Written by Nils R. | Sep 27, 2020 7:00:00 AM
What is
a
Profitability Dashboard
? Profit-focused dashboards are considered financial visualization tools and are often used by executives and board members to analyze budget variances and trends related to profitability. Key functionality in this type of dashboard displays column charts to compare actual gross and net profit to budget and last year. The matrix on the top right shows all the key components that drive profitability both for the month and year-to-date. The two charts at the bottom displays year-to-date profit trends. Using the filters on the left side, the user can quickly select options to consolidate one or multiple companies, as well as, change periods. You will find an example of this type of dashboard below.
Purpose of
Profitability Dashboards Companies and organizations use Profitability Dashboards to give executives a quick and easy way to analyze gross margin and net profit metrics. When used as part of good business practices in a Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) department, a company can improve its executives' ability to always keep an eye on these essential KPIs, as well as, reduce the chances that important decisions are delayed because executives don't have easy, self-service insight to performance.
Profitability Dashboard
Example Here is an example of a Profitability Dashboard with interactive charts and figures. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2233"]
Profitability Dashboard Example[/caption] You can find hundreds of additional examples
here.
Who Uses This Type of
Dashboard
? The typical users of this type of dashboard are: Executives, board members and financial managers.
Other
Dashboard
s Often Used in Conjunction with
Profitability Dashboards Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Departments sometimes use several different Profitability Dashboards, along with operational dashboards, detailed financial reports and other management and control tools.
Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional corporate performance management (CPM/EPM) solutions.
What Tools are Typically used for Reporting, Planning and Dashboards? Examples of business software used with the data and ERPs mentioned above are:
- Native ERP report writers and query tools
- Spreadsheets (for example Microsoft Excel)
- Corporate Performance Management (CPM) tools (for example Solver)
- Dashboards (for example Microsoft Power BI and Tableau)
Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Cloud Solutions and More Examples
