Alerts notify you when your data meets specific conditions. Rather than checking workbooks manually, you can receive an email automatically—but only when something important happens, such as emissions exceeding a target or new data becoming available.
Alerts vs scheduled exports
Both alerts and scheduled exports send data automatically, but they work differently:
Feature | Alerts | Scheduled exports |
When they send | Only when conditions are met | On a fixed schedule, regardless of data |
Best for | Exception monitoring, threshold breaches | Regular reports, recurring updates |
Example | Email when monthly emissions exceed target | Weekly sustainability report every Monday |
Use alerts when you want to be notified about exceptions or changes. Use scheduled exports when you need regular reports delivered at set times. See Schedule recurring exports for details on time-based exports.
Common uses for alerts
Alerts work well for monitoring situations where you only need to know when something changes or crosses a threshold:
Threshold monitoring: Get notified when emissions exceed your carbon budget, energy consumption spikes above normal levels, or costs go over budget.
Data availability: Receive an alert when new audit data arrives, supplier assessments are submitted, or monthly figures become available.
Exception reporting: Be alerted when values fall outside expected ranges, such as unusually low recycling rates or missing data in required fields.
Create an alert
You create alerts directly from the table or chart you want to monitor.
Select the table or chart you want to monitor.
Click the More menu (⋯) in the element toolbar and select Alert when.
The Schedule exports panel opens with the table or chart already selected and a default condition configured.
Select Email as the destination.
In the Recipient field, enter email addresses separated by commas.
In the Frequency section, configure how often to check the condition (see Set the check frequency below).
In the Condition section, configure when the alert should trigger (see Alert conditions explained below).
Click Create to save the alert.
You can only create alerts for published content. If your workbook has unpublished changes, you'll be prompted to publish before proceeding.
Alert conditions explained
When creating an alert, you specify the condition that triggers it. Since you create the alert from a specific table or chart, that table or chart is automatically selected as the data source for the condition. There are two types of conditions.
Data availability conditions
These conditions check whether data exists in the table or chart:
Condition | When it triggers | Example use |
If there's data | When the table or chart contains any data | Alert when new supplier responses arrive |
If there's no data | When the table or chart is empty | Alert when expected monthly data hasn't been submitted |
To use a data availability condition, in the Condition section, for Send, select If there's no data or If there's data.
Conditional statements
These conditions check whether values in a column meet specific criteria:
Setting | Options | Description |
Check if | Any value, All values | Whether the condition must match one value or every value |
In column | (your columns) | The column to evaluate |
Is | Greater than, Less than, Equal to, Not equal to, and more | The comparison to make |
Value | (your threshold) | The value to compare against |
To use a conditional statement:
In the Condition section, for Send, select If a condition is met.
For Check if, choose whether the condition should match Any value (at least one row) or All values (every row).
For In column, select the column to evaluate.
For Is, choose the comparison operator.
For Value, enter or select the threshold value.
Example: To alert when any facility's emissions exceed 1,000 tonnes CO₂e:
Check if: Any value
In column: Total Emissions (tCO₂e)
Is: Greater than
Value: 1000
Test your condition
Before saving, click Test condition to check whether your condition would trigger right now. This helps you verify that you've configured it correctly. If the result doesn't match what you expect, review your condition settings.
Set the check frequency
Even though alerts only send when conditions are met, you still need to specify how often to check. In the Frequency section, set when the system should evaluate the condition—for example, daily at a specific time, or on certain days of the week.
The alert only sends if the condition is met at the time of the check. For detailed information about frequency options, see Schedule recurring exports.
Manage your alerts
To manage an alert, you need to access it from the table or chart it monitors.
View and edit alerts
Select the table or chart that the alert monitors.
Click the More menu (⋯) in the element toolbar and select Alert when.
The Schedule exports panel opens, showing any existing alerts for this table or chart.
Find your alert in the list. Click the More menu (⋯) next to the alert and select Edit to change settings.
💡Tip: Analyse data typically assumes you want to add a new alert. In this case, you need to click Cancel in the creation flow to see all your existing alerts. See the image below.
Pause an alert temporarily
If you need to stop an alert without deleting it:
Select the table or chart that the alert monitors.
Click the More menu (⋯) and select Alert when.
Find the alert and click its More menu (⋯).
Select Pause.
To resume, follow the same steps and select Resume.
Send an alert immediately
To test your alert or send it outside the normal schedule:
Select the table or chart that the alert monitors.
Click the More menu (⋯) and select Alert when.
Find the alert and click its More menu (⋯).
Select Send now.
Send now sends the export regardless of whether the condition is currently met.
Delete an alert
Select the table or chart that the alert monitors.
Click the More menu (⋯) and select Alert when.
Find the alert and click its More menu (⋯).
Select Delete.
Troubleshooting
Issue | Possible cause | Solution |
Alert not triggering | Condition not met when checked | Use Test condition to verify your settings match your data |
Alert not triggering | Checking at wrong time | Adjust the frequency to check when your data is likely to meet the condition |
Receiving too many alerts | Condition too broad | Make the condition more specific, or check less frequently |
Wrong data in alert | Filters not applied | Check that any control values are configured correctly in the alert settings |
Alert paused unexpectedly | Repeated failures | Alerts pause automatically after 10 consecutive failures; check the workbook and resume manually |
If your alert fails more than 10 times consecutively, it will be automatically paused and you'll receive an email notification. Review the workbook to identify the issue, then resume the alert from the table or chart's More menu.