Blind spots, missed deadlines, and budget overruns trouble every project manager when they view their project tracking dashboard. Today, in the age of data-driven decision-making, statistics are loud and clear: 70% of projects exceed their budgets, and a staggering 31% face complete failure. These numbers paint a grim picture. Yet, amidst the chaos of project execution, the real-time project tracking dashboard shines like a true beacon.

It's not magic; it's data-driven decision-making. These visual command centers distill complex project metrics into actionable insights, empowering leaders to navigate the ever-shifting tides of execution. Forget static spreadsheets and cryptic reports. Imagine a vibrant canvas - graphs pulsating with task progress, budget bars undulating spending trends, and resource utilization maps illuminating potential bottlenecks. This is the power of a well-crafted project tracking dashboard. Its components – carefully chosen metrics, intuitive visualizations, and dynamic updates. 

This article explains the concept of project tracking dashboards, highlights their key elements and benefits, and explores their significance and influence on today’s project management. The article further discusses TrueProject, a predictive project management software, and how it provides a state-of-the-art SaaS solution and dashboard for project tracking and effective execution.

What Is Project Tracking Dashboard?

A project tracking dashboard is a compelling tool that visually displays crucial project metrics and data in one place. They provide real-time updates on project advancement, efficiency, and resource distribution, allowing project managers to make knowledgeable choices and implement preventive actions. By combining data from diverse sources, project tracking dashboards present a holistic view of the project’s status and help stakeholders promptly spot potential issues or areas needing focus. With their intuitive interface and adaptable features, these dashboards simplify communication, boost teamwork, and enable decisions based on data, ultimately transforming the management of projects.

Why Are Project Tracking Dashboards Important?

The significance of maintaining an up-to-date project tracking dashboard cannot be overstated, especially for organizations that leverage projects to execute strategies. Here are some key reasons:

• Strategic Alignment - With advanced predictive intelligence capabilities, the project tracking dashboard directly connects individual projects and strategic objectives. This connection allows for a quick assessment of the project’s impact on the overall strategy. Without this linkage, it can be challenging for senior management to understand the project-level activities contributing to business objectives.
• Strategy Communication Solution - A project tracking dashboard isn't just for project managers; it's beneficial for all project participants, including senior managers. Employees often develop a "tunnel vision" by focusing solely on their tasks. A project tracking dashboard combats this by providing insight into all team activities, showing how individual actions impact the larger project. It helps everyone understand time and resource allocation across projects. For management, it serves as a foundation for evaluating strategy execution efforts.
• Quick Identification of Delays - Dashboards provide quick insights into which projects are underperforming, the reasons for underperformance, and who to follow up with for additional performance insights. If necessary, changes can be implemented immediately, and corrective action can be taken.
• Simplified Performance Reporting - Reporting is critical to strategy execution as it helps ensure project teams stay on track and are held accountable. A project dashboard simplifies reporting because all the important information is already there, eliminating the need to gather information from multiple sources. 

The graphic below illustrates the actionable insights that can be derived from an advanced project tracking dashboard.                                            

                                                                                                                                                  Source: TrueProject

Benefits of Project Tracking Dashboard

A project tracking dashboard is a powerful solution to improve project efficiency and effectiveness significantly. Here are some key benefits of using a project tracking dashboard:

• Visibility and Transparency - Centralized, real-time view of project data, promoting transparency and quick assessment of project status.
• Data-Driven Decision-Making - Provides key metrics for quick analysis, risk identification, and informed decision-making. Visualizes resource allocation.
• Efficiency and Productivity - Streamlines monitoring and reporting, automates data consolidation, increases efficiency, and reduces costs.
• Risk Management - Visualizes potential risks and issues, enabling proactive mitigation and enhanced risk tracking.
• Communication and Collaboration - A centralized platform for communication and data sharing, facilitating collaboration and providing a single source of truth.
• Real-Time Monitoring - Provides real-time updates on project progress, prompt issue resolution, and ensures timely project delivery.
• Targeted Data Views - Customizable dashboards for specific data and metrics, allowing focus on role-relevant information and supporting scalability.
• Scheduling and Prioritization - Identifies scheduling conflicts and optimizes resource availability, helping track deadlines.
• Time and Activity Tracking - Allows tracking multiple projects’ completion status and quick determination of project health.
• Project Spending - This provides decision intelligence, helps track spending, supports wise budgeting, and ensures optimal resource allocation.

What Elements Should Appear on A Project Tracking Dashboard? 

While every project is unique and has its own set of goals, milestones, teams, and processes, some common elements should be included in a project tracking dashboard. These elements help to provide a clear and concise overview of the project's performance, key project management KPIs, and qualitative reports that give context to performance reports across various aspects of the project. 

Here are some elements that are typically included in a project tracking dashboard:

• Status Indicators - These could be red-amber-green (RAG) status indicators or any other system that allows you to quickly assess the status of each project based on selected indicators like budget, percent complete, start/end dates, etc.
• Project Descriptions—Brief descriptions explaining the purpose and implementation of each project can be helpful for those unfamiliar with them.
• Budget Tracking—The project tracking dashboard should make it easy to monitor whether project spending is within the budgeted limits. It can display information like percent complete, percent budget spent, and forecasted total cost for one or more projects.
• Project Owners - Assigning a spokesperson for each project ensures a consistent source of information for project updates. Displaying the owners assigned to projects allows managers to easily follow up with the right person for any additional information they need.
• Start/End Dates - Defining the start and end dates for projects allows everyone to see whether a project is on track and when it's expected to be completed.
• Qualitative Analysis - Details explaining each project's status or progress provide important context for project tracking dashboard viewers. Some software solutions even allow you to attach relevant documents in support of your analysis.
• Recommendations - If a project has gone off-track, the project tracking dashboard could include recommendations on ways to address specific issues.
• Percent Complete - Visualizing the relative number of projects in various stages can help you quickly identify whether you have too many projects behind or ahead of schedule.
• Impacted Goals/Metrics - If your projects are meant to impact your strategy, your project tracking dashboard should show them in connection with their linked objectives.
• Projects/Milestones/Action Items - Each project will likely have many smaller subprojects contributing to its overall success. These subprojects, some of which may even have individual tasks. A project tracking dashboard can help show these subprojects (the milestones) and the associated action items (the tasks).

Remember, your project tracking dashboard should not summarize the status of all projects in your organization but only those high-priority projects that impact your strategy most. How you present this information may vary depending on what is important for you to see in relation to your projects.

The graphic below illustrates how considering the key elements in your project tracking dashboard can provide more meaningful and actionable insight.

                                                                                                                                                           Source: TrueProject

Best Practices for Creating a Project Tracking Dashboard

Creating an effective project tracking dashboard is crucial for successful project management. Here are some best practices to guide you in designing a dashboard that provides clear, concise, and actionable insights into your project’s progress and performance:

• Define Clear Objectives - Before creating a project tracking dashboard, it’s important to define what you want to achieve with it. This will guide the selection of data and metrics to be included.
• Choose Relevant Metrics - Include metrics relevant to the project’s goals and objectives. These could be key performance indicators (KPIs) or other measures that provide insight into the project’s progress and performance.
• Keep it Simple - A cluttered project tracking dashboard can be confusing and counterproductive. Keep the design simple and intuitive, making it easy for users to understand and interpret the data.
• Use Visual Elements - Charts, graphs, and other visual elements can represent data, making it easier to understand complex data and identify trends or patterns.
• Regular Updates - Ensure the data on the project tracking dashboard is updated regularly to reflect the project's current status. This can help in making timely decisions and taking necessary actions.
• Customizability - Allow users to customize the dashboard according to their needs. This can include filtering data, changing the view, or adding/removing metrics.
• Accessibility - Ensure the project tracking dashboard is accessible to all relevant stakeholders. This can help promote transparency and foster collaboration.
• Actionable Insights—The project tracking dashboard should present data and provide insights to guide decision-making. These could be recommendations, alerts, or predictive analytics.

Remember, a project tracking dashboard aims to provide a clear, concise, and real-time view of the project’s status and performance, enabling effective project management.

Conclusion

Like all aspects of business, the project tracking dashboard has undergone a significant transformation. A real-time project tracking dashboard powered with the right data crafts a dynamic portrait of your project's status. These visual control centers throb with advancement, alert about potential hurdles, and steer decision-making. They transcend their role as task management solutions; they orchestrate strategy, serve as communication nexus, proactively identify risks, and simplify reporting. Real-time insights, consolidated data, adaptable functionalities, and enhanced productivity underscore their critical role in contemporary management solutions.

Embracing modern project management technology is crucial for enhancing the accuracy and insightfulness of these dashboards. TrueProject, a SaaS solution, is a leader in predictive project management, transforming project execution and outcomes rapidly. Its KPI-based solutions anticipate challenges, optimize resource utilization, and provide a forward-looking perspective for proactive decision-making. By leveraging predictive intelligence, TrueProject empowers organizations to take timely action, preventing potential project issues before they arise and ensuring successful outcomes. 

Additionally, TrueProject’s Derived Insight, an AI-driven feature, transforms project tracking dashboards by 
pre-emptively spotting potential problems. It analyzes project management data and stakeholder feedback and consolidates information into actionable insights. TrueProject highlights critical areas, recommends corrective actions, and facilitates stakeholder feedback through automated online assessments. This enables organizations to optimize project management processes, mitigate risks, and make informed decisions for successful project outcomes.

More information about TrueProject on trueprojectinsight.com                       

 About the Author:

Nisha Antony is an accomplished senior marketing communications specialist at TrueProject and a leader in predictive intelligence. With over 16 years of experience, she has worked as a Senior Analyst at Xchanging, a UK consulting firm, and as an Internal Communications Manager on a major cloud project at TE Connectivity. 
She is an insightful storyteller who creates engaging content on AI, machine learning, analytics, governance, project management, cloud platforms, workforce optimization, and leadership.

Endnotes

• Julie Simpson. “Everything You Need To Know About a Project Management Dashboard.” Hive - September 6, 2023. https -//hive.com/blog/project-management-dashboard/
• Madeline Clarke. “Top Benefits of Project Management Dashboards (2024).” Technology Advice - April 25, 2023. https -//technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/project-management-dashboard/
• RJ Messineo. “What Is A Project Dashboard? A Definition + Examples.” Clear Point Strategy - January 09, 2024. https://www.clearpointstrategy.com/blog/project-dashboard
• OKR International Team. “750+ Practical OKR Examples: The Penultimate List (Part 3 of 3). LinkedIn: June 22, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/750-practical-okr-examples-penultimate-list-part-3-okrinternational/