You're struggling with limited dashboard space. How do you decide which data points to visualize?

"Less is more." — Ludwig Mies van der Rohe When dealing with limited dashboard space, prioritize key metrics that directly impact decision-making. Focus on essential KPIs aligned with business goals, user needs, and performance indicators. Select data points that provide actionable insights and clarity rather than overwhelming with detail. Consider user feedback and iterate based on relevance and impact to ensure the dashboard remains effective and user-friendly.

Prioritise the most critical data points that directly support key business objectives. You can start by identifying the primary questions or metrics that the dashboard needs to address. Focus on high-impact data that drives decision-making, and use summaries or aggregated views to represent broader trends.

To prioritize goals when struggling with limited dashboard space, focus on the key objectives of your dashboard. Identify the primary questions or decisions the dashboard needs to support. Prioritize metrics that directly impact these goals, such as KPIs or performance indicators. Remove or consolidate less critical data points. Ensure the remaining visuals provide actionable insights and support user decision-making. Consider user roles and what information is most relevant to them, emphasizing clarity and simplicity to enhance usability and effectiveness.

To choose wich data points to visualise identify: 1. First the question that your user is trying to answer. 2. Identify the goal that the user is trying to achieve, 3. The time frame of analysis 4. The granularity of information required 5. The best visualization that will help the user get the quickest insights. Every BI developer or BI consultant should also wear the hat of a product owner to maximise the value for the user. Less is more.

Prioritize visualizing data points that directly align with the key objectives or questions the dashboard is intended to address. Start by identifying the most critical metrics or KPIs that stakeholders need to monitor regularly. Focus on data points that provide actionable insights or highlight trends that are important for decision-making. Consider the audience's perspective and their specific information needs when selecting which data points to include. Prioritize clarity and simplicity in visualizations to ensure that each element serves a clear purpose and contributes to a coherent narrative. Regularly review and refine the selection of data points based on feedback to optimize the effectiveness of the dashboard.

When struggling with limited dashboard space, it's crucial to identify and prioritize key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your business objectives and audience needs. Focus on the most impactful data points that provide actionable insights and drive decision-making. Select KPIs that reflect critical performance aspects, such as revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. Eliminate less relevant metrics and use summary visualizations like trend lines or aggregated charts to present data concisely. This ensures the dashboard remains clear, informative, and aligned with strategic goals.

"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!" - Mae West This humorous quote by Mae West is surprisingly apt when discussing the selection of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your business dashboard. Just like in any good dish, the key is not just having ingredients but having the right ones in the right amounts. For businesses, particularly in sectors like retail, it's crucial to identify and display only those KPIs that are most relevant to your objectives to keep your dashboard effective and uncluttered. For instance, a retail business might prioritize KPIs such as inventory turnover and sales/square foot. These metrics offer a clear snapshot of operational efficiency and sales effectiveness, crucial for making an informed choice.

A BI professional also plays the role of a UI/UX specialist by understanding their user's journey and goal in while designing a dashboard. The dashboard should be adapted just like a website or an app to the user so that the user feels at home navigating and exploring his story. Understanding the business process is most important to get into the shoes of the users. Once while designing a dashboard to be used by 4 different profiles: accountants, CFO, supply chain managers and auditors every user was intersted in different data points at different granularities, different time frames. It was important to get finally all the stake holders around the table to share with them the complete story to identify common dashboards and common goals.

At the end the dashboard is a tool to till the user a story and this story must match with users experience and expectations. In the case of limited space in dashboard, you should understand the end user's questions and answer them directly to the point. You have also to know the level of detail that asked by the business user. Sometime you have to consider the end user hierarchy position and his daily operation and how the insights of dashboard will help him to answer his daily repeated questions. If you match this expectations with the user then the user will be able to ask you to build an other dashboard to cover an other level of deeper detail and business areas.

Understanding the specific requirements and priorities of your audience ensures that the dashboard provides the most valuable information for their decision-making process. By aligning data visualization choices with user needs, you optimize the usability and effectiveness of the dashboard, enhancing its impact and usability.

When facing limited dashboard space, prioritize visualizing data points that showcase significant relationships and insights. Focus on key metrics that directly impact decision-making, ensuring the selected data offers a clear narrative or actionable intelligence. Highlight correlations and trends that reveal critical patterns, while considering the target audience's needs and the dashboard's purpose. Additionally, leverage aggregate data to condense information without losing essential details, and use interactive elements to allow deeper exploration of the data as needed.

Using the right visualisation. Tabular form Line charts Pie charts Bar charts Area charts Bubble charts Funnel charts Gauges Heat maps Polar charts Pyramid charts Scatter charts Sparkline charts Whisker charts/ box plots

When dealing with limited dashboard space, prioritize data points that align with key performance indicators and business objectives. Focus on metrics that offer actionable insights, support decision-making, and reveal trends or anomalies. Simplify the visuals to avoid clutter, using concise and clear graphs or charts. Group related data and use summary statistics to provide a high-level overview. Always ensure that the most critical information is easily accessible and comprehensible to the audience.

Prioritize clarity by selecting key metrics and insights that are essential for understanding trends and making informed decisions. By maintaining a clean and uncluttered design, you enhance readability and usability, ensuring that stakeholders can quickly and easily interpret the data presented. This approach maximizes the effectiveness of your dashboard despite space constraints.

Regularly reviewing and updating the dashboard is necessary to maintain its effectiveness. In my opinion, continuously evaluating the relevance of data points and making adjustments based on feedback and changing business needs ensures that the dashboard remains useful and current.

Para escolher os dados a serem visualizados em um painel de forma eficaz, deve começar com uma compreensão clara da estratégia da organização. Isso envolve conhecer a missão e visão e os objetivos estratégicos. Uma vez entendida a estratégia, o próximo passo é identificar os fatores críticos de sucesso, que são as áreas ou atividades essenciais para alinhar à estratégia. Mapear os objetivos estratégicos aos fatores críticos ajuda a determinar quais atividades são críticas para alcançar cada objetivo. Priorize os fatores críticos com base em seu impacto potencial sobre os objetivos estratégicos e valide-os com as partes interessadas chave dentro da organização.

Additionally, leveraging drill-down features and interactive elements can maximize limited dashboard space. In my experience, using interactive components allows users to explore detailed data without overcrowding the main dashboard view. This approach maintains clarity while providing access to comprehensive information.