README

Server-side business event tracking with flexible report generation for Laravel + PostgreSQL. Get real-time dashboards in Grafana and exploratory BI in Metabase — without streaming infrastructure.

Architecture

App (Laravel) → public.business_events (append-only, transactional)
     ↓
Scheduler (every minute)
     └── for each report whose cron matches:
           dispatch(ProcessReportJob) → Queue Worker
                                         ├── runs report SQL (INSERT ... ON CONFLICT)
                                         ├── writes to analytics.* tables
                                         ├── ShouldBeUnique (no duplicate runs)
                                         └── retries on failure (3 attempts)
     ↓
Grafana/Metabase → reads analytics.* (read-only user)

Design principles:

public schema = transactional writes (app)
analytics schema = read-only aggregations (dashboards)
Events are append-only (auditable, no data loss)
Reports use INSERT ... ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE (incremental upsert, idempotent)
Each report is a PHP class with full SQL control — no rigid schema
Reports run as queued jobs — visible in Horizon, with automatic retries

Requirements

PHP 8.2+
Laravel 11 or 12
PostgreSQL 14+

Installation

composer require multek/laravel-business-metrics

Publish config and enum stub:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=business-metrics-config
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=business-metrics-enum

Run migrations and create analytics schema:

php artisan migrate
php artisan business-metrics:create-schema

Configuration

Edit config/business-metrics.php:

1. Register your events

Option A — Enum (recommended):

Edit app/Enums/BusinessEventType.php and uncomment/add your events:

enum BusinessEventType: string
{
    case UserSignedUp = 'user_signed_up';
    case RfqCreated = 'rfq_created';
    case OrderPaid = 'order_paid';
    // ...
}

Then point config to it:

'events' => \App\Enums\BusinessEventType::class,

Option B — Array:

'events' => [
    'user_signed_up',
    'rfq_created',
    'order_paid',
],

2. Create reports

Each report is a PHP class that defines its own SQL, output table, and schedule. You get full SQL control — compute activation rates, cohort retention, revenue breakdowns, or anything that needs custom joins and data from any table.

php artisan make:report ActivationRate

This generates app/Reports/ActivationRateReport.php:

use Multek\BusinessMetrics\Reports\BusinessReport;

class ActivationRateReport extends BusinessReport
{
    public function table(): string
    {
        return 'analytics.activation_rate';
    }

    public function schema(): string
    {
        return <<<'SQL'
            CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS analytics.activation_rate (
                cohort_week DATE PRIMARY KEY,
                signups BIGINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
                activated BIGINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
                activation_rate NUMERIC(5,2) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
                updated_at TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
            )
        SQL;
    }

    public function query(): string
    {
        return <<<'SQL'
            INSERT INTO analytics.activation_rate (cohort_week, signups, activated, activation_rate)
            SELECT
                date_trunc('week', s.occurred_at)::date AS cohort_week,
                COUNT(DISTINCT s.actor_user_id) AS signups,
                COUNT(DISTINCT a.actor_user_id) AS activated,
                ROUND(
                    COUNT(DISTINCT a.actor_user_id)::numeric
                    / NULLIF(COUNT(DISTINCT s.actor_user_id), 0) * 100, 2
                ) AS activation_rate
            FROM public.business_events s
            LEFT JOIN public.business_events a
                ON a.actor_user_id = s.actor_user_id
                AND a.event_name = 'onboarding_completed'
                AND a.occurred_at BETWEEN s.occurred_at AND s.occurred_at + INTERVAL '7 days'
            WHERE s.event_name = 'user_signed_up'
                AND s.occurred_at >= NOW() - INTERVAL '3 weeks'
            GROUP BY 1
            ON CONFLICT (cohort_week) DO UPDATE SET
                signups = EXCLUDED.signups,
                activated = EXCLUDED.activated,
                activation_rate = EXCLUDED.activation_rate,
                updated_at = NOW()
        SQL;
    }

    public function schedule(): string
    {
        return '0 */6 * * *'; // every 6 hours
    }
}

How incremental upsert works:

WHERE occurred_at >= NOW() - INTERVAL '3 weeks' → only queries recent data
ON CONFLICT ... DO UPDATE → upserts recent rows (insert new, update existing)
Rows older than the lookback window → untouched, stay forever
No retention pruning by default → data accumulates over time

3. Register reports

// config/business-metrics.php
'reports' => [
    \App\Reports\ActivationRateReport::class,
],

4. Create tables

php artisan business-metrics:create-schema   # creates analytics.* tables from each report's schema()

5. How scheduling works (zero-config)

You don't need to register anything in your scheduler. The package handles it automatically.

When you register a report in config and define its schedule() cron expression, the package's ServiceProvider automatically registers it with Laravel's scheduler:

// This happens inside the package — you don't write this code:
$schedule->job(new ProcessReportJob($reportClass))
    ->cron($report->schedule())      // uses YOUR cron from schedule()
    ->withoutOverlapping();

So the full flow is:

You create a report class with schedule() returning a cron expression (e.g. '0 */6 * * *')
You register it in config/business-metrics.php → 'reports' array
The package reads all reports on boot, and for each one registers a scheduled job with that cron
Laravel's scheduler (php artisan schedule:run, which your server runs every minute via crontab) checks the cron and dispatches ProcessReportJob to the queue when it matches
Your queue worker picks up the job, runs the report SQL, done

The only thing you need on your server is the standard Laravel crontab entry (you probably already have this):

* * * * * cd /path-to-your-project && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

And a queue worker running:

php artisan queue:work

6. Queue configuration (optional)

Configure the queue name for report jobs in .env:

BUSINESS_METRICS_REPORTS_QUEUE=analytics

Or leave it unset to use the default queue. Report jobs are visible in Horizon, retry automatically (3 attempts, 60s backoff), and won't run concurrently for the same report (ShouldBeUnique).

7. Run reports manually

For debugging or one-off runs:

php artisan business-metrics:reports --sync                              # run all now (sync)
php artisan business-metrics:reports --report=ActivationRateReport --sync # run one (sync)
php artisan business-metrics:reports                                      # dispatch all to queue
php artisan business-metrics:reports --report=ActivationRateReport        # dispatch one to queue

Usage

Logging events

Via Facade:

use Multek\BusinessMetrics\Facades\BusinessEvent;

// Simple event
BusinessEvent::log('user_signed_up', actorUserId: $user->id);

// Event with context
BusinessEvent::log(
    eventName: 'order_paid',
    properties: ['value' => 15000.00, 'currency' => 'BRL', 'payment_method' => 'pix'],
    actorUserId: auth()->id(),
    companyId: $order->company_id,
    entityType: 'order',
    entityId: $order->id,
);

// Within a DB transaction (guarantees consistency)
DB::transaction(function () use ($order) {
    $order->update(['status' => 'paid']);

    BusinessEvent::logInTransaction(
        eventName: 'order_paid',
        properties: ['value' => $order->total],
        companyId: $order->company_id,
        entityType: 'order',
        entityId: $order->id,
    );
});

Via Trait on Models

use Multek\BusinessMetrics\Traits\HasBusinessEvents;

class Order extends Model
{
    use HasBusinessEvents;

    protected string $businessEntityType = 'order';

    protected function businessEventProperties(): array
    {
        return [
            'value' => $this->total,
            'currency' => 'BRL',
        ];
    }
}

// Then anywhere in your code:
$order->emitBusinessEvent('order_created');
$order->emitBusinessEvent('order_paid', ['payment_method' => 'pix']);

// Within a transaction:
$order->emitBusinessEventInTransaction('order_paid');

Async events (queue)

Set in .env:

BUSINESS_METRICS_QUEUE=analytics

Events will be dispatched to the queue instead of writing synchronously. Use sync (null) for critical events like payments.

Artisan Commands

# Create analytics schema and report tables
php artisan business-metrics:create-schema

# Generate a new report class
php artisan make:report ActivationRate

# Dispatch all reports to queue
php artisan business-metrics:reports

# Dispatch a specific report to queue
php artisan business-metrics:reports --report=ActivationRateReport

# Run all reports synchronously (useful for debugging)
php artisan business-metrics:reports --sync

# Run a specific report synchronously
php artisan business-metrics:reports --report=ActivationRateReport --sync

# List registered events
php artisan business-metrics:events

# Prune old events
php artisan business-metrics:prune
php artisan business-metrics:prune --days=90

BusinessReport API

Each report extends Multek\BusinessMetrics\Reports\BusinessReport:

Method	Required	Description
`table(): string`	Yes	Target table name (e.g. `analytics.activation_rate`)
`schema(): string`	Yes	`CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS` SQL
`query(): string`	Yes	`INSERT INTO ... SELECT ... ON CONFLICT` SQL
`schedule(): string`	Yes	Cron expression for scheduling
`retentionDays(): ?int`	No	Days to keep rows (`null` = keep forever)
`retentionColumn(): string`	No	Column for pruning (default: `updated_at`)
`connection(): ?string`	No	DB connection (default: package connection)

Grafana Queries (Examples)

Since reports produce custom tables, your Grafana queries match your report schema:

-- Activation rate over time
SELECT cohort_week AS time, activation_rate
FROM analytics.activation_rate
ORDER BY cohort_week DESC
LIMIT 12

Connecting Dashboards

Grafana

Add PostgreSQL data source pointing to your DB (use read-only user)
Grant permissions:

CREATE USER grafana_ro WITH PASSWORD 'secure_password';
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA analytics TO grafana_ro;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA analytics TO grafana_ro;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA analytics GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO grafana_ro;

Create dashboards querying analytics.* tables

Metabase

Same read-only user. Point Metabase to the same DB, it will discover both public and analytics schemas for ad-hoc exploration.

Scaling Roadmap

Phase	Trigger	Action
Now	Starting out	Postgres + analytics schema + Grafana
Phase 1	Dashboard queries slow down primary	Add read replica, point dashboards there
Phase 2	Complex joins, multiple sources	Introduce BigQuery + dbt
Phase 3	Real-time automation needs	Add Pub/Sub or Kafka

The package is designed so that when you move to a warehouse, you replicate the same business_events table and report structure — no redesign needed.

License

MIT

multek / laravel-business-metrics

Maintainers

Details