Start with questions, not charts
Ask leaders to write down the questions they need answered every morning: sales today against target, which items are running low, which line is behind plan. Each question becomes one number or one chart on the screen.
Keep KPIs per screen few
A screen should carry no more than five to seven headline KPIs. If you need more, split screens by role: leadership, supervisors, sales.
Map the data you already have
You don’t need to move everything first. Connect what exists, then remove manual entry one step at a time.
- Your existing ERP or accounting software
- The Excel files and Google Sheets teams really use
- Databases behind point-of-sale or warehouse systems
- Machine and IoT sensor data
How often to refresh
Not every number needs to be real-time. Store sales or machine status should update at once; gross margin or monthly KPIs are fine once a day. Choosing the right frequency keeps cost and complexity down.
Design for who is looking
Leaders want the overview and the trend. The floor wants big numbers readable across the room on a TV. Sales want their own figures on a phone. One screen cannot serve all of them.
Let the dashboard tell you when something is off
A good dashboard doesn’t wait to be opened. Set alerts for KPIs that miss target and have AI send a short summary of what changed each morning, so the team spends its time fixing problems rather than finding them.