Data alerts
Follow a chart's number and hear when it crosses a line or moves by a percentage. Each alert reads as you, and only you see it.
A data alert follows one number and tells you when it matters: when it goes above or below a value, or moves by a percentage. You set it up on a chart, and Halo checks it from then on.
Make an alert
Open a saved chart, or a report with a chart, that shows one measure. A chart split by a dimension is read as its total.
Choose Alert me from its … menu.
Under Tell me when it, choose Goes above, Goes below or Changes by a percentage, and enter the value. A chart that compares with a goal also offers Falls behind its goal and Reaches its goal, which need no value.
For a change, choose what it's Compared with, The previous period or Last year, and Which way: Up or down, Up or Down.
Under Check it, choose Every hour, Every day or After each refresh. After each refresh also checks once a day.
Choose Create alert.
On a saved chart, you need to be able to open its dataset. A report's chart follows the report as published, without filters you've picked on the page, and an edition doesn't offer Alert me, because its figures don't move. A chart with several measures, or none, has no Alert me. A change needs a date range on the chart, because that's what it compares; without one, Halo says the chart can only alert above or below a value.
When it fires
Above or below a value fires once, when the number crosses the line. It stays quiet while the number stays there, and can fire again after it clears.
A change fires when the number is at least that percentage away from what it's compared with. If that earlier value is zero, it doesn't count as a change.
Falls behind its goal fires when the goal's status becomes Behind, and Reaches its goal when it becomes On track. A period still in progress compares with the goal to date, as charts do. If the chart stops comparing with the goal, the alert pauses and says why.
Each firing is a notification saying what happened, and an email unless you've turned that off under Data alerts in Account, Notifications. The email shows a small line of the number when the chart is grouped by something. The message goes only to you.
With Halo AI on, a firing also gets a few sentences on what moved, in the alert's history. They read as you, and an alert on a field hidden from Halo AI gets none. That uses AI credits each time, and an admin can switch off Alert explanations in Settings, Halo AI. Alerts still fire and send without those words.
It reads as you
Each check runs as you, under your role, access and row policies. So two people following the same chart can hear about different numbers, and you only ever hear about what you can see. Nobody else sees your alerts.
See and change your alerts
Your alerts are on the Data alerts page in your account. Each row says what it listens for, the last value it read and when, and whether it's Active, Snoozed, Paused or Stopped. Its menu has:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| When it fired | Every firing, with the value and any explanation |
| Edit alert | Changes it, and starts it afresh, so a number already past the new line fires |
| Snooze for a day, 7 days or 30 days | Sends and records nothing until then. If the number's still past the line when the snooze ends, it fires then. End the snooze stops it early |
| Pause alert, Start it again | Stops and restarts checking |
| Delete alert | Stops it, and its history goes with it. It isn't in the Trash |
When what it follows changes
Halo tells you when any of these happens, unless it's only a failed read.
| What happened | The alert |
|---|---|
| The chart went to the Trash | Pauses, and starts again if it's restored |
| The chart now shows a different number | Pauses until you choose Start it again, and then follows the new number |
| It no longer shows one number | Pauses |
| It no longer has a date range for a change to compare | Pauses |
| You can't read it any more, or it's gone for good | Stops. Starting it again needs that access back |
| A read fails for another reason, such as the database being down | Nothing changes, and Halo tries again |
Limits
Your plan sets how many alerts your organization can keep: 25 on Standard, 200 on Professional, and no limit on Enterprise. Stopped alerts don't count. See Usage and plan limits. External guests can't make alerts.
Alerts and insights
A data alert is a line you chose, for one person. An insight is Halo flagging a change in a measure someone chose to watch, for everyone who can read it, and it shows only in Halo Data. Use an alert when you know what you're waiting for, and insights to catch what you didn't expect.