Mastering Monday.com Dashboards for Real-Time Insights

ByAbdullah BS

Monday.com has become one of the most powerful project management tools, allowing teams to manage tasks, track progress, and collaborate in real time. However, one feature that often gets overlooked is its Dashboard functionality. Dashboards in Monday.com provide a consolidated view of your projects and tasks, offering real-time insights that can help you make data-driven decisions and optimize team performance.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to master Monday.com Dashboards, how to customize them, and how to use them to gain real-time insights into your workflows, projects, and team performance.

What is a Monday.com Dashboard?

A Dashboard in Monday.com acts as a visual hub for all your project data. Instead of having to dig through multiple boards and lists, you can bring all relevant information into a single, easy-to-navigate interface. Dashboards aggregate data from your boards and display it using widgets, making it easier to track key metrics, milestones, and team performance.

Dashboards are customizable, so you can choose what data you want to see, how you want to visualize it, and which team members should have access. Whether you’re tracking progress on tasks, monitoring deadlines, or overseeing team productivity, Dashboards offer a streamlined way to stay on top of everything in one place.

Why Are Dashboards Important?

Dashboards help you consolidate data, making it accessible and actionable for everyone on your team. Here’s why they are so important:

  1. Real-time Insights: Dashboards provide real-time updates on your projects, ensuring you always have the latest information. No more manually checking multiple boards to find out where things stand.
  2. Data Visualization: Instead of staring at endless lists, dashboards let you visualize key data in a way that’s easy to interpret—whether it’s through charts, graphs, or tables.
  3. Decision-Making: With all your key project metrics in one place, you can make data-driven decisions quickly, addressing potential issues before they become problems.
  4. Transparency and Alignment: Dashboards improve transparency by allowing everyone in your organization to access important information. It keeps teams aligned on goals, milestones, and project timelines.

Step 1: Create a New Dashboard

Before you can master Dashboards, you’ll need to create one. Follow these steps to create your first dashboard in Monday.com:

  1. Open Your Workspace: Start by navigating to your Monday.com workspace where your boards are stored.
  2. Create a New Dashboard: Click on the “Dashboards” tab in the left sidebar and then click the “+ New Dashboard” button.
  3. Choose a Template: Monday.com offers pre-built dashboard templates for specific use cases (e.g., project management, sales tracking, marketing campaigns). You can choose one based on your needs or start with a blank dashboard.
  4. Add Widgets: Once your dashboard is created, you can begin adding widgets to display data. Widgets come in different forms, such as charts, graphs, numbers, and tables.

Step 2: Choose the Right Widgets for Your Dashboard

Widgets are the building blocks of your dashboard. The type of widget you use will depend on the data you want to track. Here are some of the most useful widgets you can add to your dashboard:

1. Chart Widget

The Chart Widget allows you to visualize project data in a graphical format. There are several chart types to choose from, including bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs.

  • Use Case: Track task completion over time, monitor project milestones, or visualize team performance by department.
  • Example: A bar chart showing the number of tasks completed per week, giving you an overview of team productivity.

2. Battery Widget

The Battery Widget is a great way to track the progress of tasks, projects, or initiatives. It visually shows how much work has been completed in comparison to what’s left.

  • Use Case: Monitor the progress of specific projects or high-priority tasks.
  • Example: A battery widget that shows the progress of a product launch, with tasks like “Marketing Campaign,” “Product Development,” and “Customer Outreach” being tracked.

3. Table Widget

The Table Widget displays data in a tabular format. It’s ideal for showcasing lists of tasks, deadlines, or project information, and can be filtered to show specific data.

  • Use Case: Monitor specific tasks, their deadlines, and assignees in a compact format.
  • Example: A table that lists all tasks that are overdue, showing their priority, owner, and deadline.

4. Numbers Widget

The Numbers Widget allows you to display key metrics and numerical data, such as task completion percentage, total time spent on a project, or revenue generated.

  • Use Case: Track important metrics like project completion rate, total billable hours, or the number of tasks completed.
  • Example: A numbers widget that shows the percentage of tasks completed in the last month or the total number of tasks completed by each team member.

5. Timeline Widget

The Timeline Widget shows the tasks and milestones of your project on a Gantt-style timeline. It’s great for visualizing project schedules, deadlines, and dependencies.

  • Use Case: See how tasks align with project timelines and milestones.
  • Example: A timeline widget showing your product development timeline with milestones such as “Prototype Complete” and “Testing Phase.”

6. Workload Widget

The Workload Widget provides a visual representation of how tasks are distributed across your team members. It allows you to see who’s overloaded and who has capacity, ensuring better resource allocation.

  • Use Case: Balance workloads across your team to prevent burnout or ensure no one is underutilized.
  • Example: A workload widget showing which team members have tasks assigned to them for the week, with color-coding for task urgency.

Step 3: Customize Your Dashboard Layout

One of the benefits of using Monday.com Dashboards is the ability to customize your layout. You can drag and drop widgets, resize them, and arrange them based on your priorities.

  1. Drag Widgets to Customize: Move widgets around your dashboard to organize them in a way that makes sense for your workflow.
  2. Resize Widgets: You can resize widgets to make them larger or smaller depending on how much space you want them to occupy.
  3. Organize by Priority: Place the most important metrics or information at the top of the dashboard for quick access.

Step 4: Set Up Real-Time Data Sync

The power of Dashboards in Monday.com lies in their ability to provide real-time data sync. This means that as tasks get updated on your boards, your dashboard will automatically reflect those changes.

  1. Syncing Boards with Dashboards: When setting up a widget, choose the boards and columns that you want to pull data from. For example, if you’re tracking tasks, you might choose the “Status” column and “Due Date” from a specific board.
  2. Live Updates: Dashboards will update in real time, so if a task is marked as “Completed” or a new task is added, the dashboard will immediately reflect these changes.

Step 5: Use Filters and Permissions

Monday.com allows you to filter data and control who sees what on your dashboards. This makes it easier to share insights with different team members or stakeholders.

1. Filter Data

You can filter your widgets based on specific criteria, such as:

  • Assignee: See data for a particular team member.
  • Status: Track tasks that are in specific stages (e.g., “In Progress” or “Overdue”).
  • Date: Focus on tasks or projects that fall within a specific timeframe (e.g., this week or next month).

2. Set Permissions

You can control who has access to the dashboard by adjusting permissions. This ensures that sensitive data is only visible to the relevant team members or departments.

  • View Only: Some team members may only need to view the dashboard and cannot make changes.
  • Edit Access: Managers or admins can have full access to edit and modify the dashboard.

Step 6: Monitor and Adjust Over Time

As projects evolve, so too should your dashboards. Regularly monitor how your dashboards are performing and make adjustments as necessary.

  1. Check Performance Metrics: Are the widgets giving you the right insights? Are some widgets not providing actionable data? If so, adjust them.
  2. Solicit Feedback: Ask your team if the dashboard is helping them stay on track and if there are any additional data points they need.
  3. Adapt to Changing Needs: As projects change, so should your dashboard. Add or remove widgets to keep your insights relevant and aligned with your goals.

Conclusion

Mastering Monday.com Dashboards can significantly improve your ability to track projects, monitor team performance, and make data-driven decisions. By customizing your dashboard with the right widgets and setting it up to provide real-time insights, you can ensure that everyone on your team stays aligned and focused on the most important tasks.

The flexibility of Monday.com Dashboards allows you to create a personalized, comprehensive view of your projects that reflects your team’s unique workflow and needs. Whether you’re tracking milestones, monitoring deadlines, or analyzing team productivity, dashboards are an essential tool for staying on top of your projects and achieving success.

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