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Finish your agency’s setup checklist
Work through the four steps in the Setup strip at the top of the Dashboard: add a client, connect a platform, map ad accounts, then let the first sync run.
Before you start
- Who can do this
- Agency Owner or Admin. Everyone else can see the checklist but can’t add clients, connect platforms or map accounts.
- Where in Orbit
- Sidebar › Workspace › Dashboard
Steps
Tick a step’s number when it’s done. We’ll remember where you were.
Open Dashboard. The strip reads, for example, “Setup · 1 of 4”, with the next step highlighted.
Select and save your first client.
Select Connect a platform, connect an ad platform such as Google Ads, and choose its accounts.
Select Map ad accounts and give every account a client in .
Wait for First sync to tick itself. Its status reads “Sync in progress”, then “Data flowing”.
When it worked
Once all four steps are done, the Setup strip disappears from the Dashboard.
If something goes wrong
Map ad accounts stays open.
Every account needs a client. One unmapped account keeps the step open; its status shows how many, such as “2 unmapped”. Assign them in Account Mapping.
Orbit showsYou don't have permission to create clients. Please ask your Agency Admin or Agency Owner to create clients or upgrade your access level.
Only an Owner or Admin can add clients. Ask one of them.
Orbit showsOnly agency owners and admins can add connections. Ask one of them to connect this platform.
Ask an Owner or Admin to connect it.
First sync says it’s awaiting the first sync.
The connection hasn’t delivered data yet. Check its accounts are chosen and each has a client: the first sync starts once accounts are saved with a client.
How it works
Explainer: The setup checklist
Until your agency has finished setting up, the Dashboard shows a strip such as “Setup · 2 of 4” with four steps. It disappears once all four are done; there’s no way to dismiss it sooner.
| Step | Done when | Who can do it |
|---|---|---|
| Add a client | At least one client exists. | Owner or Admin |
| Connect a platform | At least one connection exists. | Owner or Admin |
| Map ad accounts | At least one account is mapped and none are unmapped. | Owner or Admin |
| First sync | Any performance data has synced, for any date. | Happens on its own |
- Each step shows its status, such as “No clients yet”, “3 unmapped” or “Sync in progress”. The next step to do is highlighted.
- Select a step to go to where you do it.
- One unmapped account keeps Map ad accounts open, even when the rest are mapped.
- The Welcome! banner below it offers the same first steps. Collapse it with its chevron; Orbit remembers that in each browser.
Explainer: What assigning an account does
Each ad account belongs to one client. That decides whose dashboards, reports, pacing and Data chat answers its data appears in.
- Until an account has a client, its data syncs but appears nowhere: not in dashboards, reports or Data chat.
- An account can belong to one client only.
- Assigning an account starts a sync straight away. Earlier days catch up as Orbit re-syncs them, up to 90 days back.
- When you choose accounts on a connection, Suggested means Orbit pre-filled a client because its name appears in the account’s name. Nothing is saved until you save.
- Find Accounts adds accounts already chosen on a connection that are missing from this list. It doesn’t fetch new accounts from the platform: to add those, open the connection from Integrations.
- Re-check account names from Google/Meta refreshes names for every connection whose accounts you pick from a list, not only Google and Meta. Google Analytics, Shopify and Amazon Marketplace aren’t included.
Limits: How often Orbit syncs, and its limits
Orbit syncs every connection once a day on its own. There’s no Sync now button: the only way to sync sooner is Retry on a connection that failed.
- Each daily sync refreshes the last 7 days, so changes the platform makes to recent days come through.
- On Sundays, the sync refreshes the last 90 days instead. History older than that isn’t refreshed on its own; email support@orbit.group if you need it.
- A connection’s first sync starts as soon as its accounts are saved with a client.
- In the + Add Connection catalog, six platforms send data to reports: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify and Amazon Marketplace. They’re marked Syncs to reports.
- Other catalog platforms, such as Microsoft Advertising, Snapchat Ads, X (Twitter) Ads and Google Ads Manager, can be connected but send no data to reports yet.
- Retry shows on the Dashboard’s Data sync card next to a connection that failed. Anyone at your agency can press it.