Advanced Dashboard Techniques | Dashboards

Introduction

In today's world of data-driven decision-making, dashboards play a crucial role in providing insights and visualizing complex data. This tutorial covers advanced dashboard techniques in Dynatrace, a leading platform for monitoring and optimizing application performance. We will explore how to enhance your dashboards for better data visualization and user interaction.

1. Custom Metrics and Events

Custom metrics allow you to track specific performance indicators that are relevant to your application's needs. In Dynatrace, you can define custom metrics and events that can be visualized on your dashboard.

Example: Create a custom metric for user sign-ups.

POST /api/v2/metrics

Payload:

{
  "metric": "user.signups",
  "type": "count",
  "description": "Count of user sign-ups",
  "unit": "Count"
}

2. Interactive Dashboards

Interactive dashboards allow users to filter and drill down into specific data points. Dynatrace supports various interactive elements such as dropdowns, sliders, and clickable charts.

Example: Add a filter for application versions.

Add filter: application.version

This will allow users to filter the dashboard data based on specific application versions, making it easier to identify issues related to particular releases.

3. Custom Dashboard Layouts

Customizing the layout of your dashboard can significantly enhance user experience. Dynatrace allows you to rearrange tiles, adjust sizes, and create multi-dimensional layouts.

Example: Rearranging dashboard tiles.

Drag and drop tiles to rearrange

This simple action can help users focus on the most critical information at a glance.

4. Data Annotations

Annotations provide context to the data displayed on your dashboard. You can mark significant events or changes that may have impacted performance metrics.

Example: Adding an annotation for a deployment.

POST /api/v2/annotations

Payload:

{
  "description": "Deployment of version 2.1",
  "timestamp": "2023-10-01T00:00:00Z"
}

5. Integrating External Data Sources

To enrich your dashboards, you may want to integrate data from external sources. Dynatrace supports integration with various APIs and data sources.

Example: Integrate Google Analytics data.

GET /api/v2/google-analytics

This will allow you to display web traffic data alongside application performance metrics.

Conclusion

Mastering advanced dashboard techniques in Dynatrace can significantly enhance your application monitoring capabilities. By utilizing custom metrics, interactive elements, and integrating external data, you can provide deeper insights into your application's performance and user experience.

With these tools, you can create compelling dashboards that not only display data but also tell a story about your application's performance over time.

Advanced Dashboard Techniques in Dynatrace