The Ultimate Guide to KPI Dashboards: Best Templates & Examples for 2023

Kpi dashboard are an essential tool for monitoring key performance indicators in real-time. This comprehensive guide provides everything you need to know about creating effective kpi dashboards, including best templates, examples and tips for success.

A dashboard pulls data from multiple sources and presents it visually on a single page, allowing you to track metrics and kpis at-a-glance. Well-designed dashboards enable you to make informed decisions and take action quickly. Read on to learn how you can use a dashboard to improve performance across your organization.

What is a KPI Dashboard?

A kpi dashboard is a data visualization tool that displays critical business metrics and key performance indicators (kpis) on a single screen. It provides an at-a-glance view of a business, department, or specific process, allowing users to monitor performance and take action as needed.

Kpi dashboards consolidate data from disparate sources into meaningful graphics such as charts, gauges, maps, and other visuals. This enables users to absorb information and identify trends rapidly. Interactive features allow you to drill down into the data for additional insights.

A well-designed dashboard contains metrics tailored to a specific role, team, or business objective. By tracking kpis aligned to strategic goals, organizations can drive better performance across departments.

Benefits of Using KPI Dashboards

Kpi dashboards offer numerous benefits for businesses looking to improve performance:

• Increased visibility - Dashboards provide greater transparency into workflows, metrics and kpis. Employees have clear visibility into the data needed to do their jobs.

• Improved decision making - Dashboards equip managers with actionable, real-time data to make informed decisions fast. Access to timely, relevant data enables quick course correction.

• Enhanced efficiency - Data consolidation and automation help teams work smarter. Employees spend less time gathering data from multiple sources.

• Accountability - Dashboards make it easy for managers to monitor team and individual performance against key metrics. Employees are more accountable when progress is visible.

• Strategic alignment - Kpis aligned to organizational goals focus teams. Dashboards provide clarity into how day-to-day work contributes to long-term targets.

• Data-driven culture - Usage of dashboards accustoms staff to relying on data for decision making and prioritization. A data-driven culture is critical for optimizing performance.

Examples of Effective KPI Dashboards

To demonstrate how dashboards are used in business, here are a few examples across departments:

Sales Dashboard

A sales dashboard tracks metrics like monthly recurring revenue, leads generated, sales quota attainment, deal pipeline and sales by region. It provides sales teams with a high-level view of performance to inform activities and investment decisions.

Marketing Dashboard

Key marketing kpis might include web traffic, conversions, clickthrough rate, social media reach, lead generation and campaign ROI. Marketers use this data to optimize campaigns and allocate resources effectively.

Project Management Dashboard

For project managers, key metrics could include milestones met, budget vs. actual spend, resource allocation and project progress towards completion. This data enables managers to identify issues and keep projects on track.

Customer Service Dashboard

Key customer service kpis typically include first call resolution rate, customer satisfaction (CSAT) score, average hold time, wait time and ticket volume. Tracking these metrics helps support teams improve processes and optimize staffing.

Human Resources Dashboard

For HR, kpis might include hiring velocity, time to hire, retention rate, training hours completed and employee satisfaction. Monitoring these helps HR refine the hiring process and improve the employee experience.

The examples above represent just a sample of how dashboards are leveraged across functions. The key is to identify metrics tied to team goals and workflows to enable continuous improvement.

Key Elements to Include in a KPI Dashboard

While dashboards can take many forms, the most effective ones contain certain essential elements:

• Relevant metrics and KPIs - Only show data points critical for decision making. Limit to the most important metrics to avoid overload.

• Visualizations - Use charts, graphs, gauges, maps and other graphics to display performance. Visuals communicate insights in easily digested ways.

• Trend Analysis - Illustrate progress over time clearly. Use sparklines, trend graphs, and month-over-month comparisons.

• Target thresholds - Set and display target goals such as revenue projections to put metrics in context. Show performance against expectations.

• Alerts and notifications - Configure alerts for when kpis fall below/above targets. Notifications call attention to issues.

• Drill-down - Allow users to dig deeper into summary data for more granular information. Add context around outliers. 

• Filtration - Offer ways to segment or filter data by region, product, team etc. Filtering surfaces more focused insights.

• Interactivity - Enable users to interact with charts to uncover additional data. Manipulable charts foster exploration.

Best Practices for KPI Dashboard Design

Proper dashboard design is crucial for building an effective data visualization tool. Here are some best practices to follow:

• Limit to one page - Display key metrics in a single, scrolling page for easy comprehension. Avoid clicking between pages.

• Use consistent layouts - Maintain consistent placement, color schemes, typography and styles across visuals. Consistent design speeds comprehension.

• Simplify visualizations - Avoid complex charts with 3D effects, unnecessary text and ornate designs. Stick to simple graphs that communicate data clearly.

• Focus on key data - Only include the most critical 8-12 metrics. Avoid nice-to-have data that dilutes focus.

• Provide context - Use sparklines, targets, and thresholds to add context to data. Lacking context, metrics lose meaning.

• Keep current - Ensure dashboard data stays fresh through automatic updates. Stale data negates the value.

• Make it mobile - Optimize dashboards for mobile. Enable access on phones and tablets for on-the-go viewing.

• Use intuitive scales - Choose scaled appropriately to avoid distorted visuals. For example, don’t start a KPI axis at a number above zero.

By following dashboard design best practices, you’ll build a tool that allows users to monitor data and make decisions effectively. Poor design leads to dashboards that are difficult to comprehend and act upon.

Choosing the Right KPIs for Your Dashboard

Selecting the right key performance indicators is crucial for creating an effective, actionable dashboard. Follow these tips when deciding which kpis to include:

• Align KPIs to objectives - Choose indicators that map to team or organizational goals to drive outcomes.

• Quantify goals - KPIs should measure progress towards a defined target. Quantify goals so success is measurable.

• Limit number of KPIs - Be selective. Include only 8-12 kpis that offer the clearest picture of performance.

• Make KPIs actionable - Opt for indicators tied to processes teams can improve. Actionable metrics drive change.

• Use a KPI scorecard - Build a scorecard that defines each kpi, owner, calculation method, and goal. Scorecards ensure alignment.

• Standardize KPIs - Use consistent kpis across similar roles and teams for standardized measurement.

• Track trends over time - Select indicators that can be monitored and trended periodically to show progress over time.

• Correlate KPIs - Include kpis that influence each other to illustrate the broader picture. Financial kpis may impact customer kpis.

Selecting relevant, meaningful kpis tailored to your business ensures your dashboard provides maximum value. Avoid vanity metrics that sound impressive but offer little operational value.

10 Examples of Key Performance Indicators to Include on Dashboards

To give you ideas for relevant kpis to track, here are 10 examples used by top companies:

• Revenue growth

• Customer acquisition costs

• Net promoter score

• Product return rate

• Repeat purchase rate

• Time to resolution

• Hiring velocity

• Project budget variance

• Sales pipeline growth

• Social media engagement

The indicators above represent kpis that offer value across functions. Assess your goals, workflows and pain points to determine the right kpis for your organization.

Creating a KPI Dashboard in Excel

Excel offers an easy way to build a kpi dashboard without special software. Follow these steps:

1. Determine key KPIs - Select 8-12 metrics aligned to your goals. See above for examples.

2. Set up your data - Populate a separate worksheet with your kpi data. Keep it updated automatically via links/imports.

3. Build your visuals - Insert charts like line graphs, bar graphs, gauges and sparklines that represent your data visually.

4. Apply formatting - Use colors, data bars and icons consistently across visuals. Format the sheet clearly.

5. Add interactivity - Configure filters and scroll bars so users can interact with the data. Allow sorting and segmentation.

6. Automate updates - Set the dashboard to refresh automatically when the source data changes. Ensure real-time accuracy.

With these steps, you can build an interactive, automated Excel dashboard to monitor kpis free of charge. While Excel works, dashboard software often allows for greater flexibility, customization and access.

Using Software to Create a More Powerful KPI Dashboard

Dedicated kpi dashboard tools provide advantages over spreadsheets for building more powerful, flexible dashboards. Popular tools include:

Google Data Studio - Free data visualization software by Google for creating web-based dashboards. Integrates data from many sources. Offers extensive graphing and filtering options in an easy drag-and-drop interface.

Klipfolio - Intuitive SaaS dashboard platform connecting to hundreds of data sources. Allows for flexible, web-based dashboards with white labeling options. API connectivity automates updates.

Dundas - Advanced dashboard software with custom layout options, predictive analytics, and workflow integration. Customizable visuals, drilldown and scheduling capabilities.

Sisense - Robust business intelligence and analytics platform focused on complex data integration across databases, apps and systems. Unlimited charts, filters and permissions features.

Tableau - Industry leading data visualization tool with powerful analytics capabilities. Allows complex dashboards with advanced mapping, forecasting and predictive capabilities.

Choosing the right software comes down to your budget and the complexity of the data analytics required. Assess your needs and explore platform options to find the best long-term solution.

Creating Effective KPI Dashboard Templates

Dashboard templates make it easy for non-technical users to access and personalize dashboards for their needs. Here are tips for creating effective templates:

• Include commonly used KPIs upfront

• Build in data connections to central data sources

• Set up dynamic filtering to allow segmentation

• Use simple, branded color schemes and designs

• Enable personalization of KPI selection and layouts

• Provide self-service access for individual teams

• Automate regular delivery via email subscriptions

• Include descriptions and tooltips for each visual

• Document guidelines for effective data use

By offering templatized dashboards, any user can generate relevant reports in minutes without technical expertise. Provide tools for customization so users can adapt dashboards to changing needs.

Getting Started Quickly with KPI Dashboard Examples

If developing a dashboard from scratch seems daunting, start by looking at kpi dashboard examples for inspiration. Many software providers offer pre-built templates showcasing best practices that you can replicate or customize for your business.

For instance, Klipfolio’s dashboard examples include pre-configured designs for finance, marketing, sales, support and HR. You can reference these or create your own starting template to standardize dashboard design across your organization.

You can also find hundreds of free dashboard template examples online to accelerate your development. While you’ll still need to integrate your data, example designs give you a head start on layout, visualizations and key metrics to track for different functions.

Driving Adoption and Usage of New KPI Dashboards

Getting employees to actually use and act on new dashboards requires effort beyond just development. Here are best practices to drive adoption:

• Train employees on using dashboards - Explain how to interpret metrics and spot trends

• Set expectations for regular review - Encourage habitual use by setting expectations to check weekly/daily

• Tie dashboards to team meetings - Review dashboards and metrics as a standing agenda item

• Incentivize dashboard usage - Consider tying bonuses or recognition to dashboard metrics

• Solicit user feedback - Gather input on enhancement requests to improve adoption

• Address data inaccuracies - Lack of confidence in data will limit reliance on the tool

• Enable dashboard subscriptions - Allow scheduled delivery of reports to users’ inboxes

Gaining user adoption requires both push and pull efforts. Make dashboards indispensable to workflows while also training employees to leverage them. Adoption ultimately depends on providing ongoing value.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Kpi dashboards are powerful tools for monitoring organizational performance. Key lessons include:

• Design dashboards focused on 8-12 critical, actionable kpis aligned to team goals and workflows

• Present metrics visually using simple, consistent chart layouts and color schemes for fast comprehension

• Include interactive elements like drill-downs, filters and alerts to enable data-driven decisions

• Select dashboard software that enables flexibility, white labeling options and easy data integration as needs grow

• Drive adoption by training employees, aligning dashboards to meetings and soliciting feedback on improvements

The next step is to determine the key performance indicators for your team and develop a dashboard focused on providing maximum, ongoing value. A well-designed kpi dashboard makes achieving your most important business objectives easier.