How To Create a Dashboard for Your Small Business

This article was written by:

Content Contributor: Bash Sarmiento is a writer and an educator from Manila. He writes laconic pieces in the education, lifestyle, and health realms. His academic background and extensive experience in teaching, textbook evaluation, business management, and traveling are translated in his works.

Scottish- Irish physicist and mathematician Lord Kelvin once said, "To measure is to know." This quote holds true in all aspects of life, whether personal or professional endeavors.

For small businesses,  it is essential to know your metrics so that it is easier to know which efforts are effective and which aren't. Making data available will help stakeholders and leaders plan and decide what can benefit the business, thus focusing efforts on growing the business. This is where a dashboard comes in.

Why the need for a business dashboard?

Just like in driving, a business dashboard gives you an overview of the essential data you need in real-time. It is not enough to look at your bank balance as a business driver. It would just be like driving your vehicle without checking the speedometer, gas, water level, and other aspects of your car.

Having a good business dashboard will help you monitor your key metrics so that you can focus on steering your business effectively. Dashboards also facilitate accurate data tracking and inspire collaboration within the company as it keeps everyone on the same page. It keeps everyone on track guides every team member not to fall into the trap of the execution gap.  

How can you create your business dashboard?

Your dashboard does not need to be complicated. In fact, it is better to keep it simple and easily understood by everyone. Here are some tips on how to create your dashboard successfully.

Know your purpose

First things first- know the purpose of your dashboard and your target audience. This step will, later on, help you decide on the appropriate metrics to reflect on your dashboard. Is this for your Marketing team to understand better your customer segmentation and their behavior? Or is it for your stakeholders and leaders to aid them in coming up with strategies? Can it be for your Finance team so that they can easily monitor profit, expenses, and bottom line?

Identify a theme focusing on a specific problem. Is it to optimize marketing efforts, increase sales, or improve bottom-line figures? Knowing the core theme of your dashboard will guide you in creating your dashboard.

Decide what data should be reflected

Avoid making your dashboard clumped with too much information by prioritizing which data you need to show. Given the plenty of metrics that you can collect and choose from and the limited space of the dashboard, consider what data is the most imperative that needs to be upfront. Go back to your purpose and target audience so that you can properly decide what metrics should be shown in your dashboard. It will also be helpful for you to get your target audience's input on what data they want to see since they will be the end-user.

You may also want to set targets based on each metric you have decided to put in the dashboard. Through this, the team will be on the same page and easily see if they are winning or failing. As Franklin Covey recommended, a scoreboard or dashboard is meant to show the team's progress.

Keep it clean and simple

Make your dashboard easy on the eyes by keeping it clean and simple. Try to keep your color scheme simple, like red if not hitting target and green to indicate on track. Avoid visual distractions such as inappropriate graphics.

In choosing which graph to use, make sure that it will present the data clearly and easily. You may prefer bar or line graphs instead of pie charts. It can be challenging to read the thin pieces of a piechart, and it can ineffectively show changes over time.

Make it accessible

For your dashboard to effectively keep all team members on the same page, make sure it is accessible to everyone. Choose a platform wherein all can easily see it. It will also be better if it can be accessed on employees' laptops and mobile phones. Through this, you are also building the accountability of everyone on the metrics presented in the dashboard.

Test, evaluate, and revise

No dashboard can ever be perfect-there will still be business questions that a quick glance on the dashboard cannot answer. It should not hinder you in creating your dashboard, though. After completing your dashboard, test it with your target audience first, then after some time, evaluate its effectiveness by getting your target audience's feedback. Tweak and revise according to your observation and feedback received from the end-users. It is normal to adjust your dashboard regularly, depending on the business needs.

Final Thoughts

Having a dashboard can ultimately benefit any small business. It can be an effective tool to grow your business. Make sure to clarify your dashboard's purpose, audience, and metrics. Keep it simple and accessible. And lastly, test and evaluate its effectiveness. Revise if necessary.