You are not happy at work. I can clearly see that. Morale is low due to the economy, but it’s something else, isn’t it? You feel handcuffed. You keep hitting a wall. It hurts, hitting a wall while handcuffed… You work with data. There is a formal BI tool in your organization, but it is … Read more
You know that you should avoid the Crystal Xcelsius dashboard style, but now what? Where do you place your charts, kpi, tables? Here is a trick that you can use: write a sentence or a paragraph that summarizes the core message. For example “Our sales are growing in an expanding market, and we are gaining … Read more
Dmitry asks: I face an issue that has nothing to do with Excel itself: human resistance. I showed a dashboard to my manager and he answered to me that my dashboard is too difficult for him and for top management and insisted to use simple XL-tables with lots of data. I’m a bit confused, why … Read more
Do you want to know how to create an advanced Excel dashboard? Do you want to learn it online? Then I have great news for you: I’ve been working on a web-based version of my Excel dashboard tutorial and it will be available soon. Better yet, it will be available for free for all current … Read more
I am a moderately advanced Excel user. This means “a dangerous person” for the IT department, but I like this daily fight, and Excel dashboards are among my preferred weapons. Let’s see how they can be used. Excel is the best tool for executive dashboard prototyping, because of its flexibility and development costs. Creating a fully … Read more
I am sure Albert Einstein was thinking of Excel dashboards when he said “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. Let me tell you why. Demographic Dashboard: The VBA edition I published some time ago a first version of my Demographic Dashboard to show how an average Excel user could design … Read more
Bonavista Systems announced today an Excel Dashboard Competition. Participants stand a chance to win an iPhone, a workshop hosted by Stephen Few and a copy of Few’s “Information Dashboard Design”. Unlike other competitions, there is no data set. You just have to use Excel and MicroCharts, their sparkline generator. You don’t need to buy MicroCharts … Read more
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 … Read more
Do you need VBA to create an Excel dashboard? Should you take the plunge and go beyond Excel formulas? Well, I think you should, but feel free to disagree. Charley Kyd, commenting on my review of his e-book, disagrees: As a consultant, I visited too many clients where an Excel user had written some macros, … Read more
The other day I was reading Dundas’ whitepaper “Best Practices for Building Digital Dashboards” (PDF) [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][update: this whitepaper is no longer available] and you know what? What they say makes a lot … Read more