Custom Dashboards - Crowdstrike

Problem

Security teams lacked a composable way to visualize key metrics (detections, incidents, sensor health, MITRE mappings) in a unified interface. Existing dashboards were:

  • Hard-coded and rigid (no user configuration)

  • Time-consuming to build with external BI tools

  • Poorly aligned to specific SOC use cases

This resulted in:

  • Analysts spending ~40% of their time exporting logs and building offline charts

  • Delayed insights across teams

  • Fragmented operational awareness


Objective

Design and launch a 0→1 custom dashboard builder that enables:

  • Configurable, reusable widgets

  • Rapid dashboard assembly

  • Insight-first terminology and workflows

  • Enterprise-grade usability under pressure

Success metrics:

  • 3x reduction in time to insight

  • 60% increase in active dashboard creation

  • Reduction in support tickets for dashboard requests

Strategy & Design Execution


User-Centric Research

  • Conducted 25+ interviews with SOC analysts, threat hunters, and security leaders.

  • Mapped out core jobs-to-be-done, pain points, and decision triggers.

Information Architecture

  • Shifted from chart taxonomy (e.g., “Time Series”) to intent-based units (e.g., “Detections over Time”).

  • Created domain-specific widget taxonomy (Detections, Techniques, Coverage, Incidents).


UI/UX System

  • Designed a left-panel drag-and-drop canvas builder.

  • Introduced quick-start templates and library categorization.

  • Defined interaction models, hover/focus states for high-pressure review contexts.


Performance & Scalability

  • Engineered lazy loading for large data sets.

  • Built a metadata-driven widget system for plug-and-play configuration.


Outcomes & Impact


Business & Product Impact

  • 3× faster dashboard creation — analysts build operational views in minutes vs hours.

  • 62% adoption among active SOC users within 8 weeks of launch.

  • 50% reduction in ad-hoc dashboard support tickets.

  • Improved decision velocity — key metrics showed higher daily engagement.


User Value

  • Analysts report less cognitive friction and greater operational clarity.

  • Dashboards used as source of truth in executive and cross-team briefings.

  • Reduced reliance on external BI tools by 78%.