What's New in GoodData Cloud?

Improved Data Blending

We have made it easier to analyze and combine data from different sources. Now, you can create metrics that calculate summary values at the source level and use FlexQuery to perform final calculations like sum or difference, without loading data into a central data warehouse. This reduces the amount of data transferred, keeping it within platform limits. It’s especially useful for merging data from multiple regional data sources into one workspace.

The feature improvements include the following:

• Ranking Filters and Metric Value Filters now work with visualizations that use metrics from multiple sources.
• Show Missing Values is now supported.
• In the Analytics Designer metrics bucket, you can create cross-source metrics using Sum, Difference, Product, Ratio, and Change.
• In the current version, Show in % works only when breaking down by a single common attribute across all federated metric sources.

See the Blending Data section for more details.

Customizable JIT Provisioning (Beta)

Some identity providers do not support custom scopes or have limits on characters and length. To solve this, we introduced Customizable JIT Provisioning. This feature is currently in beta and works alongside the original JIT, so you can continue using the previous version if needed.

Customizable JIT Provisioning is managed in the organization settings, giving you more control over its setup. Both custom scopes and user groups are optional. However, at this time, it only supports organizations with a single identity provider.

Note: When using Federated Identity Management (FIM), JIT provisioning is limited to its original version. With FIM, you can either assign no groups or set default groups that are automatically assigned. However, custom groups, where each user is dynamically assigned a group during creation, are not supported. This functionality is only available for organizations using a single identity provider (IdP).

Customizable Alert Names

You can now assign custom names to alerts when creating or editing them, making it easier to recognize which of your alerts has been triggered, when reviewing alerts at a glance. See Create Alerts for details.

We plan to continue enhancing alert automations, including improvements to how filters are handled, in the coming weeks.

New Visualization Tooltip when Drilling

On the dashboard, when drilling down from one visualization into another, users can now view the description of the target visualization by clicking a new tooltip icon.

This feature was previously in beta and first became available in early access on January 8, 2025. It is now enabled by default for all users.

Federated Identity Management Update

We have made improvements to our federated identity management system. Setting up this feature is now easier, as we have eliminated the requirement to create a separate admin group for managing OIDC providers. Instead, once you enable this feature, you will have access to APIs for managing these providers.

Furthermore, this update supports the use of multiple SAML providers, as well as a combination of SAML and OIDC providers.

See the Federated Identity Management section for more information.

Data Separation in the GUI

You can now manage data separation directly in the GUI. This feature visually represents the functionality of Workspace Data Filters (WDF), which are useful for creating workspace hierarchies and multitenant environments.

WDFs allow you to restrict data available in child workspaces. For example:

• A parent workspace may display data from all company departments.
• A child workspace, with a WDF applied, will only see data for the Sales department in the same visualization.

Workspace Settings in the GUI

You can now manage workspace settings directly in the GUI. This update allows you to:

• Create workspace data filters
• Change the workspace’s color theme and palette
• Adjust localization settings

All these changes can now be made without using the API. For further information, see the Workspace Settings section.

Widget Containers in Dashboards (Beta)

We have improved the Widget Containers feature based on user feedback from the experimental version:

• Enhanced visual indicators (e.g., drop zones and resizing indicators) to make dashboard design more intuitive. These clearly show the effect of your actions, streamlining the design process.
• Improved visualization nesting within widget containers by removing unnecessary padding and improving layout consistency.

These updates make dashboard design easier, more predictable, and user-friendly.

See the Widget Container section for more information.

Support for External Email Recipients

Administrators can now configure destinations that allow users to send alerts and scheduled exports to any email address, including those outside of your organization. For added control, you can disable the inclusion of dashboard links when sending to external recipients. See Create Destinations for details.

PostgreSQL Data Source SSL Validation

When setting up a PostgreSQL data source, the API/backend now requires at least one of the ssl or sslmode parameters.

Changes to Existing Data Sources

If your data source does not include ssl or sslmode in the JDBC URL, we will automatically add sslmode=prefer to keep things working as they are now. This ensures no breaking changes, as it was the previous default for the PostgreSQL driver.

However, we recommend switching to sslmode=verify-full for better security and to ensure encryption in transit protection.

Changes for New Data Sources

When creating a new data source via API, you must now include either ssl or sslmode in your request.

If you’re using a template to create data sources automatically, you need to update the template to include one of these parameters.

If not, the new data source creation will fail, which is different from how it worked before.

New Notification Panel for Alerts

In addition to receiving automatically triggered alerts via email and webhook channels, you can now also send alerts to a new notification panel. Located at the top of the web application, the notification panel is accessible from anywhere within the workspace. By clicking a notification, you can navigate directly to the widget that triggered the alert.

Notifications can be sent independently or alongside email and webhook alerts. See Create Destinations for details.

Customizable Time Granularity in Dashboard Date Filters

You can now customize the date filters in your dashboard to show specific time granularities, such as only days, months, or years. This is done using the dateFilterConfig metadata object in the GoodData UI. This feature allows you to optimize your dashboards by displaying only the date increments that are most relevant to your use case.

For more details, see the Date Filter Documentation.

Testing Connection to Destinations

Administrators can now edit a destination and test the connection to their webhook or SMTP server using the new Send test message button. This protocol is also initiated whenever you create and attempt to save a new destination, ensuring that all new destinations are automatically validated before they can be used.

New Visualization Tooltip when Drilling (Beta)

On the dashboard, when drilling down from one visualization into another, users can now view the description of the target visualization by clicking a new tooltip icon.

This feature is currently in beta and must be enabled in Settings > Early Access. It will remain in beta until February 6, after which it will be enabled by default. If you are already using tooltips at the visualization level, we recommend enabling this feature now to preview how it will appear when it becomes available to all users.

Organization Admins Excluded from Recipients (Beta)

In response to frequent feedback, we have removed users with organization.MANAGE permissions from the list of recipients in the automation dialog. If your solution requires sharing automations with these users, please ensure they are assigned explicit workspace permissions. This allows you to control which workspaces include admins as recipients and which do not.

This feature is currently in beta and must be enabled in Settings > Early Access. Please note that this feature will be enabled by default for all users on January 23.

Data Blending Release

We are moving Blending Data feature out of beta, making it usable in production environments. This capability lets you create visualizations using metrics computed from multiple data sources. By blending data into a single result set using common conformed dimension attributes, you can now perform more flexible and powerful cross-source analysis.

M2M Authentication for Databricks

We are introducing M2M as a new authentication method to connect Databricks as a data source. We will also remove the option to use basic authentication with this data source by the end of January 2025, as it is no longer supported by Databricks.

See the Databricks section for more information.

Visualization Using Data from Multiple Sources (Beta)

We are launching a beta feature that lets you create visualizations using metrics computed from multiple data sources. The data is blended into a single result set using common conformed dimension attributes, enabling more flexible and powerful cross-source analysis.

You need to enable Data Blending in Settings > Early Access to use this feature.

See the Blending Data section for more information.

Widget Containers in Dashboards (Experimental)

We are making it easier to organize your dashboards. With widget containers, you can group several widgets together. This gives you more control over how your content is arranged, aligned, and sized. You can also stack visualizations vertically next to each other while keeping the dashboard fully responsive.

See the Widget Container section for more information.

More Flexible Visualization Settings

You can now make visualizations smaller, giving you more freedom to design dashboards your way. The minimum width for visualizations is now 2, except for geocharts, which still have a minimum width of 6 due to technical reasons.

Updated User Creation in the UI

We have improved the user creation process based on your feedback. Now, you can create users through a single dialog located in User Management, making the process simpler and consistent across all tiers. This also makes it easier to move from evaluation to production.

For those using our hosted OIDC, the invitation process remains available. However, invitations now instantly create a metadata object defining permissions. This lets you assign detailed permissions to new users before they first log into GoodData.

See the Manage Users and User Groups section for more information.

FlexConnect Data Source Support

Companies often have data spread across many sources, and with so many types of data storage, it’s hard to support all combinations with regular data connectors. FlexConnect helps solve this by letting you connect to almost any data source. This includes streaming data, structured and unstructured data, databases, third-party platforms, and machine learning models.

Previously, we used the names “FlexFunctions” and “Flight RPC” during the beta phase. The new name, “FlexConnect,” makes everything consistent in the user interface, repository, and API (which still used “FLIGHTRPC” before).

See the FlexConnect page for more information.

AI Assistant (Experimental Feature)

We are introducing an AI assistant for trial users. This chatbot helps you find answers to your business questions easily, so you don’t need to know the details of your data model, dashboards, or visualizations.

In this version, the AI Assistant can:

• Search existing dashboards and visualizations to answer your business questions.
• Create new visualizations if there isn’t an existing one that fits.
• Improve ad-hoc visualizations based on your feedback.

This AI Assistant replaces Flex AI. For more details, see the AI Assistant page.

Set Up Alerts for Individual Attribute Values

You can now create alerts for individual attributes, enabling you to set up multiple alerts for a single metric based on different values of an attribute. For example, you can break down an alert for a budget metric into multiple alerts, one for each category of spending. See Create Alerts for details.

Early Access Features

You can now opt into our beta and experimental features by toggling them on in the new Early Access section in Settings. Most features can be enabled for individual workspaces, allowing you to test them out without impacting your production workspaces, which we recommend avoiding. These features are under active development and may change significantly before they are fully productized—or may be removed altogether.

Enhanced Workspace Permission Management

We have expanded the Users & groups web interface to support full workspace permission management, including permissions previously available only through the API. Now, you can manage all user and user group permissions directly from the web interface, streamlining access control for your workspace.

For more information on workspace permissions, see Manage Workspace Permissions.

New Number Localization Options

We have added a Number separators option under Settings > Localization to support various numeric formats across languages. This feature allows you to apply region-specific number formats, such as European standards.

Improvement to Filtering with Primary and Secondary Labels

Attribute filters now utilize the primary unique label in the backend while displaying objects using their secondary label in the interface. This update allows for more precise filtering, showing separate entries for objects with identical secondary labels (e.g., two users named “John Doe”). See the Object Labels and Filters section for more details.

FlexConnect Data Source Support

GoodData Cloud now supports FlexConnect as a data source. This Flight RPC connector allows integration of custom data computations, which can be used for:

• Real-time data from REST APIs
• Custom benchmarking algorithms
• Data anonymization
• Integrating predictive models into the logical data model

See the FlexConnect section for more details.

❗Upcoming Change: Column Naming in Repeater Visualizations

We would like to inform you about a bug fix coming on November 4, 2024, regarding column renaming in repeater visualizations. Previously, column names were incorrectly based on label names instead of the names set in the Analytical Designer. Starting on this date, all columns in Repeaters will reflect the names defined in the Analytical Designer.

To ensure a seamless transition, we recommend you review and update your column names in the Analytical Designer as needed before November 4, 2024.

Visualization Switcher

We have enhanced the layout options in our dashboards by introducing the ability to combine multiple visualizations into a single widget, allowing users to switch between them seamlessly. This feature helps improve dashboard readability, optimizes space, and enhances interactivity and usability for end users.

See the Visualization Switcher section for more details.

Alerts and Scheduled Exports

You can now automate key actions in dashboards, helping you stay on top of your data without manual effort:

• Alerts: Set up alerts on dashboard widgets to monitor metrics and get notified when specific conditions are met.
• Scheduled Exports: Schedule regular exports of dashboards and dashboard widgets to recieve them as PDF, CSV, or XLSX files.

Both features offer flexible delivery options, including integration with external systems via email or webhooks. Webhook payloads can be customized to support advanced workflows and automation. Initial setup by your organization’s admin is required to start using these features. See Automation in Dashboards for more details.

Saved Views

We have added a new feature that lets you easily load filters you often use on a dashboard. Now, you can save these filter combinations and quickly switch between them with just one click.

Additionally, we have added a new workspace permission that extends the VIEW permission, allowing users to save filters. This permission, called CREATE_FILTER_VIEW (or SAVE VIEWS in the GUI), must be applied alongside the VIEW permission. Users with ANALYZE or MANAGE permissions can save filters without needing any additional permissions.

Disable Cross-filtering

You can now disable cross-filtering for individual widgets on a dashboard. This allows for more tailored control over the behavior of specific widgets when crossfiltering is applied across a dashboard. See Cross-filtering for details.

New Language Support

We have expanded the language options for our user interface to include Australian English, Cantonese and Traditional Chinese, and Finnish. These languages are now fully supported in the Analytics Designer, Dashboards, and Metric Editor.

See the Change Display Language section for details.

GoodData.UI 10.9.0

The newest version of GoodData.UI contains the following change:

You can now exclude specific attributes from the drill-down intersection. To configure this, use the addDrillDownForInsightWidget and modifyDrillDownForInsightWidget commands. Be aware that this may introduce breaking changes.

Upcoming Change - Improved Attribute Filters

We are going to update attribute filters handle values with non-unique secondary labels, such as users sharing the same User Name.

Current Behavior:

When an attribute (e.g., User) has a unique primary label (e.g., User ID: 1234) and a more readable secondary label (e.g., User Name: John Doe), filtering by the User Name (if multiple users are named John Doe) results in all John Does being combined into a single filter value.

New Behavior:

The improved filter will display each attribute value even if the secondary label is not unique. This means you will see all instances of John Doe separately, with a tooltip showing the primary label (e.g., User ID) to help differentiate them. The filter’s behavior will be consistent across dashboards, visualizations, and drilling or exploring further interactions, regardless of which label is displayed.

This change is straightforward for end users. However, the metadata will have a new ‘Display as label’ parameter to indicate which label should represent the attribute in the GUI. This parameter must be considered when using filters in dashboards, visualizations, drilling, POST messages and events, SDK filter definitions, and cross-filtering. From now on, the filter will always be defined by the attribute’s primary label and values, which you should reflect when defining external filters (e.g., in POST messages).

We do not expect any changes to existing dashboards will be needed. The selection of text from the secondary label will be automatically transformed into a selection of individual attribute values with the value of the secondary label.

More details will be provided in upcoming release notes.

GoodData Python SDK 1.25.0

New version of the Python SDK is available today. Please note that in this version we have dropped support for Python version 3.8, please ensure your Python version is up to date if you update to this version of GoodData Python SDK. For details see the changelog.

Rollup Totals

We are introducing a new type of total that aligns with the metric it aggregates. For example, if the metric is SUM, the rollup will also use SUM, and so on.

Rollup totals are “smart” aggregations. They are particularly useful for tables displaying metrics that represent average values, helping to avoid aggregations like averages of averages.

Example:

• Won Metric: The rollup represents the sum of all regions’ won amounts, making the Sum and Rollup (Total) equal.

• Avg. Won Metric: Instead of averaging the row’s values (which are already averages), the rollup averages the original underlying data before it was aggregated by the Won metric and divided into regions like East Coast and West Coast. Consequently, the value of Avg (an average of averages) differs from the Rollup (Total) average (an average based on the original data).

See Rollup Totals for details.

Multiple OIDC Providers per Organization (Beta)

We are introducing a new feature that allows you to set up specific OIDC providers for your organization. Whether your company uses multiple identity providers or your tenants prefer to use their own, this feature provides the flexibility to support them. See Multiple OIDCs.

Please note that this is a beta feature currently in early development, so its functionality is limited at this stage.

Disable Passing Filters in Drill-Throughs

You can now choose to exclude certain dates or attributes from being applied as filters when drilling into visualizations, dashboards, or drill-downs. This allows for more flexible data exploration by controlling which filters are passed during drills. See Disable Passing Filters in Drill-Throughs for more details.

Multiple Data Sources in LDM (Beta)

We are introducing the ability to use datasets from different data sources in an LDM and connect them using common date dimension datasets. This allows you to apply a common date filter across datasets from different data sources. See Using Multiple Data Sources in an LDM.

Please note that this is a beta feature currently in early development, so its functionality is limited at this stage.

Upcoming Change - Improved Attribute Filters

We are going to update attribute filters handle values with non-unique secondary labels, such as users sharing the same User Name.

Current Behaviour:

When an attribute (e.g., User) has a unique primary label (e.g., User ID: 1234) and a more readable secondary label (e.g., User Name: John Doe), filtering by the User Name (if multiple users are named John Doe) results in all John Does being combined into a single filter value.

New Behavior:

The improved filter will display each attribute value even if the secondary label is not unique. This means you will see all instances of John Doe separately, with a tooltip showing the primary label (e.g., User ID) to help differentiate them. The filter’s behavior will be consistent across dashboards, visualizations, and drilling or exploring further interactions, regardless of which label is displayed.

This change is straightforward for end users. However, there will be a new Display as label parameter in the metadata to indicate which label should represent the attribute in the GUI. This parameter must be considered when using filters in dashboards, visualizations, drilling, POST messages and events, SDK filter definitions, and cross-filtering. From now on, the filter will always be defined by the attribute’s primary label and its values, which you should reflect when defining external filters (e.g., in POST messages).

We do not expect any changes to existing dashboards will be needed. The selection of text from the secondary label will be automatically transformed into a selection of individual attribute values with the value of the secondary label.

More details will be provided in upcoming release notes.

GoodData Python SDK 1.22.0

We are also releasing a new version of the Python SDK today. This update includes only minor changes, such as version bumps, for details see the changelog.

GoodData.UI 10.5.0

Today we have released new version of GoodData.UI with the following notable changes:

• You can now specify the returnTo parameter with the backend deauthenticate function for a more seamless user experience.
• The export function now supports PDF options, offering greater flexibility in how you share your data.
• The visualizationObject will now be used instead of executionResult for export operations whenever possible, improving the efficiency of your exports.

Support for Uploading CSVs Is Out of Beta

We are excited to announce that uploading CSV files as a data source is now fully supported and out of beta! You can now assemble a data source using an unlimited number of CSV files, with each file up to 200MB and a combined limit of 1GB. You can also disable this feature using the API. See Upload CSV Files.

Snowflake Data Sources Support Key-Pair Authentication

We now support key-pair authentication for Snowflake data sources. This secure method allows you to connect using private and public key pairs, enhancing your data protection. See Create a Snowflake Data Source.

Support for MotherDuck Data Source

You can now connect directly to a MotherDuck database and create a MotherDuck data source within GoodData. This new feature expands your data connectivity options, allowing you to integrate MotherDuck seamlessly into your workflows. See MotherDuck Data Source.

New Dashboard Filter Settings

We’ve added new options to give you more control over dashboard filters. You can now disable the “Reset All Filters” button to ensure users follow a guided data experience. Additionally, you can prevent filter changes from being saved in the user’s browser, so each visit shows the default filter settings. See Disable Resetting Filters.