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Excel dashboards and executive reports are powerful, fairly easy to design and

a great way to improve your Excel and data visualization skills. Because of its

flexibility, you can virtually design any dashboard in Excel exactly the way you,

or the users, imagined. And, best of all, you may want to implement it yourself

or consider it a prototype and ask IT to implement it.

Once you know what will the Excel dashboard be used for and what kind of

metrics users expect, there are three major areas that you must address when

creating it:

how to bring data into your spreadsheets;

how to manage the data and link it to the dashboard objects, like charts

and tables;

how to design the dashboard report.

Let’s take a look at each of them.

How to bring data into your Excel dashboard

Yes, Excel is a very flexible tool, but to create an Excel dashboard you can’t just

paste some data and add a few charts, can you? You must maintain and update

it and, if you want to decrease the cost associated with those tasks, you must

impose some structure to your data.

Usually, the data should not be entered directly into the spreadsheet. You may

copy /paste the data, but the best option is to connect the spreadsheet to the

data source. There is a standard way to communicate with external databases

called ODBC. You can use it to connect your dashboard to a table in Access or

Oracle, for example). Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to establish a

connection between Excel and Access (this is one of the modules in

my dashboard tutorials):

(click the button on the bottom right to maximize the video)

Once you have that connection established, every time the data changes at the

source it also changes in the spreadsheet, after refreshing. Keep in mind that a

good practice is to minimize the amount of data you bring into your

spreadsheet. If you don’t need it, don’t use it. Calculations should be performed

at the source, if possible.

Data can be imported using two basic structures: a flat file and a pivot table.

As a rule of thumb, I would say that a pivot table tends to create larger files but

the calculations will be faster. The flat file will be smaller but, if you need

complex formulas to select the data, performance will suffer (you must test this

in your own project).

The example below shows the growth of Walmart (this is a bonus file available

in themembers area). The user can select a year and a radius. Then the total

population (at county level) is calculated for each catchment area. Population

characteristics like sex and age structure is also available.

Obviously the dataset is very large. It’s not “big data”, but 11 million records

are not easily managed in Excel. I had to use pivot tables, tables and crosstabs

in Access. New to Excel 2010, you can synchronize  pivot tables that share the

same data source with slicers, And I used them in this file. Excel tables are also

great, because they greatly reduce calculation time if you have lots of formulas.

(click to see a larger animation)

How to manage the data and link it to the dashboard objects

If you use pivot tables you can extract the data using the GETPIVOTDATA

function. If you use a flat file, there is a vast array of formulas you can use, like

database formulas (DSUM, DGET), lookup (VLOOKUP, MATCH, INDEX) or

math formulas (SUM, SUMIF, SUMPRODUCT).

Having many formulas and calculations is dangerous to your dashboard

integrity. Actually, you shouldn’t use formulas at all.   That’s impossible, of

course, but you get the idea. Fewer formulas mean a safer, more reliable,

easier to maintain dashboard. You can decrease this by using pivot tables.

That’s one of the reasons I choose them by default.

Named Ranges

Do I have to tell you that you should document your work? OK, I’ll tell you: yes,

you should. But you can simplify that boring task by using named ranges. I am

sure this is a familiar example: “=Sales-Expenses” is better than “=$G$4-

$H$5”.

Named ranges not only help you making your formulas cleaner and easier to

read, but they also play a key role in data management for Excel dashboards.

Example: let’s say that the next update adds a new column to your table. If you

don’t use named ranges you’ll have to change every single formula and add

that extra column manually. Withdynamic named ranges, the extra column is

immediately available. This means less and more reliable work.

Dynamic Charts

I am a truly believer in dynamic

charts. Dashboards that the user can’t interact with don’t make much sense to

me. All my dashboards have controls to change markets, change products,

change sales territories, whatever. What is important is thatthe user must be

able to interact with the dashboard and build his/her knowledge by

exploring the available data. Some managers prefer a static dashboard

(perhaps just a sheet of paper, or a PDF file), but even then you should

implement interaction, because it will be easier to create those static reports

(you can automate them).

If you are creating interactive charts you will probably need dynamic ranges.

You can do it using the OFFSET() function. In the video above you can see an

example.

Macros

OK, you are not a programmer (I am not) but you should consider using some

macros to speed up some repetitive tasks. Also, some cool things that you can

add to your dashboards can only be done using macros, like greeting the users

and selecting the right profile when they open the dashboard (you may want to

read the discussion around the use of VBA in Excel dashboards).

Often all you need to do is to record a macro, add a FOR NEXT or a FOR EACH

loop, make simple changes to make sure the macro points to the right cell. If

you’ve never recorded a macro, here is a very basic example:

Sub Macro1()

ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "=ROW()*5"

End Sub

So, in the active cell, enter the formula “=ROW()*5″. Instead of the active cell,

let’s tell Excel where we want the formula, using Range instead of ActiveCell:

Sub Macro1()

Range("A5").FormulaR1C1 = "=ROW()*5"

End Sub

Now we need to enter the formula 500 times, starting in cell 5:

Sub Macro1()

For i = 5 To 505

Range("A" & i).FormulaR1C1 = "=ROW()*5"

Next i

End Sub

This is all you have to do, most of the time:

Define what cells should be selected, using the RANGE function;

Use a variable (i) instead of row number;

Add a loop.

It’s not always this simple, but you don’t have to be a programmer to take

advantage of Excel macros, and probably there is the right macro waiting for

you. Search the web and you’ll find it. Suppose you want your dashboard to

display a specific market when a user opens the file. You have a table assigning

markets to users, but how do you identify the user? Well, you could try these

macros.

How to design the dashboard report

If you like the kind of charts that you find in marketing-oriented tools like

Crystal Xcelsius let me tell you this: they don’t work. There is a first wow! and

then their uselessness starts creeping in. This is not a matter of opinion only: I

tried (and failed) to replicate my Demographic Dashboard (see below) using

Xcelsius and detailed the process in a series of posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), so I know

why these tools are useless for serious work. Don’t try to use Excel to mimic

them.

You may still be using Excel 2003. Excel 2003 chart defaults are ugly and you

should avoid them like the plague (and make sure you select the acceptable

formats). Excel 2007 and 2010 are much better, but they still need some work.

Throughout this blog you’ll findmany charting tips, and tips to improve your

Excel dashboard, so I will not elaborate much on this. The basic premise is

this: a chart is used to discover actionable patterns in the data, and you

should do your best to show those patterns.

This means that you should remove everything that has no added value (3D

effects, backgrounds, etc), create a hierarchy of focus and context data (make

relevant data stand out, using color carefully) and add at least a basic form of

interaction (let users select the series, for example).

Resources

The reference in dashboard design if of course Stephen Few’s

book, Information Dashboard Design. Other recommended reading are John

Walkenbach’ Excel Bible (2003or 2007) and Excel Charts (2003 or 2007);

Tomothy Zapawa’ Excel Advanced Report Development (2003 or 2007);

Michael Alexander’s Excel 2007 Dashboards and Reports for Dummies and Jon

Peltier’s blog.

More than One Way to Skin a Cat

While you should have a clearly defined framework (allow interaction, connect

to external data sources, focused design, effective chart formats) the way you

implement is pretty much up to you. That’s what I wanted to prove with my

video tutorials. They use the same data set, and a similar output, but each one

uses a different set of techniques:

The VBA version uses pivot tables to get the data and a few recorded

macros to synchronize them and process user input;

The Lookup version uses a spreadsheet database (basically a table that

you paste into a sheet) and lookup functions (VLOOKUP, MATCH, OFFSET)

to get the data for the dashboard report. Personally I don’t feel very

comfortable with spreadsheet databases (more maintenance, more error

prune, slower) but it is a good starting point to learn advanced Excel

techniques (and sometimes is it your only option).

After some discussion on the merits of using VBA (Excel Dashboards: Do You

Need VBA?) I decided to make a VBA-free Excel dashboard; It mainly uses pivot

tables and the powerful GETPIVOTDATA function. It is a well balanced version:

it is slower than the previous version but since it doesn’t use VBA some users

don’t have to leave their comfort zone.

The context will help you to decide the best way to skin your cat, but feel free

to test multiple paths. In general, a large number of formulas will degrade

performance, while VBA improves it (but may be off-limits for you).

An Excel Dashboard is the Perfect Excel Learning Tool

Think about it: when you make a dashboard you need to know more about your

organization, you must interact with users and managers,  analyse data, make

charts, connect the dashboard to the formal information structure (if possible),

use advanced formulas and functions… It’s a complex and usually very

enjoyable task for an information worker. You have to use a wide range of

skills, and that can only improve your position in the workplace.

This is why an Excel dashboard is a great business tool and also a great

learning project that goes beyond Excel and helps you to improve your lifelong

skills. Start making one today!

Shameless plug: try my step-by-step video tutorials.

My Excel dashboard tutorials will guide you from a blank sheet to a fully

functional dashboard and you’ll be able to apply the techniques to your own

projects in no time. Here is an  overview:

2 tutorials;

24 modules;

more than 4 hours of step-by-step video tutorials covering dynamic ranges,

advanced pivot table techniques, interactive charts, advanced Excel

functions and more;

lifetime access.

Try them now!

(Two dashboard courses only $97.00. Lifetime access, 30-day, no questions

asked, full money-back guarantee. Pay securely with Paypal even if you don’t

have a Paypal account.)

 

 Share with:

More

You may also be interested in:

1. Excel dashboard competition

2. How to create a thematic map in Excel

3. Performance vs flexibility in Excel: Demographic Dashboard Lookup Edition

4. The Excel Demographic Dashboard in StarOffice/OpenOffice? Not yet.

5. Fighting IT? Prototype an Executive Dashboard in Excel

On September 16, 2007   /   Dashboards, Featured   /   49 Comments

49 Comments

1.MICHAEL GAFFNEY

5:43 pm on September 18, 2007

This is great. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

2.JON PELTIER

12:40 pm on October 22, 2007

“by the end of the trial period I must have a working Crystal Xcelsius version

of…”

If you *need* an Xcelsius version of your dashboard, then stop reading this

blog. Jorge is showing how to design an information-dense but practical and

usable one-screen data display. Xcelsius is good for dashboards and cockpits

and other glitzy texture-rich but information-neutral decorations.

Jorge -

This is a good start-up example of what a dashboard can really be.

3.ADMIN

5:37 pm on October 22, 2007

Thanks Jon. I hope you don’t find my charts too advanced for you…

No matter what we say, people will keep using Xcelsius and similar tools for

eye-catching hum… things, create 2D pie charts in Excel and put flying clip

art in their presentations.

The only strategy that could really work regarding visualization is to show

the options, explain the differences, make people understand the trade-offs

and let them decide.

Since everyone uses Excel, it makes sense to use something like my

dashboard as a benchmark and try to replicate it with other tools. By

explaining and discussing each step you end up either proving yourself wrong

(if you don’t like Xcelsius) or undermining it from inside because you expose

its weaknesses in several standard tasks.

4.JOHN

10:02 pm on November 29, 2007

If you like this stuff then hopefully you might also like the stuff we do

athttp://www.instantatlas.com – based on many of the same visualisation

principles championed by people like Stephen Few but, like XCelsius, does

use Flash for interactivity.

You can see examples for world population on http://www.geohive.com, a site

we like and we have supported.

5.SEGUN

8:19 pm on December 6, 2007

You are a solution provider

6.DEE KARVOIS

4:52 pm on January 20, 2008

Is there anyway to export the dashboard data into an excel spreadsheet? we

receive a dashboard created in excel but we want to export it into a

spreadsheet. Can it be done? Is it difficult? thahk you

7.

ADMIN

6:17 pm on January 20, 2008

Dee: I am not sure if I understand your question. If you mean exporting the

data from the Demographic Dashboard to a new spreadsheet, you can just

copy one of the pivot tables to the new workbook and use it the way you

want.

Another option is to copy the data from the Access query and past it into the

new sheet. Please note that there are more than 200,000 records in that

query, so they will not fit into the 65 thousand rows you have available in

Excel (try the crosstab query with years in columns).

Hope this helped.

8.DALE

8:43 pm on March 2, 2008

The main problem with Excel dashboarding is keeping them updated as new

data arrived.

I think I;ve alreadt spent 40% of my professional life redefining ranges for

charts and dashboards in Excel. 

Dale

http://www.sisense.com

“Dashboards, Reports and Guided Analytics”

9.ADMIN

10:43 pm on March 2, 2008

Dale

Yes, it can be a problem, but if the structure doesn’t change much you can

manage updates with dynamic ranges. Another option is to make sure that

range width or height doesn’t change (for example, by showing only the last

24 months).

10.DASHBOARD GEEK

5:57 am on March 28, 2008

Thank you dale

I tried the Prism product in your comment

and i have to say im impressed, created all my excel dashboards (100)

in a few hours!

Do you know how much it cost?

Eian

11.SAM G

7:11 pm on April 7, 2008

Jorge – Great work on this. I purchased the training and it has been very

helpful to me in setting some things up. I’ve got a question for you – in your

training you use offset named ranges to retrieve pivot table data. The ranges

use absolute references. This works on your tables, since changing a country

doesn’t change which columns show in the pivot tables. I’m working on

something where I’m pulling from data submitted by companies. I use a

macro to change the company name in the page field in the pivot table, and

then pull the data from the pivot. The problem is that if we don’t have data on

a company for a particular metric, than that column in the pivot table

disappears, and the named range is now pulling a different metric. Is there

anyway to reference a column of data so that no matter what column it ends

up in, excel will still grab the right data? The only workaround I’ve thought of

for this is to make one sheet for each column of data. Would love any

suggestions you have.

Thanks,

Sam

12.

ADMIN

9:52 pm on April 7, 2008

Thanks Sam. I usually solve that problem by selecting the field and turn on

the “Show items with no data” option. This way the table structure is kept

and you can easily handle the missing data.

13.DALE

10:29 am on April 30, 2008

DashboardGeek (nice name),

The product is still in beta so they don’t charge for it yet, but I contacted

their support and they said the generally, a single authoring license goes for

about 100 US Dollars a year.

14.MADHAVAN SUKUMARAN

4:09 pm on June 21, 2008

Excellant piece of information. Thanks for sharing the same.

15.ANTHONY

9:17 am on October 18, 2008

Hey,

I picked up this link in from the article about 14 misconceptions of charts.

But since reading it – I must recommend people looking at this.

http://sparklines-excel.blogspot.com/

I downloaded and started to use it just last week and published a highly

informative dashboard in hours, complete with spark lines and bullet charts.

16.GLENN

2:02 am on October 30, 2008

I’d really like to get a copy of the three versions you have listed here.

I’m interested in creating more effect reports for my job.

Thank you,

Glenn

17.ADMIN

2:17 am on October 30, 2008

Glenn, you just have to leave your email on the right side bar and they will be

sent to you. [Update: This is no longer available.]

18.DAN

4:46 am on November 5, 2008

As always great post. thanks

19.JOSEPH FLOWERS

8:47 pm on November 29, 2008

This is great, just what I’ve been looking for. I’m a very basic developer, with

goo HTML experience but little experience in actual coding technologies. I

get leads that come from our distributor site, who are interested in buyng

one of our distributorships. I want a bashboard so that I can retrieve data

from that persons geographical area. This will give me how many business

are in there are and the population as well as Business growth.

I also want to create a basic customer service data base as well, to retrieve

thier data I have entered into excell. Thanks alot.

Joe

20.RACHANA MUKHERJEE

10:32 pm on December 8, 2008

Hi Jorge,

I accidentally discovered your site and I am super impressed. I am a data

analyst at e-commerce company and am looking to streamline and and

automate reports for executives.

I am trying to expand my understanding of excel and building up my

repetoire so to speak and I realize that pivot tables and VBA are key. The

demographic dashboard is an excellent learning tool for people like me who

are looking to learn the “integration” bit by example. And, your example is

extremely clean and non-convoluted. So thank you, I am looking forward to

learning a lot from your site and tutorials.

I have two questions for you:

a) In your everyday work how do you deal with scope creep from business

users after implementing a very tedious dashboard or solution.

b) How long did it take you to finish the demographics dashboard, from

concept to completion.

21.ADMIN

12:46 am on December 10, 2008

@ Rachana: thanks for your great feedback. I wanted to show how to

synchronize several pivot tables using simple VBA, but the other versions

show that you can get similar results without code. I would try to do find

VBA-free approaches and use code when there is no other choice. For

example, I usually run a macro to detect the user id and filter the data for

that specific profile. That’s something you can’t do without code.

I don’t really have a good answer regarding the best way to deal with scope

creep. I try to create very specific information products that answer very

specific business needs, leaving everything else outside. I usually don’t need

more than some user feedback regarding the use of the tool. I would say that

a project like the demographic dashboard does not require more than a

month to implement (and a few more days/weeks for testing).

22.CHRIS CAPEL

11:37 am on February 18, 2009

The challenge is not so much in the Excel techniques (well, only a little   ),

but it is more in the creativity and empathy of the dashboard designer.

Thanks Jorge, for your brilliant solutions!

23.PETER VERCO

5:31 pm on March 12, 2009

Jorge – An excellent presentation.

I frequently use live data from databases via odbc and tuned via MS query to

deliver targeted and summarised business information for live reporting. I

also use pivot tables, and have found the GETPIVOTDATA function provides

dynamic data, provided you are prepared to link the parameters to cells

outside the table, and of course, show items with no data. I have never

needed to use named ranges. Because most business information is highly

structured, I can usually provide a screen full of charts from just one pivot

table, then using a selection box or boxes on the dashboard to return the

selected data via the GETPIVOTDATA function.

24.POOJA DHINGRA

7:03 pm on April 13, 2009

Hi Jorge

I am trying to build dashborads for revenue analysis (product wise),

employee performance, budget analysis etc..Can I use the same demographic

dashborad for same or would it have to built in a different manner.

Pl advice..

Pooja

25.ADMIN

10:10 pm on April 13, 2009

@Pooja: I believe that an Excel dashboard is defined by the way it handles

the data, and not by the data itself. The three demographic dashboards

exemplify how to get the data (connecting to an external data source or

creating a spreadsheet table), how to go from there to the chart data sources

and how to create the interactive user interface. You can use the

demographic dashboard to see how these techniques can be used to work

together. Your dashboards will surely be very different, but you can use

similar techniques. For example, I’ve been creating employee performance

dashboards for several years and they typically use very different sources but

don’t need frequent updates (monthly or quarterly basis), while sales would

need a single data source but may need daily updates. In the first case, I

usually use spreadsheet tables, and in the second case I connect a pivot table

to the Oracle database.

26.POOJA DHINGRA

5:33 pm on April 14, 2009

Ta..I use Navision as my database. Can you help in buliding good dashboards

for revenue/gross margin analysis. Where from your website can I learn how

to create dashboard other than specified above.

Pooja

27.ADMIN

11:03 pm on April 17, 2009

Pooja: I am not familiar with Navision, so I can’t help you with the specifics,

but if you search for something like “Navision ODBC Excel” you’ll find a

tutorial on how to link Excel to your Navision tables. The Demographic

Dashboard uses the Access ODBC, but the process should be similar. After

you get your data into Excel you can use the usual Excel formulas to create

your dashboard.

28.T

2:59 am on August 3, 2009

Hi Jorge,

Your dashboard ROCKS!!

Just finished the dashboard tutorial and cant wait to get into creating my own

for our data. I have searched for a long time for a good quality tutorial that

covers all the essential functions for creating reports and reporting tools.

This is the most amazing tool for learning advanced Excel I have come across

and is also a shining example of Excel best practices. I wish I had this years

ago. You have a great understanding of how to communicate and teach

complex information easily and clearly.

Thank you.

T

29.ULRICH SEIDL

5:17 pm on November 26, 2009

on

http://www.hichert.com/de/software/exceldiagramme/55

you can find a lot of examples (downloadable) of excel-charts which could be

used in dashboard

on

http://www.hichert.com/de/consulting/dashboards you find selctions of well-

done dashboards and not-so-well-done….

30.EDDIE

7:00 pm on December 30, 2009

“you just have to leave your email on the right side bar and they will be sent

to you.”

Where is this location? I, too, would love to get these templates to learn from.

Thanks!

31.BILL GATES

10:52 am on January 14, 2010

Thanks Sam. I usually solve that problem by selecting the field and turn on

the “Show items with no data” option. This way the table structure is kept

and you can easily handle the missing data.

32.MANOJ KAPASHI

1:32 pm on April 22, 2010

Sir,

This is an amazingly unbelievable dashboard.

1. Would we able to replicate this dashboard after going thru your tutorial?

How long is the tutorial?

2. Does the price include with and without VBA?

33.JORGE

2:00 pm on April 22, 2010

Manoj: Thanks.

1. Yes, you will;

2: The tutorial is for the VBA dashboard only; the non-VBA tutorials are

coming soon.

34.MANOJ KAPASHI

6:40 pm on April 22, 2010

Thanks for your reply.

1. I believe I did read that the files for the non VBA and the non pivot tables

would also be supplied in the same package. Is that correct?

2. If yes, then I presume that these files will contain the source data and all

the formulae to enable us to study the construction of the dashboards on our

own since the tutorial is not available. Am I right?

35.JOHN KYLE

6:33 pm on June 14, 2010

Jorge – Thanks for the great post. Even though we all use Excel every day, it’s

easy to forget how powerful it really is for analyzing and reporting

information. Dashboards in Excel are really great – they are more flexible

than flash or ajax based dashboards because users can – with the familiarity

of Excel – extend the report to a “what if” tool by experimenting with new

values, etc.

36.NILESH

10:27 am on July 15, 2010

Very Informative…!!

Its a good start for my first Production Planning Dashboard.

Thanks Jorge..!!

37.NITGREEN - LOOKING FOR BEST WEB HOSTING

11:05 am on September 7, 2010

This is very well organized dash board tutorial, I like it as a learner VBA

Programmer, this will surely help me to build my first Dashboard at my new

job. Thanks for sharing valuable information.

38.VARUN KUMAR

2:03 am on March 26, 2011

Its very beneficial for anyone who need to learn about dashboard and excel. I

was thinking that I have so much knowledge in MS excel but after reading

your blog i learned new things and I realized that we need to update us

everytime.

Thanks Jorge.

39.VARUN KUMAR

2:03 am on March 26, 2011

It is very beneficial for anyone who need to learn about dashboard and excel.

I was thinking that I have so much knowledge in MS excel but after reading

your blog i learned new things and I realized that we need to update us

everytime.

Thanks Jorge.

40.IRIS

9:55 am on October 31, 2011

Great Blog, Jorge.

One question. Do you know if and how it is possible to get rid of the excel

menu in an excel dashboard? I know there is this function that helps doing it,

but you first have to open the dashboard in excel and then you can get rid of

it, but is it also possible to do something so that you don’t have the menu

each time you open it?

thanks!!!

41.HERU

7:04 am on November 8, 2011

good job

42.KOTI

9:37 am on November 8, 2011

excellent!!!

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Creating a VBA-free Excel dashboardHome → Dashboards → Creating a VBA-free Excel dashboard

Do you need VBA to create an Excel

dashboard? Our recent discussion clearly

shows two lines of thought: a) you should

use it because there are things you just

can’t do without VBA and if you have

access to a powerful tool you should put

it to work; b) you should avoid VBA like

the plague because the average user don’t understand it and it can cause a

serious problem if the programmer leaves the organization.

In an informal survey among friends and colleagues (all of them Excel users),

I’ve discovered that 55% doesn’t know what VBA is, 40% knows but doesn’t

want to use it, 4% uses recorded macros from time to time and 1% actually

edits the recorded macros to add some sort of functionality (well, this happens

to be me…).

The real world always depresses me…

The poll on the right seems to tell a better story, but you guys are le crème de

la crème, so I can’t use you as a representative sample, I’m sorry…

The first version of my Demographic Dashboard uses some macros to

synchronize pivot tables and to add some functionality to the user interface.

Simple stuff, really. But there is a divide, and I had to know if I could create a

VBA-free Demographic Dashboard.

That’s a the simple story behind the VBA-free Demographic Dashboard. This

dashboard uses the same data set (population by sex, age and country for the

period 1996-2050) and the final result is similar (that was the idea). But how

can you achieve the same results without VBA? Just simplify, simplify, simplify.

Let me give you some examples.

Dashboard objects

Some times we use VBA out of laziness. Take a

look at this object: I could place the background image on the sheet and use a

few lines of code to correctly place the small triangle. That was my first idea.

But why? Why don’t you just use a chart? It is simpler, safer and doesn’t

require VBA. The final solution uses a simple scatter plot. Yes, I know, it

doesn’t look like one. It’s amazing the things you can do with scatter plots.

I already published a screencast on how to create a

population pyramid, but this technique is missing. I

wanted to recreate a popular chart format in

magazines: lines to encode the current data and areas

for the reference data.

I was unable to come up with an elegant solution using

the standard available formats in Excel, so I had to improvise. This is a regular

area chart, but I use the camera tool to rotate the image to achieve this effect.

Please note that you shouldn’t use this technique if you are planning to print

your dashboard because of a well known bug in Excel (but there is also

a workaround).

In the previous version of the dashboard I used lines in a scatter plot to display

current and reference data. No need for the camera tool.

I really like this chart. It is amazing how it shows

the aging process that currently affects every

country in the world, specially if you can animate

it to see how the passage of time changes the

dependencies. As an European I find it really

scary…

In this version, the active country is shown in the

context of the active region and, unlike the previous version, it also shows the

remaining countries, so the user can see the region in context.

I usually delete grid lines, but here they are almost invisible and they actually

seem to help. Sometimes I forget that scatter plots are square by definition, but

not in this case…

I don’t have a single post discussing sparklines,

partially because I like to stick to things that everyone

can do with a standard Excel installation (and you’ll

usually need an add-in to create sparklines) and because there is so much to

say about them that I wanted to write a complete series, and I don’t seem to

find the time to do that. But you should definitively consider using them when

planning a dashboard.

What you see on the left are not exactly sparklines, just a small line chart

where each line is aligned with the country name. I kind of like these lines

jumping out of their “natural borders” (the row limits and the table itself).

Download the dashboard and compare these lines with the top ten countries in

Europe, for example.

Lately I’ve been playing a little with links to external

sources and I decided to add these two. The first one opens a Google Map with

the active country and the second one opens the CIA Factbook for the same

country. You don’t need to hard-code the links, it is just a string that is

automatically changed whenever you change your data (in this case, the name

of the country). You can also put the data into your worksheet, like I did when I

created my Excel thematic map.

There is something that you can’t do without

VBA. When you select a region, the list of

countries automatically reflects that change, but the current country is not

changed. A simple macro can easily select a new value when a different region

is selected. So, you may be comparing Angola with countries in Europe (Angola

is in Africa). Since I can’t change the default country, I added a conditional

formatting for that cell, and when the country is not found in that region the

background changes to warn the user.Share with:

More

You may also be interested in:

1. Excel dashboard competition

2. Performance vs flexibility in Excel: Demographic Dashboard Lookup Edition

3. Fighting IT? Prototype an Executive Dashboard in Excel

4. The Excel Demographic Dashboard in StarOffice/OpenOffice? Not yet.

5. 10 tips to improve your Excel dashboard

On April 9, 2008   /   Dashboards   /   21 Comments

21 Comments

1.JOEL HORNBERGER

3:30 pm on April 11, 2008

Interested in the dashboard file.

2.ADMIN

8:25 pm on April 11, 2008

Joel, just fill in the form and a link will be sent automatically.

3.LISA HILL

2:59 am on April 16, 2008

looking to learn about creating dashboards in excel

4.GORDON CAMERON

9:42 pm on April 16, 2008

Thanks for the info

5.TONY J

10:04 pm on February 4, 2009

An excellent file that has given me a handful of new ideas. Am already

familiar with pivot – access database setup, and wanted to see how to go

about a multi-funtional document for a varied group of customers. I may have

a couple of Qs as I get into my own design. Thanks

6.ADMIN

10:31 pm on February 4, 2009

Tony: Thanks for the feedback. I’ll try to answer.

7.JOHN

2:43 pm on August 17, 2009

The file was truly awesome. It will help me with new reporting system I am

building.

8.SUMIT LAL

8:30 am on October 5, 2009

I think what you’ve done is truly awesome! Is it possible to get a copy of the

file for VBA free dashboard please? It’ll help me learn 

Thanks a ton and have a good day!

9.JJ

5:18 am on December 2, 2009

I’d like to see a macro example on how to query SQL and update the

dashboard

10.JORGE CAMOES

9:21 am on December 2, 2009

JJ: The VBA-free version excludes the use of macros. You must manually hit

“refresh” to refresh the pivot table. Everything else is updated using

formulas, specially the GETPIVOTDATA() function.

11.TYPEGEEK

1:10 am on January 6, 2010

Nice work on the dashboard, but why are your line graphs not really

sparklines? I know Office 2010 will have a new sparkline tool, but isn’t a

sparkline just a small line chart?

12.JORGE

6:05 am on January 6, 2010

The dashboard was made using Excel 2003 and I wanted to avoid add-ins,

just to make sure every user replicate it with an out-of-the-box installation.

13.CRISTIAN OJEDA

6:56 pm on May 14, 2010

How obtain file example VBA-free Excel dashboard?

Thanks

14.JORGE CAMOES

7:00 pm on May 14, 2010

Cristian: a VBA-free tutorial will be available soon.

15.ZAK

7:16 pm on November 25, 2010

Hi Jorge,

I am using excel for few year and has recently develop interest in excel

dashboard. How to download your examples and is there any suggestion to

learn core concept of developing them.

Regards and thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Zak

16.STEVE VOS

10:42 pm on December 11, 2010

I’d love to look at your dashboard. I’ve never tried setting one up in that way.

Interesting stuff.

17.JASON HUI

3:00 am on December 21, 2010

Hi Jorge,

Nice work on the VBA excel free dashboard. Looking forward to learn more

on this.

18.MICHAEL RUTSTEIN

5:42 pm on January 17, 2011

Is there a way to try software free, then migrate to $47 sign up fee?

Thanks,

Mike R

19.ED RUBIO

4:19 pm on January 27, 2011

Looking to figure out how to create my own dashboards. I see there is a

sample tutorial. Would you be able to send me a link to it?

20.JORGE CAMOES

4:24 pm on January 27, 2011

Michael, Ed: Thanks for your interest. A tutorial with a trial period will be

available soon.

21.JOAO AMADO

7:42 am on May 30, 2011

Hi, cheers for your website.

I thankfully have recently found you and that your classes/tutorials make my

life a lot smoother!!

I´d lke to say thank you, keep up the good job, and please, let me know if you

´re writing other stuff.

I am in my way to finish a huge report to the company I work for – an

enormous fixed phone company down here in Brazil.

More than just a report, this excel program I built is pretty much a managing

software that will probably infuence big decisions.

You are a part of this, because I´m so attached to details when it comes to

work – and your excel tips are just wonderful.

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