Getting started with Explore: step by step

In this article, you'll use what you learned in the Getting Started guide to create and share a simple Zendesk Explore dashboard that reflects a common business situation.

This panel displays the following information:

For each agent in your organization, it shows the number of tickets assigned to them.
Allows you to filter tickets by status. For example, for a selected agent, it only shows tickets with a resolved status.
Tip: These steps are intended to introduce you to the basic workflow of creating and sharing a dashboard. However, we encourage you to give it a try. If you want to choose different metrics and attributes, change the chart type, or if you want to know what the option does, try it out!

If you need more help with anything you find, see the article Resources of Zendesk Explore.

This article covers the following sections:

before starting
Step 1: Creating a Query
Step 2: Creating a Dashboard
Step 3: Sharing your dashboard
next steps
before starting

Before completing this walkthrough, make sure that:

Zendesk Support contains ticket and agent data. While Explore integrates with all Zendesk channels, for this example you will use the dataset Support: Tickets. If you're just starting out with Zendesk, chances are the reports it generates won't show much data in those early days.
Your user account is configured to use Explore. In addition, you must have the Administrator or Editor user role. For more information, see Adding Users to Explore.
Step 1: Creating a Query

In this step, you will create a query that will ask you questions about your business data in Zendesk Support. You'll start by connecting to the dataset.

Start now
In the Zendesk Support product tray, choose the Explore icon ().
In the Zendesk Explore sidebar, click the queries icon ().
On the Queries page, click New Query.
On the Select a dataset page, choose Support > Tickets > Support: Tickets [default].

The Query Builder opens with a blank query.

Set the query metric

The first thing to do is add the metric to this report. That is, what are you measuring. In this example, it is the total number of tickets stored in Zendesk Support. Perform the following steps to define your query metric.

In the Metrics section of the Query Builder, click Add.
In the Metrics list, expand Tickets, choose Tickets and click Apply.
Explore takes the metric you've added and automatically displays results based on it.

Even simple (a count of how many tickets you have), it's a good example of how Explore dynamically displays results based on metrics and attributes. Now you can add attributes to get more interesting results.

Set query attributes

Once your query metric is defined, add some attributes to make this report more interesting. To do this, first add a column to the query so you can see which agents are assigned to tickets.

Add assignee name
In the Columns section, click Add.
In the list of attributes, expand Assignee, choose Assignee Name and click Apply.
Again, Explore automatically processes the change you made, analyzes the best way to present it (in this case, a bar chart), and displays your results.
Add ticket status

Remember that we also want to be able to filter results by ticket status. For example, we might only want to display tickets from “Robert Stack” with a status of Solved.

In the Lines section, click Add.
In the list of attributes, expand Ticket, choose Ticket Status and click Apply.
Once again, Explore recalculates the query and displays the results. Now when you choose a ticket status, you will only see the number of tickets with that status from each agent.
Note: You can select one or more Ticket Status items or select all by clicking on the Ticket Status header.

Give the query a name

Explore automatically names the query when you save it. In the case of the example query above, Explore saves it as COUNT (Tickets), crossed with Ticket Status by Assignee Name. It is up to you to use the suggested name or assign one of your choice.

How to name the query

In the Query Builder, click the query name text.
Enter a name for the query for example:

Save the query. If you've already saved it, choose Update Query.
save the query

When the query is complete, verify that you have saved it. If you close the browser or go to another page without saving it, all changes will be lost.

In the Query Builder, click Save.
You will see the confirmation message that indicates that your query has been saved.
Tip: You can also save a query directly to a new panel by selecting walking Add to panel.
Step 2: Creating a Dashboard

Once you've created queries, you'll want to group several of them together, add some interactivity (for example, by selecting a date range), and include other text and graphics to make the report look good. In this step, you will learn how to make a dashboard from the query you created in Step 1.

There are two ways to create a dashboard. You can save a query directly to a new dashboard or create a dashboard first and then add the query. In this example, we will do the second method.

Start now
In the Zendesk Support product tray, choose the Explore icon ().
In the Zendesk Explore sidebar, click the queries icon ().
On the Panels page, click New Panel.

A new blank panel opens in the panel builder.

add a widget

If you've read Introduction to Zendesk Explore, you know that widgets add information and interactivity to a dashboard. Widgets can include a query, an image, and interaction elements like a date picker.

The most important widget you need on this dashboard is your query. Follow the steps below to get the query to your dashboard:

In your blank pane, click Add > Add query.
On the Add Query page, click the query you created in Step 1: Create a Query, then click Add Query.
After a moment, the query will appear on your dashboard.
Click and hold on the widget's title bar to move it to the desired location on the dashboard.
Select the widget and drag any corner or edge to resize it.

And finally, give your dashboard a title like People and Ticket Analysis. Double-click the existing title (in a new panel, it will say Untitled), and then enter your new title. When finished, your dashboard will look like this:

You've just created a simple dashboard. We recommend that you explore the settings and widgets on the Dashboards page. There are many resources for you to use!

You can, for example, add a graphic containing your company logo, change colors and fonts, or create and add more queries. If you would like some guidance on these features, see Creating Dashboards and Customizing Dashboards.

Step 3: Sharing your dashboard

In the previous lesson, you created a dashboard, but so far, you can only preview it. To get the most out of it, you will certainly want to share it with others. There are several ways to do this (see Sharing Dashboards), but since you're in the Dashboard Builder, we'll do it here.

In the dashboard you created, click Share.

From the Share Dashboard list, choose the Zendesk groups you want to share this dashboard with.
Tip: Groups are collections of users that you configure in Zendesk Support. For details, see Creating, Managing, and Using Groups.
Click Invite.

After a few minutes, the people you invited will receive an email with the subject "(your name) has shared a Zendesk Explore dashboard with you". If they click the Start exploring link, they will see the dashboard you created.

And last but not least, if you change this dashboard after you've shared it, you'll need to click Publish so that the changes are visible to everyone you've shared the dashboard with.

next steps

These steps covered the basic Zendesk Explore workflow. However, Explore is a powerful product with features for you to consult, present and share your business information. To continue learning about Explore, access the following two links:

Getting Started with Zendesk Explore - contains general information about Explore and links to more detailed information.
Zendesk Explore Resources - Contains links to Zendesk and community tips to help you get the most out of Explore.