Does a Small Business Need a Custom Dashboard?

A dashboard is a screen that shows the few numbers you need to run the business, kept current without anyone rebuilding them. For a small business, the question is not whether dashboards are useful. It is whether you need a custom one, or whether the tools you already pay for will do.

Often they will. This guide covers what a dashboard is for, what to try first, the signs you have outgrown built-in reports, how to choose the numbers, and how to build one that stays trustworthy.

What a dashboard is for

A good dashboard answers one question: does anything need my attention right now? It does that by showing a handful of numbers against a target or a recent trend, so a change stands out.

That means a dashboard is only as useful as the decisions it supports. Before thinking about software, write down the decisions you make each week: whether to chase an invoice, whether to hire, whether to spend more on advertising, which jobs are at risk of running late. Each decision suggests the number you need to see.

Try what you already have

Most small businesses already own several dashboards and have never opened them.

• Accounting. QuickBooks Online and Xero both include business overview dashboards and standard reports such as profit and loss, cash flow and aged receivables.
• CRM. HubSpot, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM include sales dashboards for deals by stage, activity and forecast.
• Sales and e-commerce. Shopify, Square and most point-of-sale systems show sales, orders and top products.
• Website. Google Analytics shows traffic and conversions if it is set up properly.
• Free dashboard tools. Looker Studio from Google is free and connects to Google Sheets, Google Analytics and many other sources. Microsoft Power BI Desktop is free to download for building reports.

If your numbers mostly live in one or two of these tools, spend an afternoon setting up their built-in dashboards before paying anyone. That alone may be enough.

Signs you need a custom dashboard

A custom dashboard earns its cost when one or more of these is true:

• Your numbers live in several systems. Revenue in accounting, pipeline in the CRM, jobs in a scheduling tool, and no single view of all three.
• Someone rebuilds the same spreadsheet every week. Exporting, pasting and fixing formulas is a recurring cost and a common source of errors.
• The numbers disagree. Different people quote different figures because each pulls from a different place.
• The right people cannot see them. Field staff, partners or clients need a view, but you cannot give them access to your accounting software.
• You need your own definitions. Margin per job, utilisation or customer lifetime value calculated the way your business actually works.
• A grant or funder needs regular reporting. Non-profits often have to report the same figures on a schedule.

If none of these apply, keep using built-in reports.

Choosing the numbers

The hardest part of a dashboard is choosing what to leave off. Aim for five to eight numbers. Fewer is better.

Mix two kinds. Lagging numbers tell you what already happened, such as last month's revenue or profit. Leading numbers hint at what is coming, such as open quotes, new enquiries this week or jobs booked for next month. A dashboard of only lagging numbers tells you about problems after you can do anything about them.

For each number, write down where the data comes from, how it is calculated, how often it should update, what counts as good, and who acts when it is not good. If you cannot fill in the last line, the number does not belong on the dashboard.

Steps to build a dashboard that stays useful

1. List the decisions. Write the weekly and monthly decisions the dashboard should support.
2. Pick five to eight numbers. One or two per decision, with the definition written down.
3. Find the source of each. Name the system and the field. If the data does not exist anywhere yet, start recording it before building anything.
4. Clean the data at the source. Fix duplicate customers, inconsistent job types and missing dates in the original system, not in the dashboard.
5. Sketch the layout on paper. Most important number top left. Each number with its target or trend.
6. Build the first version in the simplest tool that works. A built-in dashboard, Looker Studio or a custom build, depending on the signs above.
7. Use it for a month. Look at it at the same time each week. Note which numbers you act on and which you ignore.
8. Remove what nobody uses. Then add any number you found yourself looking for elsewhere.

Who sees what

Dashboards often combine sensitive information, such as wages, client revenue or personal details. Decide who can see each view before you build it. Give staff and partners access only to what they need, and avoid putting personal information on a dashboard when a total will do. Canada's PIPEDA, and Alberta's PIPA for many Alberta organisations, expect personal information to be limited to what is needed and protected. This guide is not legal advice.

Keeping it trustworthy

A dashboard loses its value the first time someone catches it showing a wrong number. A few habits keep trust high. Show when each number was last updated, so nobody acts on stale data without knowing. Keep the written definition of each number somewhere everyone can find it, and change the definition and the dashboard together. Give the dashboard one owner who gets the alert when a data source stops updating. And review it every quarter: the numbers that mattered when you opened may not be the ones that matter as you grow.

When a dashboard is the wrong fix

If the underlying data is wrong or incomplete, a dashboard shows the wrong numbers more clearly. If the business has no agreed targets, a dashboard shows numbers without meaning. Fix the data and agree on the targets first. And if the real problem is a slow workflow behind the numbers, read how to speed up your business workflows before building a screen to watch it.

What it costs with us

Try your built-in dashboards and free tools first. When your numbers live in several systems or need your own definitions, Brodeur Software Development works to fixed prices, never hourly. All prices are CAD, taxes extra.

• Configuration: from $400, to set up a dashboard on the systems and data you already keep.
• Automation: from $80, simple to complex, to move data out of a tool with no connector and into a place the dashboard can read.
• App or client portal: from $800, when field staff, partners or clients need their own view without access to your accounting software.

A larger reporting system runs $4,500 to $15,000, quoted after a $500 discovery that is credited to the build. Agencies that want dashboards to offer their own clients can white-label at $650 a day, with a five-day minimum.

After handover, hosting and care go to Run It at getmore.digital, and user support goes to Fix It at gotthis.support. If you want AI to explain trends or answer questions about your numbers, the AI strategy is scoped with BetterWay Technology at betterway.technology.

Your next step

Write down the five decisions you make most often and the number behind each. If your existing tools show all five, set up their dashboards this week. If they do not, bring the list to Work with Us and we will scope the dashboard that does.