I've been a full-time training consultant for 10+ years - and I recently started offering a course on creating dashboards.

Check out Excel Level 4: Extract, Analyze and Visualize Data if you want to learn how to use Power Query to clean and transform data and create interactive dashboards.

Using raw data to create interactive dashboards is an almost magical way to transform complex data into visual elements that can be understood at a glance.

If you're interested in data analysis - and you want to create a visually compelling representation of your data, you're going to find this article useful!

Analyzing Data With an Excel Dashboard — Photo by Kindel Media

What is an Excel Dashboard?

Let's start with a quick definition.

An Excel dashboard is a data visualization tool that turns your data into charts, tables, and other visual elements. Interactive dashboards let you consolidate data from various sources and display relevant summaries, metrics, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Excel dashboards can be used to:

Analyze data
Track progress
Make data-driven decisions

Interactive dashboards sound amazing, don't they?

Benefits of Using Excel Dashboards

So… why are dashboards so useful?

The truth is, it can be challenging to analyze data in an Excel workbook. Dashboards make the entire process much simpler.

Well-constructed Excel dashboards provide a clear overview of your data, making it way easier to analyze and understand. They help users identify trends, patterns, and correlations in data.

Dashboards can be customized to meet specific needs and provide a clear overview of metrics and data points.

Best of all, you can create concise, visual data summaries without ever leaving Microsoft Excel!

Types of Excel Dashboards

Dashboards are used across a range of industries.

Here are some common use cases for Excel dashboards:

Sales Management Dashboards: Track sales performance and revenue growth, providing insights into sales trends and helping to identify areas for improvement.
Marketing Performance Dashboards: Monitor website traffic, social media engagement, and campaign effectiveness, allowing marketers to adjust strategies based on real-time data.
Project Management Dashboards: Track progress, timelines, and resource allocation, ensuring that projects stay on schedule and within budget.
Financial Dashboards: Analyze budget, expenses, and financial performance, helping organizations manage their finances more effectively.
Human Resources Dashboards: Track employee performance, training, and other HR metrics, supporting data-driven HR decisions.

Planning an Excel Dashboard

Before building a dashboard, you need to thoroughly understand its purpose and design requirements.

As an example, consider a project management dashboard template. Project managers need to track various project-related metrics like timeline, budget, and task status, enhancing productivity and efficiency.

To clarify the design and functionality of any dashboard, you'll need to answer the following questions :

What is the primary goal of the dashboard?
What key business decisions will this dashboard support?
What key metrics or KPIs are most important to track?
Who will use the dashboard (executives, managers, analysts, etc.)?
How often will the data be updated?

Understanding how the data will be used ensures that you create a dashboard that meets your needs and provides valuable insights.

Preparing Your Excel Workbook

Before creating a dashboard in Excel, you need to ensure that your workbook is set up correctly.

Here are 3 areas you need to focus on:

1) Core Excel Skills

Basic Excel Knowledge: Familiarize yourself with creating and editing worksheets, formatting cells, and using formulas. These fundamental skills are crucial for managing and organizing your data effectively.
Data Management: Learn how to sort, filter, and group data. These operations help in organizing your data, making it easier to analyze and visualize.
Chart and Graph Creation: Gain proficiency in creating various charts and graphs, such as bar charts, line charts, and pie charts. These visual tools are essential for representing your data clearly and concisely.

2) Data Analysis Concepts

Data Visualization: Understand the process of presenting data in a graphical format to make it easier to understand and interpret.
Data Modeling and Data Mining: Learn about data modeling, which involves structuring your data for analysis, and data mining, which involves extracting useful information from large datasets.
Data Analysis Tools: Familiarize yourself with pivot tables, conditional formatting, and data validation. These tools are invaluable for analyzing and visualizing your data effectively.

3) Setting Up a Workbook for Dashboard Creation

Creating a New Excel Workbook: Start by creating a new Excel workbook or opening an existing one. This will be the foundation for your dashboard.
Setting Up a Data Source: Establish a data source, such as a table or a range of cells, to store and manage your data. This ensures that your data is organized and easily accessible.
Creating a Dashboard Sheet: Add a new sheet or tab specifically for designing and building your dashboard. This keeps your dashboard separate from your raw data, making it easier to manage.
Column Headings and Cell Formats: Ensure that your data is organized by setting up column headings and formatting cells appropriately. This makes your data easier to read and interpret.

By following these steps, you’ll lay the foundation to create an effective and useful Excel dashboard that meets your organization's needs and supports their decision-making process.

Excel Dashboard Design Tips

Once your workbook is set up, there are a few key design choices you should make before building a dashboard in Excel.

When you create dashboards, importing data into an Excel workbook is a foundational step that can streamline the process and enhance usability.

Build a Solid Foundation for Your Excel Dashboard

Excel dashboards can be refreshed any time the source data changes.

To make updates easier, I suggest you import your data into an Excel table and use column headers to make selecting data easier. When you add or remove records from an Excel table, the data source expands or contracts automatically.

Also… be sure to use Excel’s built-in features like pivot tables and charts, when creating dynamic dashboards.

Plan Your Excel Workbook Structure

When you import data into an Excel workbook, always create a new sheet for the dashboard. It's important to use one sheet for the dashboard and another for the entire dataset, or filtered data, if needed.

Use named ranges for specific data points (e.g. TotalSales or ProfitMargin).

Create Charts Strategically

Start by identifying the data you'd like to analyze in your Excel dashboard then choose the right chart type.

Here is a breakdown of the most popular chart types used in dashboards:

A bar chart (or clustered column chart) is often used to compare categories of data
A line chart works well for time-phased data
A pie chart compares parts of a whole

Always think about how to display data in the most meaningful way for your users. Are they interested in highlighting trends, understanding patterns, or showing comparisons?

Enhancing Dynamic Dashboards

Adding interactive features like a timeline or slicers to your dashboard will help users easily select data that is most meaningful to them.

Leverage advanced features like conditional formatting and drop down lists, to enhance data visualization and boost accuracy.

Select the right chart data when creating a dashboard then choose the best chart type to display your data in a clear and concise manner.

Best Practices for Building Excel Dashboards

Here are a few points to keep in mind when building interactive dashboards.

Use a clear and concise title for your dashboard
Use a consistent layout and design on your Excel sheets
Use color effectively to highlight important information

Incorporating these basic elements into your dashboards will make a big difference to their legibility and overall appearance.

Conclusion

I hope you've found this guide to getting started with Excel dashboards useful.

With a little planning and patience, you can build your own dashboards to visualize data and track key metrics that are most important to your organization.

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