Dashboard

What Is a Dashboard?

A project dashboard is a set of charts and graphs showing progress or performance against important measures of the project. It gives stakeholders a concise, at-a-glance view of status.

In Practice

Dashboards consolidate key metrics — schedule, cost, scope, quality, risk — into visual indicators such as traffic lights, trend lines and burn charts. A good dashboard is tailored to its audience, highlights exceptions rather than raw data, and is updated frequently enough to drive decisions. It reduces the need for lengthy status reports.

PMBOK 8 Context

The dashboard is an information radiator central to the Measurement performance domain of the PMBOK Guide, 8th Edition, supporting transparent, data-informed decisions. See also task board and burn chart.

FAQ

What makes a dashboard effective? Relevance to the audience, clear visual hierarchy, timely data and a focus on the few measures that drive decisions.

Dashboard vs. status report? A dashboard is a visual, always-current snapshot; a status report is a narrative produced at intervals.

Author: Tom, PMP-certified since 2004. Last updated: July 2026. Aligned with the PMBOK Guide, 8th Edition.

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