Dashboard (2003)

[Jim Whitt]

My supervisor is interested in having me develop a dashboard style daily report for his boss. I have done some Google-ing, but so far have come up with commercial add-ins or e-books of varying costs. Excel help pointed to one of the e-books. I don't want to sound cheap, but I work for the US government and I don't want to waste taxpayer dollars. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

[WebGenii]

What kind of information do you want to display?

[sdckapr]

I am not sure exactly what you are after, but my first thought when you said dashboard was the Speedometer Chart that MS MVP Jon Peltier demonstrates how to create. His site has many other types of charts that can be created with the built-in features of excel.

If you can't find what you need, perhaps if you provided more details, this site would help you create what you need...

Steve

[HansV]

'Dashboard report' is a specific term - see for example Microsoft Office Assistance: The power of dashboard reporting with Excel.

[sdckapr]

Thanks, I had never seen it used as a term for just displaying multiple charts. i had only heard the term "dashboard chart" as another term for the speedometer chart...

Steve

[Jim Whitt]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Catharine, I have attached a file with sample data the management is interested in seeing.

Steve, I don't know if Jon's speedometer chart will work in this case yet, but it is a good idea.

Hans, I had looked at that page. It is impressive, but you cannot zoom in on the pictures of the dashboards, and the point seems to be selling the author's books. I have not had time to dig deeply into his web site, so that assumption could be wrong. Regardless, I am not implying any criticism. Knowledge is power as well as currency. <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>

All you USA folks, have a GREAT Labor Day weekend.

[HansV]

The link I posted was intended to show Steve (sdckapr) what is meant by a dashboard report, it was not meant as a suggested solution for you. The author of that article has written an e-book about dashboard reports, and he clearly wants to sell that <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15> so he doesn't give away detailed info in the article.

I haven't found any website providing detailed instructions on creating dashboard reports, or providing downloadable samples. So I fear it's considered to be marketable knowledge.

[sdckapr]

How does management want it displayed? I presume it is not in tablular form...

Steve

[Jim Whitt]

Hans: Yep. OzGrid has an e-book as well. If I were as <img src=/S/clever.gif border=0 alt=clever width=15 height=15> as those guys, I don't know if I could just give the knowledge away.

Steve, I don't think they know. They see a lot of ProClarity and other "cool stuff", so right now I'm just fishin'.

Jim

[sdckapr]

Well then I think you should create something that you could do easily and convince them that it is the best way <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>

How do you envision displaying the data? What are your trying to demonstrate or show with the data? I think best choice for a chart is the type that best demonstrates what you want to relate to the audience.

Steve

[WebGenii]

I'm attaching a sample, but your data as presented is pretty straightforward and can be handled with standard column/bar and pie graphs.
Where the funkier dashboard charts really are useful are when you are comparing production to targets (for example: # of orders filled to the target # number of orders). Speedometer style charts are useful for displaying rate information (for example: the rate of consumption of a restricted drug) or stock levels for reordering. Traffic Light charts allow for a warning background when key variables change.

I've found the following website to have some useful instruction on Traffic light and Bullet graphs http://www.exceluser.com/dash/index.htm and
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/SpeedometerXP.html as noted has good instruction on a Speedometer charts.

I'm interested in what you do with this (I'm considering teaching a class on this topic next semester at my local college, so I'm interested in what people are using dashboards for and what they find most useful).

[Jim Whitt]

Sorry it's taken awhile to get back to you.

Steve, I have a meeting with my supervisor in a few minutes to try and hammer out exactly what his boss wants to see. I was thinking maybe a few seven-day mini-graphs on prescriptions, IV bags, and non-IV orders, but that's just a guess. From my worm's-eye view of this, it seems that they want something like the stock market - where'd we end up at the end of the day yesterday and what the last week looked like.

Catharine, I will check those web sites and sample file ASAP for my meeting. Thank you for sending them. At first I thought they wanted speedometer graphs, but now they seem to be leaning toward simpler line graphs. Will let you kind folks know when I hear more. Thanks again.