Tutorial 1:

Building a Simple
MS Excel Dashboard

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

A Simple Dashboard Structure

Data Dashboard

An interface

Dashboards are used typically for

tracking metrics linked to some data

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

 This data has a specific structure

Data Dashboard

An interface

For a simple MS Excel Dashboard,

it should be in a “list format”
Note: It can be in a “tabular” or any other format, but lists are the easiest to handle.
*list format ensures unique records
*tabular format is generally a 2x2, 3x4 or a column-row combination

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

 Example of a “list format”
1. The adjacent data stores records of
expenditures
a) For Jan and Feb
b) Across India and Singapore
c) For 5 different line items
2. Each “record” is uniquely represented by
{region, month, expenditure}
3. The unique ID of a record is “#”
4. Therefore, Record # 7 is {Singapore, Jan,
Audit and Tax fees} = 44
5. You can
a) Add more records
Example: {India, Mar, Rent} = 80
b) Or add more details to each record
by adding another column
Example:
{#, REGION, MONTH, WEEK,
EXPENDITURE} = AMOUNT
One can add as many records or details
he wishes to.

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

To match our metric requirements we need
to filter out the right data

Data Dashboard

An interface

This filtered data can be further processed

to meet our very specific requirements

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

This filtering out and processing is done at
the “interface”

Data Dashboard

An interface

A very simple and flexible filter in Excel is

the function “SUMIFS()”

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

 The interface: “SUMIFS”

It helps to refer to a unique record, or sum a group of records depending on criteria you pass in the
SUMIFS() formula. Try it out for yourself, you will know why I prefer it more than a Pivot Table.
*Please note: In case you are using google spreadsheets then use “=arrayformula(sumproduct(…..)) instead of SUMIFS()

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

Now let us learn the basic “Dashboard”

Data Dashboard

An interface

A dashboard generally has visual indicators linked to a metric.

The metric is part of the “interface”

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

 So let us define some metric..
But first let us set some rules…

Rule 1: You have to be creative

Rule 2: Follow Rule 1 tenaciously

And last but not the least,

Rule 3: Write down your comments or queries below this presentation
Now getting back to our study…
Say, I want to track a pie-chart of the % share of all expenditures incurred in Jan and
Feb (and any month’s records I may add in the future to my data)
16%
22%

Something like this:

Travel and Conveyance
Audit and Tax fees
Rent
26% Office Supplies
Commission
25%

11%

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

 Then observe the following…
filter metric
INTERFACE
DATA

DASHBOARD

The “list format” data is filtered out using SUMIFS(). Then some metrics are
developed using your creativity/requirements and linked to a visual
DOWNLOAD
indicator EXCEL FILE
………and thus your simplest Dashboard is now ready!

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch

Some Practical Advantages of a Dashboard
• Any update in your data, automatically updates your
dashboard
• If you are conducting regular repeat analysis and reporting, it
will be best to design your dashboard at once and then
simply maintain the correctness of your database
• It provides more flexibility and customization compared to a
pivot table
• It is a one time effort and looks neat, intelligent and
impressive!
• Its an art that will make your boss very happy!

Want to custom build your dashboard? Get in touch