Import metrics to show users via a dashboard?

[Tim_Dickinson]

Has any enterprise that's offering a SaaS to customers done work to create a customer dashboard to present metrics around that SaaS? For instance, something that feeds uptime/availability/other numbers into Lithium Community (via API?) and then presents those in some format so that users can get their SaaS service info, rather than giving them a separate tool to login to to see that.

[JakeR · Accepted solution]

Hmmmm.....that is an interesting one.

I do not know of any examples of that, but then again, that does mean it has not happened.  Also, I have a sinking suspicion that a dashboard such as that, embedded in community, would likely be for a B2B High Tech company with a private community (though those conditions are certainly not required).

At a technical level, it can definitely be done.  There are some gymnastics, for sure, but I think something like that could be very helpful for some businesses and their customers.  And heck, it would also offer a new type of engagement / enticement for a customer to participate in the community too.  Seeing those types of off-to-the-side stats while participating in a community could be reassuring (or alarming!), and so in that respect, helpful.

[Tim_Dickinson]

Thanks for responding. Definitely a B2B High Tech company with a private community. It's an ongoing struggle to balance (1) giving users who are B2B customers one-stop-shopping for their interactions with you, and (2) stretching tools to do more than they were meant to. Clearly, any software with APIs these days makes any idea possible; it just may not be smart.

I don't like the idea of being a trail-blazer at this stage, though. 😁

[KerriW]

Hi @Tim_Dickinson  - first off, thanks so much for bringing this to the community! LOVE seeing early interactions, and it's definitely a great place to get ideas about what others are doing. 

Let's chat directly about what you're considering and see what we might be able to come up with together that would suit your needs 🙂

[JakeR]

Nah, I say go for it.  Just because it has not been done before, or nobody has seen it, does not mean it is a 'worst practice'.

While writing my response I was trying to think of something analogous to what you're talking about.  I mean, many communities have put 'community stats' front-and-center (how many members there are, etc), but I think some kind of stats around the business on the Community could certainly be appropriate. 

Granted, I'm sure there are *some* business metrics that would be career-suicide for you to push internally to get on a dashboard, but there are also some that (in the spirit of transparency) could be pretty cool for your customers to see. 

It being tax season, I was thinking an interesting thing that TurboTax (granted, a B2C High Tech product) could put on their Community would be...

*10,832,543 Tax Returns currently underway

*4,112,711 Tax Returns currently completed

*14 days until Taxes are due!

Not exactly what you're thinking, but a dashboard with business metrics that conveys a message, "that we are all in this together", could be pretty cool.  Depending on your business and your customers, there is some potential here. 

[GGTY18]

@JakeR I LOVE that idea! 

[Tim_Dickinson]

What I'm thinking of would have the extra wrinkle of being user-domain-specific, though. That is, if anyone from customer X logs in to the community there might be a widget or a place that could show them, "Your instance of SaaS service Y has had 99.99% uptime this quarter" or "231 users from X have used SaaS Service Y this month". So not only a dynamic dashboard of info, but a user-group-specific one.

Thanks @KerriW we'll talk for sure.

[JakeR]

@GGTY18 - Hah!  Feel free to implement it at any time.  Obviously, you know where my mind is at right now.  I'm usually the guy that gets started the moment my W2 arrives...but not so this year. 

I'm sure the business would bristle a bit at revealing those numbers (our competitors cant know this stuff!!!).  But given that Intuit is the biggest giant in the valley of Tax software, maybe you could convince some of those hesitant folks in leadership that now is not the time not to sit and protect the eggs in the nest, but rather, to step on the gas!!!   

[GGTY18]

Congratulations on getting out of the procrastination pitfall so many succumb to when preparing their taxes!

Nice callout on our giant as well!

We are actively #PoweringProsperity so your thoughts are appreciated!

[Wendy_S]

This topic has started to resonate with me as I am looking for a way to better visualize community stats to our experts, real-time preferably, to enable them to respond to customer posts that are for example, left without a response for xx amount of time. I was thinking if there could be a dashboard with real time information about the nr of new topics this months, the nr/percentage of unanswered and allow them to see these topics along with key information (author, subject line preview, date posted, nr of replies, product information etc) and to click and go respond, it would be so helpful. A board format simply doesn't do this for them. I would love to see some integration with a tool like Tableau and for a CM to specify what needs to go in a dashboard and build it.

[RahulHa]

Very pertinent & timely @Wendy_S. And this is something we are looking at as part of the planned update to Community Analytics; where we propose to add a set of new, real-time, actionable analytics elements. It proposes a Sunburst chart for 'New' & 'Trending' topics with & without Replies and with & without Accepted Solutions, among other things. 

Please find below a sample mockup. Adding @SudheeshN & @ManuMo, who are leading this project to this thread. 

[Wendy_S]

Thanks @RahulHa 

Can you click in these charts to get to the next level of detail and actually get to the posts from this?

[RahulHa]

Yes, that's the idea @Wendy_S. Areas within the chart can be clicked to see the corresponding posts, with the ability to click further into individual ones in there and land on those posts in the Community.

@SudheeshN @ManuMo