The major difference between the reports and the dashboards is in the outputs, but the module doing the calculations is actually the same. This article highlights the differences in output.
When should I use reports vs. dashboards?
Key Differences
- Dashboards: Personal, drag-and-drop overviews placed on your start view. Dynamic and best for real-time, visual insights.
- Reports: Can be public (shared with others) or personal (only for you). They handle larger datasets and offer in-depth analysis. You can save reports as private or public.
Dashboards vs. Reports
- Dashboards: Great for creating an easy-to-read overview with charts and graphs. They are more visually focused and designed for quick insights. However, large tables with thousands of rows are usually better suited to reports.
- Reports: Ideal for handling large datasets, such as tables with hundreds or thousands of lines. They can be exported as CSV files for further analysis, and the export option is located at the bottom of each report.
Both dashboards and reports support different visual outputs (e.g., line/bar charts, pie charts). The best option depends on the complexity of the data. For single or dual-dimensional data, charts are effective. But for more complex information, tables offer clarity.
Example: Pie Chart
A pie chart works well for displaying a single dimension (e.g., revenue distribution across websites).
The Dashboard:
Dashboards provide a real-time overview and are typically used for tracking what’s happening within the system. They allow you to set up multiple dashboards tailored to your needs, often relying heavily on graphs but can also include tables.
Dashboards are dynamic, allowing for on-the-fly changes without saving, making them useful for quick adjustments. There’s no right or wrong way to set them up, but here are some suggested dashboards to start with:
- Revenue graph: Displays revenue per day for the last month.
- SSP revenue graph: Breaks down daily revenue by SSP for the last month.
- Site revenue table: Shows revenue levels per site for the current month.
- AdOps users might go deeper, breaking this down by placement and focusing on the last few days to catch short-term drops.
- Advertiser trend table: Tracks top advertiser performance and trends.
These are just examples. You can customise your dashboard setup to suit your needs.
The Reports:
Reports are designed for in-depth analysis, handling larger datasets, or when you need to share data with others in your organisation. Just like dashboards, the ideal report setup depends on your tasks, but here are some examples:
- End of month report: Shows revenue per publisher/website, broken down by revenue type. If you’re a programmatic network, this can be exported and shared with finance for invoicing.
- You can reuse the report by updating the dates each month.
- Start-to-end report: Tracks revenue per publisher since the start of your relationship, offering a full-scale development view.
- By using a fixed start date and dynamic end date, the report stays up to date.
- Large advertiser reports: Tables are more suitable for complex or large reports, especially when handling detailed data like advertiser performance. You can break these down into “pages” on the dashboard to keep things manageable.
For day-to-day investigations or optimisations, reports might not need to be saved, as they often require deep drill-downs. Experimenting with different table/graph combinations will help you find the best setup for your needs.
Customising the graph view
Both dashboard and report views can be customised to display multiple graphs side by side, making it easier to compare data. To customise:
- Use the settings next to each report or dashboard.
- You can display up to 6 graphs per row, adjust the graph style (lines or bars), and orient the graph as needed.
- You can also choose to display your events on the graph for better data tracking. Dotted line appears where the event was saved.
