KPI with SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint may not be as available as Microsoft Excel, but a lot of companies uses it to build and share their dashboards and KPI templates as it is present in Microsoft Office.
Through SharePoint, you can manage the connections to you server, data sources and have those sources feed your indicators directly in your SharePoint Dashboard, which is already a big plus compared to Excel. SharePoint still lacks the possibility to easily share your dashboards on the web, but if this is something you want, take a look at some of the new generation of online BI Tools such as ClicData.
Even if setting up a proper SharePoint Dashboard can be a bit tedious, it will still help you save a lot of time with as the software can gather real time data from your databases and includes some automation.
KPI templates
for SharePoint
What would be the most effective way to design your KPI template for SharePoint?
Probably the most important point would be to make sure that you have the right data to create your indicators. SharePoint include a Data connection manager to your database server to help things out, but it important that you have somebody responsible for your data, keep them true and fresh for your dashboards and if necessary apply the proper merges and transformations.
After you are done with the data step, it is time to look at laying out your template. The very first thing you should ask yourself is “what questions am I looking to answer with this dashboard?” Keep your dashboard focus on one aspect of your business.
Nothing prevents you from creating as many dashboard as you need for each of your company functions but cramming too many indicators on the same dashboard will make it difficult for you to compare your performance, or get a correct assessment for the status of a project for example.
KPI Dashboard with Excel
Building a Dashboard for Excel could prove to be a little more challenging that using one of the new generation BI tools available on the market.
But do not worry! They are many tutorials around to help you get started and help you avoid the most common problems you will run into when creating a dashboard.For example, with many KPIs to show and often using table to display your metrics, you will quickly run into a scrolling problem. You simply cannot fit all those information in one computer screen, and some important information will be only accessible through scrolling. Make sure your viewers are aware of that.
Another very important feature would the addition of charts to add visualization elements to your KPI dashboard. Excel offer a lot of different options such as Pie, Column, Line, Bar, Area or even the Scatter chart. Each of those having a specific use and can be customized regarding colors, size etc. Excel even have some more advanced charts available such as Doughnut, Surface, Bubble or the Radar Chart.
Discover more about KPI templates with our other guides :
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They Follow Their KPIs With ClicData
