How to build Asana dashboards in Metabase

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "asana": {
      "url": "https://mcp.asana.com/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}

# Install the Metabase CLI
npm install -g @metabase/cli

# Log in (opens your browser; requires Metabase v62+)
mb auth login --url https://your-metabase.example.com

# Load a tasks export — creates a table AND a model
mb upload csv --file asana-tasks.csv --collection root

# Refresh that same table later from a new export
mb upload replace <table-id> --file asana-tasks.csv

Create a polished Metabase dashboard for Asana work management analytics.
Work end to end: get the data into Metabase if it isn't there yet, then build.

Goal: Help team and program leaders understand completion, throughput, overdue work, workload balance, and project health from Asana data.

Step 1 — Find or load the data:
- First, check what already exists in Metabase (search for asana tables and
  models). If durable Asana data is already present — synced from a warehouse
  or uploaded earlier — use it and skip to Step 2.
- If nothing is there, pull a scoped export with the Asana MCP Server: tasks,
  projects, portfolios, users. Write each result to a CSV, then
  load it with the Metabase CLI — run "mb upload csv --file <export>.csv" so each
  upload creates a table and a ready-to-query model. Use "mb upload replace <table-id>
  --file <export>.csv" to refresh an existing table instead of creating duplicates.

Step 2 — Inspect before querying:
Do not assume exact table or column names. Inspect available fields, dates, owners,
containers, status values, and whether change/activity history exists before creating
duration or trend cards.

Important:
- Build on whatever data is present; don't claim Metabase connects natively to
  Asana — it reads a database or CLI-uploaded tables.
- Only compute durations when the required start/end or event timestamps exist.
- Exclude archived, deleted, canceled, or test objects from active-population cards.
- Avoid individual performance leaderboards; use owner views for balancing and cleanup.
- A single CSV is a point-in-time snapshot: only build trend cards if there is a
  usable date column or multiple periods have been uploaded.

Dashboard title: Asana Work Management Overview

Sections:
1. Executive summary: Completed work last 30 days; Open work; Overdue rate;
   Median cycle time if available; Unassigned work.
2. Throughput: Created vs completed by week; Completed work by type/status/project.
3. Project health: At-risk projects; blocked work; stale work; upcoming deadlines.
4. Workload: Open and overdue work by owner/team; WIP by status.
5. Flow: Cycle time, lead time, and time in status if history is available.

Filters: Date range, Project/board/database, Status, Owner, Team, Work type.

Output: Build the dashboard if you have permission; otherwise provide the exact
questions, SQL, model definitions, and layout. Include caveats for any metric
that cannot be calculated from the available data.

Basic task throughput.

SELECT
  date_trunc('week', completed_at) AS week,
  COUNT(*) AS completed_items
FROM work_items
WHERE completed_at IS NOT NULL
  AND archived_at IS NULL
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;

Open work past due, divided by open work.

SELECT
  project_name,
  COUNT(*) FILTER (
    WHERE completed_at IS NULL
      AND due_date < CURRENT_DATE
  ) AS overdue_items,
  COUNT(*) FILTER (
    WHERE completed_at IS NULL
      AND due_date IS NOT NULL
  ) AS open_items,
  ROUND(
    100.0 * COUNT(*) FILTER (
      WHERE completed_at IS NULL
        AND due_date < CURRENT_DATE
    ) / NULLIF(COUNT(*) FILTER (
      WHERE completed_at IS NULL
        AND due_date IS NOT NULL
    ), 0),
    2
  ) AS overdue_rate
FROM work_items
WHERE archived_at IS NULL
GROUP BY project_name
ORDER BY overdue_rate DESC NULLS LAST;

A capacity view, not a performance leaderboard.

SELECT
  owner_name,
  COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE completed_at IS NULL) AS open_items,
  COUNT(*) FILTER (
    WHERE completed_at IS NULL
      AND due_date < CURRENT_DATE
  ) AS overdue_items
FROM work_items
WHERE archived_at IS NULL
GROUP BY owner_name
ORDER BY open_items DESC;