SharePoint is one of the most prominent collaborative platforms for the web in today’s digital marketing industry. And there are many reasons for that. When it comes to its Dashboard, many businesses prefer and focus on SharePoint because of this feature. It helps organizations check the critical business information on a single page, with the major key performance indicators (KPIs), included in it.
Since 2001, SharePoint Dashboards have been transforming businesses in multiple sectors to share all kinds of official information. The SharePoint online dashboard can take the information sharing process to the next level, improve employee productivity, and create exciting business opportunities. It is probably the most significant element of Microsoft SharePoint online.
In this blog, we will discuss the SharePoint dashboards in detail. So, if you want to get empowered on this topic, read on.
What is a SharePoint Dashboard?
A SharePoint Dashboard is a typical document on Microsoft SharePoint that consists of the most important information about any specific subject on one page. The SharePoint dashboard is an all-inclusive replacement for different web applications that support various organizational website requirements and combinations.
What are the Benefits of Using a SharePoint Dashboard?
Since SharePoint came into existence, it has always remained one of the most liked platforms for most professionals. The customer base of SharePoint is continuously growing. Why so?
There are several benefits of using a SharePoint dashboard in your day-to-day work environment. Some of the significant ones are discussed below:
- Make Informed Business Decisions
As a business owner, one crucial skill you must have is good and prompt decision-making skills. And if you are a leader, this quality is a must! But if you don’t have the necessary information accessible, you won’t be able to make any prompt decision.
And if there are delays in making decisions, it can sometimes increase your risk of losing potential customers to your competitors, decreasing your revenue abruptly. Hence, having a SharePoint dashboard is important. It keeps you updated with all the data in one place, which can further help you make confident decisions leveraging the power of predictive analytics.
- Save Your Time
According to the latest surveys, more than 40% of employees spend a lot of time doing repetitive and manual tasks. In such a scenario, research shows that automation can save six hours of their time in a week. So, if you start automating your business with a SharePoint dashboard, it can boost how information is shared across an organization.
- Research Your Competitors Effectively
As a business, you are an expert in developing a product. But running a business is something that you can’t do just by doing your job. Rather, exploring and analyzing your competitors is a major part of your business, and you can’t do it alone. A SharePoint dashboard can help you make the process of understanding your competitors an automated and smarter one with its collaborative approach.
How to Create a SharePoint Dashboard?
A SharePoint dashboard is a similar group of interactive scorecards and report views that you can organize together on a SharePoint site. A SharePoint dashboard supports the two important aspects: 1. SharePoint Server and 2. SharePoint Server Tools.
The SharePoint Server helps you create and use dashboards that provide updated information in a commonly managed location that can be located easily.
When it comes to SharePoint Server Tools, they help create and use dashboards that are useful for a person, team, group, or even an entire organization.
The SharePoint dashboards have a varied range of designs and complexity. And most of the types are very interactive, and it helps you explore different types of data and information in specific reports and scorecards.
You can start using a dashboard by just checking out the information that your dashboard displays at a glance. Next, you have to click on different items in the Dashboard to apply filters or check out any higher or lower-level information.
However, there are different steps to creating a dashboard. They are:
- Choose What Data You Should Report
Creating a responsive and fantastic SharePoint dashboard is quite tricky. Maybe, many things might run into your mind, and you can’t find the right ways to implement your ideas.
So, before creating a SharePoint dashboard, you should first select the information you need to include in your Dashboard. In this step, you should remember to think beyond just building attractive graphics or accumulating indicator icons.
Rather, you need to be very cautious about what data to include in your Dashboard. Ensure the data representing your predictions and status are fed into the SharePoint dashboard. Well, you don’t have to do all of that alone. Take suggestions from your team and find some time to brainstorm your ideas with them.
- Create Your Dashboard in Excel Format
After you have collected all the valuable metrics, you should now plan to lay all of them in Microsoft Excel. If you want a more detailed view, sketch all your dashboard information on a small piece of paper first and then proceed.
If you run out of unique SharePoint dashboard ideas to make your Dashboard a perfect one, you can search over the internet for some great inspiration. And then put all of them together in Excel.
- Incorporate the MS Excel Dashboard in a SharePoint Page
You must be using SharePoint Online like everyone else. Right? Well, you can very easily create a dashboard with this. For inserting your Excel dashboard into the selected SharePoint page, you need to upload it into a SharePoint document library.
You should first open the file and navigate the cursor to A1. Then save it and hit the X button. Finally, update the required permissions on the file and post your Dashboard. Initially, you should leave your Dashboard in read-only format to keep your data safe and secured.
Finally, you should create a page that will display your Dashboard. But if you have an existing page already, it’s done! If you are interested in adding a new web part, all you need to do is click the plus icon, and that’s it. You will have no complex process to follow. It’s simple.
SharePoint Dashboard: Access Your SharePoint Lists and Library Effortlessly
A SharePoint dashboard is the face of SharePoint, which makes your work easy and amazing. Like everything else, if you want to access SharePoint lists and libraries, you can do it with just a few clicks through the SharePoint dashboard, if it is organized neatly and professionally.
SharePoint list is a batch of content together with multiple rows and columns. It looks very similar to a Microsoft Excel table. You can store information in SharePoint lists in the form of attachments like documents, images, etc.
What’s more, by SharePoint library, we mean a site where it is possible to upload, collaborate, and create files. Each library comprises different types of files and lists. So, if you want to know any information like who edited a file, when was a file last edited etc., make sure you are exploring the library. You will get to know all kinds of information!
So, you can understand how important SharePoint Lists and Libraries are. And an impressive dashboard can help you work on lists and libraries very easily.
Wrapping Up
So, what are you waiting for now?
You have already understood the importance of creating a SharePoint dashboard and how you can create one. When are you making a SharePoint dashboard next?
