5 Best Practices for Creating

Effective Dashboards
and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make

August 2011
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You’ve been there: no matter how many reports, formal reaction to current trends and statistics and to make the
5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make

meetings, casual conversations or emailed memos, information and results accessible to colleagues and
someone important inevitably claims they didn’t know clients.
about some important fact or insight and says “we
Core to this definition are these characteristics:
should have a dashboard to monitor the performance of
objectives-focused, visual, relevant, current, and
X.”
accessible to its audience. Start planning your effective
Or maybe you’ve been here: you’ve said “yes, let’s have dashboard by following these 5 best practices. And,
a dashboard. It will help us improve return on equally important, keep an eye on the 7 critical
investment (ROI) if everyone can see how X is mistakes you don’t want to make.
performing and be able to quickly respond. I’ll update it

1 Choose metrics that

weekly.” Unfortunately, by week 3, you realize you’re
killing several hours a week integrating data from
multiple sources to update a dashboard you’re not sure matter
anyone is actually using.
Choosing which metrics to include in the dashboard is
Yet, dashboards have been all the rage and with good critical. Above all, they must be metrics that matter and
reason. They can help you and your coworkers achieve that are relevant to the job at hand. But that doesn’t
a better grasp on the data — one of your most important, mean every metric should be included – far from it. You
and often overlooked assets. You’ve read how they help should be highly selective in determining which metrics
organizations get on the same page, speed decision- earn a spot on your dashboard.
making and improve ROI. They help create
organizational alignment because everyone is looking In order to find the right set of metrics to include, you need

at the same thing. to consider the following:

So dashboards can be effective. They can work. The

question becomes: How can you get one to work for
you?

What is a dashboard?
In his 2006 book, Information Dashboard Design,
Stephen Few wrote:

“A dashboard is a visual display of the most important

information needed to achieve one or more objectives;
consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the
information can be monitored at a glance.” Figure 1: Executive dashboards reveal
performance strengths, weaknesses
Leveraging that definition, an effective dashboard
Combining regional, product category and key
enables users to visually display relevant and current
performance indicators in the same view allows
tasks and projects, account performance, management executives to get a comprehensive picture of where
costs and any other critical information that effects or is their business stands. Explore this dashboard by
needed to achieve business objectives (such as improve selecting different Years, Regions or Categories to
ROI, achieve customer service goals and deliver answer questions that arise from the initial view.
revenue). It is optimized to speed the evaluation of and
 You should be highly selective
in determining which metrics
earn a spot on your dashboard.
Ask yourself how your dashboard metrics
connect to the bottom line. Does everyone
understand the metrics that matter?
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• How does each metric contribute to those A well-designed, highly visual dashboard will be more
5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make

objectives? widely adopted by your audiences.

• Do you have data, either internal or external, that can And, because you’ve carefully selected your metrics to
shed light on the objectives? map to corporate objectives, visualization will be not only
• Can you design a meaningful metric that measures useful in speeding understanding but also potentially
those contributions? help cross inevitable chasms between departments.
• Is this metric truly necessary to contribute to the Colleagues will literally see the direct translation of a
objectives? department’s objectives into the broader company-wide
business objectives.
• Can you build a systematic and on-going means of
measurement? Things you should embrace when designing a

Start with a clear understanding of executive objectives

and how you contribute. If your organization is in growth
mode and new customers are key, then measure your
new customer acquisition rates. If you’re operating in a
highly competitive market, then incorporate third-party
market share metrics. You likely have other specific
metrics that are leading indicators of overall corporate
goals; these are important to include only if the
relationship of those metrics to the corporate goal is
clear.

So, for example, if your colleagues understand that the

number of daily transactions is a leading indicator of
growth, include it in your dashboard. Be sure you can Figure 2: Sample dashboard showing cause and
clearly explain how every metric on your dashboard effect in manufacturing quality.
connects to organization objectives.

2 Keep it visual
In order to understand which issues need immediate
attention to improve manufacturing goals, this
dashboard combines defect analysis with plant
location. Teams can select specific plants, zero in on
a date range or select the type of error by interacting
Dashboards are meant to be fast and easy to read.
directly with this dashboard.
Report and text-based tables are not fast or easy to
read. This is a case where a picture really is worth a
thousand words. dashboard include the use of colors, shapes, lines,
thicknesses, degrees of shading and any other tools
Because the human brain processes a number, a
that leverage visual perception. Things to avoid include
visualization or a picture as individual “chunks”
overly cute widgets, 3D graphic treatments and graph
of information, a report or data table filled with numbers
types not commonly seen.
requires the brain to store and remember multiple
chunks while visualizations or pictures require single Why are visualizations such as bar graphs, line graphs,
chunks. So the process of comprehension and insight heatmaps and scatterplots so popular? They are clear
is dramatically faster with visualization. and everyone knows how to read them. So while it’s
tempting to show off your PowerPoint charting skills,
Instead of users pondering how to read and interpret your
adding as many shapes and colors as possible until
views if shown with data, he or she can actually focus on
absolutely nothing is easy to understand—resist.
what the views in your dashboard are telling him or her.
The easier and more intuitive
you make the process of
customization, the more likely
they will be to use your dashboard.
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3 Make it interactive up-to-date and that your selected metrics reflect current
5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make

business challenges.
Your dashboard will put everyone who sees it on the Data can be from this quarter, this week, this hour—
same page. But once on the same page, viewers each whatever the right timeline is for your business. Out-
will have their own questions and areas where they want of-date data can lend a false sense of confidence to
to know more. Your dashboard needs to allow viewers to decisions. You think you’re making fact-based
customize it so that they get the information they need. decisions, but the data is no longer representative of or
relevant to your current situation.

Almost as important as having current data is having

the ability to change and update the metrics
represented in your dashboard. This quarter, the
number of new customers might matter most. But next
quarter, as you get more sophisticated in your use of
dashboards and the supporting data, the focus may be
on customer satisfaction, most profitable products and
growth this year compared to last.

Figure 3: Quota dashboard reveals who’s getting

the job done
5 Make it simple to access
and use
Making your dashboards easily accessible is critical.
Sales teams have long been measured on whether or Web distribution is ideal – especially if your dashboards
not they make their numbers. This dashboard quickly can constantly pull current data and adhere to IT
reveals who’s underachieving and who is hitting their
protocols and security standards.
numbers out of the park, equipping managers to drill
down into regional and individual performance trends If you can’t publish to the web in a way that is easy to
to get the story behind the top line numbers. maintain and update, then consider alternatives like
posting files on websites, Wiki’s or blogs. Of course,
with file-based distribution, you’ll always have a data
Interactive, highly visual dashboards enable your
synchronization issue (i.e., people reading old versions)
audiences to perform basic analytical tasks, such as
and the security of your data may be more
filtering the views, drilling down and examining
cumbersome, but at least you can develop good habits
underlying data – all with little training. Viewers need to
about the importance of dashboards and collaboration.
be able to literally get the big picture from the
dashboard that everyone sees and then be able to drill Be realistic about your creation and distribution plan.
down into a view that tells them what they need to know Create a prototype, distribute it through your planned
to get their jobs done. means and ask for feedback. Just like any other

4
successful project, the key is to test, test, test. As you
Keep it current or don’t have more experience and learn what people are using,

bother you can enhance the actual dashboard and your means
of distribution.
Make sure that the data underlying your dashboard is
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7 mistakes to avoid

5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make
The flip side of these five best practice recommendations for dashboards is a list of seven mistakes to avoid. Your
dashboard objectives are to understand key metrics and collaborate for better decisions. Falling into one of these
traps will move you away from – not towards – these goals.

1. Starting off with too much complexity

It’s easy to get overly ambitious and want to provide highly detailed, real-time dashboards covering each and every
business challenge that also allow users to customize many dimensions. Instead of spending weeks or month
working through your first iteration, work through several short cycles of prototype, test and adjust.
2. Using metrics no one understands
Your metrics are probably so familiar to you that common terms to you seems obvious. But the reality is, your
dashboard needs to use metrics or concepts that your broader audience understands.
3. Cluttering the dashboard with unimportant graphics and unintelligible widgets
Keep your dashboard simple in its visual appeal. Resist the temptation to make your dashboard too flashy or
over-designed, with gauge-like graphics and widgets. As pretty as those may seem, they get in the way with
your dashboard’s objective: rapidly and easily informing your audience.
4. Waiting for complex technology and big business intelligence deployment projects
Traditional business intelligence (BI) implementations often take much longer than originally anticipated.
Waiting for a traditional BI project to materialize may mean months or years of delay. Fortunately, there are
dashboard applications and strategies that can get you going now.
5. Underestimating the time or resources to create and maintain the dashboard
Because a dashboard is typically compact, it is easy to think that it should be quick to create and maintain. But in
fact, a dashboard project takes on-going resources to design, launch and maintain.
6. Failing to match metrics to the goal
Often, working dashboards showcase activities of the a single department. Instead, your dashboard should
connect your department’s efforts to your organization’s critical goals and objectives.
7. Using ineffective, poorly designed graphs and charts
Take care in how you design your graphs and charts. For example, 3-D charts offers no increase in viewer
comprehension. Garish colors can interfere with interpretation. Choosing a pie chart for more than 6 values makes
the graphic virtually impossible to read. Check out “recommended resources” for designing good visualizations.
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Use dashboards for powerful insights

5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make

Dashboards are valuable because they help use relevant, current information to understand how you are performing
with respect to your organizations’s overall goals. Essential aspects of your successful dashboard include:
• Choose metrics that matter
• Keep it visual
• Make it interactive
• Keep it current or don’t bother
• Make it simple to access and use

If you’re already engaged in a dashboarding effort, take note of these five best practices and evaluate how your
efforts measure up. Also, check to be sure you’re not getting caught in any of the seven mistakes to avoid.

If you haven’t yet started a dashboard to help achieve your corporate objectives, get started today. Seeing your data
as key metrics on a dashboard will help you march towards meeting your goals.

About Tableau
Tableau Software helps people see and understand data. Ranked by Gartner in 2011 as the world’s fastest growing
business intelligence company, Tableau helps individuals quickly and easily analyze, visualize and share
information. With more than 6,500 customers worldwide of all sizes and across industries, Tableau is used by
individuals throughout an organization, in an office and on-the-go. See the impact Tableau can have on your data by
downloading the free trial at www.tableausoftware.com/trial.
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Recommended resources

5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and 7 mistakes you don’t want to make
Information Dashboard Design and Show Me the Numbers by Stephen Few

Books and articles by Edward Tufte

“Marketing Dashboards: Visualizing Smarter Marketing Decisions” research report by Jeff Zabin of the
Aberdeen Group

“Telling Great Stories with Data” whitepaper by Susan Moore, with Tableau Software

Juice Analytics Writings on good analytic design

Presentation Zen’s Writings on good presentation techniques

Tableau Software Learning Center’s Whitepapers, on-demand web seminars, articles and solution pages available
at www.tableausoftware.com/learn

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