---
layout: default
title: Observing your data
nav_order: 1
has_children: false
redirect_from:
  - /observability-plugin/index/
---

# Observing your data
OpenSearch Dashboards
{: .label .label-yellow :}

Observability is collection of plugins and applications that let you visualize data-driven events by using Piped Processing Language to explore, discover, and query data stored in OpenSearch.

Your experience of exploring data might differ, but if you're new to exploring data to create visualizations, we recommend trying a workflow like the following:

1. Explore data within a certain timeframe using [Piped Processing Language]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/search-plugins/sql/ppl/index).
2. Use [event analytics]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observing-your-data/event-analytics) to turn data-driven events into visualizations.
  ![Sample Event Analytics View]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/images/event-analytics.png)
3. Create [operational panels]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observing-your-data/operational-panels) and add visualizations to compare data the way you like.
  ![Sample Operational Panel View]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/images/operational-panel.png)
4. Use [log analytics]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observing-your-data/log-ingestion/) to transform unstructured log data.
5. Use [trace analytics]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observing-your-data/trace/index) to create traces and dive deep into your data.
  ![Sample Trace Analytics View]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/images/observability-trace.png)
6. Leverage [notebooks]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observing-your-data/notebooks) to combine different visualizations and code blocks that you can share with team members.
  ![Sample Notebooks View]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/images/notebooks.png)