When it comes to tracking KPIs, comparing data points, and getting data-backed views that can assist management, an Excel Dashboard can be a powerful tool.
Managers can obtain high-level business information from dashboard reports. Using Excel, you can make powerful dashboards that provide insights, analysis, and alert managers at the right time.
It can be difficult to create an Excel dashboard. Data is often pulled from many different sources and must be presented understandably in this single-page summary.
There isn't much point in reinventing the wheel, so you should probably look for a template that closely matches your needs and begin from there.
When you know where to look, you can download a ton of free Excel dashboard templates by first downloading the WPS Office.
What is a Dashboard?
Reports on dashboards provide managers with an overview of the business at a high level and help them make fast decisions. It is often referred to as a management dashboard, an information dashboard, or a dashboard report when referring to dashboards.
There are many tools available for creating dashboards. The ease of use and universal availability of Microsoft Excel, however, make it an excellent program for creating and distributing dashboards.
The Difference with a Report
Reports only collect and present data in one place. A report cannot answer questions such as how sales have grown and which regions are the most profitable over time. Sales data would simply be reported. Based on these reports, dashboards are created (in Excel or PowerPoint) to aid decision-making.
Dashboards, on the other hand, provide instant answers to questions such as which regions perform better and which products management should prioritize. In interactive dashboards, data updates dynamically based on the user's selections and changes in views.
Excel Dashboard: How to Create One?
The process of creating an Excel dashboard is multi-step, and there are a few key considerations you should keep in mind. The dashboard objectives should be clear even before you launch Excel.
The objective of a KPI dashboard, for example, would be to show the comparison between the current period and the past period.
For example, if you were designing a dashboard to track employee training, you would want to indicate how many employees have been trained and how many still need to be trained.
What to do Before Making an Excel Dashboard
As soon as the data is available, many people begin working on the dashboard. Most of the time, they create the misery of having to rework the dashboard because the client/stakeholder objectives are not met.
Before you begin building an Excel dashboard, you need to answer the following questions:
What is the Dashboard's purpose?
Get clarity on what your stakeholder wants as soon as you get data (or even before you get data). Identify the purpose of the dashboard.
Do you want to track KPIs once or regularly? Should the KPIs be tracked for the whole company or by division? You can design a dashboard that meets your needs by asking the right questions.
Where does the data come from?
Data should always be sourced and formatted correctly. We spent most of our time manually culling the data, which completely changed the scope of our project. To find out who owns the data, you need to ask these questions: Who is the owner of the data? How will you receive the data? Do the data update frequently?
Who are the Excel Dashboard users?
Insights from your dashboard are likely to interest a manager, but more detail may be needed by some analysts in his team. You should structure the data and final output according to the users of your dashboard.
What is the frequency of updating the Excel Dashboard?
A plug-and-play model is better if you want to update your dashboards weekly or monthly (by simply copy-pasting the data). You can leave out some automation if this is just a one-time exercise.
Is the client/stakeholder using an Office version?
Clients/stakeholders don't always have the latest Microsoft Office version. As the IFERROR function does not work in Excel 2003, some rework will be required.
Benefits of Excel Dashboards
Dashboards have many benefits, including:
Easily accessible: The dashboard allows you to instantly access and sees the information you need in one glance since it collects data from different sheets and tables.
Time-saving: Rather than sifting through multiple sheets and tables, information is gathered in one place. Having a dashboard makes finding what you need easy.
User-friendly: Dashboards are easy to use even if you don't know Excel Visual Basic. As a result, organizations can empower their employees to use one for data analysis and presentation.
Detect/test errors quickly: Your data can be easily tested for errors since it's Excel. Make the necessary changes by searching for what's missing. Results will appear immediately.
Eye-catching: Because Excel is powerful, dashboards don't have to be boring just because it's powerful. There is a magazine-like feel to most dashboards.
Free Excel Dashboard Templates
Having excel dashboard templates suitable for the type of work you'll be doing will allow you to perform your tasks effectively. Free templates are available for many of these documents.
1. General form of demand description
There are many ways to use Excel dashboard templates, from commercial to legal applications. A simple excel dashboard template will be ideal for the legal field. Optimizing the work to be done is a great way to save time.
2. Template for family shopping lists
Using this excel dashboard template, you can keep track of your household finances and purchases with precision if you manage them. Additionally, you can automatically calculate the entered figures using the excel dashboard templates for free download.
3. Excel template for duty rosters
Duty calls and you must work, which requires a lot of coordination, especially if you take other workers' shifts. This excel dashboard template will help you organize shifts more effectively for increased performance.
4. A blue Excel template for cost accounting
Excel dashboards with different designs that are useful when buying is ideal if you are looking for an alternative. It is easy to keep track of your expenses with this excel dashboard template for 12 months.
5. Template for Purchase Request Forms
An excel dashboard template that allows you to create purchase requests is ideal if the company's inventory is running low and needs to be replenished. It can be used at any time. These excel dashboard templates can even be used every week.
6. Vertical Analysis of Income Statements
The use of an excel dashboard template yearly is not a bad idea when it comes to making income statements every year. It's important to keep track of everything for as long as possible with these excel dashboard templates.
7. Checklist template for product inspections
Keeping excel dashboard templates for 6 months handy when doing product reviews is very useful. Your merchandise will always remain in good condition if you use Excel dashboard templates.
8. Dashboard for sales
In sales, you have to monitor often your team's sales if you are working with an Excel Dashboard. Now it's time to talk about the topic of the day. To create dynamic lists, use the OFFSET formula to create scrolling lists. Many blog posts have been written about dashboards in Excel.
9. Templates for conference minutes
During the meetings, note the points you'll discuss or the people you'll meet. You will be able to manage the information better if you use these Excel dashboard templates and share it with your team members.
10. Dashboard for departments in Excel
One page displays a mixture of financial and non-financial metrics for a department store. Using the map feature, you can view the region of interest. The dashboard template can be found on the following page.
11. A template for a store's October merchandise sales report
You can use this excel dashboard template to record the monthly sales statistics if you want to do so. To optimize sales and to avoid spending money on less popular products, you can buy monthly statistics.
12. Report on the corporate dashboard
This is the most popular Excel dashboard template. Very few colors are used in this dashboard, which is simple to create.
Another original dashboard on the site has been updated with the EBIT Excel Dashboard. The dashboard has been spiced up with some infographic elements. The update of two combo boxes tells the Excel story of a company. Reporting metrics and groups are separated on the dashboard. You can download the dashboard template by clicking the link below.
13. Report on operational dashboards
In a small space, this Excel dashboard tells a story using three colors (blue, red, and green). This Excel dashboard shows a simple data set on a single page, and it can be as complex or as simple as you like.
From an operations perspective, the Excel Dashboard above shows a range of metrics on a single page. Although the underlying business is primarily banking, the data set can be adapted to suit a variety of industries. Compared to the other dashboards, this one did not take as long to produce.
14. Dashboard for schools
Schools across disciplines can use the School Excel Dashboard to see plans versus actual data. To display performance, the dashboard flicks between schools using a slicer in an Excel 2010 workbook.
It shows trends over one year on spend by discipline. A trough and a peak can be seen. The sheet contains some coding, but it is only for speeding up data input.
For those who find the coding useful, I will leave it in the worksheet. The staff sheet is used to add people to schools. The input sheet is used to enter data into the database on the back end.
15. Dashboard for salespeople in Excel
An Excel dashboard that traps salesperson data by state based on Australian states is known as the Sales Person Excel Dashboard. The Excel dashboard contains a lot of information. In addition to the static charts that show the overall sales position, the dashboard has 20 dynamic charts based on the slicer at the top that spins every year.
Challenges of Excel Dashboard Templates
Created with forethought, Excel dashboards can be an extremely valuable corporate tool. In one place, an organization can see how it is performing against key criteria and track all of its key information.
This Excel dashboard contains no real information; it is purely for demonstration purposes. One thing that is certain after creating all of these Excel dashboards is that making Excel dashboards is a lot of work but very worthwhile when you see the final product.
Obtaining the data for these Excel dashboards was a challenge. Starting from scratch, you would scratch my head. You'll discover that wikis and government websites had ready-made Excel tables.
To make the data fit that vision, sketch out a final output dashboard and worked backward from there. In addition to the techniques mentioned on the site, incorporate them into these Excel dashboards.
VBA is not required for these Excel Dashboards in general. Most of these dashboards are run by native Excel except for the Heat Map section.
Conclusion
An effective dashboard report displays vital company data on one page, making it a powerful tool for meeting business objectives.
Multiple spreadsheets are typically included in Excel dashboards. Dashboards display information graphically by using tables, charts, maps, and gauges (also called speedometers).
An Excel dashboard also includes spreadsheets that hold the data being tracked and calculations being used to analyze it.
There can be a wide range of Excel dashboards depending on the business needs. We've put together a list of free Excel dashboard templates that you can use to get started with a dashboard (compatible with Excel 2007 and 2010).
Smartsheet, an online work management tool, will also help you make a dashboard more easily.
If none of these templates perfectly fits your needs, you may find that one of them comes close. It might be a problem with a function or formula that pulls data from the respective sheets. Download WPS Office if you need help customizing an Excel dashboard template or troubleshooting a problem.
