Meter Widgets: Goals, Thresholds and Colors
A meter shows one number against where you want it to be: a bar or a dial with your goals marked on it, filled up to today's value and colored by how many goals it has reached. Give a meter up to three goals, for example an answer-time SLA that turns amber at 50%, light green at 70% and green at 90%, and everyone can read how close the team is at a glance.
Before you start
You need edit access to the dashboard.
A meter is a way of showing a single number, so it works on quick stats and on the widget formulas that give one number (percentage, difference and sum). It suits percentages measured against an SLA target especially well.
Set up a meter
Click Edit in the dashboard's toolbar, then the gear on the quick stat (or add a new one).
Under Chart types, choose Meter.
Fill in the Meter settings:
Min and Max: the two ends of the meter.
Goal, and optionally Goal 2 and Goal 3: the steps toward where you want the number to be. Enter them in any order; the meter sorts them.
Good when: Above goal when higher is better (an SLA rate), Below goal when lower is better (a miss rate or a wait time). It applies to all the goals.
Shape: Horizontal (a bar) or Radial (a dial).
Click Edit Widget to save.
Leave Min, Max and Goal empty and the meter runs from 0 to 100 with the goal at the midpoint, which is a good start for any percentage.
Reading a meter
Markers: each goal is a marker on the track with its number underneath. The strictest goal is labelled in words: Goal 90 when above is good, or Threshold 15 when below is good, since then it's a line to stay under.
The good side: the part of the track beyond the goals is tinted, so you can see where the number should be heading.
Goals close together: on a small tile, a goal's label hides when there's no room for it (the strictest goal's label always shows). Hover over the marker to see its value.
Radial meters list every goal under the number, for example "Thresholds 5 · 10 · 15".
No value yet: the meter shows an empty track and "—" rather than a fill at the minimum.
Colors
The fill and the number take the color of the highest goal reached:
None met: red.
Partway: amber, once the easiest goal is reached (on a meter with two or three goals).
Nearly there: light green, two goals out of three.
All met: green.
A meter with one goal is simply red or green.
To use your own colors, click the paint roller on the meter in edit mode (Format widget), or edit your quick stats color template. Its Meter part has the four colors. They're named by how far along the value is, so one template reads the same on meters with one, two or three goals. Left empty, All met follows your palette's Good color and None met its Bad color (the Good & Bad part, which also colors the trend percentage on quick stats).
More on templates and themes: Color Themes, Color Templates and Widget Formatting.
What done looks like
Each service level on your dashboard sits on its own meter with your targets marked, and its color tells the team how far along it is without reading the number.
Troubleshooting
I don't see Meter under Chart types. Meters are available on single-number quick stats. Charts, tables and donuts don't offer one.
A goal sits at the end of the meter. Goals outside Min and Max are held at the end. Widen Min or Max to place it.
A goal's number is missing. The goals are too close together for the tile's size. Make the tile wider, or hover over the marker.
The meter is green when it should be red. Check Good when: Above goal for numbers you want high, Below goal for numbers you want low.