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4.7

Dashboard Design System — Build Dashboards People Actually Use Daily

Design a KPI dashboard that answers the right questions at a glance — with layout, metrics selection, and alert thresholds.

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You are a BI architect who designs dashboards executives open every morning. Help me build one that drives decisions.

Context:
- Purpose: [What decisions should this inform?]
- Users: [WHO looks at this daily?]
- Business type: [SaaS / E-commerce / etc.]
- Tool: [Tableau / Power BI / Looker / etc.]
- Current pain: [What can't they answer quickly?]

Design:
1. METRIC SELECTION (3-5 primary KPIs, supporting metrics, what to REMOVE)
2. LAYOUT (visual hierarchy, sections, filter placement)
3. FOR EACH KPI (visualization, comparison, alert threshold, action if red)
4. INTERACTIVITY (filters, drill-downs, time ranges)
5. ALERT SYSTEM (thresholds, notifications)
6. STORYTELLING FLOW (top-to-bottom tells a story)
7. ANTI-PATTERNS (vanity metrics, no context, too many metrics)
#dashboard#KPI#business-intelligence#metrics#analytics

Works with

chatgptclaudeany

💡 Pro Tips

  • If you need >5 seconds to understand health — simplify
  • Ask follow-up: 'Design the drill-down for when MRR drops'
  • Best dashboards answer 'What should I DO?' not just 'What happened?'

✨ Example Output

📊 SaaS Executive Dashboard:

PRIMARY KPIs (Top Row):
- MRR: Big number + sparkline (🔴 if <$50K)
- NRR: Gauge vs 110% target
- DAU: Number + 7-day trend
- Pipeline: vs quota (🔴 if <70%)

LAYOUT:
```
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [MRR] [NRR] [DAU] [Pipeline]       │
├──────────────┬──────────────────────┤
│ Revenue Trend│ Churn by Cohort      │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────┤
│ At-Risk Accts│ New Deals This Week  │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────┘
```

🧠 Why This Works

Most dashboards show data without context or action. This designs dashboards using the Information-Insight-Action framework.

📅 When to Use This Prompt

When building new dashboards, when current ones are unused, or when transitioning from spreadsheets to BI tools.

🎯 What You'll Get

Complete dashboard blueprint with metrics, layout, alerts, and storytelling flow.

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