How do you create a dashboard that continues to add value?

Building a dashboard is often a fun job: you visualise data in a nice overview, which you can design completely in style. In addition to your analytical skills, you can also unleash your creativity! As a data professional, you probably get more energy from creating a dashboard than from making a report. The downside of this is that there is sometimes a proliferation of dashboards. Not every issue requires the development of a dashboard.

In this blog you will therefore read 5 questions that you should ask yourself and/or your stakeholders to ensure that your dashboard actually becomes a success:

1. What actions and decisions are made based on the dashboard? 

To make your dashboard a 'must have' instead of a 'nice to have', it is important that the user is alerted in the dashboard to the information requiring action. Therefore, ask in advance what the crucial statistics are and emphasise them in the dashboard. Use green and red numbers to show performance against target.

2. Who is the user group? 

Besides wanting to know what the purpose of the dashboard users is, you also want to know who these people are. What is the user's knowledge level? Are all definitions known, does everyone (literally) speak the same language, but also: do the users have the right skills and rights to use the dashboard?

3. What device is the dashboard viewed on? 

Ask how people want to view the dashboard. Is the dashboard projected on a large screen in a weekly meeting or is the dashboard viewed on a mobile on the train? Also check, if your dashboard is viewed through the browser, which browsers are used. Based on this, you determine the correct layout for the dashboard and prevent certain charts from being stretched or overlapping. This can also affect the filter options that you want to make available in your dashboard.

4. How much time does the user have for the dashboard? 

This is something that is often forgotten. Every dashboard contains (important) information, so why shouldn't users make time for it? How about asking the user how much time is available. By simplifying the dashboard, saving certain filters in a bookmark or even setting them as defaults, you can reduce the minimum time required by the user and thus ensure that usage increases.

5. What do I do with feedback and questions? 

We recommend that you check with the users a few times after the release of your dashboard. How is the dashboard used and what issues do users encounter? This way you can immediately receive the first questions and feedback. Document new requests in a public place (eg. a backlog) and process questions in a manual, which you can easily access with a link from the dashboard.

In addition, schedule for yourself a moment to actively collect and process user feedback. This keeps your dashboard up-to-date and relevant.

In addition to these 5 questions, there are a number of things you can ask yourself to increase the ease of use and/or relevance of your dashboard. Curious about these considerations?

Need help developing a dashboard? 

Our data professionals build clear dashboards with the tool you want. We did this for, among others, Univé, UMC Utrecht and the Van Gogh Museum. 

Curious about what we can do for you? Contact us. 

Receive data insights, use cases and behind-the-scenes peeks once a month?

Sign up for our email list and stay 'up to data':