Most dashboards drown you in charts. You need a weekly snapshot with five KPIs, a plain-English brief, and two actions. This guide shows how to automate that—clean, fast, and trustable.
Table of Contents
- Who This Guide Is For
- Principles (Answer, Don’t Impress)
- Pick Your Five (Founder Defaults)
- Wire the Data (Minimal Plumbing)
- The Weekly Brief (Auto-Generated, Human-Edited)
- Alerts That Matter (Not 100 Notifications)
- One-Page Dashboard Layout (Gutenberg-Friendly)
- Comparison Table: Vanity vs Useful Reporting
- Starter Stacks (Copy & Adapt)
- Implementation Checklist
- 30-Day Rollout Plan
- Security & Privacy (Plain English)
- Templates You Can Copy
- FAQs
- Internal Links (add them at the end)
Who This Guide Is For
Entrepreneurs and small teams who want actionable reporting rather than pretty charts. You’ll define the five metrics that run your business, wire sources, generate a weekly brief, and set alerts—plus a 30-day rollout plan.
Connect this with Inbox & Calendar Automation for distribution cadence → /inbox-calendar-automation-founders and with Bookkeeping on Autopilot for cash/AR accuracy → /automate-bookkeeping-entrepreneurs.
Principles (Answer, Don’t Impress)
- Five KPIs max. Revenue, margin, cash, pipeline, support load. Swap one if your model is different (e.g., inventory turns).
- One page + links. Snapshot first, drill-down second.
- Explain changes. A 6-bullet brief (“what changed and why”) beats 20 charts.
- Source of truth. Reconcile revenue with accounting; avoid double-counting.
- Automation ≠ abdication. Humans review anomalies before sending.
Pick Your Five (Founder Defaults)
- Revenue (WoW/MoM)
- Gross margin %
- Cash & runway (weeks at current burn)
- Pipeline velocity (leads→meetings→wins) or Conversion for e-com (sessions→orders→AOV)
- Support load (new tickets, FRT/TTR)
Alternatives
Inventory turns • Churn/retention • Active users/feature adoption • Return rate by product.
Wire the Data (Minimal Plumbing)
Sources
- Accounting for revenue/cash (or at least invoices/receipts).
- CRM/Checkout for pipeline/orders.
- Analytics for sessions/conversions (be clear on UTM rules).
- Helpdesk for support volume and SLAs.
Rules
- Reconcile revenue with accounting monthly (cash vs accrual).
- Lock naming conventions (campaigns, channels).
- Store calculation definitions alongside the dashboard.
Privacy
- Respect consent; don’t expose PII in the dashboard.
- Use role-based access and avoid sharing raw user data.
The Weekly Brief (Auto-Generated, Human-Edited)
Structure (copy this)
- Highlights (4 bullets): what moved and by how much.
- Risks (3 bullets): anomalies, delays, stockouts.
- Actions (2 bullets): who does what before next week.
- KPI table: value, change WoW/MoM, traffic light.
Example line
- “Revenue +12% WoW driven by email reactivation; margin flat as shipping costs rose.”
Distribution
- Send by Monday 09:00 to a channel (Slack/Email).
- Keep replies in-thread with decisions captured.
Alerts That Matter (Not 100 Notifications)
- Revenue/Margin: alert when outside of ±15% WoW.
- Cash: threshold when runway < 8 weeks.
- Pipeline: alert if meetings drop >20% or win rate dips.
- Support: alert if FRT > SLA or backlog > N.
How to avoid noise
- Batch alerts (hourly/daily), not real-time, unless it’s an incident.
- Include context (which segment/channel) and a link to detail.
One-Page Dashboard Layout (Gutenberg-Friendly)
- Top row: five KPI chips (value + WoW arrow).
- Middle: 6-bullet weekly brief.
- Bottom: table of KPIs with definitions and drill-down links.
- Light/dark mode friendly; no data ink wasted.
Accessibility
- Clear labels, color + icon redundancy (↑/↓), alt text for images.
Comparison Table: Vanity vs Useful Reporting
| Aspect | Vanity Dashboard | Useful Founder Dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| KPIs | 20+ charts | 5 KPIs + brief |
| Definitions | Unclear | Documented next to the table |
| Actions | None | 2 owners, 2 actions |
| Cadence | Ad hoc | Weekly at the same time |
| Trust | Disputed | Reconciled with accounting |
| Alerts | Constant pings | Thresholded and batched |
Starter Stacks (Copy & Adapt)
“Five KPIs, One Page”
- Data connectors (accounting, CRM/checkout, analytics, helpdesk)
- KPI chips + 6-bullet brief
- Weekly send at 09:00
- KPI: open rate; action completion rate
“Cash & Runway First”
- Cash balance + burn + weeks runway
- Alert if < 8 weeks
- KPI: forecast variance; actions taken
“Pipeline or It Didn’t Happen”
- Leads→meetings→wins funnel
- Alert on >20% drop in meetings
- KPI: velocity, win rate
“Support Health”
- New tickets, FRT, TTR, backlog
- Alert on SLA breaches
- KPI: CSAT; repeat contact rate
Implementation Checklist
- Choose five KPIs and write definitions.
- Connect data sources; test sample days.
- Build the one-page layout and the brief template.
- Set alert thresholds and batch windows.
- Reconcile revenue with accounting monthly.
- Schedule Monday 09:00 send; log actions taken.
30-Day Rollout Plan
Week 1: Pick KPIs, define calculations, wire minimal connectors.
Week 2: Draft the brief; run shadow reporting (no send); validate trends.
Week 3: Turn on alerts; send to a small group; collect feedback.
Week 4: Publish site-wide; document runbook; reconcile with accounting.
Security & Privacy (Plain English)
- SSO/MFA on dashboard tools; restrict sharing.
- Least privilege: viewers vs editors.
- No PII in charts; anonymize or aggregate.
- Logs: track who edited calculations and when.
Templates You Can Copy
Brief Template (fill weekly)
- Highlights: 1) … 2) … 3) … 4) …
- Risks: 1) … 2) … 3) …
- Actions: Owner A → by Wed; Owner B → by Fri.
- KPI Table: Revenue | +x% | Green ; Margin | −y% | Amber ; Cash | 10 wks | Green ; Pipeline | Flat | Amber ; Support | FRT 2h | Green
Alert Copy (example)
“Pipeline alert: Meetings −22% WoW (LinkedIn ads paused). Owner: RevOps. Action: restart top-performing set; review CPL by Wed.”
Definition Snippet
- Revenue: invoiced (accrual) excluding refunds.
- Cash: bank balance end-of-week; includes AR receipts.
- Pipeline velocity: (opps × win rate × ASP) ÷ cycle days.
FAQs
GA4 vs accounting revenue don’t match—what now?
They shouldn’t: GA4 is behavior, accounting is money. Reconcile monthly and document differences (refunds, timing).
How often should I change KPIs?
Rarely. Only when strategy changes. Keep definitions stable to compare apples to apples.
Do I need a BI tool?
Not at first. Start with connectors and a one-page view. Add BI when you outgrow simple filters.
Who writes the brief?
Ops or founder—then each owner adds one action. Keep it under 120 seconds to read.
Internal Links (add them at the end)
- /inbox-calendar-automation-founders
- /automate-bookkeeping-entrepreneurs
- /entrepreneurs-automation-stack
- /automate-lead-capture-nurture
- /ai-agents-solopreneurs