{"id":4700,"date":"2018-07-09T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T09:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:35:15","slug":"interactive-dashboards-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/interactive-dashboards-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A basic guide to interactive dashboards for small business"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/category\/technology-innovation\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Technology &amp; Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA basic guide to interactive dashboards for small business\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2018-07-09T10:00:35+01:00\">9 July, 2018<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"A basic guide to interactive dashboards for small business\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/interactive-dashboards-guide\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/author\/keirthomasbryant\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/06\/keir-short-hair-350x350.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/06\/keir-short-hair-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/06\/keir-short-hair.jpg 760w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 40px) 100vw, 40px\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Keir Thomas-Bryant<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Business intelligence aims to summarise financial data in visual and easy-to-understand ways so decision-making is easy \u2013 and problems can be spotted early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes them a worthwhile addition to your small business financial management toolkit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the preserve of large businesses, its functionality has filtered down to even the smallest business \u2013 and A Basic Guide to Interactive Dashboards for Small Business&nbsp;explains how you can benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of us have created simple graphs in spreadsheet applications using the automated tools. This is a way of visualising data. If one bar in a graph is taller than another then clearly that value is higher. We can see that at a glance, rather than wading through tables of figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Business intelligence is like that spreadsheet graph \u2013 but on performance-enhancing medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With just a few clicks, you can transform your profit and loss ledger into a series of attractive tables, charts and standout figures, known as a dashboard. Your dashboards might show overheads, expenses, net profit percentage or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Should you want to drill down into the expenses, as one example, you can click the graph to see a listing complete with variance year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Business intelligence is about providing insight into data in the quickest and most intuitive way possible, and giving you the freedom to creatively explore it. This means you can be more reactive and responsive on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Our guide offers advice on<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The competitive advantage business intelligence dashboards and reports offer even the smallest business owner.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How business intelligence can directly improve your business decision making \u2013 including examples drawn from real-world businesses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The dashboards of small business accounting software to show how you can quickly and easily implement the tools within your business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-excerpt-from-a-basic-guide-to-interactive-dashboards-for-small-business\"><strong>Excerpt from A Basic Guide to Interactive Dashboards for Small Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For more insights into what you can learn from A Basic Guide to Interactive Dashboards for Small Business, here\u2019s an excerpt from the guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-introduction\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To be alive today is to generate data on a minute-by-minute basis.&nbsp;Instant messages from family and friends on our smartphones,&nbsp;financial transactions when we purchase a coffee \u2013 data paints an&nbsp;incredibly accurate picture of us whether we like it or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Businesses are no different and the rise of sophisticated cloud-enabled&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/sage-business-cloud\/accounting\/\">accounting software<\/a> means there\u2019s a constant flow of financial data within your&nbsp;business. Again, the data paints a picture that\u2019s accurate \u2013 but also invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data can provide insights that empower the right decisions for growth. Problems&nbsp;can be spotted before they even arise. For example, you\u2019re able to keep tighter control&nbsp;over creditors, leading to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/late-payments-rules\/\">shorter waits for payments<\/a> \u2013 and therefore improved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/glossary\/what-is-cash-flow\/\">cash flow<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can see which customers are providing most business, both right now and&nbsp;projecting in the future, and therefore focus on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking control of your data also means admin tasks&nbsp;take less time, meaning you can focus on what drives&nbsp;you and your passion within the business.&nbsp;Turning your business data into invaluable insights sounds difficult \u2013 but it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s&nbsp;a whole area of technology called business intelligence dedicated to the task. Business&nbsp;intelligence means you can view reports and dashboards showing your live financial&nbsp;data in useful and visually appealing ways, such as in graphs and pie charts, or by&nbsp;picking out the most important headline figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The intention is to tell you everything&nbsp;you need to know with little more than a glance \u2013 and that might be all it takes to spot a&nbsp;problem or an opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">A basic guide to interactive dashboards for small business<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Want to know how to use data to make the right decisions so you can grow your business? Download this free guide and learn how business intelligence tools can reveal insights that will keep your business moving.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-0c3a9304-9d58-4b46-b213-b308b81e1d75\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Get your free guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/07\/2018_Heroic-295_All-Uses.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/07\/2018_Heroic-295_All-Uses.jpg 999w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">A basic guide to interactive dashboards for small business<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Want to know how to use data to make the right decisions so you can grow your business? Download this free guide and learn how business intelligence tools can reveal insights that will keep your business moving.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-0c3a9304-9d58-4b46-b213-b308b81e1d75\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Get your free guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/07\/2018_Heroic-295_All-Uses.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/07\/2018_Heroic-295_All-Uses.jpg 999w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Join more than 500,000 UK readers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-b1a63862-3fa0-4a5e-bb67-c76b88bbc6b8\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business intelligence aims to summarise financial data in visual and easy-to-understand ways so decision-making is easy \u2013 and problems can be spotted early. This makes them a worthwhile addition to your small business financial management toolkit. Once the preserve of large businesses, its functionality has filtered down to even the smallest business \u2013 and A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":4351,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,11],"tags":[126,15,125],"business_type":[4],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[73,74],"imagine_tag":[109],"coauthors":[369],"class_list":["post-4700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-guides-templates","category-technology-innovation","tag-data-analytics","tag-grow-business","tag-workplace-technology","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-gb","author_name":"Keir Thomas-Bryant","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/05\/SAGE_GAPPERSONNEL_BB_241017_0572_All-Uses.jpg","imagine_tags":{"109":"Small business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice UK","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/4351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}