An executive dashboard for weekly decisions

Start with decisions

An executive dashboard is not meant to display every available figure. Begin with decisions that return each week: do you need to address incoming enquiries, delivery capacity, costs or overdue payments?

For each decision, choose a measure that provides usable information. If nobody can explain what action might follow a change in that measure, it may not belong on the main screen.

Define each measure

Write down the definition, formula, period and owner of each figure. "Revenue" might mean signed proposals, invoices issued or cash received; these answer different questions.

Specify the useful level of detail. An overall trend may hide a problem in one offer or team, while too many breakdowns make decisions harder to see.

Check the sources

Record where data comes from, when it was last updated and which checks catch duplicates or missing values. A figure labelled "this week" can mislead if its source has not been refreshed.

Before connecting another tool, compare a few records with the original documents. If the figures do not match, resolve the difference before building more elaborate charts.

Make gaps readable

For each measure, show its current value, a relevant comparison period and the threshold that calls for discussion. Add a brief explanation when context changes, such as seasonality, a one-off campaign or a data-entry incident.

The format should serve the question. A time series can show a trend; a table may better expose overdue cases. Choose the format that helps people notice a gap and understand its cause.

Hold a useful review

At the weekly review, check first that the data is current. Then examine important gaps, choose an action, name its owner and set a follow-up date. Without that next step, the dashboard becomes a presentation aid.

Keep decisions next to the figures. The following week, you can see whether the action happened and whether it should continue.

Keep the dashboard relevant

Remove measures nobody uses and add new ones only when a new decision calls for them. A dashboard with stable definitions but a revisable scope is more useful than a growing collection of metrics.

• Choose decisions before measures.
• Document each formula, source, period and owner.
• Show gaps with their context.
• End every review with an action to follow up.