What is Executive Dashboard: Definition and Examples

In the fast-paced business world, leaders require swift access to key insights for informed decision-making.
This is where chief dashboards become possibly the most important factor.

These dashboards serve as centralized hubs, condensing complex data into concise visualizations.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Dashboards? Isn’t that something only superheroes and race car drivers use?

All things considered, my dear companion, plan to have your psyche blown. Executive dashboards are not just flashy gadgets for the elite. They are powerful tools that can help you make informed decisions and navigate the treacherous business seas.

Imagine tracking sales trends, financial metrics, and operational efficiency at a glance. These dashboards offer real-time updates on critical performance indicators, unraveling opportunities and red flags alike.

From startups to corporate giants, industries benefit from tailored executive dashboards. A retail chief could screen stock turnover, while a tech President centers around client commitment. Even healthcare administrators gauge patient outcomes through intuitive charts.

But don’t just take my word for it. This blog post explores a treasure trove of executive dashboard examples to inspire you.

Let’s venture forth, shall we?

Table of Content:

1. What is an Executive Dashboard?
2. Why Do We Need Executive Dashboards?
3. Best Practices for Executive Dashboard
4. Executive Dashboard Examples in Power BI
5. Wrap Up

What is an Executive Dashboard?

An executive dashboard is a visual tool that provides high-level insights into an organization’s performance. It concisely presents key metrics and KPIs, helping top-level executives and leaders make informed decisions quickly. These dashboards typically include charts, graphs, and other visualizations to display data from various organizational departments and functions.

Why Do We Need Executive Dashboards?

Executive dashboards are essential tools for modern organizations due to the range of benefits they offer:

1. Quick decision-making: Executive dashboards provide a snapshot of critical data, including insights from a business expense report, enabling leaders to make informed decisions swiftly. Additionally, ongoing updates and brief visuals empower leaders to respond immediately to evolving circumstances.
2. High-level visibility: These dashboards offer a top-down view of the organization’s performance. Pioneers can perceive how divisions and capabilities perform, distinguishing patterns and anomalies that require consideration.
3. Data-driven decisions: Dashboards, including a finance dashboard in Power BI, promote data-driven decision-making by presenting data in an easily understandable format. You can rely on accurate information rather than gut feelings or incomplete data.
4. Performance monitoring: Dashboards continuously monitor key performance indicators (KPIs). This allows you to track progress toward goals and take corrective actions where necessary.
5. Efficiency and productivity: Quick access to relevant information enables you to spend less time gathering data and more time strategizing. As a result, this enhances overall efficiency and productivity.
6. Communication: Dashboards facilitate communication among leadership teams. Visualizations make it easier to convey complex information, fostering better discussions and collaboration.
7. Risk management: By tracking various metrics, dashboards help identify potential risks and vulnerabilities. This proactive methodology permits you to moderate dangers before they heighten.
8. Resource allocation: Dashboards provide insights into resource utilization across departments, aiding in making informed allocation decisions.
9. Competitive advantage: Organizations that utilize executive dashboards with effective information design have an edge in today’s competitive landscape. Speedy information investigation and convenient choices lead to taking advantage of chances quicker and remaining in front of contenders.

Best Practices for Executive Dashboard

Designing effective executive dashboards involves several best practices to ensure they serve their intended purpose:

1. Define clear objectives: What key metrics and insights do you need to track? Identify the specific goals of your dashboard. Then, align the dashboard’s design with these objectives.
2. Simplicity and clarity: Keep the design clean and uncomplicated. Stay away from mess by zeroing in on the most basic information.
3. Relevance: Include only relevant information that directly contributes to decision-making. Irrelevant data can create confusion and hinder the dashboard’s effectiveness.
4. Real-time or near real-time data: Use real-time or near real-time data whenever possible. This ensures that the insights presented are up-to-date and reflect the current situation.
5. Visual appeal: Use visually appealing charts, graphs, and color schemes. Visuals should make the data easy to interpret and enhance the user experience.
6. Interactive elements: Incorporate interactive elements like filters, drill-down options, and hover-over tooltips. These features enable users to explore data in more detail and extract profound insights.
7. Mobile responsiveness: In today’s mobile-centric world, ensure your dashboard is responsive and accessible on various devices. This allows executives to access critical information even when on the move.
8. Consistency: Maintain a consistent design throughout the dashboard. Consistency in layout, color schemes, and typography helps users navigate the dashboard smoothly.
9. Contextual information: Provide context for the data presented. Make sense of the measurements’ importance, why they matter, and how they connect with the association’s objectives. Contextual information prevents misinterpretation.
10. Benchmarking: Incorporate benchmarking data to provide a comparison against industry standards or historical performance. This helps executives understand how the organization is performing relative to others.
11. User-centric design: Tailor the dashboard to the needs of its users. Understand the roles of different executives and ensure the dashboard provides insights relevant to their responsibilities.
12. Regular updates and maintenance: Dashboards should evolve as business needs change. Regularly review and update the metrics to ensure they align with current goals.
13. Feedback and iteration: Gather feedback from dashboard users and iterate based on their suggestions. Continuous improvement ensures the dashboard remains valuable and user-friendly.
14. Data accuracy and quality: Ensure that the data presented is accurate and of high quality. Inaccurate data can lead to faulty decisions.

How to Create an Executive Dashboard in Power BI?

Here is a Power BI executive dashboard example to inspire you. We will break the process into five distinct stages.

Stage 1: Logging in to Power BI

• Log in to Power BI.
• Enter your email. Click the “Submit” button.

• You are redirected to your Microsoft account.
• Enter your password and click “Sign in”.

• Choose whether to stay signed in.

• Once done, the Power BI home screen will open.

Stage 2: Creating a Data Set and Selecting the Data Set to Use in Your Sankey Chart

• Click on the “Create” option on the left-side menu.
• Select ”Paste or manually enter data“.

• We’ll use the following cash flow data for this example.

Earnings Source	Revenue	Expenses & Profit	Departments	Categories	Amount
Providing services	Revenue	Expenses	Managerial	Training Sessions	10,000
Providing services	Revenue	Expenses	Managerial	Office rental	16,000
Providing services	Revenue	Expenses	Managerial	Wages	9,400
Providing services	Revenue	Expenses	Commercial	Wages	11,300
Sales of products	Revenue	Expenses	Commercial	Travel allowance	10,000
Sales of products	Revenue	Expenses	Commercial	Advertising	12,000
Sales of products	Revenue	Expenses	Production	Material Payment	25,000
Sales of products	Revenue	Expenses	Production	Loan Payment	8,500
Sales of products	Revenue	Expenses	Production	Wages	19,500
Loans	Revenue	Gross Profit		Taxes	11,000
Loans	Revenue	Gross Profit		Net Profit	13,000

• Paste the above data table into the “Power Query” window.
• Select the “Create a dataset only” option.

• Click on the “Data Hub” option on the left-side menu.
• Power BI populates the data set list. (If you have not created a data set, refer to the Error! Reference source not found section.)

• Choose a data set for the Sankey chart.
• PBI populates the screen as shown below:

• Click on the “Create a report” dropdown.
• Select “Start from scratch“.

Stage 3: Adding the Power BI Sankey Diagram Extension by ChartExpo

• Creating the Sankey Diagram requires us to use an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource.
• Navigate to the right side of the Power BI dashboard.
• Open the Power BI Visualizations panel.
• Click the ellipsis symbol (…) as highlighted in the diagram below. This will import the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo.

• The following menu opens:
• Select the “Get more visuals” option.

• The following window opens.
• Enter “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” in the highlighted search box.
• You should see the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo”, as shown in the image below.

• Click the highlighted “Add” button.

• Power BI will add the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.

Stage 4: Drawing a Sankey Diagram with ChartExpo’s Power BI extension

• Select the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.
• The following window opens in the report section of your dashboard:

• You can resize the visual as needed.
• Navigate to the right side of your Power BI dashboard.
• You should see “Fields” next to “Visualizations.”

• You’ll select the fields to use in your Sankey chart here.
• The ChartExpo visual needs to be selected, though. Select the fields in the following sequence:
  • Earnings Source
  • Revenue
  • Expenses & Profit
  • Departments
  • Categories
  • Revenue

• You’ll be asked for a ChartExpo license key or email address.

Stage 5: Activate your ChartExpo Trial or Apply a Subscription Key

• Select the ChartExpo visual.
• You should see three icons below “Build Visual” in the Visualizations panel.

• Select the middle icon, “Format visual.”
• The visual properties will be populated as shown below.

• To begin using ChartExpo as a new user;
  • Enter your email address in the textbox under the “Trial Mode” section. ChartExpo will send the License key to this email upon subscribing to the add-in.
  • Ensure you provide an accurate and up-to-date email address.
  • Toggle “Enable Trial” to activate your 7-day trial.

• You should receive a welcome email from ChartExpo.
• If you do not find the email in your inbox, kindly check your spam folder.
• The Sankey Diagram you create under the 7-day trial contains the ChartExpo watermark.

• If you have obtained a license key:
  • Enter your license key in the “ChartExpo License Key” textbox in the “License Settings” section (see below).
  • Slide the toggle switch next to “Enable License” to “On“.

• Your Sankey Diagram will then appear without a watermark.

• Let’s add the Prefix (e.g., $ sign) to the chart’s numeric values.
• Expand the “Stats” properties. Add the Prefix value (e.g., $ sign).

• Let’s add colors to each node. Expand the “Level Colors” properties and select the colors.

• Automatically all changes will be saved.

Insights

• Revenue Sources

The organization generates its primary revenue from three sources: “Service provision,” “Product sales,” and “Loans.”

• Expense Categories

Categorizing expenses as “Managerial,” “Commercial,” and “Production” helps in gaining insights into the areas where the organization is incurring costs.

• Profit Analysis

The organization calculates gross and net profit for the revenue source of “Loans.” This indicates that they are likely involved in financial services, and the provided data includes tax and net profit figures related to this activity.

• Cost of Operations

The presence of “Wages” in both the “Providing services” and “Sales of products” categories suggests that labor expenses play a crucial role in these sectors.

• Marketing Expenses

The organization allocates funds for both “Advertising” and “Travel allowance” within the “Sales of products” category. This indicates a commitment to investing in marketing and sales endeavors.

FAQs

What is an executive dashboard?

An executive dashboard is a visual tool offering a snapshot of an organization’s KPIs and critical data. It enables top-level executives to grasp the company’s performance and make informed decisions quickly.

What should be on an executive dashboard?

An executive dashboard should include essential metrics and data relevant to high-level decision-making. This might involve financial performance, sales trends, market share, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and strategic goals progress. The dashboard must present these insights in a clear and concise visual format.

Wrap Up

The value of executive dashboards in modern-day business leadership cannot be overstated. These dashboards encapsulate the essence of quick decision-making, offering a panoramic view of an organization’s performance. The amalgamation of relevant metrics, real-time data, and interactive visuals paints a comprehensive picture, facilitating strategic alignment.

By distilling complex information into accessible insights, executive dashboard templates foster a culture of data-driven decisions. They also enhance communication among leadership teams and serve as vigilant guardians against potential risks.

The responsiveness and adaptability of these dashboards to various devices ensure that leadership is empowered anywhere, anytime. Moreover, the competitive advantage derived from harnessing the potential of executive dashboards cannot be overlooked.

Business leaders need more than mere intuition; they require precision and agility offered by data. The synergy between data analytics and leadership will remain a compass guiding the way toward success.

Turn data chaos to C-suite clarity – embrace ChartExpo and Power BI for dashboards that make decisions pop.