Getting started with Zendesk dashboards

Zendesk is one of the most popular customer service platforms, known for its ease of use, robust ticketing system, and powerful automation capabilities. While Zendesk comes with native reporting and dashboards, they can be limited in terms of customization and data correlation across different sources. Additionally, building complex visualizations in Zendesk often requires more advanced knowledge of their reporting tools.

This is where SquaredUp comes in!

SquaredUp’s Zendesk plugin makes it easy to create and share Zendesk dashboards, even if you’re not deeply familiar with Zendesk’s data structure or API. In this article, we'll walk you through how to connect the Zendesk plugin and create your first dashboard.

Connecting the data source

To connect Zendesk as a data source in SquaredUp, follow these steps:

1. Open SquaredUp and navigate to Settings > Data Sources.
2. Select Add Data Source and choose Zendesk from the list of available plugins.
3. In the connection settings, provide the following details:
   • Display Name – Enter a name for the data source (e.g., "Zendesk Support").
   • Organization Name – Enter your Zendesk organization name (e.g., demo-org).

Authentication options:

You have two options for authentication:

• Sign-in button – Use the "Sign in with Zendesk" button to authenticate using OAuth. This is the simplest and most secure option.
• API Token – If you prefer to use an API token, provide your Zendesk email and API token.

In most cases, the sign-in button is the recommended approach as it streamlines permissions and simplifies setup.

Additional options:

• Import organizations – Import Zendesk organizations into SquaredUp.
• Import organizations with personal email addresses – Include organizations that have personal email addresses.
• Import specific tags – Include specific tags associated with your Zendesk data.

Once the connection is successful, SquaredUp will start indexing Zendesk data, such as tickets, agents, and customer details.

Out-of-the-box dashboards:

"Ticket Report" Dashboard: Zendesk Support at a Glance

The out-of-the-box "Ticket Report" dashboard offers an immediate overview of your Zendesk support performance. It displays:

• Ticket Volume & Trends
• Distribution by Form & Status
• Initial Response Times
• Detailed Ticket Listing

This empowers you to quickly monitor support load, optimize team efficiency, and improve customer experience.

"KPI" Dashboard: Zendesk Performance at a Glance

The "KPI" dashboard provides a quick overview of key Zendesk performance metrics:

• Ticket Volume: Tickets Taken and Solved counts.
• Response & Resolution: Initial Response Time and Time to Resolution.
• Ticket Analysis: Tickets Taken by Assignee and Tickets by Day.
• Efficiency: One-Touch Tickets percentage.
• Customer Satisfaction: CSAT score.
• Priority Distribution: Visual representation of ticket priority.
• Resolution Efficiency: Replies to Resolution count.

This empowers you to quickly assess support efficiency, identify bottlenecks, and monitor customer satisfaction trends.

"Agent Activity" Dashboard: Individual Agent Performance

This dashboard provides a focused view of an individual agent's Zendesk performance, offering insights into:

• Ticket Handling: Tickets Taken and Solved counts.
• Response & Resolution: Initial Response Time and Time to Resolution.
• Efficiency: One-Touch Tickets percentage.
• Priority Distribution: Visual representation of ticket priority.
• Detailed Ticket List: Quick access to the agent's assigned tickets.

This allows for quick assessment of an agent's workload, efficiency, and adherence to service level agreements.

Creating your own dashboard

Building a custom Zendesk dashboard in SquaredUp is quick and intuitive.

• Open SquaredUp and click the + button to create a new dashboard.
• On the tile creation screen, select Zendesk from the list of available data streams.
• Choose from the available Zendesk data streams, such as:
  • Tickets – Fetches all ticket details, including status, priority, and assignee.
  • Users – Provides data about agents and customers.
  • Satisfaction Ratings – Displays customer satisfaction scores and trends.
• Apply filters to narrow down the data, such as:
  • Ticket status (open, pending, solved)
  • Ticket priority (low, normal, high, urgent)
  • Date range
• Choose the visualization type (bar chart, line chart, table, etc.).

Monitoring and notifications

SquaredUp makes it easy to set up monitoring for your Zendesk data and receive alerts when key conditions are met.

1. Open your Zendesk dashboard in SquaredUp.
2. Select the tile you want to monitor.
3. Go to the Monitoring tab and enable monitoring.
4. Set the trigger condition (e.g., "Number of high-priority open tickets exceeds 50").
5. Configure notifications to be sent via:
   • Email
   • Slack
   • Teams
   • Webhook

Example: If the number of unresolved high-priority tickets exceeds 50, you can set up a Teams notification to alert your support team.

Sharing your dashboard

Sharing your Zendesk dashboard in SquaredUp is simple:

• Hit the Share button on your dashboard.
• You can invite a user to the SquaredUp workspace or generate a shareable link.

With the Zendesk plugin in SquaredUp, you can quickly create powerful, real-time dashboards to monitor customer support performance and improve response times. The out-of-the-box dashboards provide immediate insights, while custom dashboards allow you to tailor the data to your organization’s specific needs. Try SquaredUp today and unlock the full potential of your Zendesk data!