10 Steps to Create a Powerful Excel Dashboard

Introduction

Dashboards are a powerful tool for presenting data in a visual way. A dashboard provides an effective overview of the performance of a business, project, or team. It brings together different data sources and displays the data into a single view. This makes it easy to analyze data and identify trends or outliers.

Dashboard creation is an important skill for anyone who wants to make the most out of their data. Creating an effective dashboard requires planning, gathering the right data, and transforming it into meaningful visualizations. This can be a daunting process, but following these 10 steps can help create a powerful dashboard that drives performance.

Preparing to Create a Dashboard

In the second step of creating an effective Excel dashboard, you will have to prepare in accordance with the specific requirements and specifications of the dashboard.

Requirements and Specifications of the Dashboard

The requirements and specifications of the dashboard include: the goal of the dashboard, the scope of the dashboard, the number of reports in the dashboard, the level of detail, designing specifications, and more. This information determines the overall structure and design of the Excel dashboard.

Understand the Goal of the Dashboard

Understanding the goal of the dashboard is essential in preparing to create it. The goal of the dashboard can be anything from providing actionable insights to presenting data in a visual format. Clarifying the goal helps to focus the design and content of the dashboard.

Assess Available Data

After understanding the goal of the dashboard, you will need to assess the available data. You need to evaluate if the data is accurate, comprehensive, and other criteria required for the dashboard. Visualizing the data is also beneficial at this step.

Gather All Required Data

When the available data is not sufficient, you will have to gather the necessary data. Finding the source of the data and gathering it can be a time-consuming process. After collecting the data, you need to make sure that it is compatible and applicable to the dashboard. This includes removing any redundant information or adjusting the data to fit the dashboard's criteria.

Designing the Dashboard

Once you have gathered your data and identified the key metrics, you are ready to design your dashboard. Defined as an information-rich display of an organization's KPIs, dashboards pull together multiple metrics on a single page and present them in an easy-to-understand visual format. It's important to create an aesthetically pleasing and easy to read dashboard to ensure that the audience can quickly glean insight.

Define the Type of Dashboard

Before you start designing your dashboard, it's important to have an understanding of the audience and the purpose of the dashboard. If you are displaying data to a non-technical audience, it's best to use visuals that don't overwhelm or confuse. On the other hand, if you are creating a dashboard for a tech-savvy user, then you can use more complex and sophisticated visuals. Once you understand the purpose of the dashboard and the audience, you can define the type of dashboard you want to create.

Layout of the Dashboard Elements

Organizing the layout for the dashboard can play a crucial role in the user's experience. Keep in mind that it is important to keep the dashboard visually appealing. Utilize a design that uses neutral colors, balance white-space, and fonts that are easy to read. Try to limit the dashboard elements to no more than four to six data points by grouping them logically. Utilizing consistent design elements to group metrics will help the user quickly understand the data. Now that you have a design in place, you are ready to begin selecting the visual components.

Select Data Visuals

Choosing the right visual elements to present the data is one of the most important steps. The right visuals can quickly help the user to understand the data quickly, while the wrong ones can make it difficult for the user to make sense of the data. When selecting data visualizations for your dashboard, think about the purpose of the dashboard and the message you want your users to glean from it. Popular types of visuals such as charts, graphs, and tables make it easy to present data and uncover trends. Additionally, incorporating visuals such as pie charts, donut charts, and bullet graphs can help the user to quickly identify changes in the data. Now that you have determined the type of dashboard and visuals, you are ready to set up the dashboard.

Building the Dashboard

The fourth step in creating a powerful and effective dashboard in Excel is building the dashboard itself. This involves setting up the Excel workbook, inputting all the relevant data and creating the visuals. Let's look at each of these steps in more detail.

Setting up the Excel workbook

When setting up the Excel workbook, you need to determine the size and structure of the dashboard. This means deciding how many sheets you will use, and if relevant, how many rows and columns are needed. You can also use functions, such as VLookup, filter, and sort to make your dashboard more effective. Make sure to also create a title page and add an introductory explanatory section if needed.

Inputting all relevant data

Once the workbook is setup, you need to enter the relevant data into the cells. This means inputting the labels and the relevant numbers. It is important to ensure the accuracy of this data, as any errors could impact the effectiveness of the dashboard. If you are importing data from an outside source, it is recommended that you clean the data first to ensure accuracy.

Creating the Visuals

In order to make your dashboard more informative and engaging, it is recommended that you add some visuals to the Excel dashboard. You can do this by adding graphs, charts, tables and other visuals. This can help to clearly display the data and make it easier to interpret and understand. When creating the visuals, make sure they are visually appealing and organized properly.

5. Refining and Finalizing the Dashboard

In order to perfect your powerful Excel Dashboard, it’s important to review data accuracy, add sorting capabilities, and titles and captions. Doing this will help ensure the dashboard you’ve created is fully functional, communicates the desired message, and is easy to navigate and understand.

a. Review data accuracy and format

Before you can consider your dashboard complete, it’s important to double-check that all the data is accurate and up-to-date. This means reviewing each value and making sure it’s up-to-date with current records. You can also review the format of the data to make sure it complies with your requirements.

b. Add sorting capabilities

By utilizing sorting capabilities, users will be able to quickly digest the data the dashboard provides. To do this, you’ll need to add an ascending/descending sorting function in each column to make sorting easier. Additionally, be sure to add a Filter button which will allow users to easily find the data they’re looking for.

c. Add caption and titles

It’s important to title each dashboard page with an appropriate title. This will not only make it easier for users to navigate the dashboard, but will also provide context for the data that is presented. Additionally, you should add a captions or descriptions to each element of the dashboard. This will help provide further clarity on what each element is communicating.

Testing the Dashboard

To ensure the Excel dashboard is functioning as intended, it is necessary to conduct quality checks and stress testing using new data. Doing this is a critical step in the dashboard building process.

Quality Check

The first step to testing the Excel dashboard is to keep an eye out for any potential errors with the data or formatting. This is where quality assurance comes in. Incorrect numbers, typos and misplaced information must be identified and corrected, if any.

For a more thorough quality check, the following should also be taken into consideration:

• Verify data consistency across charts, formulas and tables
• Check for any incorrect formulas being used
• Test that all links are connected properly
• Check that all of the data headers, titles and labels are accurate

Stress Test by Adding New Data

After the quality checks are done, the next step is to add new data to the dashboard and observe how it performs. This is also known as stress testing. If the dashboard is able to accurately display each new entry without any issues, then that is a good indication that the dashboard is ready to be used.

To ensure that the dashboard is able to handle large amounts of data, add several new entries over a short period of time and keep an eye out for any malfunctions. If all goes well, the Excel dashboard is ready for use.

Conclusion

Creating a powerful Excel dashboard helps you quickly, easily and effectively view important metrics and receive insights on your chosen data. As this blog post has outlined, there are several steps to achieving an effective, useful dashboard.

Summary of key steps

To summarise, the following steps should be followed to ensure a successful, powerful dashboard:

• Formulating questions to ask of the data
• Data sourcing and preparation
• Designing the dashboard
• Choosing the right chart type
• Cleaning up the dashboard
• Applying filters and slicers
• Creating dynamic charts

Recap of the importance and benefits of creating a dashboard

Creating an effective and useful dashboard is a great way to track key metrics and stay on top of your data. It can allow you to compare multiple sections or years of data and generate quick insights, allowing you to make informed decisions swiftly. By presenting your data in an easily digestible format, a dashboard can significantly increase productivity and reduce the need for complex analysis.