars.
A question about—or request for—data, formatted using a formally defined syntax. For Shopify data, queries are formatted using ShopifyQL and can be edited or written from within a notebook.
Data displayed in a tabular form through rows and columns.
A ShopifyQL query and its visual output that may contain a title, short description, a chart, a trend, and other functionalities.
Regularly checking specific information for a deviation from expectation in order to identify and prioritize time-sensitive tasks that could impact the business. Monitoring is most often supported by in-context analytics.
Regularly checking specific information at set intervals for an expected behavior in order to assess the result of the action taken for achieving a specific objective. Monitoring is most often supported by in-context analytics.
Conducting a deep dive into more specific information, after observing a deviation from expectation, in order to understand the cause(s) of the deviation that could impact the business. Investigation is typically supported by the reports connected to in-context analytics and the reports available in the Analytics section.
Merchant-driven exploration of the data in ways that are not preconfigured by Shopify and/or to answer questions that can’t be sufficiently answered by the default metrics and reports available. This is most often done by creation of one or many unique ShopifyQL queries and notebooks.