Rules and best practices
allow to find quickly the information within a page
make it easy to find the page for the KPI user is looking for
organize the pages by theme (types of indicators, cost or revenue centers, focus on key indicators, etc.)
a page should only represent a single category of indicators or a single type of data (1 table page, 1 page with expenses, 1 ratio page for profitability etc.)
for the same theme, position the global indicators at the top and the detail at the bottom
for large tables, choose a dedicated page
What types of graphics
Histograms
Illustrate results, illustrate the best periods
Comparison and evolution
Better for: value, amount. Less suitable for ratio and percentages.
Lines
Illustrate a trend and evolution, not the details of the amounts
Comparison, projection, evolution
Better for: ratio and percentage. Less suitable for: value, amount
Pie charts
No more than 6 sections, otherwise not readable
Comparison and distribution without notion of time
Use sparingly, cannot be the only graph for an indicator
Use of colors
The widget configuration allows
define the color of the dataset (the curve, the bar of the histogram, the background line of a table, the portion of a pie chart)
define the background color of the widget
Some advices on color use
Color consistency: for an indicator repeated across multiple pages, use the same color or shades
Widget background color: avoid dark colors
Avoid red and green: instinctively perceived as positive / negative information
Dataset N & N-1 of the same indicator: same shade of color where N is highlighted
Real Dataset vs. forecast: choose a neutral color for the forecast