We often spend so much time chasing down project details, only to realize we could’ve done better.
Instead of painstakingly reconciling billable hours manually, we could’ve automated it and avoided working over that new efficiency roadmap over the weekend, for example.
If you’re a project manager like me, you can probably share dozens of such instances.
This is why we need a project management dashboard that acts like a digital cockpit, giving us a crystal-clear view of every detail across projects.
In this blog, I’ll share how project management dashboards can transform workflows, from streamlining communication to identifying risks before they torpedo deadlines. I’ll also introduce you to some of my go-to dashboard tools and templates that help me access the data I need to make decisions—right when I need it.
What is a Project Management Dashboard?
A project management dashboard is a visual tool designed to help teams view project performance in one central location. It presents project-related information through charts and metrics, allowing the audience to quickly grasp the project’s status, progress, and potential risks.
Many projects in today’s modern market are often interdependent, meaning that their outcomes and success are closely linked to one another. This interconnection can occur within a single organization, where multiple projects rely on shared resources, deliverables , or timelines. 🌐
Coordinating tasks across various time zones sometimes leads to delays and slow down decision-making processes . These challenges result in misunderstandings, missed deadlines, and reduced productivity.
Track and manage tasks, resources, and project progress on a ClickUp Dashboard
And with dashboard software like ClickUp, Google Sheets , or Excel , you’ll have a range of visualization options to cater to specific projects!
Here are the benefits of project dashboards to optimize project performance:
- Improved visibility: Project management dashboards offer real-time visibility into the overall project status. You can quickly identify bottlenecks, monitor task progression, and detect potential issues before they escalate
- Better communication: Dashboards facilitate efficient communication among team members. Updates are instantly accessible, keeping everyone on the same page and enhancing team collaboration
- Performance tracking: Through visualization tools, these dashboards can track project performance metrics effectively. You can measure team productivity, project budget, and time management, and more
- Data-driven decisions: By providing a comprehensive view of project data, dashboards give project managers the right context to make informed, data-driven decisions. This helps in better project planning and risk management
- Increased efficiency: The ability to see tasks, deadlines, and dependencies in one place helps streamline workflows. Project management dashboards simplify task allocation and prevent resource overutilization, leading to increased project efficiency
As a human first and project manager second, your uniqueness is an asset that can lead to innovative and successful project management. Feel empowered to explore different project management dashboard software to discover what works best for you, your team, and your projects! ⚡️
Benefits of Using a Project Management Dashboard
Perhaps the greatest advantage of project dashboards for me is the real-time visibility into project progress. This allows me to track key metrics, identify bottlenecks, and allocate resources optimally. But there are several more advantages that I’ve come to rely on:
- Crystal clear visibility: Dashboards centralize all project data, giving one a real-time snapshot of progress, resource allocation, and deadlines. To me, this meant less time spent hunting for information on a recent task that had multiple assignees and required status updates from everyone
- Informed decisions in a flash: With all the key metrics at your fingertips, you can make data-driven decisions quickly. Spot roadblocks early, identify areas that need extra resources, and keep your project on track
- Boosted efficiency: Dashboards automate project reports focuses on task completion rates, resource allocation, and upcoming deadlines; an operations dashboard tracks operational processes and analyzes the performance of internal activities in the company; and an executive dashboard focuses on key project milestones and how they align with overall organizational goals.
Once I know my audience, I can start identifying specific areas for improvement within my projects. Am I consistently missing deadlines? Is my team struggling with resource constraints? Are project costs exceeding budget?
Once I find answers to these questions, I can choose relevant metrics to track progress.
2. Choose the dashboard software & tools
We’re truly spoilt for choice in terms of dashboard tools. From simple spreadsheets to highly customizable progress charts, there are several options depending on what you need to track. Here’s a breakdown of some popular choices:
- Spreadsheets: Tools like Excel or Google Sheets may be handy for basic dashboards but can become cumbersome for complex projects with too many dynamic changes
- Project Management Software (PMS): PMS tools like ClickUp usually have highly capable built-in dashboards that provide helpful insights and how my team and I use them. I hope they’ll give you some useful ideas for building your own.
1. Personal productivity dashboard
See the tasks assigned to you, daily tasks completed, chats, and workload status in your ClickUp Personal Productivity Dashboard
Like most project managers, I like to start my day by checking my project’s progress in the morning! And that was made possible with ClickUp’s Dashboard View .
With a few clicks, I could turn what I was already working on into clear charts and graphs.
To do this for yourself, sign up for ClickUp or log in to your account if you have already used it. Add a new ‘Dashboard view’ and choose a template. The view automatically pulls data from tasks and fields, creating a personalized dashboard visualizing your work.
Adding the Personal Productivity Dashboard as a view allows me to evaluate and optimize my productivity. It helps me prioritize tasks, track progress, and focus on what truly matters.
This is my command center for an efficient and organized workflow.
2. Team workload dashboard
Get a bird’s view of tasks due by the week, workload status, and who’s working on what with the ClickUp Team Workload Dashboard
I use the Team Workload Dashboard in ClickUp to see what my team is working on throughout the week and track their progress for each task assigned.
I can set and track workload capacities for each member of my team. This helps me easily see who is under or over capacity. It’s great for them, too—they can use it to avoid overcommitting and burning out. Similarly, if they’ve extra time, they can take up additional work to meet deadlines faster or help another teammate out.
It helps improve transparency—I can add time estimates and priorities to my team tasks so everyone knows what to work on first. I also use it to determine what work might require additional team resources and easily add assignees.
3. Time-tracking dashboards
Create timesheets for every team member, see how much time they spent completing tasks, and bill freelancers in your team accurately with ClickUp’s Time Tracking tools
The time-tracking dashboard helps me visualize and analyze the time spent on each of my many projects—for myself and my team. By observing the total time spent on a project, completion percentage, and progress toward milestones, I can monitor overall project health at a glance.
This dashboard has another useful application. It helps me track billable hours for part-time workers or freelancers. I can do so by marking specific time entries as billable and using the consolidated data to generate invoices accurately at the end of the month.
I also use historical time-tracking data to inform my decisions about future project planning, resource allocation, and budgeting.
4. Software sprints dashboard
View sprint velocity, burnup and burndown charts, and cumulative flow to manage software teams with ClickUp Software Sprints Dashboard
You can’t manage software development projects without a comprehensive Sprint Dashboard. Trust me, I’ve tried it (and suffered unnecessarily!)
ClickUp lets you manage your team’s workload with a fully customizable point system. Roll up points from subtasks, break them out by assignee, and easily sort them to track your sprints at a glance.
Use the Agile dashboard in ClickUp to set sprint dates, assign points, and mark priorities so everyone knows what to do and when. Automate moving unfinished work into your next sprint and sync your team’s development progress with GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.
This dashboard condenses all numbers that matter—sprint velocity, burn up, burn down, lead time, cycle time, and more—into expressive charts for better decision-making.
I’ve also loved using ClickUp Sprints to plan, track, and optimize our sprints for success, building an agile and results-oriented team in the process.
5. Marketing campaign dashboard
Visualize progress toward goals with team-wide transparency and eliminate redundant workflows with ClickUp Marketing Campaign Dashboard
Marketing campaign dashboards help you track the progress and conversion of priority marketing initiatives in a single view. They allow you to measure the reach and engagement of the content you post online, the number of MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) you generate, and how well those convert into sales.
You can easily contextualize tasks connected to your roadmap and go-to-market plans.
6. Sales overview dashboard
Customize sales overviews to track key metrics across your business with the ClickUp Sales Overview Dashboard
If you’re looking for a way to visualize sales by product/service and customer categories, I can’t recommend anything better than the ClickUp Sales Overview Dashboard.
But this isn’t all it lets you track. Break down revenue into gross and net figures to accurately measure profitability and calculate your tax burden. Monitor revenue by period—monthly, quarterly, or annual, to anticipate slumps and peaks and optimize inventory accordingly. Compare targets with actual numbers and devise strategies for improvement.
You can also use the data as a basis for celebration, as we do, and reward high-performing reps across your salesforce.
The best part is you can pair the dashboard with ClickUp Brain’s AI prowess and glean insights to forecast trends and spot potential inhibitors early on.
7. Client portal dashboard
Create client portals to collaborate on tasks and deliverables with ClickUp Client Portal Dashboard
Dashboards don’t just empower us; they empower our clients too. Invite any client into your ClickUp Workspace as a guest and share the client portal to provide real-time project updates and collaborate with them in one place. Track projects and tasks, see workloads across project teams, and chat with them in real time.
See how invoices are tracked over time, who is closing deals, and assess your team’s overall performance. You can also identify hold-ups with Cumulative Flow, Burnup, Burndown, and Velocity charts.
8. CRM visualization dashboard
Boost customer retention with a dedicated ClickUp CRM Dashboard
Want to monitor how well you’re responding to customer incidents and risks? We did.
So, we used the CRM Dashboard in ClickUp. It helped us surface our riskiest customer segments, summarize potential reasons for churn, and forecast revenue across regions and teams.
Consider religiously tracking metrics that indicate customer health and potential churn risk. Examples include customer satisfaction scores, support ticket resolution times, and engagement levels.
Use these dashboard examples from ClickUp to create a custom visualization system for your workflow. You can also take inspiration from the ClickUp team and improve your existing dashboard !
Now, let’s look at some pre-made templates to help set up your dashboard without having to start from scratch.
Project Management Dashboard Templates
Dashboard templates are a valuable tool for creating informative and visually appealing dashboards quickly and efficiently. They provide a solid foundation for data analysis, allowing you to focus on the content and extract actionable insights from your data.
Here are some dashboard templates that I’ve tried and tested for you:
1. ClickUp Project Management Dashboard Template
Keep tabs on project development, budget, team workload, and status with the ClickUp Project Management Dashboard Template
Tired of juggling project details? ClickUp’s Project Management Dashboard Template puts everything you need at your fingertips. See it all, instantly!
This pre-built project dashboard template provides a clear, at-a-glance view of your projects, including deadlines, tasks, and real-time progress.
Stay organized, stay efficient. The template offers some powerful features:
- Track task progress with custom statuses like “Completed,” “In Progress,” and more
- Use eight custom fields to capture vital information about projects, like budget and phase
- Multiple views offer easy access to quickly switch between seven different ClickUp configurations, including a Getting Started Guide and Team Performance view
- Supercharge your project management with time tracking, tags, dependency warnings, and built-in email communication
Stop micromanaging; start streamlining. This template empowers you to keep your projects on track with effortless organization and crystal-clear insights.
2. Tableau business dashboard template
via Tablea u This business dashboard template can track a wide range of metrics depending on your business’s specific goals and departments.
Track and analyze:
- Total revenue generated from a project, broken down by product, service, region, quantity sold, or customer segment
- Spending against budget allocations, gross margin, net income, and key profitability ratios
- Incoming and outgoing cash flow to monitor the financial health and viability of your project
3. Tableau project management dashboard template
via Tableau This project management dashboard template is a one-stop shop for project tracking and overall project health data analysis.
This template eliminates the need for project managers to dig through scattered data points. It presents essential project information in a visually compelling format, allowing project managers and stakeholders to check project status at a glance.
Some common metrics you can track with this template:
- Task Completion Rate: Shows the percentage of tasks completed against remaining tasks
- Project Schedule: Tracks progress toward deadlines and highlights potential delays
- Resource Allocation: Visualizes how team members are assigned and identifies potential bottlenecks
- Budget vs. Actual Cost: Compares planned spending with actual costs to monitor financial health
- Risk Management: Tracks identified risks and mitigation plans
This template allows you to monitor several important metrics, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses that handle multiple projects simultaneously.
4. Excel expense dashboard template
via Microsoft 365 This free Excel expense tracker makes managing your money a breeze. No more scrambling for receipts or wondering where your project budgets are being spent. When you need a dedicated tool for managing those small but significant office expenses, this is the template to go after:
- Track all your spending with a clean and modern design
- Organize expenses by category, like transportation, utilities, etc.
- Make it your own! This template is 100% customizable
- Change the text, add personal touches with images, or adjust the colors to match your style
- Access a vast library of photos, graphics, and fonts to personalize your tracker and add context
- Share your budget with your team, your leadership, or a financial advisor to keep yourself accountable and ensure transparency in office expenditure
Tip: Ready-to-use templates come in handy when you’re scaling your business and don’t have the time to craft individual dashboards. However, you must incorporate relevant data points to track progress and make the best use of dashboards.
Common Elements to Include in Your Project Dashboard
Let’s explore some key elements that will elevate your dashboards from simple data dumps to powerful information hubs:
- Focus on relevant KPIs: Don’t get lost in a sea of data! Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are your life rafts, providing quantifiable metrics directly tied to your goals. Choose KPIs that tell a clear story about how your organization is performing
- Interactive exploration with filters: Empower your team members to delve deeper into data. Interactive filters allow users to slice and dice the data based on specific criteria. They boost user engagement and help uncover hidden insights
- Visual storytelling with charts: A picture is worth a thousand numbers! Charts and graphs are powerful tools for presenting complex data in a clear and easily digestible way. Choose the right chart type for your data to tell a compelling visual story
- Time trends with date pickers: Let users explore trends over time. Date pickers allow users to select specific periods, enabling them to analyze historical data and compare it to current performance
- Global filters for broad views: Offer different perspectives. Global filters allow users to view data across different categories or departments
- Graphics that enhance clarity: Visuals go beyond just charts. Use well-placed graphics like icons or illustrations to enhance clarity and guide users through the information presented
That’s it! You’re all set to create your own dashboard with templates or within a dedicated dashboard software .
Set Up Your Flexible Dashboard with ClickUp
For me, the beauty of dashboards lies in their versatility. From tracking sales performance and customer satisfaction in marketing to monitoring project milestones and resource allocation in project management, you can tailor dashboards to meet the specific needs of any team.
As someone who lives in their dashboards, I can vouch for ClickUp’s strengths in doing them right with its expansive library of pre-built and customizable dashboards. Whether you’re a freelancer managing personal tasks or an enterprise project manager overseeing multiple complex projects, ClickUp has a dashboard for every purpose. Sign up on ClickUp today and make dashboards your ally!