Introduction 

In this age of speedy technology advancements, people expect everything, everywhere, and all at once. We can’t afford to wait.  Real-time data access is an unavoidable requirement of modern web applications across industries. A functional real-time dashboard is essential for any business as it provides valuable insights into the company's performance, enabling timely data-driven decision-making. Any second could tip the scales and affect stocks and investor moods.

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The Problem

The challenge with existing real-time dashboards is that users still need to click ‘refresh’ to view the most recent data. Updates are not entirely instantaneous. An app user’s experience and rating are improved when they need fewer actions to achieve what they want. Our research and development experts have been trying to upgrade existing solutions to this problem, and we’re pleased to showcase the results of their efforts. 

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The Solution

Futurify’s solution is built around Google’s Firebase Realtime Database. This offers robust handling of real-time data synchronization between clients and servers. In this post, through a series of easy-to-follow steps, we show you and your team how to leverage Firebase Realtime Database in a ReactJS application, helping you create a responsive and dynamic UX. We also summarize what an ideal real-time dashboard looks like and how to meet the highest expectation of instant updates and seamless synchronization across multiple devices.

P.S. When we say ‘instant,’ we’re being literal. We’ve built a system that allows users to manage data in real-time so that every time new data is updated, the application instantly fetches new data to the dashboard. This way, the end-user receives instantaneous updates without the need to ‘refresh.’ 

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The Top Three Essentials of a Real-time Information Management Dashboard 

Before we dive into the technical steps of building your dashboard, let’s summarize some requirements necessary for basic functions: Safety & Data Privacy, Backup & Recovery, and Process Automation. Here are the top features your information management dashboard needs to give you an edge over the competition.‍

1. Truly Real-Time Data Integration & Updates: Information systems should enable business users to receive a comprehensive view of operations and swiftly respond to updates. A dashboard must therefore be capable of seamlessly integrating data from various data sources with real-time or near-real-time updates. It must draw data from systems like your CRM, website analytics, social media platforms, and other sources, reflecting the most current data at any time. 
2. User-Friendly Interface with Mobile Accessibility: An intuitive interface with mobile accessibility, and easy-to-read visualizations and graphs must be optimized for on-the-go decision-making and constant monitoring. These features also allow employees at all levels to access and understand the data, identifying trends and patterns even without a background in data analysis.
3. Customization Options with Well-Defined Metrics: Businesses vary in their needs, so the dashboard should offer customization options to tailor the information displayed to specific user roles and preferences. Once you define the most relevant KPIs that align with the business's goals and objectives, your dashboard should focus on the essential metrics that directly impact performance, displaying critical insights when most needed.

With that in mind, here is more on the Firebase database.

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What is the Firebase Realtime Database? 

The Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-hosted database by Google that helps you build rich, collaborative applications with responsive experiences for end users with secure access to the database directly from client-side code. It syncs data across all clients in real-time, making it available even when your app goes offline. When the connection is regained, local data changes are synchronized with remote updates that occurred while the client was offline, automatically merging any conflicts. 

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Building your Real-time Dashboard using Google’s Firebase Platform

If you’re a software developer, this next bit should take you no more than a couple of hours to implement. We’d love to know if there are any hacks you discover in the process that could further improve the other parts of the solution. The fantastic part about the solution we’ve described below is that even with basic coding knowledge, you and your team should be able to integrate a real-time dashboard into your existing web application. We’re all about collaborative working that transcends barriers. Connect with us to build on our joint experience.