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The Ideal Number of Metrics for a Dashboard


One of the toughest decisions to make when designing a dashboard and deciding what to put on the screen is: How many metrics should I include on one dashboard? Ultimately, you will want to limit yourself to 7 metrics per screen, plus or minus 2.*

While there are instances of dashboards that have been designed to display up to a dozen metrics, such a densely populated dashboard risks the possibility of obstructed readability and poor user adoption. Users may find it difficult to quickly locate and understand the information they seek when dashboards become laden with gauges, charts, graphics and indicators.


Factors that Influence Design


A key, limiting factor is the number of pieces of information that can be held in short term memory. According to Wikipedia, "estimates of the capacity of short-term memory vary – from about 3 or 4 elements (i.e., words, digits, or letters) to about 9 elements." Short term memory allows a user to temporarily manager information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks. If the user has too much information to process, confusion ensues and the sole purpose of the dashboard (to aide decision making) is defeated. Another factor that influences how many metrics can safely be displayed is the user's familiarity with the data. If the user is familiar with the information, more metrics may be displayed. But for a casual user, it is even more critical to limit the number of metrics on a single screen.


*The_Magical_Number_Seven

A Simple Guide for Best Practices


Dashboards are meant to be a central resource for non-technical users to access KPIs and other business critical metrics. A successful dashboard implementation starts by first understanding user needs.

If you want to know how many metrics to include to have a successful dashboard roll-out make sure you take physiological factors, user psychology, and technology capabilities into account. Here's how you can get started:

  1. Walk A Mile In Your Users Shoes: Business users may not be technologists, but they do have the best understanding of what they want to see and how they want to see it. Interview a core group of users to better understand the metrics that are important to them. Once you've identified a number of key metrics ask them to 'rank' them by importance so you can begin to assign priority of the information delivered.

  2. Use the "Test Environments" Feature: Take a peek at the Tip & Trick for this month (DivePort Test Environments). Test environments are extremely useful and will allow you to develop an area of the DivePort portal where you can begin developing a 'work in progress' dashboard. You can grant access to your core group of users so you can gather feedback on the layout and set-up before final roll-out to a larger user set. This process aids the user adoption process and also lowers the number of critical issues that can occur during a 'go-live'.
  3. Take Advantage of Click Actions: Dashboards should include access to appropriate detail-level information. Access to the details can be achieved through the incorporation of Click Actions. Clicks Actions allows portions of the dashboard page to be opened in another interface (Excel, ProDiver or NetDiver) for further analysis. Anticipate user needs and ask your users "what would you want to see or do next?" By taking this into account you can set-up your dashboard environment so that it provides your users with access to actionable information - a key component in successful decision-making.















Suggestions Welcome:
If you have a design topic you would like to see covered, email it Rose Weinberger at: rose@dimins.com

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