Project Dashboards Collection

Synopsis

Workflow disruptions, miscommunication between teams or staff members, ineffective budgeting, misallocated labor and lack of reporting are among the most common pain points of project managers. With our Project Dashboards Collection, you have access to different ways to present a project dashboard to your stakeholders and ensure that the processes, interactions, funds and labor allocation and updates are always in check. Also, learn what kind of dashboard was used to track COVID-19 spread in the White House.

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Slide highlights

Notice that this slide has a section where you can display the project team members' names, as well as titles and photos, if you wish. This dashboard view and additional information may help to improve accountability and transparency.

If you need to include some or a lot ofgeographic data in your dashboard, this slide will come in handy. It allows you to insert a map and present a breakdown by region. For more options, check out our Ultimate Map Collection.

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Expert advice

GetApp found that 97% of project managers use more than one tool to manage their projects, Harvard Business Review (HBR) reports. "People simply like to organize their digital work in many different ways, just as you may choose to write your weekly tasks on post-its while your office-mate likes to write them on a whiteboard," Alexandra Samuel, a speaker, researcher and writer says in her article. Dashboards are a powerful tool in project management, but before you start building a new board, make use of these five principles recommended by Samuel:

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1. Know the problem(s) you're trying to solve – dissatisfactions that you're experiencing with the tools you're currently using are the best indicators of what you need to change or add to your dashboards, Samuel says. Start by writing them down and finding solutions to those particular problems.
2. Start small –to figure out whether a project management tool is right for you, start using it. "So even if you have grand plans for a really elaborate dashboard that will automate various parts of your work, start with something easy, like a task list you customize so it reflects the different ways you like to categorize and view your tasks," Samuel says.
3. Create separate dashboards for different types of projects–the good news is that you don't have to use the same setup for each project. Samuel says that depending on the project and the team, sometimes you might need a simple task list and digital notebook, and other items you'll need a more elaborate set of spreadsheets with some automation built-in.
4. Look for integrations–automate parts of your work if you can, but remember that automation likely depends on how well your chosen tool integrates with the other tools you use.
5. Make an escape plan–experiment with getting your data out of a tool when you begin using it. Preserve not just the text, but also the structure and organization of the tasks, notes and contact history. "Even if it's a matter of manually copying and pasting your hard work into a set of spreadsheets, make sure there is a way to export your work, and make a point of doing so regularly, if only as a backup," Samuel says.

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Example

Covid-19 at the white house

When it became known that President Trump, and several figures in his orbit, including RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, at least three Republican senators and the First Lady had COVID-19 in October 2020, data experts used a crowdsourced database "to track who in President Trump's orbit has tested for the coronavirus" and created a live dashboard available to the public, Fast Company reported.

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A "COVID-19 at the White House - Public Reports" dashboard was created by Tableau Public – a free platform to publicly share and explore data visualizations online. The dashboard is a great example of a useful tool that you can get inspiration from. It displays Overview Dash with the names of everyone who interacted with the president; Test Grid which shows all the latest information on who tested positive or negative and those whose status is still unknown. You can also see key dates and events (such as debate prep and present at the debate) and explore a "cluster view" that shows first- and second-order contacts. All crowdsourced data was verified before it was put into the dashboard.

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