Dashboards are everywhere, yet many end up as colourful wallpaper: glanced at, then ignored. An effective BI dashboard prompts questions and drives decisions.
Here’s how to design dashboards that managers actually use.
A dashboard’s job is to start the meeting, not finish it.
Start with business questions
Choose KPIs tied to your objectives, such as customer acquisition cost, rather than vanity numbers like page views.
Keep it glanceable
Use a clear hierarchy and few colours, and keep dense tables off the first screen.
Add drill-down paths
Let people click into the detail, such as conversion funnels or regional heat maps, when they need context.
Good dashboards turn data into conversation. They should raise questions, not just answer them.
If your reports aren’t getting used, tell us which decisions they’re meant to support and we’ll tell you what we’d change. There’s more on how we build dashboards.