A dashboard is a decision tool, not a data display. The test is simple: does a review meeting change a decision because of it?
Week 1: define the five decisions
Ask leadership which five decisions they make monthly and what number would change the answer. Everything else is context.
Week 2: agree definitions
Margin, revenue, active customer, overdue — each needs one definition, agreed by finance and sales, written down. Most dashboard disputes are definition disputes.
Week 3: build the minimum
One page. Five to nine numbers, each with prior period, budget and a short explanation of movement. No more.
Week 4: run the meeting once
Use it in a real review before calling it finished. Whatever nobody looked at, remove. Whatever caused a question that could not be answered, add one line of context.
The rule that keeps it alive
One owner for the dashboard, and a fixed date each month when it is published. Dashboards die when their publication is nobody’s job.