A companion to the Executive Dashboard Toolkit and the Executive Dashboard & KPI Templates Pack. It covers selecting metrics that reflect strategy, writing definitions that stop arguments, sourcing data reliably, designing a dashboard leaders actually read, and running a monthly review that turns numbers into decisions. Suitable for owners and managers of small and mid-sized businesses building their first real dashboard.

Modules

What Dashboards Are For

Lessons

• A Dashboard Answers One Question Preview
• Lagging Leading and Diagnostic Metrics
• Why Most Dashboards Die

Choosing Metrics That Matter

Lessons

• Deriving Metrics From Strategy
• The Rule of Twelve
• Balancing the Page Across Perspectives

Defining and Sourcing Metrics

Lessons

• Writing a Metric Definition
• Data Sources and Refresh Reliability
• Handling Missing and Bad Data

Designing the One-Page Dashboard

Lessons

• Layout Reading Order and Hierarchy
• Choosing the Right Visual for Each Metric
• Color Consistency and Annotation

Targets Thresholds and Trends

Lessons

• Setting Targets That Mean Something
• Thresholds That Trigger Action
• Reading Trends Not Points

Running the Metrics Review

Lessons

• The Monthly Review Agenda
• From Metric to Action
• Evolving the Dashboard Over Time