Core Terminology
The core concepts you'll encounter across Switchboard.
Switchboard is the first AI native data platform that unifies all your sources, enabling effortless analysis, visualization, and inquiry.
Home
Your landing page. Home shows your pinned documents for quick access. If you're just getting started, you'll see an onboarding checklist that walks you through connecting your first source, creating a model, and building your first document.
Sources
Connect your external data to Switchboard. We integrate with many of the most common data sources via Fivetran — databases, SaaS platforms like Shopify and Salesforce, spreadsheets, and more. If we're missing an integration you need, you can request one via our Slack.
Models
Models are the core of Switchboard's data layer. A model reshapes raw source data into a structured, meaningful definition that the rest of the platform can work with. Within a model, you'll encounter:
- Properties — The individual fields in a model, like "customer name" or "order date." Properties can come directly from a source, or be computed using formulas or AI.
- Aggregations — Reusable summary metrics defined on a model, like "total revenue" or "average order value." Once created, they serve as a single source of truth across your documents.
- Relationships — Connections between models. For example, linking Orders to Customers so you can see a customer's name alongside their orders without manually joining data.
- Enrichment — A way to add new properties using AI or custom formulas. For example, use AI to categorize product descriptions, or write a formula to calculate profit margin from existing fields.
The Models page also includes a Graph view that visualizes how your models relate to one another, and a Runs tab that shows the history of model builds.
Documents
Documents are where you explore and present your data. Think of them like pages in Notion — you can add a title, write text, and embed live data visualizations. Documents are composed of blocks, the individual content elements within them.
The most important block type is an Explore. An Explore lets you interactively query a model — choose which properties and aggregations to display, apply filters, and switch between different views:
- Table — A spreadsheet-like view of your data.
- Chart — Visualize with line, bar, scatter, or stacked bar charts.
- Scorecard — Display a single metric with optional trend comparison.
Operator
Operator is Switchboard's AI assistant, currently in beta. Ask questions about your data in plain English — like "what were our top 10 products last month?" — and Operator will query your models and return insights. It understands your data layer, so you don't need to configure anything manually.
Settings
Manage your organization's configuration — name, business timezone, start of week, and billing.