Answer an ad hoc data request

No dashboard covers this. Someone just needs one number, fast.

BeginnerRead 4 minDoing: 20 to 30 minutes6 steps

What you'll have at the end

A saved query returning exactly the rows asked for, with the row count checked against the request

Before you start

You need

Read access to a database with a customers table and an orders table that share a customer id, and a tool you can run a SELECT query in.

Not covered

Deciding whether a request that keeps coming back deserves a dashboard instead of another one-off pull.

Leans on

Pull customer names onto every order with a join

when the request needs a column from a different table than the one you filtered, this is where that join lives

Checked 26 Aug 2026