Deep Dive

Never Miss a Critical Change with Qlik Alerts

Qlik dashboards give you powerful insights—but only if you’re checking them regularly.

The problem? 📉 Data changes between reports, and by the time you notice, it’s often too late.

You might have set up chart monitoring (Issue 1) and subscriptions (Issue 2), but neither of those will alert you the moment a KPI hits a critical level.

That’s why Qlik Alerts exist—to automatically notify you in real time when something important changes.

Why You Need It

• Real-time detection: Get notified immediately when key metrics go off track.

• No manual checking: Stop constantly refreshing dashboards—let Qlik do the monitoring for you.

• Faster decision-making: Act quickly instead of waiting for the next scheduled report.

• Reduce risk: Catch cash flow dips, revenue drops, or operational issues before they escalate.

Who Should Use It?

• Finance teams → Monitor revenue, cash flow, overdue invoices.

• Sales managers → Get notified when deals stall or pipeline drops.

• Operations teams → Track supply chain disruptions or unexpected cost increases.

• Customer support → Detect high-priority issues based on ticket volumes.

But what would a Real-World scenario look like?

Imagine your daily revenue normally sits at around £200K.

One morning, it drops to £150K—but your next scheduled report isn’t due until Friday.

With Qlik Alerts, you can set up an automatic rule: 📌 “Notify me if today’s revenue is 20% lower than yesterday.”

Now, instead of waiting for your finance team to flag the issue, Qlik automatically sends a notification—allowing you to investigate and take action before it impacts the business.

⏬ Let’s walk through how to set this up.

Getting Started: Try Alerts in the Executive Dashboard

If you’re using Qlik Sense SaaS, a great way to experiment with alerts is by setting one up in the Executive Dashboard.

One of the most common KPI metrics you’ll see in a Qlik dashboard is Total Revenue Analyzed.

We’ll first set up a basic alert, then move on to an advanced finance use case.

Let’s start by creating a simple alert that notifies you if Total Revenue Analyzed drops below a certain threshold.

Step 1: Open the Executive Dashboard

• Go to Qlik Cloud Hub and open the Executive Dashboard.

• Locate the Total Revenue Analyzed KPI on the Sales Analysis sheet,

Step 2: Create a New Alert

• Right-click on the Total Revenue Analyzed KPI.

• Click "Create Alert".

Step 3: Set Alert Conditions

• Title: “Revenue Drop Alert”

• Description: “Triggers when Total Revenue Analyzed falls below £1M.”

• Click Next (to get to Conditions)

• Measure: Revenue.

• Operator: Less than.

• Value: 1000000.

Step 4: Choose Trigger Distribution

• Distribution: Choose “When data is refreshed” (ensures the alert runs after each data refresh).

Step 5: Add Recipients & Save

• Switch on “Share With Other Users” → Select key stakeholders (e.g., Finance Team, Sales Director).

• Click “Create”.

Result: If Total Revenue Analyzed drops below £1M, Qlik immediately sends a notification, allowing you to take action before it impacts business performance.

✔️ Try this yourself in your Qlik dashboard!

Now, let’s move to an advanced finance use case—tracking automated threshold breaches in revenue data.

Advanced Use Case: Automated Threshold Breach Alerts

In Issue 2, we discussed how subscriptions deliver scheduled reports. But what if a big change happens in between reports?

This is where Automated Threshold Breach Alerts become essential—especially in finance, where unexpected revenue drops or high-risk transactions demand immediate action.

For example:

• Today’s revenue is 20% lower than yesterday’s

• Total revenue falls below £100,000

• The affected region is a high-priority market

⏬ Here’s how to set it up.

Step 1: Open the Qlik Cloud App

• Navigate to your Qlik Cloud Hub and open your Sales Performance Dashboard.

• Find the Daily Revenue KPI.

Step 2: Create a New Alert

• Right-click on the revenue KPI.

• Select "Create Alert".

Step 3: Define the Alert Conditions

• Title: “Revenue Drop Alert”

• Description: “Triggers when daily revenue drops below £100,000 or by 20% vs. yesterday.”

Step 4: Set the Alert Conditions

• Measure: Select Total Revenue (£).

• Condition 1 (Threshold Breach):

  • Operator: Less than

  • Compare with: Fixed Value

  • Value: 100000

• Condition 2 (Relative Drop):

  • Operator: Less than

  • Compare with: Last evaluation

  • Offset: 20% (check "Offset as percentage")

Step 5: Set Evaluation Frequency

10. Trigger Distribution: Choose “When data is refreshed”.

Step 6: Add Recipients & Save

11. Switch on “Share With Other” → Select key stakeholders (e.g., Finance Team, Sales Director).

Step 7: Save & Activate the Alert

12. Click “Save & Test”.

✅ Result: You now get an instant notification the moment revenue drops significantly—giving you time to act.

Pro Tips: Making Alerts Smarter & Reducing False Positives

Use Dynamic Comparisons

Instead of static thresholds, use percentage-based changes to account for seasonal fluctuations.

• Example: “Alert if revenue is 10% lower than last week’s average.”

• This ensures alerts adapt to normal business fluctuations instead of triggering unnecessarily.

Add Multi-Step Conditions

Avoid false alerts by using grouped conditions that check multiple factors before triggering.

• Condition A: Revenue < £100,000

• Condition B: Revenue AND margin < 10%

By layering conditions, alerts only fire when multiple risk factors align, reducing noise.

Time Your Alerts Properly

Since Qlik Alerts trigger on data reloads, make sure your reload schedule aligns with your alert timing.

• Example: If your sales data updates every 2 hours, a daily alert may not be effective.

• For fast-moving data, consider more frequent checks; for longer trends, space them out.

Integrate with Slack & Teams (Coming in a future Issue!)

Push alerts directly to your collaboration tools so the right teams see them in real-time.

• Use Qlik Application Automation to send alerts to:

  • Slack (team channels or direct messages)

  • Microsoft Teams (automate escalations)

  • Jira or Trello (trigger tickets for follow-ups)

This ensures alerts aren’t just seen—they’re acted on.

Set Different Thresholds for Different Users

Not every alert needs to go to every team member.

• Senior execs? Only send high-priority, business-critical alerts.

• Ops teams? Include more frequent, operational updates.

Example:

• Notify finance directors if revenue falls below £100K.

• Notify regional sales leads if a specific market drops by 10%.

Use Alerts to Automate Follow-Ups

Why stop at sending a notification when you can trigger an action?

• If revenue drops 15%, auto-generate a report with deeper insights.

• If a key metric drops, trigger a follow-up email assigning an investigation task.

• If overdue invoices exceed £50K, escalate it to finance automatically.

Test & Refine Your Alerts Over Time

False positives or too many alerts? Adjust the settings.

• Increase the threshold if alerts are firing too often.

• Refine your conditions (e.g., only alert if revenue drops AND margin is below 20%).

• Test alerts before rolling them out to ensure they work as expected.

Quick Wins & Takeaways

✅ Start with something simple – If you’re new to Qlik Alerts, test them out using Total Revenue Analyzed in your Executive Dashboard.

✅ Go beyond basic notifications – Use multi-step conditions and dynamic comparisons to prevent false positives.

✅ Use Qlik Application Automation – Once alerts are running, integrate them with Slack, Teams, or workflow automation to take action faster.

💡 Final Thoughts

With Chart Monitoring, Subscriptions, and Alerts, you now have a full system for automated reporting in Qlik.

What’s the #1 KPI you’d set an alert for? Reply and let me know!