# Metabase Alerts: Complete Guide for South African Data Teams

# Metabase Alerts: Complete Guide for South African Data Teams

In today's data-driven business environment, staying informed about critical metrics and business changes is essential for making timely decisions. Metabase alerts represent a powerful feature that enables organisations across South Africa to monitor their data automatically and receive real-time notifications when specific conditions are met. Whether you're running a fintech startup in Johannesburg, managing retail operations in Cape Town, or overseeing logistics from Durban, understanding how to leverage Metabase alerts can transform your data monitoring capabilities.

This comprehensive guide explores everything South African businesses need to know about Metabase alerts, from setup and configuration to best practices and troubleshooting.

## Understanding Metabase Alerts

What Are Metabase Alerts?

Metabase alerts are automated notifications triggered when your data meets specific conditions you define[6]. Rather than manually checking dashboards throughout the day, Metabase alerts proactively notify you via email, Slack, or webhooks when something important happens in your data. This feature is particularly valuable for organisations monitoring KPIs, detecting anomalies, or tracking business-critical events.

Unlike dashboard subscriptions that send regular reports, Metabase alerts are condition-based and only trigger when your defined criteria are met[2]. This targeted approach reduces alert fatigue and ensures your team focuses on genuinely actionable insights.

When to Use Metabase Alerts

Metabase alerts excel in several scenarios:

• Detecting when a question returns unexpected results (for example, flagging bad customer reviews below a certain rating)
• Monitoring time series data that crosses predefined goal lines
• Tracking progress bar metrics that reach or fall below targets
• Identifying rare events that require immediate attention
• Automating compliance and fraud detection workflows

## Setting Up Metabase Alerts

Prerequisites for Configuration

Before configuring Metabase alerts, your Metabase administrator must establish at least one notification channel[2]. The available channels include:

• Email – Standard email notifications to individual or group addresses
• Slack – Direct integration with Slack channels for team visibility
• Webhooks – Advanced integration with external systems (admin access required)

Step-by-Step Alert Configuration

Setting up Metabase alerts involves several straightforward steps:

1. Create or open a question in Metabase that represents the data you want to monitor
2. Define your alert condition – select whether to alert when results are returned, when a time series crosses a goal line, or when a progress bar reaches its target
3. Choose your alert schedule using minute-based, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or custom cron expressions
4. Select your notification destination (email, Slack, or webhook)
5. Configure additional options such as "alert only once" to prevent repeated notifications
6. Click Done to activate your Metabase alerts

## Advanced Scheduling Options for Metabase Alerts

Flexible Scheduling with Metabase v54+

Recent versions of Metabase have significantly enhanced scheduling capabilities for Metabase alerts[1]. Your organisation now has granular control over when checks occur:

• Minute-based scheduling – Check conditions every 1, 5, 10, or any number of minutes for high-frequency monitoring
• Hourly customization – Specify exact minutes past the hour (for example, at 15 minutes past) when checks should run
• Monthly checks – Less frequent monitoring for quarterly or annual reviews
• Cron expression support – Use Quartz cron syntax for complex schedules, such as checking only on specific dates or times

For example, you could configure Metabase alerts to check a critical metric at 11:59 PM on December 31st, or every Monday at 9:00 AM to monitor weekly performance[1].

Best Practices for Alert Scheduling

When establishing Metabase alerts schedules, consider these recommendations:

• Use minute-based scheduling only for genuinely rare events to avoid excessive notifications
• Stagger alert checks across your team to prevent notification storms
• Use cron expressions for complex scheduling requirements rather than creating multiple alerts
• Test your alert conditions thoroughly before deploying to production
• Document your alert schedules for team reference and troubleshooting

## Metabase Alerts Permission and Access Control

Who Can Create Metabase Alerts?

Permission management for Metabase alerts depends on user roles[3]:

All Users can:

• Create Metabase alerts on questions they have access to
• Add recipients to alerts they created
• Unsubscribe from any alert through Account settings

Administrators can:

• View all Metabase alerts across the organisation
• Add or remove alert recipients
• Delete or modify any Metabase alerts
• Manage alerts in bulk through the People menu

Data Visibility in Alert Recipients

When creating Metabase alerts, it's important to understand that recipients see data based on the alert creator's permissions, not their own[3]. This ensures consistent data visibility and prevents unintended access to restricted information.

## Troubleshooting Metabase Alerts

Common Issues and Solutions

Despite proper configuration, organisations sometimes experience issues with Metabase alerts not triggering[4]. Common problems include:

Slack Integration Issues

If Metabase alerts aren't reaching your Slack channel:

• Verify the Slack API token is valid and properly configured in Metabase admin settings
• Confirm Metabase has been added as an app to the specific Slack channel
• Ensure the channel name in Metabase matches the actual Slack channel name
• Test with a simple alert condition first before complex queries
• Avoid renaming Slack channels after configuring Metabase alerts – update the alert configuration if channel names change[2]

Query and Condition Problems

Verify that your alert condition is actually being met by:

• Running the underlying question manually to confirm it returns expected results
• Double-checking filter conditions and date ranges
• Testing with broader conditions initially, then narrowing scope
• Reviewing Metabase logs for query execution errors

Long-Running Query Issues

When long-running queries get stuck in the queue, they can block Metabase alerts from executing[7]. Optimise query performance by:

• Adding appropriate database indexes
• Limiting date ranges in your alert questions
• Using aggregated data instead of raw tables when possible