name: Tableaux De Bord Vocabulary
description: >-
  Domain vocabulary for dashboard and data visualization APIs, covering concepts
  from Grafana, Metabase, and the broader business intelligence and monitoring
  dashboard landscape.
created: '2026-05-03'
modified: '2026-05-03'
tags:
  - Dashboards
  - Business Intelligence
  - Analytics
  - Data Visualization
  - Monitoring

terms:
  - term: Dashboard
    definition: >-
      A visual interface that aggregates and displays key metrics, charts, and
      data visualizations in a unified view. In API contexts, dashboards are
      first-class resources that can be created, updated, and queried
      programmatically.
    category: Core Concept
    tags:
      - Visualization
      - Monitoring

  - term: Panel
    definition: >-
      An individual visualization component within a dashboard. Panels can
      represent time series charts, stat values, tables, gauges, bar charts,
      pie charts, heatmaps, or text content. Each panel is bound to a query
      against a datasource.
    category: Dashboard Component
    tags:
      - Visualization

  - term: Datasource
    definition: >-
      A configured connection to a data backend (e.g., Prometheus, InfluxDB,
      Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, MySQL, CloudWatch). Grafana datasources enable
      panels to query data from multiple systems within a single dashboard.
    category: Integration
    tags:
      - Data Integration
      - Connectivity

  - term: Grafana
    definition: >-
      An open-source observability and analytics platform that provides
      dashboards, alerting, and data exploration for infrastructure, application,
      and business metrics. Grafana exposes a comprehensive HTTP API for
      programmatic management of dashboards, datasources, users, and alerting.
    category: Platform
    tags:
      - Open Source
      - Monitoring
      - Observability

  - term: Metabase
    definition: >-
      An open-source business intelligence tool that provides self-service
      analytics with SQL and no-code question interfaces, dashboards, and
      embedded analytics. Metabase exposes a REST API for automating report
      and dashboard management.
    category: Platform
    tags:
      - Business Intelligence
      - Open Source

  - term: UID
    definition: >-
      Unique identifier string for a Grafana resource (dashboard, datasource,
      folder, etc.) that remains stable across export/import operations and
      is suitable for use in infrastructure-as-code and GitOps workflows.
    category: Grafana
    tags:
      - Identifiers

  - term: Folder
    definition: >-
      A grouping mechanism in Grafana for organizing dashboards and managing
      access permissions at the folder level. Folders can have teams and users
      assigned with specific roles (Viewer, Editor, Admin).
    category: Organization
    tags:
      - Access Control
      - Organization

  - term: Annotation
    definition: >-
      A timestamped marker or range added to a Grafana dashboard panel that
      provides contextual information (e.g., deployments, incidents, config
      changes). Annotations can be created via API and overlaid on time-series
      graphs.
    category: Grafana
    tags:
      - Events
      - Context

  - term: Alert Rule
    definition: >-
      A condition-based rule in Grafana Alerting that evaluates query results
      against defined thresholds and triggers notifications when conditions are
      met. Alert rules support multi-dimensional alerting, silences, and contact
      points.
    category: Alerting
    tags:
      - Monitoring
      - Alerting

  - term: Time Range
    definition: >-
      The temporal scope of data displayed in a dashboard or panel. Expressed
      using relative values (e.g., "now-1h", "now-7d") or absolute timestamps.
      Default time ranges can be set per dashboard and overridden per user session.
    category: Core Concept
    tags:
      - Time Series

  - term: Panel Query
    definition: >-
      A datasource-specific query expression that retrieves data for a panel
      visualization (e.g., PromQL for Prometheus, SQL for PostgreSQL, Flux for
      InfluxDB). Panel queries are evaluated on each dashboard load or refresh.
    category: Data Access
    tags:
      - Queries
      - Data Retrieval

  - term: Organization
    definition: >-
      A multi-tenancy unit in Grafana that isolates dashboards, datasources,
      users, and teams. Each organization has its own configuration namespace.
      Enterprise installations often map organizations to business units or clients.
    category: Multi-tenancy
    tags:
      - Access Control
      - Multi-tenancy

  - term: Dashboard as Code
    definition: >-
      The practice of managing dashboard definitions in version control using
      tools like Grafonnet, Terraform (Grafana provider), or direct JSON/YAML
      files, enabling GitOps workflows for dashboard lifecycle management.
    category: DevOps
    tags:
      - GitOps
      - Infrastructure as Code

  - term: Embedded Analytics
    definition: >-
      The practice of embedding dashboard visualizations into external applications
      using iframes or JavaScript SDKs. Both Grafana and Metabase provide
      embedding capabilities with signed URL tokens for secure access control.
    category: Integration
    tags:
      - Embedding
      - Integration