This post on how to make Excel dashboards was one of the first I published here, and it still is one of the most popular posts. But I actually prefer broader data visualization discussions than Excel tips & tricks. Excel dashboards, although something that interests me, was never a priority. Until now. I just launched an ebook on Effective … Read more
I’m sure you’re familiar with the Walmart growth map. A basic visualization looks like this: Obviously this has a lot of potential for a more design-oriented approach, and there are many examples online. Here is the map created by Nathan Yau at FlowingData: I wanted to play with the data too, but from an Excel … Read more
You are not happy at work. I can clearly see that. Morale is low due to the economy, but it’s something else, isn’t it? You feel handcuffed. You keep hitting a wall. It hurts, hitting a wall while handcuffed… You work with data. There is a formal BI tool in your organization, but it is … Read more
Dmitry asks: I face an issue that has nothing to do with Excel itself: human resistance. I showed a dashboard to my manager and he answered to me that my dashboard is too difficult for him and for top management and insisted to use simple XL-tables with lots of data. I’m a bit confused, why … Read more
OK, I’m very please to announce that ExcelCharts.com members area is now open and a new online Excel 2007 dashboard tutorial is available. Go ahead an open a free account: the first two modules are available there and more free stuff is coming soon. As promised, current users will get free access to this course. … Read more
Some years ago, as part of my (then) new job, I had to maintain a monthly updated Excel dashboard. It was a maintenance hell, I hated it, but I couldn’t change it because of my poor Excel skills. “This is stupid, there must be a better way”, I kept saying to myself. So, I searched, … Read more
I am a moderately advanced Excel user. This means “a dangerous person” for the IT department, but I like this daily fight, and Excel dashboards are among my preferred weapons. Let’s see how they can be used. Excel is the best tool for executive dashboard prototyping, because of its flexibility and development costs. Creating a fully … Read more
I am sure Albert Einstein was thinking of Excel dashboards when he said “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. Let me tell you why. Demographic Dashboard: The VBA edition I published some time ago a first version of my Demographic Dashboard to show how an average Excel user could design … Read more
Bonavista Systems announced today an Excel Dashboard Competition. Participants stand a chance to win an iPhone, a workshop hosted by Stephen Few and a copy of Few’s “Information Dashboard Design”. Unlike other competitions, there is no data set. You just have to use Excel and MicroCharts, their sparkline generator. You don’t need to buy MicroCharts … Read more
Do you need VBA to create an Excel dashboard? Our recent discussion clearly shows two lines of thought: a) you should use it because there are things you just can’t do without VBA and if you have access to a powerful tool you should put it to work; b) you should avoid VBA like the … Read more