Variations in Dashboard Uses and Data

Dashboards can be used to monitor many types of data and to support almost any set of objectives business deems important. There are many ways to categorize dashboards into various types. The way that relates most directly to a dashboard's visual design involves the role it plays, whether strategic, analytical, or operational. The design characteristics of the dashboard can be tailored to effectively support the needs of each of these roles. While certain differences such as these will affect design, there are also many commonalities that span all dashboards and invite a standard set of design practices.

Categorizing dashboards

Common threads in dashboard data

Non-quantitative dashboard data

Dashboards are used to support a broad spectrum of information needs, spanning the entire range of business efforts that might benefit from an immediate overview of what's going on. Dashboards can be tailored to specific purposes, and a single individual might benefit from multiple dashboards, each supporting a different aspect of that person's work. The various data and purposes that dashboards can be used to support are worth distinguishing, for they sometimes demand differences in visual design and functionality.