Running a small business means you don’t have time for “nice charts.” You need a dashboard that answers real questions fast: Are we making money? Where is it coming from? What’s slipping? What should we fix this week?
This guide shows the best KPI set to start with, how to structure the dashboard, and a simple setup plan that works even if your data is currently in spreadsheets.
The 6 dashboards every small business benefits from
You don’t need 50 charts. Start with these 6 sections:
1) Revenue & Profit Snapshot
Track:
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Total revenue (MTD / QTD / YTD)
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Gross profit and margin %
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Average order value (if applicable)
Decision it supports: pricing, discounts, product focus.
2) Sales Trend + Forecast Signals
Track:
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Revenue by week/month
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Seasonality (compare this month to last year)
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New vs returning customers (if you can)
Decision it supports: planning inventory, staffing, marketing timing.
3) Top Products / Services
Track:
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Top 10 by revenue and by margin
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Low-margin “busy work” items
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Refund/return rate (if relevant)
Decision it supports: what to push, what to fix, what to drop.
4) Customer Performance
Track:
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Top customers by revenue
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Repeat rate
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Average time between purchases (if you have it)
Decision it supports: retention campaigns, B2B account focus.
5) Cash Flow Essentials
Track:
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Invoices due / aging (0–30, 31–60, 61+)
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Cash in vs cash out (monthly)
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Forecast: expected collections (next 30 days)
Decision it supports: avoiding surprises and making safe spending decisions.
6) Operations (simple but powerful)
Track:
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On-time delivery %
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Cycle time / turnaround time
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Support tickets / complaints trend (if applicable)
Decision it supports: fixing bottlenecks that cost you money.
The best Power BI dashboard layout (clean + executive-friendly)
A layout that works for almost every small business:
Page 1: Executive Overview (one screen)
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KPI cards at the top (Revenue, Profit, Margin, Cash In, Open Invoices)
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Trend line in the middle (Revenue over time)
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Two breakdown visuals (Revenue by product/service, Revenue by customer)
Page 2: Sales Details
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Drill-down table + slicers (date, product, region, salesperson)
Page 3: Customer Details
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customer ranking + retention view
Page 4: Cash Flow
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invoice aging + collections forecast
Keep it simple: if a chart doesn’t lead to a decision, remove it.
A simple setup plan (even if your data is “messy”)
Step 1: Pick your main data sources
Most small businesses start with:
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Excel or Google Sheets
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Shopify exports
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QuickBooks/Xero exports
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CRM export (optional)
Step 2: Standardize 4 key columns
You’ll thank yourself later:
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Date
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Customer
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Product/Service
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Amount (revenue/cost)
Step 3: Build a “data model” that stays stable
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Sales table (transactions)
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Customer table
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Product table
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Calendar table (for time intelligence)
Step 4: Create 10 core measures
Examples:
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Total Revenue
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Total Cost
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Gross Profit
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Gross Margin %
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Orders Count
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Average Order Value
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New Customers
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Returning Customers
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Open Invoices
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On-time % (if ops data exists)
Step 5: Add slicers that matter
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Date range
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Product/Service
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Customer
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Region (if applicable)
Common mistakes that make dashboards useless
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Too many pages and visuals
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No clear “Overview” page
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Mixing different definitions (revenue vs cash collected)
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No documentation (so nobody trusts it)
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No refresh plan (dashboard becomes outdated)
Want VividVista Studio to build it for you?
If you want a clean, decision-ready Power BI dashboard with proper measures, filters, and a professional handoff, explore VividVista Studio Consulting Services (Dashboards, SQL reporting, automation).
Consulting Services – VividVista Studio
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