An operational dashboard serves as a monitoring and optimization tool for businesses, specifically designed to oversee and enhance the performance of their short-term operations. Typically managed by junior decision-makers, these dashboards primarily focus on tracking operational processes.

In today’s digital era, the significance of operational dashboards lies in the recognition among businesses regarding the importance of rapid and accurate data exchange among operations teams and departments. While the advancements in dashboard reporting and analysis have greatly simplified logistical tasks, operational managers can also derive significant benefits from employing such dashboards. They allow for real-time identification of data-related issues through visual and interactive means, necessitating prompt attention and resolution.

This article will give you a detailed introduction to the operational dashboard, including definitions, benefits, examples, and most importantly, how to create an operational dashboard efficiently. Feel free to take full advantage of this article!



What is An Operational Dashboard?

Dashboards can be classified according to usage scenarios, data types, and usage fields. The most common classification is based on specific usage scenarios into strategy dashboard, analytical dashboard, and operational dashboard.

Among them, the operational dashboard helps you view “what’s happening now?”. The operational dashboard separates key indicators and important information from messy data, and presents them to users clearly and quickly, helping users complete tasks quickly, actively, and efficiently. In order to prevent violations or high-risk operations, the operational dashboard also needs to monitor data in real-time. Therefore, the operational dashboard is often associated with the KPI dashboard and a monitoring dashboard.

a picture showing types of dashboard
Types of dashboard


Benefits of An Operational Dashboard

  • Predictive analysis. An operational dashboard allows you to view what is happening and can help you predict the future allocation of various resources and the formulation and execution of various corporate strategies based on actual performance and data.
  • Active management. The operational dashboard can be used to focus on and adjust strategic and tactical goals, help to identify emerging patterns and trends through the latest data and indicators, and maintain the competitiveness of the enterprise.
  • Real-time visibility. An operational dashboard allows you to easily check the health of your business and take appropriate measures through data visualization. In addition, checking status and reports via mobile devices makes it possible to monitor at any time and ultimately shortens the response time.
  • Promote continuous improvement. An operational dashboard can promote continuous improvement, make incremental changes to reduce waste, simplify work and increase profitability, and can adapt to changes in higher productivity levels.
clear and dynamic dashboard interface of FineReport
Dashboard interface of FineReport


Operational Dashboard Examples

Let’s take a look at some IoT Dashboard examples that have been adopted in some companies, hope these templates can give you some inspiration.

Note: All the Operational Dashboard templates shown in this article are created by FineReport, a powerful dashboard software that has been honorably mentioned by Gartner Magic Quadrant for ABI Platforms. You can download FineReport for free and have a try!

Try FineReport Now

FineReport stands out from the crowds of operational dashboard software with its high-quality products and services, and reasonable prices. You can download the free trial version to experience the product.

There are many dashboard templates built into the software in FineReport Demo. Here I’d like to introduce several of the templates of FineReport, or you can make an appointment to contact FineReport directly for more concrete operational dashboards.

Book A Demo

Grid monitoring

 an interface of grid monitoring dashboard by FineReport
Grid monitoring dashboard (by FineReport)

The grid monitoring dashboard shows the power usage in the monitored area. Through the monitoring of key indicators and data, the health status of the power grid can be checked and judged at any time to prevent accidents.

Electricity power plant monitoring

Electricity power plant monitoring dashboard (by FineReport)

The electricity power plant monitoring dashboard is to observe the production situation in the plant. Through this dashboard, the power plant can view the distribution of resources, the completion of production and etc., so as to make follow-up production plans.

Intelligent transportation monitoring

The Intelligent transportation monitoring dashboard is a system that monitors transportation in real-time. It tracks important factors like the number of traffic violations, congested roads, the average speed of vehicles and so on.

The dashboard helps transportation authorities keep an eye on the current state of transportation. It collects data from various sources like cameras and sensors, providing up-to-date information on traffic conditions.



How to Create An Operational Dashboard?

Here are the main points to consider when creating an operational dashboard:

  • Define your objectives: Start by clearly defining the objectives and goals of your operational dashboard. Identify the specific metrics and KPIs that align with your business objectives. For example, you may want to track sales performance, customer satisfaction, inventory levels, or production efficiency.

  • Select the right metrics: Choose the metrics that are most relevant to your business goals. Focus on metrics that provide actionable insights and help you make informed decisions. Avoid overwhelming your dashboard with excessive data. Instead, select a few key metrics that accurately reflect the performance of your operations.

  • Determine data sources: Identify the sources from which you will gather the necessary data for your dashboard. This may include data from internal systems such as CRM software, ERP systems, or other databases. Consider integrating external data sources as well, such as market trends, competitor analysis, or customer feedback.

If you are worrying about the problem of data integration of your KPI report, you can try FineReport, FineReport has a powerful data integration functionality, supporting over 30 different database tables and SQL data sources. It also supports various file data sets such as Excel and txt files, as well as multidimensional databases and procedural data sets. It is suitable for data analysis scenarios with high real-time requirements.

FineReport can also be integrated with other business systems like ERP or CRM, which store the production data, and automatically extract and update the relevant information in real-time on the report.

  • Design the dashboard layout: Plan the layout of your operational dashboard to ensure clarity and ease of use. Organize the dashboard in a logical and intuitive manner, grouping related metrics together. Use visual elements like charts, graphs, and tables to present data in a clear and understandable way. Consider using color coding and visual indicators to highlight performance levels or deviations from targets.

  • Choose the right visualization tools: Select appropriate visualization tools that best represent your data and make it easy to interpret. Depending on the nature of your metrics, you might use line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, or gauges. Ensure that the chosen visualizations effectively communicate the insights you want to convey.

For example, FineReport supports more than 50 chart styles, covering basically all basic and high-level charts on the market, and also has excellent dynamic effects and a powerful interactive experience. Various features can be set according to the needs during use, and can also be self-adjusted and displayed on the mobile terminal and large LED screen.

  • Update in real-time: For an operational dashboard to be effective, it should provide real-time or near real-time updates. Use automated data feeds or APIs to ensure that the dashboard reflects the most recent information available. Real-time updates enable you to identify and address issues promptly, leading to more proactive decision-making.

In FineReport, with Real Time Reporting, users can connect to various data sources such as databases, APIs, and streaming platforms to retrieve live data. The feature supports a wide range of data formats and provides seamless integration with different systems.

Once the data is connected, FineReport’s Real Time Reporting feature enables users to create dynamic and interactive reports. Users can design customized dashboards, charts, tables, and graphs to visualize their data. These reports update automatically as the underlying data changes, ensuring that users always have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips.

Financial performance  dashboard by FineReport

Real Time Reporting also offers advanced data analysis capabilities. Users can apply filters, perform calculations, and apply business rules to manipulate the data and extract valuable insights. The feature supports drill-down functionality, allowing users to explore the underlying details and analyze data at different levels of granularity.

  • Regularly review and refine: A dashboard is not a one-time creation; it requires regular review and refinement. Monitor the performance of your operational dashboard and gather feedback from users. Assess the relevance of the selected metrics and make adjustments as needed. Stay open to incorporating new metrics or visualizations that can enhance the usefulness of your dashboard.

Operational Dashboard Cases

The world-famous sports brand Nike has long been at the forefront of the world’s top 500. After Nike entered China, with high-quality products and the concept of “Local for Local”, it quickly entered the Chinese market and developed rapidly, with stores in various provinces and cities in China.

The audience market has a large number of customers, and an effective business intelligence system is urgently needed to assist Nike China’s operation and management. The retention analysis dashboard made by FineReport is a powerful one. The dashboard calculates customer retention rates by measuring indicators such as the number of daily store leads and new customers. By viewing this dashboard, companies can adjust marketing and other strategies to increase customer loyalty and increase customer retention.

an interface of retention analysis dashboard by FineReport
Retention analysis dashboard (by FineReport)

“In contemporary business operations, it is not just information that is scarce. The explosion of information makes attention even scarcer. For most of the group management, the demand for data is to use the least energy to understand the required information, so concise and powerful information is what the leadership needs. FineReport assisted us very well.”

——Nike China


Conclusion

  • An operational dashboard is one of the types of dashboards classified based on specific usage scenarios.
  • The operational dashboard helps you view “what’s happening now?”.
  • Predictive analysis, active management, real-time visibility, and promote continuous improvement are representative benefits of an operational dashboard.
  • FineReport is recommended as standing-out operational dashboard software.
  • Nike China uses FineReport’s operational dashboard to aid its business.
summary picture of the article
Summary picture (source: https://www.finereport.com/en/)

The operational dashboard can work as a commander to direct the operations of your business. Among various dashboard software, FineReport can be your great assistant. Download and use FineReport now!

Try FineReport Now

Feel free to make an appointment for a live demo with our product experts. We will be more clear about your needs and see how FineReport can help you and your organization transform data into value.

Book A Demo

Explore Other Resources

Data Visualization | 12 min read
Graph maker is an important technique to visualize the data. I listed 11 BEST Graph Makers for you as a reference. Welcome to take full advantage of…
03-26-2020
Reporting Tools | 11 min read
1. What are Database Reporting Tools? Database reporting tools are the reporting software that helps you directly generate reports of the data from the database…
02-23-2020
Dashboard Tools | 11 min read
Information technology (IT) dashboard tracks KPIs efficiently to aid corporate analysis and decision-making. Click to know more details about IT dashboard.
08-25-2021