Dashboard

Dashboards help managers, analysts and investors track what matters most without having to search through many reports. They typically combine several charts, tables and key figures, often updated automatically from underlying data.

Businesses use dashboards to monitor key performance indicators, such as sales, costs, cash flow, customer numbers and website traffic. Finance teams use them to track budgets and forecasts. Investors and traders use them to follow portfolios and markets.

For example, a retail company's sales dashboard might show daily revenue compared with targets, sales by region and product, the number of orders and stock levels, all on one screen.

Effective dashboards focus on the most important information, are easy to read and highlight issues that need attention, such as figures falling below targets. Common mistakes include including too much information, using confusing charts and showing measures that do not support decisions.

Dashboards can be static reports or interactive tools that allow users to filter data, drill down into details and explore trends. Modern business intelligence software makes it easy to build dashboards that connect directly to company data.