In the 14th session of Chandoo.org podcast, lets figure out how to make awesome dashboards.
What is in this session?
Excel dashboards are much in demand these days, thanks to advancements in Excel & growing pressure on costs. Now a days, analysts & managers are expected to quickly put together a dashboard using Excel. But how do you make a dashboard? What process you should follow? These are the questions we address in this podcast.
In this podcast, you will learn,
- Announcements about upcoming dashboard classes
- Ten step process for creating awesome dashboards
- 1. Talk to your end users
- 2. Make a sketch of the dashboard
- 3. Validate your understanding
- 4. Collect data
- 5. Structure the data
- …
Go ahead and listen to the show
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Links & Resources mentioned in this session:
Excelapalooza Excel conference:
Advanced Excel, Dashboards & Power Pivot Masterclass:
Creating Dashboards – complete tutorials:
- Creating a KPI Dashboard – 6 part tutorial
- Customer service dashboard using Excel
- Employee vacation tracker dashboard
- More tutorials, examples & information about dashboards
Dashboard Examples & Inspiration:
- 49 dashboards on State to state migration in USA
- 66 dashboards visualizing salaries of Excel professionals
- 32 sales dashboards
- 78 Sales analytic charts & dashboards
- More dashboard examples & case studies
Creating Dynamic Charts:
- Examples of dynamic charts
- Introduction to Form controls – article, podcast
Transcript of this session:
Download this podcast transcript [PDF].
What process do you follow to create dashboards?
I have been following this 10 step process for the last 8 years with great success. Not only this process is easy to follow, but also it reduces the scope of errors significantly.
So what about you?What process do you follow when creating dashboards? Please share your thoughts & experiences using comments.
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9 Responses to “Show forecast values in a different color with this simple trick [charting]”
While this works in a pinch, it clearly "lightens" the colors of the entire chart. Depending on where you use this, it will be blatantly obvious that you don't know what you are doing and present a poor looking graph.
Why not separate the data into different segments when charting and have as many colors as you have data points? You might have to create a new legend and/or repeat the chart in "invisible ink", but it would be cleaner and more consistent when new or updated data becomes available.
While I think I agree that doing it "properly" via a second series is preferable, I don't necessarily agree that making the entirety of the "future" (data, gridlines, and even the axis) semi-transparent is "poor looking". I think it could be seen as adding more emphasis to the "future-ness" of the forecast data.
In short, it's another tool for the toolbox, even if it's never needed.
Simply and clever 🙂
Quick & effective, cool. thanks.
I always use the dummy series.
Nice little trick, thanks very much!
Two sets of data better. Control is much better.
You can use the same chart next month to see what is actual and what is forecast.
To use this trick, I think grid lines has to be removed, that will make the graphic much more sharp.
to be honest, i dont understand why there is needed to do this way... in this case horizontal lines will be pale as well. then why a just can't change the color of the line partly???
Great tutorial. Thanks for the tutorial!