Driving Your Business Forward with a KPI Dashboard

By: Valerie Briley, CPA, Founder, and Chief Business Driver, Reveal Business Solutions

KPI dashboards are not a one size fits all.  Creating a dashboard requires expertise in data integration and design.  Each business owner has different preferences and requirements and preferences on navigating and interacting with the dashboard.

If you want to create a dashboard to see your business clearly and steer it around the track, here are actionable steps to kick-start the process:

1. Define objectives and requirements.  Start by understanding the purpose of the dashboard and the specific requirements.  Identify the key metrics, data sources, and functionality needed.
2. Identify data sources.  Determine the data sources required to populate the dashboard.  This may include accounting, point-of-sale, CRM, and other business systems.  Assess the availability, accessibility, and compatibility of the data from these sources.
3. Data integration and preparation.  Develop a data integration strategy to gather data from the identified sources.  This may involve building connectors or APIs to extract and consolidate the necessary data.  Cleanse, transform, and validate the data to ensure accuracy and consistency.
4. Design the dashboard layout.  Define the layout and structure of the dashboard.  Consider the KPIs and metrics that need to be displayed.  Decide on visual elements that represent the data best, such as charts, graphs, tables, or gauges.  Ensure the design is intuitive, user-friendly, and aligned with the client’s preferences.
5. Develop the dashboard interface.  Many small business owners do not have the budget to create a custom dashboard.  Several dashboards integrate with QuickBooks Online, which can be a great starting place.
6. Integrate and visualize data.  Connect and integrate the data into the dashboard.  Develop data visualization components to present the data in meaningful and visually appealing ways.  Use charts, graphs, and other visualization techniques to highlight trends, comparisons, and patterns in the data.
7. Implement functionality.  Add functionality to the dashboard to enable data manipulation, customization, and analysis.  Incorporate alerts and notifications to enhance the usefulness of the dashboard.
8. Test and validate.  Thoroughly test the financial dashboard to ensure it functions as intended.  Validate the accuracy and reliability of the data.
9. Deploy and maintain.  Deploy the dashboard.  Set up access controls.  Monitor performance and continuously gather user feedback to make improvements and updates.

With our expertise in accounting and actionable reporting, we can help you strategize a plan to create a comprehensive KPI Dashboard tailored to your unique reporting needs.