Top 5 best practices

for creating effective

dashboards

and the 7 mistakes you dont want to

make

Top 5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and the 7 mistakes you dont want to make

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Financial services professionals are buried in data that

measure and track: relationships and processes,
decline and growth rates, revenue and profit.
Unfortunately, because there is so much data, using it
to better manage business is often overwhelming and
cumbersome.
Youve been there: no matter how many reports, formal
meetings, casual conversations, or emailed memos,
someone important inevitably claims they didnt know
about some important fact or insight and says we
should have a dashboard to monitor the performance of
X.
Or maybe youve been here: youve said yes, lets have
a dashboard. It will help us improve ROI (return on
investment) if everyone can see how X is performing
and be able to quickly respond. Ill update it weekly.
Unfortunately, by week 3, you realize youre killing
several hours a week integrating data from multiple
sources to update a dashboard youre not sure anyone
is actually using.
Yet, dashboards have been all the rage and with good

Leveraging that definition, we can define an effective

dashboard as one that enables users to visually
display relevant and current tasks and projects,
account performance, management costs and any
other critical information that effects or is needed
to achieve business objectives (such as improve
ROI, achieve customer service goals, and deliver
revenue). It is optimized to speed the evaluation of
and reaction to current trends and statistics and to
make the information and results accessible to
colleagues and clients.
Core to both definitions are these characteristics:
objectives-focused, visual, relevant, current, and
accessible to its audience. So, start your planning
by considering the following 5 best practices in
creating and deploying effective dashboards. And,
just as important, keep an eye on the 7 critical
mistakes you dont want to make.

Choose metrics based on

why they matter

Choosing what metrics to include in the dashboard is

reason. They help you and your coworkers achieve a

critical. Above all, they must be metrics that matter and

better grasp on the data one of your most important,

that are relevant to the job at hand. But that doesnt

and often overlooked tools. Youve read how they help

mean every metric should be included far from it. You

organizations get on the same page, speed decision-

should be highly selective in determining which metrics

making and improve ROI. They help create

earn a spot on your dashboard.

organizational alignment because everyone is looking

at the same thing.
So dashboards are effective. They work. The questions
are: how can they work for you? And how can you get
started?

What is a dashboard?
First, lets define what a dashboard is. 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.

In order to find the right set of metrics to include, you need

to consider the following:

What are your organizations core objectives?

How do your efforts contribute to those objectives?

Do you have data, either internal or external, that can

shed light on the objectives?

Can you design a meaningful metric that measures

those contributions?

Is this metric truly necessary to explain your

contribution to the objectives?

Can you build a systematic and on-going means of

measurement?

Start with a clear understanding of executive objectives

Instead of your dashboard users pondering how to read

and how you contribute. If your organization is in growth

and interpret your views, he or she can actually focus on

mode and new customers are key, then measure your

what the views in your dashboard are telling him or her.

new customer acquisition rates. If youre operating in a

A well-designed, highly visual dashboard will be more

highly competitive market, then incorporate third party

widely adopted by your audiences.

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 clearly explain how every metric on your
dashboard connects to organization objectives.

And, because youve carefully selected your metrics to

map to corporate objectives, visualization will be not only
useful in speeding peoples understanding but also
potentially help cross inevitable chasms between
departments. Colleagues will literally see the direct
translation of the individual department objectives into
the broader companywide business objectives.
Things you should embrace when designing a
dashboard include the use of colors, shapes, lines,
thicknesses, degrees of shading, and any other tools
that leverage visual perception. Things to avoid include
overly cute widgets, 3D graphic treatments, and graph
types not commonly seen. Why are visualizations such as
bar graphs, line graphs, heatmaps and scatterplots so
popular? They are clear and everyone knows how to
read them. So while its tempting to show off your
PowerPoint charting skills, adding as many shapes and
colors as possible until absolutely nothing is easy to
understandresist.
Operations Dashboard

Figure 1: Dashboard metrics

You should be highly selective in determining which
metrics earn a spot on your dashboard.

2 Keep it visual

Dashboards are meant to be fast and easy to read.

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. Because the human brain processes a
single number, a visualization or a picture as single

Figure 2: Unclear visualizations

chunks of information, a report or data table filled with

Stay away from overly cute widgets and hard-to-

numbers requires the brain to store and remember

multiple chunks while visualizations or pictures require
single chunks. So the process of comprehension and
insight is dramatically faster with visualization.

read graphs.

Top 5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and the 7 mistakes you dont want to make

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The easier and more intuitive

you make the process of
customization,
the more likely they will be to use your
dashboards.

Almost as important as having current data is having

Your dashboard will put everyone who sees it on the

represented in your dashboard. You need to be current

same page. But once on

in terms of what youre measuring. This quarter, the

the same page, viewers each will have their own

number of new customers might matter most. But next

questions and areas where they want to know more.

quarter, as you get more sophisticated in your use of

Your dashboard needs to allow viewers to customize it

dashboards and the supporting data, the focus may be

so that they get the information they need.

on customer satisfaction, most profitable products and

Make it interactive

Interactive, highly visual dashboards should enable your

audiences to perform basic analytical tasks, such as
filtering the views, drilling down, and examining
underlying data all with little training. Viewers need to
be able to literally get the big picture from the
dashboard that everyone sees and then be able to drill
down into a view that tells them what they need to know
to get their jobs done. Whether you accommodate this
need by using automated software features or you
produce multiple views designed for functions and
roles, allowing people to gather data relevant to their
situation is key.

Keep it current or dont

bother

the ability to change and update the metrics

growth this year compared to last.

Make it simple to access

and use

Making your dashboards easily accessible is critical.

Web distribution is ideal especially if your dashboards
can constantly pull current data and can adhere
to IT protocols and security standards. Products that
provide web-based sharing and collaboration of data
analytics, dashboards and visualization, are available
and are easy enough for even someone with limited
technical abilities to support.
If you cant publish to the web in a way that is easy to
maintain and update, then consider alternatives like
posting files on websites, Wikis or blogs. Of course,

Make sure that the data underlying your dashboard is

with file-based distribution, youll always have a data

current and that your selected metrics reflect current

synchronization issue (i.e., people reading old versions)

business challenges.

and the security of your data may be more cumbersome

Data can be from this quarter, this week, this hour

whatever the right timeline

but at least you can develop good habits about the

importance of dashboards and collaboration.

is for your business. Data that is out-of-date is not

Be realistic about your creation and distribution plan.

necessarily worse than no data. But, out-of-date data

Create a prototype, distribute it through your planned

does lend a false sense of confidence to decisions. You

means and ask for feedback. Just like any other

think youre making fact-based decisions but the data is

successful project, the key is to test, test, test. As you

no longer representative of or relevant to your current

have more experience and learn what people are using,

situation.

you can enhance the actual dashboard and your means

That being said, be realistic: you dont necessarily need

up-to-the-minute data. Its more than possible that a
dashboard of last months metrics is meaningful enough
to help guide and inform this months activities. And,
sometimes seeing metrics change by hour is just noise.

of distribution.

Top 5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and the 7 mistakes you dont want to make

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Top 5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and the 7 mistakes you dont want to make

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Summary

3. Cluttering the dashboard with unimportant

graphics and unintelligible widgets. Keep your

Dashboards are powerful because they can help you

dashboard simple in its visual appeal. Resist the

use relevant, current information to understand clearly

temptation to make your dashboard too flashy or

how you are performing with respect to the overall

over-designed, with gauge-like graphics and widgets.

organizations goals as well as help to explain your

As pretty as those may seem, they get in the way with

contribution to interested colleagues. Essential to the

your dashboards objective: rapidly and easily informing

success of a dashboarding project are:

your audience.

1. Choose metrics based on why they matter

4. Waiting for complex technology and big BI

deployment projects. Sure, some of traditional

2. Keep it visual
3. Make it interactive
4. Keep it current or dont bother
5. Make it simple to access and use
If youre already engaged in a dashboarding effort, take

Business Intelligence tools provide fancy capabilities that

are nice to have. But implementations often take a
much longer time than originally anticipated so waiting
for a traditional BI project to materialize may mean
months or years of delay. Fortunately, there are
dashboard tools and strategies that can get you going

note of these five best practices and evaluate how your

now.

efforts measure up. If youre not, its not only time to ask

5. Underestimating the time or resources to

create and maintain the dashboard. Because a

yourself why not, but can taking one on help give better
visibility to your business objectives.

7 mistakes to avoid
1. Starting off with too much complexity. Its
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 in
multiple dimensions. But instead of spending multiple
weeks or even months working through your first iteration,
youll be better off working through several short cycles
of prototype, test and adjust.

2. Using metrics no one understands. Your

metrics are probably so familiar to you that even
something as simple as conversion rate seems
obvious in its definition. But the reality is, your
dashboard needs to use metrics or concepts that your
broader audience understands.

dashboard is typically one page or one screen, it is easy

to assume that it should be quick and simple to create
and maintain. But in fact, a dashboarding project takes
on-going resources to design, launch and maintain.

6. Failing to match metrics to the goal. Often,

working dashboards showcase the activities of the a
single department. Instead, your dashboard should
connect your departments efforts to your organizations
actual goals and objectives.

7. Using ineffective, poorly designed graphs

and charts.
Take care in how you design your graphs and charts.
For example, 3D 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.
There are clear principles for designing good data
visualizations; see our resource list for a guide.

Resource list
Books (Information Dashboard Design and Show Me the Numbers) and articles 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 along with Tableau Software
Writings on good analytic design from Juice Analytics
Writings on good presentation techniques from Presentation Zen
Whitepapers, on-demand web seminars, articles and examples at the Tableau Software Learning Center

About Tableau
Tableau Software helps people see and understand data. Ranked by Gartner in 2011 as the worlds 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.

Copyright Tableau Software, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. 837 North 34th Street, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98103 U.S.A.

Top 5 best practices for creating effective dashboards and the 7 mistakes you dont want to make

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