Custom systems
One agreed number, not five that disagree
A management meeting that opens by arguing over which number is right does not end in a decision. The problem is not the numbers but the absence of an agreed definition per metric and a single source they are taken from.
Contents
What goes into the dashboard
Metrics a decision rests on, not decorative charts.
Performance metrics
- Sales against target for the same period
- Profitability by product, project or route
- Collection cycle and overdue receivables
- Dead stock and item turnover rate
- Team productivity on an agreed measure
Design and operation
- A written definition and formula per metric
- One approved source behind each number
- Automatic refresh with no manual export
- Permissions setting what each role sees
- An export for presenting in meetings
Before building
A beautiful dashboard on messy data speeds up the wrong decision
Many dashboard projects begin by choosing chart types and end with an elegant screen nobody trusts. We start from the other end: agree the definition of each metric, trace every number to its source, and fix what we find broken there first.
What we settle before the first chart
Design
Three rules that get a dashboard used
A dashboard nobody opens is not one.
One metric per question
Every chart answers a defined question, and a chart with no question behind it is deleted however handsome.
Comparison before figure
A number without a comparison means nothing, so the prior period or the target sits beside it always.
A path to the detail
The ability to descend from the figure to the rows behind it, or the figure just becomes material for argument.
Questions
About dashboards
Do we need a data warehouse?
Does the dashboard work on a phone?
Who updates the data?
Start here
Tell us about your project
Send us two lines about what you need on WhatsApp. We reply, book a short scoping call, then send a written plan with cost and timeline before you commit to anything.