Checklist

Dashboard Health & Distribution Checklist

An interactive checklist to evaluate whether a dashboard reliably informs decisions, stays accurate, and reaches the right audience — with space for troubleshooting and handoff notes.

Interactive Tool

Dashboard Health & Distribution Checklist

Purpose: Use this checklist to quickly evaluate whether a dashboard is useful, accurate, and reaching the right people. For each item, mark whether the dashboard meets the expectation, add notes for problems, and capture next steps or handoff details. This helps prevent dashboards from becoming ignored artifacts and makes next actions obvious.

How to use: Answer each check, add troubleshooting or handoff notes where needed, then save the checklist. Consider running this review on a regular cadence (weekly for high-impact dashboards, monthly for operational dashboards, quarterly for strategic dashboards).

Does the dashboard make the intended decision or action that users should take obvious?
Is the most important information visible without scrolling and clearly prioritized for the target role?
Are every metric and calculation defined, and does each have a named owner responsible for accuracy?
Is the data refreshed frequently enough to support the intended decision rhythm?
Are there automated or documented checks for obvious errors, missing values, and anomalies?
Are actionable alerts defined with owners and escalation steps (not just cosmetic color changes)?
Is access appropriately restricted and do usage logs show the dashboard is being used by intended roles?
Is there a documented distribution schedule (email, meetings, embedded links) aligned to decision rhythms?
Is the dashboard readable (labels, colors, contrast), navigable, and accessible to people with common needs?
Is there a clear creator/maintainer, documented sources, and a handoff plan for when ownership changes?
Quick subjective rating to capture overall confidence that this dashboard will drive reliable action.
1.0 10.0
Describe observed problems, suspicious metrics, likely causes, and quick checks to validate issues. Include links to sample data or screenshots where helpful.
Capture concrete next steps, owners, and target dates for fixes (e.g., update metric definition, add data check, change distribution schedule).
Notes to share with consumers or the future owner: purpose summary, known limitations, and where to ask questions.
Provide the dashboard link or a reference to a representative screenshot to help reviewers find the exact artifact.
You can explore this tool now. Sign in or create an account to save your responses and return to them later.
Sign In to Save Create an Account
Make this tool part of your work

Save a personal copy, bring it to your team, or tailor the questions and workflow to fit what you are hungry to improve.

Member customization and team collaboration are coming soon.
Discuss Ask the Librarian

Discussion

Comments and conversation will live here.