Dashboard (business)

Dashboard (business)

In management information systems, a dashboard is

"An easy to read, often single page, real-time user interface, showing a graphical presentation of the current status (snapshot) and historical trends of an organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs) to enable instantaneous and informed decisions to be made at a glance."

Dashboards often provide at-a-glance views of KPIs relevant to a particular objective or business process (e.g. sales, marketing, human resources, or production). The term dashboard originates from the automobile dashboard where drivers monitor the major functions at a glance. Dashboards give signs about a business letting you know something is wrong or something is right. The corporate world has tried for years to come up with a solution that would tell them if their business needed maintenance or if the temperature of their business was running above normal. Dashboards typically are limited to show summaries, key trends, comparisons, and exceptions. There are four Key elements to a good dashboard:.
1. Simple, communicates easily
2. Minimum distractions…it could cause confusion
3. Supports organized business with meaning and useful data
4. Applies human visual perception to visual presentation of information