A good dashboard answers the viewer’s question in a few seconds. The way to get there is not adding more charts but deciding what not to show.
Question first, chart second
What does the person opening the dashboard want to learn? Where are sales against target, which region is behind, what changed since last month? A dashboard started without writing these questions down turns into dumping every available number on screen.
Points to watch
- Data model: Getting the table relationships right makes every calculation you write later easier
- Simplicity: More than five or six visuals on a page makes it hard to read
- The right chart: A line for change over time, columns for comparison; a pie chart only when there are a few slices
- Consistency: The same measure should have the same color and name on every page
Before you publish
Show the dashboard to someone who does not know the subject and ask what they understand. If you have to explain it, it is not ready yet. Checking the numbers against the source system is the last step you should not skip.