This guide walks you through building a tactical dashboard focusing on immediate operational insights and short-term financial health. Each section provides a visualization recipe that delivers valuable data for quick and informed decision-making.
1. Prepare your data
Start building dashboards by verifying that your Cube data is up-to-date and accurate. Import data from your source systems and publish any updates from your spreadsheets to ensure your visualizations are immediately relevant.
Turn on automated dashboard updates to refresh the data used in your dashboards on a regular basis.
2. Note about formulas
Your Cube may already contain the necessary formulas to build the visualizations in this guide. You'll most likely locate the data you need by filtering by the relevant dimensions when building the dashboard questions.
If these formulas are not pre-set, you have two options:
- add new formula dimensions to your Cube
- use custom expressions from the examples below when building questions
This flexibility ensures your dashboard aligns with your unique business metrics and goals.
3. Build the dashboard - A step-by-step guide
Note: The dimensions used in these examples may vary from the dimension names in your Cube. Verify the dimension levels and names with your dimensions in all question recipes and custom expressions.
This guide includes recipes for the following questions or dashboard visualizations. Click the links below to quickly navigate.
- Accounts receivable (AR) trends
- Accounts payable (AP) trends
- Debt-to-equity ratio
- Headcount analysis
- Expense variance analysis
- Cash on hand
Accounts receivable (AR) trends
Gain real-time insights into outstanding receivables, helping you manage cash flow more effectively.
Define your question
- Filters:
- Account: Accounts Receivable
- Date: Previous 12 months
- Scenario: Actuals
- Summarize: Sum of Value
- Group by: Date: Month
Visualization settings
- Visualization type: Bar Chart
Accounts payable (AP) trends
Monitor your company's short-term obligations to ensure sufficient liquidity and avoid overdue payments.
Define your question
- Filters:
- Account: Accounts Payable or Current Liabilities
- Date: Previous 12 months
- Scenario: Actuals
- Summarize: Sum of Value
- Group by: Date: Month
Visualization settings
- Visualization type: Bar Chart
Debt-to-equity ratio
This visualization helps you understand your company’s financial leverage and risk profile by comparing debt to shareholders' equity.
Define your question
- Filters:
- Account: Liabilities and Equity
- Date: Latest reporting period
- Scenario: Actuals
- Summarize: Custom expression
SumIf([Value], [Account 3] = "Liabilities") / SumIf([Value], [Account 3] = "Equity") - Group by: Date: Month
Visualization settings
- Visualization type: Trend
- Switch positive and negative colors: On
Headcount analysis
Track your organization's workforce trends to align staffing with operational and financial goals.
Define your question
- Filters:
- Account: Headcount or FTEs
- Date: Previous 12 months
- Scenario: Actuals
- Summarize: Sum of Value
- Group by: Date: Month
Visualization settings
- Visualization type: Bar Chart
Expense variance analysis
Monitor how actual spending compares to budgeted amounts, highlighting areas that may require cost-control measures.
Define your question
- Filters:
- Account: Expense accounts
- Date: Previous 12 months
- Scenario: Actuals and Budget
- Summarize: Custom expression
SumIf([Value], [Scenario 1] = "Actuals") - SumIf([Value], [Scenario 1] = "Budgets") - Group by: Date: Month and Department
Visualization settings
- Visualization type: Bar Chart
- Stacking: Stack
Cash on hand
Visualize your company's immediate liquidity to assess short-term financial stability and operational flexibility.
Define your question
- Filters:
- Account: Cash accounts
- Date: Previous 12 months
- Scenario: Actuals
- Summarize: Sum of Value
- Group by: Date: Month
Visualization settings
- Visualization type: Line Chart
4. Finalizing your dashboard
Customizing your dashboard’s layout enhances its readability and ensures that the most critical information is immediately visible and comprehensible. Adding textual context to your dashboard can provide additional insight and clarity, making the data more actionable.
Learn more about best practices for building dashboards or how viewers interact with dashboards.
With its focused visualizations, this tactical dashboard empowers you to make swift, informed decisions based on current operational data and short-term financial metrics. Remember, the key to an effective dashboard is not just the data presented but how it is interpreted and used to drive actions.
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