What is a Dashboard Checklist?
A Dashboard Checklist is your go-to tool for creating professional dashboards that effectively communicate the status of a capital project or program. Key questions to consider include:
- What critical questions should the dashboard answer?
- How should the information be organized?
- In what setting will it be used?
- What narrative should it convey?
This 10-Point Dashboard Design Checklist will help you design and deliver high-impact dashboards for capital projects, programs, or board reporting. It's an invaluable resource for client-side project managers and anyone seeking best practices in construction reporting.
How to Use This Dashboard Checklist
This checklist provides a step-by-step guide to ensure that your dashboard design meets industry best practices.
Follow these steps to ensure your dashboard design is optimized for usability and clarity:
- Download and Customize: Start by downloading the checklist and adjust it to fit your project’s needs. You can personalize it based on your industry, such as construction, project management, or data analytics.
- Define the Dashboard’s Purpose: Clearly identify the main goal of your dashboard. Whether it’s for tracking performance, progress, or reporting, the design should align with the dashboard’s intended function.
- Prioritize Important Information: Focus on the most critical metrics. Make sure that key information like budget, schedule, and risks is easily accessible and prominent on the dashboard.
- Optimize Layout to Reduce Clutter: Arrange data in a clean and logical manner, removing any unnecessary elements that can distract from the main insights.
- Smart Reading Layout: Design the dashboard with a reading flow in mind, typically left to right, top to bottom. This ensures users can digest information quickly and efficiently.
- Use Summary Tiles for Key Data: Highlight essential metrics with easy-to-read summary tiles. These tiles should provide at-a-glance insights for the most important data points.
- Group Related Metrics Together: Keep similar metrics or data points grouped in one section. This allows for easier comparison and more intuitive navigation through the data.
- Choose Appropriate Visualizations: Select visuals that best represent the data, such as charts, graphs, or progress bars. Make sure these are easily interpretable and align with the data they display.
- Add Context to Your Data: Provide additional context through captions, labels, or brief descriptions that help explain the significance of the data.
- Implement Tooltips and Drilldowns: Add interactive elements like tooltips and drilldowns to allow users to explore data more deeply without overcrowding the dashboard.
- Be Adaptable and Open to Evolution: As project needs evolve, be ready to adjust the dashboard layout, data, or visuals to keep the design relevant and useful over time.
Free Dashboard Design Checklist Template
If you are looking for inspiration regarding dashboard creation, this download offers:
- 1 x Dashboard Checklist in PDF format.
This design checklist template is available for download by filling out the form at the top of this page. It's ready for you to customize and use to build more effective and professional project status dashboards.
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