Nov 6, 2025
Dashboards Don’t Create Insight — Decisions Do
How to design executive reporting that actually gets used
Most leadership teams have dashboards. Fewer rely on them.
Despite significant investment in reporting tools and visualisation, many dashboards are opened once, discussed briefly, and then quietly ignored. Decisions continue to be made through informal conversations, instinct, or experience.
The issue is not the technology. It is the assumption that insight emerges automatically from visualisation.
Why Many Dashboards Fail
Dashboards often fail because they are designed to display data rather than support decisions.
They attempt to show everything at once: performance metrics, operational detail, historical trends, and forecasts. The result is information overload without direction.
Executives do not need more data. They need clarity on what matters now, what is changing, and what decisions are required.
Data Visibility vs Decision Support
A good dashboard answers questions.
A great dashboard prompts decisions.
Decision-focused reporting highlights:
Where performance is off track
Why it has changed
What the likely impact will be
Which levers management can pull
Without this framing, dashboards become passive reference tools rather than active management aids.
Designing Reporting Around Decisions
The most effective dashboards start with a simple question:
What decisions is this meant to support?
From there, metrics are selected based on relevance, not availability. Information is grouped around themes such as growth, profitability, cash, or capacity. Detail is layered so leaders can explore further without being overwhelmed.
This approach often results in fewer metrics, clearer visuals, and more productive discussions.
The Role of Narrative in Executive Reporting
Numbers alone rarely drive action. Context does.
Strong executive reporting combines visuals with explanation. It highlights what has changed since last period, what is driving the change, and what management should pay attention to next.
This narrative does not need to be lengthy. It needs to be clear.
When Tools Add Value — and When They Don’t
Tools such as Power BI can be extremely effective when used appropriately. They enable consistency, automation, and real-time visibility.
However, no tool can compensate for unclear objectives or poor data foundations. Without disciplined data structures and agreed definitions, dashboards simply surface confusion faster.
Technology amplifies design — it does not fix it.
From Reporting to Leadership Conversations
When dashboards are designed around decisions, their role changes.
They become the starting point for leadership conversations rather than a backdrop. Discussions focus on trade-offs, priorities, and actions rather than reconciling numbers.
The value of reporting is measured not by how often it is accessed, but by how often it influences decisions.
Insight Is a Process, Not a Screen
True insight comes from the interaction between data, interpretation, and judgment.
Dashboards are a powerful part of that process — but only when they are built with intent. Without clarity on purpose, even the most polished reporting will struggle to add value.
At Kingswell Consulting Group, our FP&A and Finance Advisory services focus on designing executive reporting that supports real decisions — not just better dashboards.