Metric Flow Diagram
The Metric Details Diagram, or flow diagram provides a visual representation of the entire biodiversity metric in a single view. Instead of piecing together information from up to 20 tabs of Excel, this feature tells the full story of the metric by showing how each habitat changes from the baseline, through proposed interventions, and to the final post-intervention outcome.
Learn about how to use the metric flow diagram in the video below.
How the diagram works
Each card in the diagram represents a single habitat. Cards are arranged in three columns:
- Pre-intervention - the baseline habitats on site before development
- Intervention - what happens to each habitat (retained, enhanced, lost, created)
- Post-intervention - the resulting habitats after all proposed changes
Hover over any habitat card to see flow lines showing its full journey across all three stages. This makes it straightforward to trace how a specific habitat is affected from start to finish.
Navigation and display controls
The diagram includes several tools to help you work with large or complex metrics:
- Smart scrolling - keeps related habitat journeys visible together as you move through the diagram
- Zoom controls - adjust the view for large or small screens
- Reorder cards - sort habitats by criteria such as highest biodiversity value first or largest habitats first
- Focus on filtering - show only specific distinctiveness levels or habitat types to cut through the noise
- On-site and off-site toggle - switch between on-site and off-site views
When to use it
The flow diagram is most useful when the headline figures from the Summary Tables raise questions. If the numbers look unexpected - gains seem too high, losses seem too low, or the overall story does not add up - the flow diagram lets you see exactly what is happening at the habitat level and trace the journey that produced those results.
Where it fits in the workflow
The flow diagram is Level 3 of the Assessment workflow. Use it after reviewing Metric Errors (Level 1) and Summary Tables (Level 2), and before moving into individual habitat record cards (Level 4) for the most detailed review.