Dashboard design best practices in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Dashboard design best practices

Goal

Create a clear and effective dashboard that helps users quickly understand sales performance and trends.

Sample Data

Region	Month	Sales	Profit	Category
East	Jan	1000	200	Furniture
East	Feb	1200	250	Office Supplies
West	Jan	900	180	Technology
West	Feb	1100	220	Furniture
Central	Jan	950	190	Office Supplies
Central	Feb	1050	210	Technology

Dashboard Components

• KPI Cards: Show total sales and total profit.
  Formulas:
  Total Sales = SUM([Sales]) = 6200
  Total Profit = SUM([Profit]) = 1250
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region.
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Region].
  Values: East=2200, West=2000, Central=2000
• Line Chart: Sales trend over months.
  Formula: SUM([Sales]) grouped by [Month].
  Values: Jan=2850, Feb=3350
• Filter: Category filter to select Furniture, Technology, or Office Supplies.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|      KPI Cards       |      KPI Cards       |
|  Total Sales: 6200   |  Total Profit: 1250  |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                      Bar Chart (Sales by Region)                      |
|                          East | West | Central                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                      Line Chart (Sales Trend by Month)                |
|                          Jan ----- Feb                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                          Category Filter                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

The Category filter controls all charts and KPI cards. When a user selects a category, the KPI cards, bar chart, and line chart update to show data only for that category. This helps users focus on specific product groups.

Self Check

If you select the category Furniture in the filter, which components update and what changes occur?

• KPI Cards update to show total sales and profit only for Furniture (Sales=2100, Profit=420).
• Bar Chart updates to show sales by region for Furniture (East=1000, West=1100, Central=0).
• Line Chart updates to show sales trend for Furniture over months (Jan=1000, Feb=1100).

Key Result

A sales dashboard showing total sales, profit, sales by region, and sales trends with category filtering.