Ditch the Dashboard Drama: Your Checklist to Data Glory

By: Kat Rocha | March 28, 2025

Martin Kjær Dideriksen's post on LinkedIn

Ever finish a dashboard and wonder if it truly tells the whole story? Juggling data accuracy, visual clarity, and consistent branding makes it easy to overlook crucial details. Think of your dashboard as the tip of the iceberg – everyone sees the polished result, but the magic happens below the surface. That’s why a dashboard checklist is a game changer—your secret weapon for flawless visualizations.

The Impact of a Dashboard Checklist

Dashboards drive critical decisions. Oversights—misaligned KPIs, inconsistent filters, unclear labels—lead to misinterpretation, costly mistakes, and eroded user confidence. A solid checklist standardizes development, enforces consistency, and saves rework.

Here’s what you gain:

• Enhanced Data Accuracy: Double-checked data = trusted insights.

• Consistent Visual Standards: Consistent visuals = reinforced brand identity = enhanced credibility.

• Streamlined Reviews: Structured checklist = clear team communication.

• Improved User Experience: Clear layouts and intuitive interactivity = quickly grasped data narrative = happy users.

• Risk Mitigation: Early error detection = limited costly mistakes.

• Increased Efficiency: Clear, shared requirements = alignment, less rework.

  
  

Without a checklist, errors multiply, resources are wasted, credibility suffers, and critical insights are lost—undermining your dashboard's value.

Made by Kat Rocha utilizing Canva

How It Works: Breaking Down the Process

A good checklist covers four essential areas:

(click the arrow for details)

1. Data Quality & Integration

• Row-Level & Aggregation Checks: Every data point is validated against trusted sources, with all aggregations, calculations, and KPIs displaying accuracy and consistency across views.

• Data Consistency: Data refresh schedules and data type formats (e.g., dates) remain uniform throughout.

• Automated Quality Tests: Automated checks are in place to catch errors early in the process.

• Seamless Integration: Data from multiple sources blends smoothly, maintaining consistency across rows and columns.

• Cross-Verification: Blended figures are regularly compared with standalone reports to identify discrepancies.

• Performance & Documentation: Data blending operates without degrading performance, with all data sources and transformation steps thoroughly documented.

2. Metrics & Analytics

• Consistency Across Views: Key metrics and calculated fields align perfectly across every dashboard view.

• Optimization & Simplification: Calculated fields are optimized for performance, and duplicate or unnecessary measures are removed.

• Data-Driven Insights: Visualizations support actionable insights and the overall data narrative is clearly communicated.

• Insight Hierarchy: The dashboard layout highlights the most critical insights using design elements such as size, color, or placement while still allowing detailed exploration.

• Context & Commentary: Supplemental explanations, including annotations, tooltips, or brief notes, clarify the significance and nuances of the data.

3. Design & User Experience

• Consistent Visual Identity: Company logos, brand colors, fonts, and backgrounds are applied uniformly to reinforce your brand.

• Clarity Through Consistency: Similar visual elements (naming conventions, axis labels, abbreviations) are grouped together for a clean, professional appearance.

• Accessibility & Purpose: The design meets accessibility standards with proper color contrast and legible fonts, and avoids unnecessary decorative elements.

• Logical Flow: Navigation progresses logically from high-level overviews to detailed insights.

• Clear Labeling: Tab names, titles, axis labels, and tooltips are intuitive and self-explanatory.

• Intuitive Interactivity: Filters and parameters are user-friendly and come with sensible default settings.

• User Journey Walkthrough: The overall data narrative flows smoothly, guiding users seamlessly through the dashboard.

4. Deployment & Support

A Real-World Example

At a recent Tableau Analytics TUG webinar, Fraser Gallop shared his dashboard development checklist. Leveraging his extensive experience, this methodology has successfully delivered numerous client projects. His comprehensive checklist—spanning data validation, tooltips, action filters, and nuanced formatting—ensured his team's final dashboards were accurate, intuitive, and brand-aligned. This process transformed complex datasets into clear, actionable insights, enabling clients to confidently rely on the data and empowering his team to achieve their objectives. 

In fact, I've updated my own template to incorporate many of Fraser's own check list items. I highly recommend checking out and following Fraser on LinkedIn; he's a data wizard with invaluable tips and tricks.

Implementing Your Checklist, Your Way

Start simple. Customize a checklist template (consider using Fraser’s or mine) to cover the basics that matter most to your team, validate it internally, and gradually expand it as additional requirements emerge.

Consistency is key—every dashboard, whether for an executive overview or a detailed analytical report, should undergo the same rigorous review process. Consider offering a downloadable version of your checklist to help your team maintain consistent quality standards.

AI generated image utilizing ChatGPTs Dalle

The Bottom Line

A well-crafted dashboard checklist is a powerful tool for transforming complex data into clear, actionable insights. It prevents oversights, enforces consistent quality, and ultimately turns your dashboards into masterpieces of clarity and efficiency. Ready to elevate your data game? Embrace the checklist, refine your process, and watch your dashboards deliver the impact they deserve.

Make sure to check to join the Analytics Tableau User Group and attend any future meetings!