In business, decisions made in the dark are not always the right ones. For many years, many small and mid-sized businesses in Nigeria have operated on fragmented data, sales tracked on WhatsApp, expenses in separate Excel files, and customer details in paper notebooks.
This lack of visibility is inefficient and dangerous.
We always talk about inflation, policy changes, and market disruptions as problems in the country that hit without warning, and seriously, business leaders can no longer afford guesswork.
Business Dashboards, those clean, real-time visuals of key business data, are no longer tools reserved for tech companies or multinational firms; they’re fast becoming essential for sustainability.
So, here’s a direct guide on how to build a solid business dashboard using Power BI or Google Data Studio, even if you’re not a technical expert.
But more than that, it’s about building a culture of clarity in decision-making.
Step 1: Clean Your Data or Don’t Bother
Before you think about visuals, sort out your data. If your Excel sheet has duplicate rows, missing figures, or inconsistent date formats, your dashboard will only magnify the confusion. Garbage in, garbage out.
Start with your most urgent dataset, perhaps sales, inventory, or customer orders. Clean it manually if you must:
- Remove blank rows and columns.
- Ensure column headers are consistent.
- Check for errors in values (e.g., Naira signs in numeric fields).
- Standardise date formats across all rows.
If you’re using Excel, apply filters and use the “Remove Duplicates” feature. Google Sheets works fine too, especially if you plan to use Google Data Studio. The goal is to create a data source that’s clean, structured, and updated regularly.
Step 2: Pick the Right Tool – Power BI or Google Data Studio?
The tool you choose depends on your needs and your comfort level. Both Power BI and Google Data Studio are free at the entry-level. Here’s how they stack up.
Power BI
- Works well with Microsoft Excel and SQL databases.
- Ideal for deeper analytics.
- Has a steeper learning curve, but it pays off with flexibility and powerful features.
Google Data Studio
- Built for speed and ease.
- Best if you’re already working with Google Sheets.
- Very easy to share with team members via links.
- No software installation needed, just a browser.
If you’re running a retail outlet and want to track weekly sales, Data Studio will do the job. If you’re managing a portfolio of operations across multiple states and want financial forecasting tools, Power BI is the better option.
Step 3: Connect Your Data Source
For Power BI:
- Open Power BI Desktop.
- Click “Get Data” → Choose your file type (e.g., Excel, CSV).
- Select the table you want to use and load it into the workspace.
- Review the preview window and double-check the column headers.
For Google Data Studio:
- Visit datastudio.google.com.
- Start a new report.
- Click “Add Data” and select Google Sheets or another source.
- Authorise the connection and import your file.
At this point, you’ve done the hard part. Clean data is connected. You’re now ready to build.
Step 4: Design a Business Dashboard That Works
This isn’t the time for overthinking or artistic expression, focus on function first. Ask yourself:
What are the three to five numbers I need to see every day to know if my business is on track?
Start with:
- Daily or weekly revenue.
- Sales by product or location.
- Outstanding invoices.
- Inventory status.
- Customer acquisition rates.
Suggested Visuals:
- Bar Charts for product comparisons.
- Line Graphs to track growth over time.
- Pie Charts to show revenue split across categories.
- Scorecards for key performance indicators (KPIs).
Use filters to enable interactivity, allowing users to view results by month, region, or product line.
Power BI users can add Slicers, while Data Studio users can apply Dropdown Controls.
Step 5: Share and Use the Dashboard
A business dashboard is useless if it stays locked in your laptop. Share it with your team, your investors, or your accountant. Let it become the single source of truth.
- In Power BI, publish to Power BI Service and share the link securely.
- In Google Data Studio, click “Share” and give viewer access to stakeholders.
Set a schedule. Review it weekly or monthly. Adjust metrics as your business grows. A dashboard is not static, it should evolve as your needs change.
Mistakes to Avoid
Even the most advanced tool can’t fix bad habits. Watch out for these common traps:
- Tracking too many things at once.
- Designing with no clear audience in mind.
- Forgetting to update the data source regularly.
- Ignoring mobile responsiveness.
- Making the dashboard pretty but useless.
Clarity should always win over complexity.
Business is Moving, See it or Miss it
We’re past the era of gut feelings. The market is changing too fast. Whether you’re a boutique fashion store in Lagos, a logistics operator in Abuja, or a non-profit tracking fieldwork outcomes, you need to see your numbers in real-time.
A business dashboard provides that window; it reduces errors and also builds trust. Teams operate better, decisions become faster, and outcomes improve.
You don’t need to become a data scientist to get started. You just need to care enough about your business to stop flying blind.
Now What?
Pick your most important data set, clean it, connect it, visualise it, and most importantly, use it.
