Dashboard Design

Why dashboard design matters for BI Analysts

Great dashboards turn data into decisions. As a BI Analyst, you translate business questions into a visual system that leaders can trust in minutes, not meetings. Good design means: the right KPI hierarchy, clear layout, focused filters, smooth drilldowns, and alerting that drives action. This skill unlocks faster decisions, fewer ad-hoc requests, and measurable business impact.

What you will be able to do

• Define decision-focused questions and the target audience.
• Build a KPI hierarchy and information architecture that scales.
• Design layouts that highlight what matters first.
• Implement filters, drilldowns, and cross-navigation without confusion.
• Set up alerting logic for proactive monitoring.
• Run usability tests and iterate based on feedback.

Who this is for

• BI Analysts who need to build or overhaul executive, operational, or product dashboards.
• Data-savvy professionals who want to deliver decision-ready analytics.

Prerequisites

• Basic SQL (SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, JOIN).
• Comfort with a BI tool (e.g., Power BI, Looker, Tableau) concepts: measures, dimensions, filters.
• Understanding of core business KPIs in your domain (revenue, churn, conversion, SLAs).

Learning path (practical roadmap)

Worked examples

-- Driver: Pipeline Coverage (this month)
SELECT 
  SUM(amount) AS pipeline,
  3 * SUM(target_mrr) AS target_pipeline,
  SUM(amount) / NULLIF(3 * SUM(target_mrr),0) AS coverage_ratio
FROM deals
WHERE close_month = date_trunc('month', CURRENT_DATE);

CASE 
  WHEN mrr_ratio >= 1.0 THEN 'green'
  WHEN mrr_ratio BETWEEN 0.9 AND 1.0 THEN 'amber'
  ELSE 'red'
END AS status_color

-- Respect global filters
SELECT region, segment, SUM(mrr) AS mrr
FROM accounts
WHERE period = :period
  AND (:region IS NULL OR region = :region)
  AND (:segment IS NULL OR segment = :segment)
GROUP BY 1,2;

-- Alert if 3-day rolling churn rate > 1.2x 30-day baseline
WITH churn AS (
  SELECT dt, churned_mrr / NULLIF(start_mrr,0) AS churn_rate
  FROM daily_mrr
),
roll AS (
  SELECT 
    dt,
    AVG(churn_rate) OVER (ORDER BY dt ROWS BETWEEN 2 PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS r3,
    AVG(churn_rate) OVER (ORDER BY dt ROWS BETWEEN 29 PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS r30
  FROM churn
)
SELECT dt, r3, r30, (r3 > 1.2 * r30) AS alert
FROM roll
ORDER BY dt DESC
LIMIT 1;

Design drills (hands-on)

• Rewrite 3 vague business requests into clear decision questions with a user role and cadence.
• Build a KPI tree with 1 North Star, 3–5 drivers, 5–10 diagnostics.
• Sketch a 3-row layout (outcomes, drivers, diagnostics) for two different audiences.
• Choose max 3 global filters for your dashboard; move the rest to contextual filters.
• Define 2 drill-through paths and list parameters passed.
• Write 2 alert rules with thresholds and rolling windows.
• Run a 20-minute usability test with at least 3 users; log time-to-answer.

Common mistakes and debugging tips

Mini project: Executive Sales Performance Dashboard

Goal: Help VP Sales decide weekly where to focus to hit MRR targets.

1. Define: One-sentence purpose, audience, cadence, success criteria.
2. Data prep: Build a model with Deals, Accounts, Targets, Activities.
3. KPI hierarchy: MRR → Pipeline coverage, Win rate, Avg deal size, Sales cycle → Stage conversion, Activity volume.
4. Layout: 3-row design; top cards for MRR, target ratio, sparkline; middle driver tiles; bottom diagnostic table.
5. Filters: Global = Time, Region, Segment. Contextual = Owner, Stage.
6. Drill-through: Region → Account details.
7. Alerting: 3-day vs 30-day churn alert; pipeline coverage < 3x target alert.
8. Usability test: 3 tasks, measure time-to-answer; apply fixes.

Subskills

• Defining Business Questions And Audience — Turn vague asks into decision-focused questions and match them to roles and cadences.
• KPI Hierarchy And Information Architecture — Build KPI trees and group content into logical, scalable sections.
• Layout And Visual Prioritization — Use grids, spacing, and pre-attentive attributes to guide attention.
• Filters And Drilldowns Design — Keep global filters minimal; add contextual filters and predictable drill paths.
• Navigation And Cross Linking Between Dashboards — Define clear pathways and pass parameters consistently.
• Alerting And Monitoring Use Cases — Translate KPIs into reliable alerts with rolling windows and owners.
• Usability Testing With Stakeholders — Run short, task-based tests; measure time-to-answer and misclicks.
• Iteration Based On Feedback — Prioritize and ship improvements in small, verifiable changes.

Next steps

• Work through the subskills to build mastery.
• Complete the mini project to integrate everything.
• Take the skill exam below. Anyone can take it; only logged-in users have their progress saved.