Businesses, agencies and organizations were being forced to work remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic hit globally. As a result, it became harder to manage and analyze business data. With this, having an effective data dashboard was deemed even more important.

A Data Dashboard is an information management tool that can help businesses and organizations track, analyze, and display key performance indicators (KPI), metrics, and key data points to monitor the performance and health of the business or its specific department.

The dashboard displays all the data in tables, charts, and gauges that connect to your files, attachments, and services. It provides businesses an efficient way to track multiple data that need tracking and analysis through visual representations. It gives clients an easier way to keep an eye on their progress while they seek solutions to improve their business.

Using a dashboard appropriately can help you make decisions that can impact your business execution. 

Things to consider in creating an effective data dashboard

1. Audience

Your audience is one of the most important factors you need to consider in creating a dashboard. Different roles in a company require a disparate set of data. You need to know who will use the dashboard because every department needs data following their role in a company. You need to present your data clearly depending on the specific audience you have in mind; in that way, it can help certain set of people interpret them correctly, and create the right decisions for the business.

2. Data Quality

Pay attention to your data, and make sure that the information you add to your dashboard is of good quality. If possible, verify if their sources are updated and accurate. Ensure that you are putting just pertinent details in your dashboard. The kind of data and how you present it should depend on the users’ needs. To avoid losing the interest of the user, remove irrelevant data that can make the dashboard look cluttered. Always put all the appropriate information needed, but do not try to cram all of them on the same page. 

3. Context

Use a short and self-explanatory label to your metrics that can help express the meaning of data. Provide your viewers with a context whether the numbers shown in your visuals are good or bad. To set meaning to numbers on a dashboard, you must have comparison values. This is important so that your audience will know if they need to perform any to make their performance better.

4. Right Data Visualization Tools

A dashboard should have the right data visualization tools to help you organize your data and easily understand the metrics. To show comparative information, one may use a pie chart. In presenting a comparison with more variables, you may use a bar chart. Graphs, meanwhile, are used to measure trends over time, and tables are needed to sort large amounts of data.

These best practices for including data in the dashboard can help you make better choices. Be sure that you have appropriate and automatically modified data as well as visuals to help you and others interpret and digest the data easily. This will increase the usability of the dashboard and make it act as a helpful tool for your company.

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