How the dashboard rate metrics work

This page explains what the admin dashboard’s rate metrics measure, why MapleGather shows them instead of just a headcount, and how the freshness model works.

The short version

The dashboard shows eight named rate metrics — MRR, Churn Rate, Retention Rate, and others — alongside operational counts. These metrics tell you whether your organization’s membership is healthy over time, not just whether the number is up or down on any given day. The metrics update nightly from pre-computed aggregates.

How it works

Why named metrics instead of just headcount

Headcount tells you how many members you have today. Rate metrics tell you whether that number is going to hold. Churn Rate and Retention Rate reveal whether members are leaving faster than they’re joining. MRR shows what your membership generates each month. Tracking these over time is what distinguishes a healthy org from one that’s quietly declining.

MapleGather adds churn, retention, and revenue-per-member metrics specifically because headcount alone misses the trend. Two orgs can have the same number of members while one is growing and the other is replacing half its members every year.

The sparkline

Each metric card shows a sparkline — a small trend line — for the current period window. The default window is 90 days (the organization’s default). You can change the window for your session using the range control in the page header, or by selecting a sparkline directly.

The current window is always shown in the page header so you always know what time range you’re looking at. Select Reset to default to return to the 90-day window.

The methodology panel

Selecting any rate metric card opens a methodology panel that shows:

The exact formula used to calculate the metric (for example, “Churn Rate = Members Lost ÷ Active at Period Start”)
The data sources (which fields MapleGather reads)
What’s excluded (test-mode members and trial-window cancellations are always excluded)
A link to this help center for more detail

A detailed member-level breakdown for each metric isn’t available yet — it’s coming in an update. The methodology panel is the M1 payoff for rate metrics.

The stale-result signal

Dashboard aggregates are refreshed nightly. The freshness note below the page title (“as of {time}”) tells you the last time the aggregates were calculated. If you’re looking at the dashboard mid-day, the numbers reflect last night’s snapshot, not this moment.

This is by design: computing aggregates for every metric on every page load would be too slow for large organizations. Nightly caching keeps the dashboard fast. The freshness note ensures you always know how current the data is.

Empty-state sample preview

When your organization has no members yet, the dashboard shows a sample preview — a watermarked illustration of what the metrics will look like once you add members. The preview is clearly labelled “Example” and the sample numbers are not yours. Select Add member to get started with real data.

Why it works this way

Showing headcount next to health metrics gives admins — especially volunteer admins who check in once a week — an immediate read on “are we doing OK?” without requiring them to know which report to run or how to interpret raw data. The methodology panel answers “how is this calculated?” in place for any metric where a volunteer might wonder.

Edge cases & boundaries

Rate metrics are admin and board-only — Active Members and Prospective Members don’t see the dashboard.
Operational count cards (Overdue renewals, Pending applications, etc.) don’t have methodology panels, only the rate metrics do.
Nightly freshness means a payment processed at 11 PM won’t appear on the dashboard until the following morning’s refresh.