• Monitor team performance against defined goals

• Identify areas that need improvement by comparing metrics between two periods

• Improve customer satisfaction by analysing bottlenecks

• Align goals with organizational objectives

• Adherence to service level agreements (SLAs)​

KPI dashboard has four components:

1. Metric Card
   
2. Comparison Index
   
3. Bullet Chart
   
4. Dial Chart
   

These cards can be divided into two categories:

• Non-target components - Metric Card and Comparison Index

• Target-based components - Bullet Chart and Dial Chart
  

1. The Metric Card is best used when you want a quick overview of any measurable metric such as total sales, the number of tickets, average resolution time etc.

2. The Comparison Index can be used to compare current values against another value or a benchmark, such as last month’s performance or a predefined target. It's designed to showcase percentage changes, increases, or trends, helping to identify performance shifts over time and understand growth, decline, or progress toward a specific goal.

For example, you can compare the number of tickets received in the current fiscal year to the previous fiscal year. A reduction in the number of tickets received is generally encouraged, as it indicates fewer customer complaints.

Another example is the customer response rate. Not all tickets that are closed may receive a response from the customer. However, receiving a response is encouraged, as it provides valuable feedback on the effectiveness of the resolution method.

3. The Bullet Chart is great if you want to track goal achievement in real-time. It's especially useful for measuring revenue and a team's performance towards a fixed value.

For example, if you want to optimize the time every agent spends on a ticket, you can set a target value and monitor the actual time taken by the agents to resolve the ticket. In the image below the actual time spent on the ticket is 01:50 minutes and the target is 5:00 minutes, which indicates a good performance .

4. Dial Charts are similar to Bullet Charts, with the same concept of target-based components but a different visual representation.

To create a KPI card:

1. Navigate to the Analytics module in your Zoho Desk.

2. Click + to add a dashboard.

3. In the Add Dashboard page, enter the Dashboard Name and Description, and select your Dashboard Folder.

4. Click Add Components.

5. Select KPI Cards from the top panel.

6. Select the Metric Type from the left panel:

• Metric Card

• Comparison Index

• Bullet Chart

• Dial Chart

7. Enter the following details for the component:

• Give your KPI Card a Component Name.

• Select a Module for which you want to measure the KPI.

• Tickets

• Contacts

• Accounts

• Knowledge Base

• Products

• Activities

• Tasks

• Calls

• Events

• Time Entry

• Select a Related Module from the same list above, if needed, to combine the data and create a metric.

• Select the Column to evaluate the metrics data. This column data will vary from module to module.

• Choose the aggregation type; this determines how you want to calculate your metrics.

• Maximum

• Minimum

• Sum

• Average

• Select a Column for the Filters. The values will be auto-populated based on the column selected.
  

• Select fields under Advanced Filters to measure KPI only for specific records.
  

• Click Add to save the KPI Component.
  

You can measure the performance or target progression by creating KPIs for specific period.

For example, you can measure First Response Time (FRT), which is an average time taken to send the first response to a customer query every month.

Ticket Resolution Time, which is the average time taken to resolve customer tickets completely to measure resolution time for individual tickets to identify anomalies.

To set duration for each component:

1. Navigate to the Analytics module in your Zoho Desk.

2. Click + to add a dashboard.

3. Give your Dashboard a Name, Description, and Select Dashboard Folder.

4. Click Add Components.

5. Select KPI Cards and choose the card type.

6. Fill out other components details.

7. Under Filter Based On, select Duration.

Yes, since each department's objectives and data vary, KPIs can be created for each  department. When creating a KPI, you can select a module, apply filters, and set criteria that are relevant to the department.

The saved KPI dashboards can be accessed from the Analytics module. To view KPI component

1. Go to the Analytics Module
   
2. ​In the left panel, navigate to the Public Dashboards folder.
   
3. Find the dashboard you created and open the respective dashboard folder.
   
4. ​Your KPI cards are saved within the folder and organized under the corresponding dashboard.
   

Yes, KPI reports can be exported as a pdf file and downloaded. The PDF can be shared with others within or outside the organization.

To export a KPI report

1. ​Go to Analytics Module → Public Dashboard → "Your Dashboard" folder. This is the dashboard folder you created and wants to export.
   
2. Click the More icon in the right-top corner
   
3. Click Print to fit page or Print to relaxed scale.
   
4. Print your preferred fitted style.
   

KPI metrics display real-time data, therefore the components update automatically whenever an action is performed or a change is recorded by the system. 

No, KPIs only provide a a visual representations of the metrics to help you monitor the progress an individual or a team is making toward the target. Notifications or alerts are not sent if the target is unmet or met. 

Targets can be set in Bullet Charts and Dial Charts that provide a visual representation of progress toward achieving a specific target. For example, a target to resolve 50 tickets in a month or monitor an increase or decrease in the response time.

There are two ways in which the target can be set:  

• Constant - A fixed value that remains unchanged unless you manually update the KPI card. For example, for a weekly target to resolve 50 tickets, 50 remains a constant value for every week.
  

• ​Previous period value - The comparison will be made against the previous period. For example, increase or decrease in response time in last month vs. this month. Based on the selected duration, the previous period will be calculated.  Comparison can be drawn to the current month, week, year, fiscal quarter, or year.