In today’s data-driven world, data visualization has become increasingly important to help organizations more easily interpret information. In fact, the big data global market is expected to reach $250 billion by 2025, according to a recent Markets and Markets Research report. The rise of computing and the internet has made it possible for a massive amount of data being produced by billions of people to be processed and presented to the right people at the right time. However, to be successful, it still requires organizations to have the right tools in place to support their overall goals and objectives. That is why entities of all sizes have turned to SharePoint for its ease of use and the customization it offers.
Why Businesses Rely on SharePoint-Based Dashboards for Data Visualization & Reporting
SharePoint is used by more than 200 million users and 250,000 organizations around the world, according to Microsoft, making it the most popular platform for enterprise information management and collaboration on the market. It contains vital data and insights that can completely transform business operations and catalyze growth. However, most businesses face challenges in managing and analyzing such data to derive business value. The answer to this problem lies in SharePoint-based dashboards.
A SharePoint-based dashboard displays vital information on a single screen in a visually appealing and easy to comprehend manner. SharePoint also enables organizations to create and use dashboards to view key performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time, in a centrally managed and easily accessible location. Furthermore, corporations can leverage SharePoint server tools to transform complex data sets into digestible tables, charts and graphs.
Impactful Dashboards for Informed Decision-Making
According to Bain & Company, stakeholders that leverage data visualization and reporting are 5x more likely to make decisions faster than market peers. SharePoint-based dashboards allow organizations to view crucial reports and scorecards in a single-screen display. With the data clearly presented, it enables stakeholders to make well-informed decisions quickly. These dashboards not only provide users with intelligence-based data insights but also allow managers in organizations to discover information timely without complete dependency on other teammates.
How Organizations Can Use Dashboards?
A SharePoint-based dashboard displays complex data in real-time visuals and charts, while also providing interactive options to make it easy to manipulate based on goals and objectives or for comprehension. Depending on the business requirements, users can customize dashboards and charts to explore data in individual reports and scorecards. Users can also view the default information on their dashboards and then customize it using various web parts or apply filters to view higher or lower levels of information.
How to Leverage a Chart?
Once an organization aggregates the data, it is important that users can easily comprehend the information. Charts are often the best medium to simplify information. With SharePoint, users have various charting options to showcase information based on the specific use case. Not only can users customize the charts available on SharePoint, but they also have the option to embed charts from other sources.
How to Create a Dashboard?
Building a hyper-responsive SharePoint-based dashboard that displays the full list of the company’s KPIs is both straightforward and uncomplicated with several tools like Performance Point Dashboard Designer, Chart Web Part, Excel, web part page, etc. Depending on the requirement, users can choose from the list of extended tools offered by SharePoint and create a dashboard that reports updates, helps with big data analysis and business intelligence. The table below outlines the key tools and applications available to help users get started with a customized SharePoint-based dashboard tailored to meet your business needs.
| Tool/Application | Item |
| PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer | PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer is part of PerformancePoint services available in SharePoint Server. It is a tool that enables users to create and publish dashboards, scorecards and a variety of reports created by fetching data from a SharePoint site. The reports can be used by a group of employees or the entire organization. |
| Excel Services | Another tool which is commonly used by enterprises is Excel Services. It allows easy integration of reports and multiple Excel sheets in the dashboard. |
| Web Part Page | Web Part Page is a basic building block on the SharePoint site which showcases report(s) accessed by a team or a small group of people from different departments. |
| Chart Web Part | Chart Web Part enables users to create a chart based on data from single or multiple sources, sites and site collections, etc. |
| Status Indicators | The Status Indicators are an important report for businesses and help to indicate KPIs for one or more metric on a single SharePoint page. |
| Visio Web Access | This tool enables users to create a Visio diagram based on the underlying data. The diagram changes when the underlying data changes. |
Apart from the out-of-the-box SharePoint tools, organizations can leverage a plethora of no-code SharePoint application development solutions to build powerful dashboards. Such solutions enable organizations to pull data from various SharePoint sites and external sources and display information in elaborate dashboards using 2D and 3D charts.
Get Started with Microsoft SharePoint Dashboard and Charts
The SharePoint-based dashboards and charts enable organizations to get maximum value from collected data. With a huge volume of vital enterprise information stored, SharePoint can serve as a great source of prompt data-driven decision-making. It also enables organizations to automate the reporting process, remove dependencies and liberate employees from mundane tasks. Dashboards and charts can be connected with Microsoft SQL databases and other Microsoft Services to deliver insights constantly and keep the business ahead of the curve.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, AgreeYa has been enabling organizations to maximize their SharePoint investment, leverage SharePoint data to transform decision-making and gain a competitive edge. QuickApps, a part of AgreeYa’s award-winning product suite, accelerates time and reduces costs of SharePoint dashboard creation.