How to Create a Work in Progress Report in Google Analytics

A "work in progress" or WIP report isn’t just for tracking project timelines, you can apply the same concept to your website analytics by creating one in Google Analytics. This lets you isolate and monitor the performance of new content or campaigns before they’re fully baked or promoted. This article will show you exactly how to build a flexible WIP report in Google Analytics 4 to get a clear, early look at what’s working and what’s not.

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What Even Is a "Work in Progress" Report in GA4?

First things first: a WIP report isn't a standard, out-of-the-box report in Google Analytics. You won’t find it in the main navigation. It’s a custom report you build yourself to keep an eye on new initiatives without having their data get lost in the noise of your overall website traffic. Think of it as a dedicated space to measure the very specific things you’re working on right now.

You might use a WIP report to:

• Track initial organic traction for a new series of blog posts you just published.
• Monitor user engagement on a brand new landing page for a campaign that's in its earliest stages.
• Check the performance of a new call-to-action button or feature you’ve implemented using custom events.
• See how a handful of recently updated pages are performing compared to their previous versions.

The goal is to move faster. By ring-fencing this data, you can spot issues early, get a quick read on audience reception, and make smart adjustments on the fly, instead of waiting weeks to sift through cluttered data.

Setting the Foundation: What You'll Need

Before jumping into GA4, you need two things to make this process smooth. A little preparation here saves a lot of headaches later.

1. A Consistent Way to Identify Your "WIP" Items

Google Analytics needs a clear signal to know which pages, campaigns, or events to include in your report. The key is to have a common, unique identifier for all the assets you want to monitor. You have a few great options here, and you just need to pick one and stick with it.

• A Unique URL Structure: The simplest method for tracking a group of pages. For example, you could publish all articles from a new content series under a specific subdirectory, like /blog/new-series/post-title/. The consistent /new-series/ part is your identifier.
• A Specific UTM Parameter: Perfect for campaigns. If you're testing a new ad campaign, you can ensure every link uses a specific and consistent campaign tag, like utm_campaign=q4-product-launch-test.
• A Convention in the Page Title: You can add a specific tag, like "[WIP Test]" or a unique project name, to the <title> of every page you want to track. GA4 can then filter based on this title tag.
• A Custom Event Name: If your work in progress is a new website feature (like a pop-up or a specific button), you can create and fire a custom event dedicated to that interaction, such as new_feature_signup_clicked.

Choose the method that makes the most sense for what you’re tracking. Consistency is everything - if half your URLs follow the rule and half don't, your report will be incomplete.

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2. Basic Comfort with GA4 Exploration Reports

Generic, pre-built reports in GA4 won't cut it for this task. You’ll need to use the Explorations suite, GA4’s powerful tool for building custom reports from scratch. If you haven't used it before, don’t worry - it’s more intuitive than it looks, and we’ll walk through the entire process. Just know that this is where all deep-dive analysis happens in GA4.

Building Your WIP Report in GA4: A Step-by-Step Guide

With our foundation in place, let's build the report. Follow these steps, and you’ll have a working report in just a few minutes.

Step 1: Create a New Exploration

First, navigate to the Explore tab in the left-hand navigation of your Google Analytics 4 property. Once there, click on either the Blank template or the Free form template to start fresh. This opens a new, unnamed exploration canvas.

Step 2: Add Your Dimensions and Metrics

The new exploration has three columns. The first one, "Variables," is where you’ll import the building blocks of your report. Think of Dimensions as the "what" (e.g., the URL of a page, the name of a campaign) and Metrics as the "how many" (e.g., the number of sessions, the count of conversions).

1. Within the "Variables" column, look for the Dimensions section and click the + icon.
2. A search box will appear. Find and check the boxes for the dimensions you want to use. A great starting list includes:
3. Click the blue Import button in the upper right.
4. Now, do the same for Metrics. Click the + icon and find and import some useful metrics like:
5. Hit Import again. Your "Variables" column should now be populated with your chosen dimensions and metrics.

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Step 3: Arrange the Report Canvas

Now, look at the second column, "Tab Settings." This is where you actually construct your report by telling GA4 how to arrange the dimensions and metrics you just imported. It’s a simple drag-and-drop system:

• Drag the main dimension you want to analyze from the "Dimensions" list into the Rows box. For example, if you're tracking pages, drag Page path and screen class into the Rows box.
• Drag the metrics you want to see for each row from the "Metrics" list to the Values box underneath. Dragging in Sessions, Engaged sessions, and Conversions is a good start.

On your right, the table will instantly populate with this data for your entire website. This is messy, but it’s an important step. Our final move is to filter it down to just our "work in progress" items.

Step 4: The Secret Sauce - Applying The Filter

Here’s where we turn this generic report into our specialized WIP report. Still in the "Tab Settings" column, scroll down to the bottom where you see the Filters section.

1. Click on "Drop or select dimension or metric..."
2. Select the dimension that contains your unique WIP identifier (from Part 2).
3. Choose a "match type" and enter the value to filter by.

Let’s look at a few examples based on our identifiers:

• To Filter by URL Path:
• To Filter by Campaign Name:
• To Filter by Page Title:

Once you click Apply, the large table on the right will instantly refresh to show data only for the items that match your filter. You’ve successfully isolated your WIP traffic!

Step 5: Name and Save Your Masterpiece

In the top-left corner of the page, where it says "Blank Exploration," give your report a clear and descriptive name like "WIP - New Blog Series Performance." The report autosaves, so you can leave and come back to it anytime by clicking it from the main "Explore" page.

Beyond the Basics: Refining Your WIP Report

Once you’ve built your basic report, you can add more layers to get even richer insights without much extra work.

Use Segments to Compare User Groups

Segments let you slice your report data by user type or traffic source. For example, you can build and apply segments to compare how users arriving from "Organic Search" behave on your new pages versus users from a "Paid Social" campaign. Just click the + icon in the "Segments" section of the "Variables" column, build your segment, and drag it into the Segment Comparisons box in your Tab Settings.

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Switching Visualizations for Trend Analysis

Is your traffic growing day by day? A table is useful, but a line chart often tells a better story over time. In the "Tab Settings" column, you'll see a collection of small chart icons at the top of the "Main Table" visualization. Try switching to the Line chart icon. Then, just add the Date dimension to the X-axis box to see how performance is trending.

Create a Funnel Exploration for Conversions

If the goal of your new page is to drive a specific action, a funnel exploration is indispensable. You can add a new view to your existing report by clicking the + tab at the top of the exploration canvas and then selecting the Funnel exploration type. For yourself, configure a funnel that mimics the path you want users to take, such as:

1. Step 1: User lands on a WIP page (using your page path filter).
2. Step 2: User clicks your main call-to-action (using an event name filter).
3. Step 3: User lands on the thank-you page.

This shows you exact breakdown points where users are dropping off.

Final Thoughts

Creating a work in progress report in GA4 is more than just a neat trick, it’s a powerful way to gain clear insights into the initial performance of new content, campaigns, or website features. By using explorations and simplified filters, you can cut through the noise and make faster, smarter decisions based on real data.

Graphed was built to take this process a step further. While building these reports in GA4 is a great skill, it still requires you to actively dig for the insights. Instead, you can just ask us what you want to know, like “Show me sessions and conversions for all blog posts published in the last three months,” and we’ll instantly build a real-time dashboard that pulls the data for you. This keeps your dashboards automatically updated, so you’re always looking at live performance without having to manually refresh.