Creating dashboards that truly provide value is a combination of science and art. Clearly, data is at the heart of it, answering key questions about your business. But transforming that data into a set of visuals that you can quickly interpret is where the art comes in.
Luckily, with the dashboard tools available today, you don’t need a ton of technical experience to create dashboards. But to ensure you get the most useful result, it’s wise to focus on the fundamentals first. That's the goal of this post – to help you understand the best practices of dashboard design so you have actionable insight into your data, not just a summary of past performance.
Whether you’re using a stand-alone dashboard application or the dashboard tool within your ERP system, it’s easy to drag-and-drop widgets from a library and voila – you have a dashboard!
As tempting as it might be to jump straight to that point…take a step back and make sure you understand the purpose of your dashboard. Here are a few questions to help you clarify your requirements.
Understanding who will use the dashboard – and how they’ll use it – is an extension of identifying your reporting requirements. This will help you determine what type of dashboard you create and how detailed the data will be. Ask yourself:
Remember that defining a specific set of viewers will help you narrow the information to what they care about most and present it in the most effective way. For example, your accounting team likely needs a little bit more detail with the ability to easily drill-down for further analysis. But field service teams will want quick highlights that will direct their activities, without having to dig deeper.
With a clear picture of your audience and the purpose of the dashboard, you can select the right type. This will help you select the right KPIs to answer the viewers’ questions.
Our brains digest visual information more efficiently than textual insights – that’s exactly why dashboards are so effective. The key is selecting the right chart or graph to help people interpret the data. Here’s the rundown on the different visualizations you can choose from and when to use them.
A simple rule of thumb – ask yourself ‘How well does the visualization relay the intended information?’.
If you want to illustrate a trend over a set time period, use distribution visualizations.
Composition visualizations help you show how individual segments of data make up the whole.
While most visualizations will allow you to compare multiple data sets, these options will showcase the comparison in a more impactful way.
Number charts give you an immediate view of a particular metric. At a quick glance, you can see any total, like sales, EBITDA, gross profit %, value of open purchase orders and more. Be sure to label the time period clearly so viewers understand what the data is telling them. You can also add a trend indicator that compares the number to the previous period.
Technically, tables aren’t a visual format. But there are cases where you just need to display the information in a table. If your audience needs to know the underlying data and easily dig deeper, tables can be a great option. And remember that tables can be visually appealing by using fonts, number formats and icons to highlight the data effectively.
Keep in mind how we read – top to bottom, left to right. Additionally, eye tracking studies show that web users spend more time viewing the left half of the page versus the right. So, to help viewers absorb the information, you’ll want to put the most important information first. Typically, that means you’ll start with the big picture, then proceed to more detailed information as you move down.
To make the data the star in your dashboard, you want to eliminate distractions. Anything that pulls attention away from the story you’re trying to tell needs to go. Remember that effective communication is the number one priority.
Here are a few quick tips on simplicity:
Help your audience understand the data by providing context that explains the data. Even something as simple as showcasing a KPI number without indicating the timeframe can lead to misunderstandings and flawed decision making.
Color can be a useful tool to help you tell the story – when used effectively. The most important thing is to pick a color scheme with a handful of colors and use it consistently. You can use your brand colors but be sure to consider commonly accepted meanings of color. For example, if one of your brand colors is red, that might not be the best choice as red is typically associated with ‘bad’ or ‘stop’. Saturated colors draw attention, so use them for that purpose, alongside other colors that are toned down.
Your goal is to achieve maximum contrast, while avoiding color clashes and over-colorization.
Remember that your dashboard should help users determine their next steps. In many cases, this means digging deeper into the data to troubleshoot issues, understand anomalies or evaluate opportunities. Make it easy for users to do this with interactive elements like drill-down capability, filtering options or time intervals.
If you’re using ERP software, the drill-down capabilities offer a huge advantage. With your dashboard and all supporting data in the same system, you can easily click through to transactions and get a deeper understanding of the data without switching to other systems.
Thinking back to best practice #2 (know your audience), get input from the people who will be using the dashboard – early and often. This will help you understand what makes sense to the user and they can provide feedback to continue enhancing the dashboard over time.
Finally, designate a dashboard champion in each department to own the process and train other users on how to use them. Even with a well-designed dashboard, it’s best not to assume that people will intuitively know how to read it and use the interactive features.
If you’re not using ERP software yet, it’s the path forward to getting fast, reliable insight into your business. And that’s the goal of a dashboard, isn’t it?
The thing to remember is that the information you get from your dashboard is only as good as the data in the background. For many of the small to mid-size businesses we work with, dashboards were something they dreamed of, but couldn’t implement because their data was scattered across multiple systems and spreadsheets. ERP solves that challenge by consolidating your data in one system and giving you easy-to-use dashboard tools so you can gain valuable insight into your business.