Dashboard Reporting

People often wonder: What’s the difference between a dashboard vs report?

1. A modern, interactive dashboard provides compelling data visualization and lets you interact with and explore data to gain insights into why things are happening or have happened.

2. Static reports can also include graphs and charts but merely present a snapshot of historical data. They tell you about what happened in the past and are usually run on a regular basis, like daily, weekly or monthly.

More resources:

• Compare top dashboard software options

• Find the right KPIs for your business with KPI examples

To get the clearest picture of your data, you’ll need to choose the right dashboard type for your needs. The four types of dashboards include: analytical, executive, operational, and tactical. Here you’ll find a brief overview of each, including dashboard reporting examples.

Analytical Dashboards

Because analytical dashboards are used by data analysts to support workers across the business, they typically include simple graphic elements and a lot of flexibility for detailed analysis. In this example, you can see how a CPG company can keep track of trends, explore competitive sales and forecast market share.

<sub>1. With the ability to analyze market valuation over time, business users can make more precise, data-driven decisions.
2. Easy-to-understand forecasting insights can help employees better plan and allocate resources.
3. With side-by-side comparison data, workers can quickly see how the company stacks up against competitors.</sub>

Strategic Dashboards

With strategic dashboards, business leaders can track KPIs over specific time periods to gain strategic insights. Here’s an example for hospital executives that allows them to track patient experience, staff and management KPIs.

<sub>1. Executives can freely explore strategic KPIs and track critical success factors.
2. Predictions help leaders understand which metrics are likely to be on target, so they can make decisions accordingly.
3. Data can be analyzed from every angle, providing trends over time that can be easily shared with the rest of the organization.</sub>

Operational Dashboards

Operational dashboards help business users see what’s happening now, flagging any issues that need immediate attention. In this example, police are provided with a quick snapshot of incidents to help the force prepare to take the appropriate action.

<sub>1. Heatmaps highlight areas with high levels of activity, making it simple for users to find the information they need quickly.
2. With log tracking, teams can predict activity levels for each time of the day.
3. Teams can quickly see the types of incidents they should prepare for with the help of log types.</sub>

Tactical Dashboards

If you want to track progress toward goals by immediately drilling into your dashboard data, you should choose tactical dashboard reporting. The following example shows how decision-makers at a software company can make more informed decisions by exploring data around browsing and buying behaviors, digital interactions and other important metrics.

<sub>1. Tactical dashboards provide trending information around key data points, such as changes from the prior month.
2. Drill down into your data for deeper insights.
3. View daily activity to identify outstanding issues and their causes.</sub>

Get a better understanding of how you can use dashboards in your own organization by taking a look at the following examples by industry and job function.

The most effective dashboard tools can help you gain the following benefits:

1. Get the most value from your data: With so much data flowing into your organization, turning it into valuable insights is a challenge. Dashboards can help you make sense of it all so you can make the decisions that move your business forward.

2. Increase data literacy: Creating a data-driven culture benefits the entire organization. Dashboards make it easy for employees of all skill levels to explore trends, share insights and take action for the best business outcomes.

3. Land more executive approvals: While dashboards can help you better respond to changes in your business, they can also help you get buy-in from key stakeholders by presenting key KPIs to them in a way they can understand.

To create your own dashboards, keep the following best practices in mind.

Take stock of your data
First, find out what types of data you can access, what you need to report on, and which decisions that data will inform.

Enable your team
Determine the highest priority goals for your team and develop dashboards that will steer them toward the best course of action.

Empower users to explore
Give users the tools to get the complete story from their data by allowing them to explore all angles of their data — not just conduct linear queries.

Keep visuals simple
If your dashboard has too many complex options, users can become confused. Aim to deliver quick insights with clean, simple views. Get inspired by the ten best modern data visualization examples.

Allow users access to the right data
Make it easier for users to target the insights they need by providing them access to only the data that’s relevant to them.

Embed reporting into everyday tools
Give users access to insights wherever they work by embedding reporting into websites, apps, portals and processes.

With so many dashboard reporting tools to choose from, it’s hard to know which is right for your organization. The best dashboard software and data visualization tools provide a range of essential capabilities. Following are key features for best-in-class tools.