Your First Dashboard
~4 min readYour First Dashboard
After installation, dashboardSMASHBOARD automatically creates four pre-built dashboards covering the most important views for any store. You can start using them immediately — no setup required.
| Dashboard | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Daily Pulse | Live snapshot of today vs. a normal day — revenue, orders, AOV, and Visitors |
| Growth Tracker | 30-day rolling growth view with benchmarked goals for revenue, orders, AOV, items, and Visitors |
| Operations Health | Inventory alerts, top sellers by week, items sold trend, and order decline detection |
| Year-Over-Year | This period vs. the same period last year — requires 12+ months of store history |
Daily Pulse opens by default. All four dashboards use relative goals (e.g. +5%, +10%) so they work out of the box regardless of your store's size — no per-store configuration needed.
These are a starting point, not a prescription. Every card can be modified, and you can add, remove, or reorder cards on any dashboard. You can also create fully custom dashboards from scratch.
Pre-Built Dashboards — What You Get on Day One
Each dashboard is pre-configured with cards, goals, and time windows that cover the most common tracking needs.
Daily Pulse
Audience: Anyone who does a morning check or monitors the store intraday. This is the right dashboard to leave open during a sale event or campaign.
Question it answers: "Is today going well compared to a typical day?"
All cards compare today (or this week) against the same time period in the prior week, so the comparison accounts for day-of-week patterns.
| Card | What it shows | Goal | Visualization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Today | Net revenue for today, with gross revenue and orders as secondary stats | +5% vs same day last week | Metric |
| Orders Today | Order count for today | +10% vs same day last week | Metric |
| AOV This Week | Average order value for the last 7 days | +3% vs previous 7 days | Metric |
| Visitors Today | Online store sessions for today, via Shopify's Admin API | +5% vs same day last week | Metric |
| 30-Day Revenue Trend | Day-by-day net revenue over the last 30 days | No goal — trend context only | Sparkline |
| 30-Day Visitors Trend | Day-by-day visitor sessions over the last 30 days | No goal — trend context only | Sparkline |
The two trend cards at the bottom give context for the four daily metrics — you can see whether today's numbers fit the recent pattern or represent a breakout.
Growth Tracker
Audience: Store owners focused on growth, doing weekly or monthly performance reviews. Also useful for teams reporting to stakeholders or investors.
Question it answers: "Am I growing this month compared to last month?"
All cards use a rolling 30-day window and compare against the previous 30-day period. Revenue and Orders include a Forecast indicator projecting where you'll land by the end of the period.
| Card | What it shows | Goal | Visualization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (30d) | Net revenue for the last 30 days, with Forecast | +15% vs previous 30 days | Metric |
| Orders (30d) | Order count for the last 30 days, with Forecast | +10% vs previous 30 days | Metric |
| AOV (30d) | Average order value for the last 30 days | +5% vs previous 30 days | Metric |
| Items Sold (30d) | Net items sold for the last 30 days | +10% vs previous 30 days | Metric |
| Visitors (30d) | Visitors for the last 30 days | +10% vs previous 30 days | Metric |
| Top Products (30d) | Top 10 products ranked by gross revenue | No goal — ranked list | Table |
The +15% revenue goal and +10% order goal are industry-benchmarked starting points for healthy growth. Adjust them to match your own targets.
Operations Health
Audience: Operations managers, fulfillment teams, and anyone who needs to catch problems before they escalate.
Question it answers: "Is stock healthy and is order volume holding steady?"
| Card | What it shows | Goal | Visualization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory Health | Total products tracked, low stock count (≤10 units), critical count (≤3 units) | No goal — operational alert | Badge |
| Top Products (7d) | Top 10 products by gross revenue for the last 7 days | No goal — ranked comparison | Bar chart |
| Items Sold (7d) | Daily items sold trend for the last 7 days | No goal — trend context | Sparkline |
| Orders (7d) — decline alert | Order count for the last 7 days | +0% vs previous 7 days (don't drop) | Metric |
The "decline alert" card on Orders uses a +0% goal — the target is literally "don't be worse than last week." The Alert will fire red if orders drop vs. the prior period, giving you early warning of a slowdown.
Inventory Health uses Shopify's Admin API directly (not SmashGL) and reflects live inventory levels. The low-stock and critical thresholds can be adjusted per card.
Year-Over-Year
Audience: Established stores (12+ months of history), seasonal businesses, and annual planners who need to benchmark this year against last year.
Question it answers: "Am I beating last year?"
Note: Cards on this dashboard display "insufficient history" until your store has at least 12 months of order data. [SHARED FACT: YoY requirement]
| Card | What it shows | Goal | Visualization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue YoY | Net revenue for the last 30 days vs. the same 30 days last year, with Forecast | +20% vs previous year | Metric |
| Orders YoY | Order count for the last 30 days vs. same 30 days last year | +15% vs previous year | Metric |
| AOV YoY | Average order value for the last 30 days vs. same period last year | +5% vs previous year | Metric |
| 365-Day Revenue Trend | Full year of daily net revenue as a chart | No goal — full-year context | Chart |
The 365-day revenue chart lets you see seasonal patterns at a glance — where the peaks and valleys fall and whether this year's pattern mirrors last year's.
Modifying pre-built dashboards: Click Edit (pencil icon) on any dashboard to add, remove, or reorder cards. Click Edit on any card to change its goal, visualization, time window, or write a custom SmashGL query. All changes are saved immediately and only affect your dashboard — the pre-built templates are a starting point, not a lock-in.
Creating Additional Dashboards
- Open dashboardSMASHBOARD from your Shopify admin's Apps menu.
- Click + Create Dashboard (top right of the Dashboards list).
- Enter a Name (e.g. "Daily Operations") and optionally a Description.
- Click Create Dashboard.
You can have as many dashboards as you need. Effective names answer a specific question:
- "Q2 Goals" — focused on the quarter's OKRs
- "Daily Check-in" — quick morning snapshot (orders, revenue, sessions)
- "Product Performance" — top products and inventory
Navigating Dashboards
All your dashboards appear on the home screen. Click any dashboard name to open it. Dashboards update automatically with live data from your store.
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