What is Dashboard Reporting?

There are almost hundreds of different definitions describing what is dashboard reporting and we’ve never really found an adequate description so we have come up with one of our own...

“Dashboard reporting is the process of designing an easy to read, often single page, real-time user interface, showing a graphical presentation of the current status (snapshot) and historical trends of an organization’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to enable instantaneous and informed decisions to be made at a glance.

Our inspiration has come from the following definitions found scattered across the internet....

What is Dashboard Reporting?

“The process of designing a user interface that somewhat resembles an automobile's dashboard and organizes and presents information in a way that is easy to read.

“Is the process of designing a real-time graphical presentation of where a company is. It involves transforming raw, meaningless data into useful, actionable information.

“The process of designing an interface that serves up your company's vital stats at a glance.

“The process of designing a data visualization tool that displays the current status of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for an enterprise.

“The process of consolidating and arranging numbers, metrics and sometimes performance scorecards on a single screen.

“The process of designing a user interface showing critical aspects of an enterprise at a specific point in time in addition to progress over time towards specific goals.

“The process of designing a visual summary of an enterprise’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and data, often at a high level.

“The process of designing an interface to show key changes in business metrics enabling decision makers to make informed decisions and changes with impressive speed.

“The process of designing a single screen of information that paints a quick snapshot of an organization’s operations.

Why Not Try Your Own Dashboard Reporting in Excel?

We hope this helps you understand what is dashboard reporting. Please feel free to take a look at our knowledge base and tutorials for designing your own executive dashboard in Excel. What is clear is that dashboard reporting has become an important and mainstream business discipline. Here's one last thought...

“The dashboard is the CEO's killer app, making the gritty details of a business that are often buried deep within a large organization accessible at a glance to senior executives. So powerful are the programs that they're beginning to change the nature of management, from an intuitive art into more of a science. Managers can see key changes in their businesses almost instantaneously – and when salespeople falter or quality slides – they can take quick, corrective action.

Thanks to web technology and Business Intelligence it is more possible than ever before for executives to keep a finger on their company’s pulse, by seeing the whole picture of whatever KPIs they need to monitor.

Businessweek (Feb 13, 2006)

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What is Dashboard Reporting Sources
Giving the Boss the Big Picture (Businessweek, Feb 13, 2006)
Pitching? Let Your Dashboard Do the Work (Businessweek, May 7, 2009)
Track Your Company with a Dashboard (Businessweek, June 20, 2010)