Onboarding Content Workflow Playbook

Bringing content from an external BI tool is an essential phase of the Metric Insights instance configuration. We recommend starting with content onboarding to ensure a consistent and smooth configuration process.

Please refer to this step-by-step guide to complete the process of bringing content into the Metric Insights instance.

1. Create Categories

A Category is a tool used to organize and group content across the platform in a structured hierarchy. Categories are required for Element creation.

Create Categories for the content you plan to bring into Metric Insights. When naming categories, keep in mind that access to these Categories will be granted to Groups of users. Ensure the Category structure is easy to navigate.

2. Create Data Source

A Data Source is an Object that collects data from an external BI tool and brings it into Metric Insights. There are two types of Data Sources in MI:

  1. SQL Data Sources. These utilize a JDBC connection to pull data into Metric Insights via a SQL fetch command. This includes traditional databases as well as NoSQL sources with JDBC access. For more details on how to create an SQL Data Source, locate the BI tool you use in the Sourcing Data from SQL Data Sources manual.
  2. Plugin Data Sources. Plugins are specialized components, developed by Metric Insights, that send a native fetch command to the BI tool. The results are then formatted in a way that allows Metric Insights to consume the data. For more details on how to create a Plugin Data Source, locate the BI tool you use in the Sourcing Data from Plugin Data Sources manual.

3. Create Elements

There are two types of Elements in Metric Insights that can be automatically synchronized with external BI tools: External Reports and External Content.

  • External Content is an Element used to display content stored within your external BI tool's database that MI can't apply filters to (like CSV or PDF files). 
  • External Reports is an Element that not only automatically gathers and displays data stored in an external source, but also allows filters to be applied to that data, enabling flexible customization of its display.

You can bring content into a Metric Insights instance either manually or by using the Content Autosync functionality:

  1. Manually. This requires creating each Element individually, bringing content pieces in one by one. See Creating External Report or External Content Overview for more details.
  2. Content Autosync. This feature automates the creation of Elements from the BI tool's objects, enabling you to bring all content from an external BI tool into Metric Insights in a single, automated batch. See External Report Auto Synchronization Overview or Configure External Content Auto Synchronization for details.
  3. Bulk-Adding. If you don't want to bring all content from the external BI tool via Autosync but also prefer not to create Elements one-by-one, numerous Reports or other content pieces can still be uploaded to Metric Insights in bulk. See the Bulk-Add External Reports and Bulk-Add External Content articles for more details.

4. Grant Access to Content

Once all necessary content has been uploaded, sorted, and verified, grant Users appropriate access. 

Optional Steps

Expand or collapse content 1. Create Publishing Workflow

If content is synced from the external BI tool or added in bulk, all created Elements will be placed in a Category or Folder and will require further sorting and validation. The most efficient way to manage this sorting is through the Publishing Workflow.

The Publishing Workflows feature enables Administrators and Power Users to manage and oversee content creation within Metric Insights. It allows Administrators to establish a step-by-step workflow in which every piece of created content must be validated and assigned accurate Tags, Glossary Terms, and other metadata.

Please refer to the Understanding Publishing Workflows article for a detailed guide on creating Publishing Workflows.

Expand or collapse content 2. Sync Metadata

Some of your content's metadata, like Glossary Terms, Certification Levels, or Custom Fields, can be brought into the MI instance automatically by syncing it with Elements.

If you're using one of the following BI tools, check out the corresponding article:

If your organization uses other tools, there are two options available:

  • Metadata Propagation. This functionality allows an Admin or Power User to propagate metadata changes to Elements in Metric Insights. Metadata associated with either a table-column combination or values such as Element Name (Report Name), External Report Reference (Report ID) (e.g., Tableau URL for the Workbook), or External GUID can be propagated to corresponding Elements.
  • The Glossary Auto Synchronization, Custom Field Auto Synchronization, and Certification Level Auto Synchronization features let you quickly pair Glossary Terms, Custom Fields, and Certification Levels created within Metric Insights with Elements using specified Datasets.
Expand or collapse content 3. Create Folders

Folders provide personalized organization of content on the Homepage for individual Users or Groups and are unique to each User. Depending on the content structure your organization has, they can be used with Categories.

Refer to the Understanding Folders article for a more in-depth description of Folders' various functionalities.