Business Dashboards and Reporting
Stop assembling the same report every Monday and arguing about whose number is right. We build one screen with the figures your leadership reviews each week, pulled from your real systems and updated on its own.
- Data
- 7 deliverables
- Set with you at the start
Who it is for
Sound familiar?
You ask for the same numbers every Monday, and someone builds them by hand
Finance, sales and operations each have a different figure for the same thing
You run several tools and none of them shows the whole picture
A dashboard was built once, and nobody has opened it since
What you receive
What you receive
- A short list of agreed KPIs (the key numbers you track), each with a written definition
- A data connection from each source system
- A dashboard with one main screen and detail screens you can open from it
- Scheduled reports sent to the people who need them
- Access rules, so people see only what they should
- A page explaining where every number comes from
- A walkthrough for the team that will use it
The Path
How it runs
- Starts day one
Listen
A documented brief
- Before any build
Shape
A technical plan, screen layouts and a scope you can hold us to
- Built in sprints you can see
Build
A working demo at every sprint
- When you are ready
Launch
Every source file, login and a recorded walkthrough
- Ongoing
Evolve
A portal where every request and approval is on record
Evolve leads back to Listen, so the work keeps improving for as long as you want it to.
Stack
Tools we usually reach for
PostgreSQL
Google Analytics
- Looker Studio
- Metabase
- Google Sheets
- BigQuery
Read more
The detail
Business dashboards are for founders and managers tired of spreadsheets that disagree. A dashboard puts the handful of numbers your team reviews every week on one screen, pulled from your real systems and updated on its own. You get agreed definitions for each number, working data connections and a dashboard people actually use.
What is a business dashboard?
A view of your key numbers that updates itself. Sales this month against last. Enquiries by source. Open support tickets. Stock below its reorder level. The numbers come from the tools where the work happens: your CRM, accounting software, website analytics, a database or spreadsheets.
A dashboard gets used when people trust it. If its numbers match what people see in their own tools, they keep coming back. If they do not, it is ignored within a month.
Why do dashboards get ignored?
Usually because nobody agreed what the numbers mean. "Revenue" can mean invoiced, received or booked, and three teams will pick three answers. Or the dashboard shows everything, so it answers nothing. Or it breaks quietly when a source changes, and people go back to their private spreadsheets.
We design against all three from the start.
How we build your dashboard
We talk to the people who will use it, collect today's reports and note where figures disagree. Then we agree the KPIs and their definitions, in writing, and sketch the layout. Most teams are surprised how few numbers they need.
We connect each source, check every figure against a known total and clean obvious errors. Where several systems must be combined, we may set up a central store of data with a pipeline that fills it. At launch the dashboard runs alongside your old report for a cycle, so you can compare the two before dropping the old one.
How the TechSum Standard applies to dashboards
- Secure by default: access rules mean, for example, regional managers see their own region, and the connections to your systems are read-only wherever possible.
- Built to scale: new sources and new numbers can be added without rebuilding the screens you already rely on.
- Tested before it ships: every figure is checked against a known total before anyone makes a decision from it.
- Looked after after launch: when a source tool changes, the connection is fixed before the numbers go stale.
- Small changes handled, not invoiced: renaming a chart, moving a figure or adding a filter gets done, not quoted.
- Honest advice: if one monthly chart in a spreadsheet would answer your question, we tell you, and you skip the build.
When a dashboard is not what you need
If the underlying data is not being recorded, a dashboard can only show gaps. We would start with clean tracking or a small data clean-up. If you want a wall of metrics to impress investors, we will suggest a shorter view that helps decisions instead.
What dashboards connect to
A dashboard is only as good as the data feeding it. Website numbers start with a solid GA4 analytics setup. Data moved between tools on a schedule is workflow automation. Product and app usage comes from SaaS and mobile apps we can build and instrument. The same team sets up the sources and the screen, so nobody argues about whose number is right.
How do we start?
Tell us the numbers your team asks for every week. You can also read about our wider Data & Analytics work.
FAQ
Questions we get asked
What makes a dashboard useful?
It answers a question someone asks regularly, using numbers they trust. We start from the decisions your team makes and work back to the numbers. A wall of charts that nobody opens has failed, however good it looks.
Which dashboard tool do you use?
It depends on your data and your team. Looker Studio suits marketing and light reporting, Metabase suits teams whose data sits in a database, and a custom page inside your own software suits specific needs. We explain the trade-offs before choosing.
Can one dashboard combine data from different systems?
Yes, and that is often the main reason to build one. We connect sources such as your CRM, accounts, website analytics and spreadsheets. Where the data needs one central home, we plan a pipeline that copies it there from each tool.
How do you stop two people calculating the same number differently?
Each number gets one written definition, used everywhere. The definition is visible on the dashboard itself, so anyone can see how a figure is worked out.
Who looks after the dashboard after launch?
Your team can, with the documentation we leave. Data sources and tools change, so many businesses keep us on a Care Retainer to keep the connections working.
Or start smaller
Digital Health Check
Find out where your website really stands. Speed, security, search and AI answers, email setup and data protection basics, reviewed by a person and explained in one written report.
- Speed and Core Web Vitals findings for your key pages
- A review of your security headers (settings that tell browsers how to treat your site) and basic protection
- SEO basics: titles, descriptions, indexing, sitemap and structured data
- AEO basics, which means whether AI assistants can find and quote you
- Ends in a short written report you keep
Let's Talk
Tell us what you need
- A reply from a person on the team
- Or book a short call
- We say so if another team suits you better
Write to us in plain words
Or book a short call
Pick a time that suits you. You will speak with the people who would do the work.