Dashboard With Zero Order Info

I know that this is a very common issue and that you resolve it by going to Analytics>Settings and importing the data, but my question is this:

Why would you launch a major release with core functionality that requires user intervention with zero prompting?

The same issue existed with the Woo Admin Plugin when it was being tested, so it’s nothing new. I’m just shocked that this made it into core.

The Dashboard is the first thing most users will see after upgrading, and to see a bunch of zeroes is an unacceptable experience.

The dashboard itself is a mess of numbers that don’t add up. I have one revenue figure in the Woo Status widget, a different one in Woocommerce>Dashboard under Performance>Total Sales, and another altogether in the Dashboard under Performance>Gross Sales. How do at least two of these not match? There is also a Net Sales item. My net and gross sales match under Woo>Reports. It’s just a mess. This wasn’t thought through.

Were people really asking to see the total taxes collected in a top-level dashboard interface? Shipping? It’s data that is important to see in a report, but not in the dashboard.

Also, why doesn’t the Products report allow you to drill down to the product variation level? That report is practically useless for anyone who uses variations.

To end on a positive note, both front-end and back-end performance seem to have improved during initial testing. That’s great to see.