Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the data in your project management tasks? It can be hard to make sense of it all and see what’s really important.
In a webinar, I’ve shared easy ways to organize your information and spot trends by using monday.com. I’ve also discussed how to use dashboards and reports to turn your numbers and notes into clear, useful insights.
Check the following link if you want to watch the free webinar:
How to Build Dashboards and Reports in monday.com: Main Takeaways
Let’s discuss the main takeaways of how to set up effective visual summaries that help your team make better decisions.
a. Creating and Customizing Dashboards
You can design effective monday.com dashboards that highlight key metrics and KPIs. There are two different kinds of dashboards:
- Single board
- Multiple board dashboards
Single Board Dashboard: This type of dashboard pulls data exclusively from one specific board. It’s ideal when you want a focused view of a particular project, department, or dataset. For example, you can create a single board dashboard to track the progress of your marketing campaigns or monitor the budget of a specific project.
Multiple Board Dashboard: This option allows you to aggregate data from multiple boards into a centralized location. You can connect up to 10 boards on the Pro Plan or up to 20 boards on the Enterprise Plan. It’s perfect for getting a high-level overview of your business, such as tracking progress across different departments or comparing performance across various projects.
Also, monday.com offers a flexible and user-friendly approach to dashboard customization. You can tailor the layout, widgets, and data displayed to perfectly match your specific requirements.
Think of widgets as the building blocks of your dashboard. These individual components provide visual representations of specific data points. Some essential widgets are:
- Numbers Widget: Displays a numerical value based on your data. For example, it can show your total revenue, the number of completed tasks, or the average customer satisfaction score.
- Chart Widget: Offers a visual representation of data through various chart types such as pie charts, bar charts, and line charts. You can use chart widgets to track trends, compare performance, and identify patterns.
- Battery Widget: Provides a quick visual overview of the progress of a specific task or project. The “battery” fills up as you move closer to completion.
- Goals Widget: Helps you track your progress toward a specific target. You set a goal value and the widget displays your current progress in relation to that goal.
- Workload Widget: Allows you to monitor the workload distribution among your team members, helping you identify potential bottlenecks or resource allocation issues.
b. Custom Reports
In monday.com, you can also create detailed reports to track progress, productivity, and resource allocation using widgets. Widgets are the individual components of a dashboard, each designed to visually represent a specific data point or set of data.
While dashboards offer a quick glance at key metrics, custom reports in monday.com allow you to dive deeper into your data for comprehensive analysis and informed decision-making.
Let’s explore how custom reports can boost your business:
Identify Trends and Patterns: Custom reports allow you to track data over extended periods, revealing trends and patterns that might not be immediately apparent from a dashboard snapshot. Imagine analyzing your sales data over a year to identify peak seasons or understand the long-term impact of marketing campaigns.
Track Project Progress and Productivity: Generate reports to monitor the progress of specific projects. Visualize task completion rates, identify bottlenecks, and measure team productivity to ensure projects stay on track and meet deadlines.
Analyze Resource Allocation: By analyzing data on resource allocation, such as time spent on tasks or budget distribution, you can optimize workflows and make informed decisions about resource management. This could involve identifying overloaded team members, streamlining processes, or adjusting budgets for maximum efficiency.
Custom reports can boost your business significantly. You can use data visualizations to analyze lead sources and client conversion rates. This analysis allows for strategic decisions regarding marketing investments and resource allocation.
c. Data Visualization
While collecting data is crucial, its true value lies in your ability to understand and interpret it effectively. That’s where data visualization comes into play. In monday.com, data visualization transforms raw numbers into clear, digestible, and actionable insights for you to make informed decisions.
Data visualization is important because it can:
- Combat Information Overload: We live in a data-driven world, often bombarded with information. A visual display of data helps cut through the noise, presenting complex data in a visually appealing and easily understandable format.
- Uncover Hidden Patterns and Trends: Charts, graphs, and other visual representations can reveal patterns and trends that might go unnoticed in spreadsheets or reports. This allows you to identify opportunities, anticipate challenges, and make data-backed decisions.
- Communicate Effectively with Your Team: Data visualization transcends language barriers, making it easier to share insights with your team, stakeholders, or clients. A clear visual can convey a message far more effectively than rows and columns of numbers.
For example, I can create a data chart to display the source of my leads. Just by looking at it, I can identify the top sources my leads are coming from. This insight will help me plan and budget my marketing investments towards these successful channels.
Also, by comparing charts showing lead sources and current client sources, I can figure out the increase or drop-off rate leads from particular sources. As a result, I can further investigate the effectiveness of those lead sources and outline potential areas for improvement.
d. Integration and Automation
In monday.com, you can integrate data from different sources and automate reporting processes to save time and reduce manual errors. It’s a great platform to work as a central hub for collecting and analyzing business data.
Dashboards are customizable and can be used to track a variety of data points, such as revenue, expenses, project progress, and team productivity. You can easily create important financial reports using Organizer Pro, an exclusive Simpleday product for financial board templates.
