What are dashboards?
Download as PPTX, PDF0 likes136 views
Dashboards provide a high-level overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) and are often created in Excel due to its accessibility. To build an effective dashboard, select relevant data, determine presentation methods (like charts or tables), and consider interactivity while ensuring visual clarity. Additional features, such as conditional formatting and pivot tables, can enhance functionality without cluttering the design.
What are dashboards?
- 2. Dashboards are, essentially, summaries of your key data. This data is often referred to as your key performance indicators or KPI’s.
- 3. Many dashboards are web-based, but because of its ease of use and because Microsoft Office is so widely installed, dashboards are often built in Excel.
- 4. The idea behind a dashboard is to provide a high-level view of your most important data at a glance.
- 5. This means that ideally you should not need to scroll to see additional data.
- 6. The overall look should be cohesive, but each part of the dashboard should be distinctive enough to stand out.
- 7. The example here uses a simple, clean design as a starting point. However, your audience may want something more exciting, and Excel offers many design and formatting options. Know your audience! This dashboard would be too busy for some people and too quiet for others.
- 8. Be careful what you add when you’re spicing things up. Try to avoid features that mean extra steps unless the added functionality has significant value. For example, you can use Excel macros to do some really fun things with multimedia and even custom animation, but the need to enable the macros could be annoying to your audience.
- 9. Since space is at a premium, making it interactive can be a good way to increase your dashboard’s usefulness while keeping the dashboard’s size to a single screen. With some ingenuity, you can have a highly interactive dashboard without a macro in sight! This dashboard uses a combination of data validation and COUNTIFS functions to create a built- in filter.
- 10. Another way to make a dashboard more dynamic is to employ pivot tables. However, remember that a pivot table’s height and/or width can easily change, so you’ll need to account for that in your design.
- 11. Conditional formatting is another terrific way to add information without taking more space or learning any macro design. Conditional formatting can be very simple, or it can use complex logic and formulas to test the data. Here, unpaid invoices are bold and red whenever they represent more than 50% of the total number for the month.
- 12. Dashboards are a great way to keep track of the data that’s most important to you and your organization, but how should you begin?
- 13. To get started with your dashboard: Determine what data to use. Only include what really matters. Locate the source or sources of your data and determine how you will update it. If you’re using Excel, you can manually enter it or copy and paste it. If it resides in a database you can also create a data connection that automatically refreshes as needed. Decide on the best way to present each piece of information. Charts are a great way to present data, but sometimes a simple table is better. Create a layout that tells the story of your data effectively. For example, the most important data should usually be at the top left. Determine if you want to make it interactive. If so, carefully consider what method you want to use. Experiment with formatting options. Dashboards are not for entertainment, but there’s nothing wrong with creating visual interest.
- 14. Would you like more help building dashboards in Microsoft Excel? Join Clear Direction Training for live online training! https://dynamic-excel-dashboards-august- 22-1pm.eventbrite.com