Tips & Tricks for Creating An Effective Excel Dashboard

Introduction

A dashboard is a visual representation of data which gives an overview of the performance or status of a business, process or other metric. It enables users to have a quick glance of their data and provides valuable insights. Excel is a powerful tool used in almost all business and organizations, and creating an effective dashboard with it can bring a lot of benefits to a business.

Benefits of using an Excel dashboard:

• Helps make data-driven decisions
• Enables KPIs tracking
• facilitates data analysis
• Improves data visibility behind big numbers
• Provides meaningful insight into performance and trends

Formulating Objectives

Creating an effective Excel dashboard requires you to define your objectives beforehand. Dashboard visualizations should have clear goals and objectives to help you measure, track, and improve performance.

Establishing Goals for Your Dashboard

Before you get into the technical aspects of creating an Excel dashboard, it is important to consider what you are hoping to achieve with your dashboard. Ask yourself what the main objective of the dashboard is, and break down the goal into smaller, more tangible components you can easily track and measure.

For example, if your goal is to increase sales in your company, you can break this down further by determining the key metrics you need to track, such as website visits, conversion rate, and customer satisfaction. From there, you can begin to visualize the data related to these metrics in a dashboard to better observe and assess your progress towards achieving the ultimate goal.

Determining the Data You Need

Once you have established your goals, you can begin to determine the data you need to track in order to monitor performance. Data is the foundation of your dashboard and it is important to identify the correct data points that will help you achieve your goals.

For example, you may need to track customer data, website performance metrics, or sales figures in order to effectively monitor performance. It is important to consider the type of data needed, as well as the format of the data (e.g. Excel spreadsheet, CSV file, etc.). Additionally, ensure you have the right technology setup in place to streamline the data collection process.

Preparing the Data

Creating an effective Excel Dashboard requires preparation of the data to ensure accuracy, relevance, and completeness for the dashboard. Here are some tips to help ensure there is reliable data for creating the dashboard.

Ensuring Data Sources are Accurate

When preparing data for a dashboard, it is important to check the source of the data for reliability. If the data is coming from internal sources such as accounting or CRM software, be sure to review it for accuracy. It is also important to be sure the data is up to date before using it for the dashboard. Additionally, any external sources should be verified to ensure accuracy of the data before using it in the dashboard.

Cleaning Unnecessary Data

It is important to only include the most relevant and important data in your dashboard. If you have too much data, the dashboard can easily become cluttered and difficult to understand. Take some time to review the data and determine which elements are most important for the dashboard. Any data that is not necessary should be removed to ensure an effective dashboard.

Additionally, if there are multiple sources of data being used for the dashboard, consider standardizing them. For example, if you are using multiple sources of customer data, ensure that the data fields are all consistent. This will make it easier to create the dashboard and help ensure it is accurate and easy to understand.

Designing the Dashboard

Creating an effective Excel Dashboard is an important step in visualizing data. The design of the dashboard plays a large role in communicating data clearly and accurately. A few key strategies can help make the dashboard easier to read and use.

Choosing a Format

The format of the dashboard plays an important role in making the graphics appear consistent and easy to read. It is important to choose a format that will effectively display the data and can be used on multiple screens and devices. Make sure to include all necessary columns and rows in an organized, easy to read format.

Placement of Visuals Effectively

Once the format has been chosen, it is also important to consider the placement of visuals within the dashboard. Visuals should be placed in a way that creates a logical flow and makes the data more understandable. Consider the size of the visuals, color contrast and font size when placing them within the dashboard.

• Place visuals in a logical order, with related elements grouped together.
• Allow for ample space between visuals.
• Use colors to highlight key points.
• Choose visuals that are easy to interpret.
• Make font size and type consistent.

Understanding Chart Types

Creating effective visualizations for data can help represent complex information quickly and for easy comprehension. Therefore, it is essential to select the right type of graph for your data. In Microsoft Excel, there are four basic types of charts that can be used to effectively communicate data insight, Pie Charts, Line Graphs, Bar Graphs, and XY (Scatter) Plots. Each chart type allows for a different and more effective depiction of data.

Pie Charts

Pie Charts are the most popular chart type for displaying proportionate values of different categories. For example, if you have data of the percentage of different products sold in your store. Pie charts work best when the time frame of data is short, and there are fewer categories. For representation of data with long-term trends or a large number of categories, line or bar charts are more effective choices.

Line Graphs

Line graphs are time-based graphical representations with a continuous data range, making them ideal for depicting long-term trends or fluctuations. Data collection periods are also fairly easy to track on a line graph. Line graphs can take one or many lines of data. For example, if you have a customer satisfaction score from several different companies, you can show the number of points on a line graph.

Bar Graphs

Bar Graph is used for comparing two or more values. It is applicable for data with two or more categories, by plotting the different datasets on the same axis. Comparisons are easier to make when using a bar graph and can be used to display categorical information like product category preferences or other customer characteristics.

XY (Scatter) Plots

XY (Scatter) plots are used to compare two or more variables. They are best used with data that have multiple similar values. When plotting data on a scatter plot, the relationship between the variables is immediately apparent. Scatter plots work best when representing the relationship between two variables; they also provide an insight into the correlation between variables and can uncover patterns.

Enhancing Dashboard Effectiveness

Creating a dashboard in Excel is an effective way to present data in a visually stimulating manner that helps others to understand and interpret the data. However, there are a few extra steps you can take to make sure your dashboard is as effective as possible.

Adding Descriptions

Adding brief descriptions to your dashboard and its visualizations will help the viewer to better understand what is being presented. Any terminology used in the dashboard should always be defined and the different visualizations should also be explained. This will help to eliminate any confusion and ensure that the information is being presented in a clear and concise way.

Utilizing Filters to Review Data

Filters are a great way to isolate different data sets to review and compare. For example, if you have a chart that shows the sales of different products over a period of time, you can use the filter to view data related to a specific product. This can be incredibly useful in helping you to draw insights and determine the future direction.

Utilizing filters can help to break down large amounts of data into more manageable chunks and it can be a great way to uncover trends and correlations.

Conclusion

Creating an effective Excel dashboard can be a daunting task, but it is possible to achieve impressive results by following a few basic tips and tricks. An effective Excel dashboard is the key to ensuring that employees have the information and insights needed to make the best decisions for the business.

Summary of Important Tips

To create an effective Excel dashboard, you should always:

• Focus on metrics that matter
• Keep the design simple and clean
• Include visuals for better understanding
• Make sure to use color coding
• Choose the right data source
• Incorporate a variety of charts and tables

Final Reminder

It is important to keep in mind that creating an effective Excel dashboard can take some time and effort, but the reward of having reliable data and insights is worth it in the end. By following the tips and tricks provided in this post, you can create an effective Excel dashboard that will help your organization make informed decisions.