Reporting dashboards: a practical guide

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. This guide covers what reporting dashboards actually involves, where it usually goes wrong, and how to tell whether yours is in reasonable shape.

Data you do not trust is worse than no data, because it gets quoted anyway. Nothing below assumes a large team or a large budget — most of it is a decision somebody has to make and then write down.

Why it matters

A dashboard nobody opens is not a dashboard. There is a version of this that is over-engineered, and it is worth avoiding. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.

For most businesses the question is not whether this matters but how much of it is worth doing right now. That depends on what you are trying to achieve in the next few months, not on best practice in the abstract. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions.

How we handle it

Fewer numbers, more clearly explained. The cost of getting this wrong is rarely visible on the day it happens. It is worth deciding this deliberately rather than inheriting whatever the last person set up.

Measurement is only useful when someone has agreed in advance what they would do differently. The version that works in practice is usually less elaborate than the version described in the guides.

Every metric should suggest an action. There is a version of this that is over-engineered, and it is worth avoiding. Most teams find the first pass takes an afternoon and the maintenance takes minutes a month.

A working checklist

If you want a quick read on where you stand, work through this. Anything you cannot answer confidently is where to start.

• A dashboard nobody opens is not a dashboard
• Fewer numbers, more clearly explained
• Every metric should suggest an action
• Someone is named as the owner, not just assumed to be
• There is a date in the calendar to review it again
• The decision and the reasoning behind it are written down somewhere findable
• You could explain the current setup to a new hire in five minutes

Where it usually goes wrong

The most common failure is not doing this badly. It is doing it once, during a launch, and never revisiting it. Circumstances move, the setup does not, and the gap widens quietly until something breaks or somebody notices the numbers.

• It was configured during a launch and has not been touched since
• Different people in the business believe different things are true about it
• There is no way to tell whether the last change helped or hurt
• The only person who understands it has left, or is about to

More dashboards rarely produce more decisions. The cost of getting this wrong is rarely visible on the day it happens.

How we approach it

On our projects this gets handled during the build rather than added afterwards, because retrofitting it costs several times more than including it. We write down what was decided and why, so the next person to touch it is not guessing.

If you are working with someone else, the questions worth asking are simple: who owns this, how will we know it is working, and what happens when it needs to change?

Making it stick

Pick the single item from the checklist above that would cause the most trouble if it turned out to be wrong. Fix that one, confirm it worked, then move on. Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.