How do you use Excel charts and dashboards to visualize and analyze your team budget data?

1 Set up your data

To get started, you must set up your data in a clear and organized way. This requires a spreadsheet with your team name, budget category, and subcategory; monthly budget and actual amounts for each subcategory; variance (the difference between budget and actual) and percentage variance for each subcategory; and total budget, actual, variance, and percentage variance for each category and the entire team. You can use formulas to calculate the variance and percentage variance columns or take advantage of Excel's built-in functions SUM, SUBTOTAL, and SUMIF. Additionally, it's important to format your data as a table with consistent names and labels.

2 Create a chart

The next step is to create a chart that shows your team budget performance visually. A column chart is recommended for comparing budget and actual amounts, while a pie chart can be used to show the proportion of each category or subcategory. To create a chart, select the data range that you want to include, go to the Insert tab, and choose the desired chart type. Afterwards, adjust the chart title, legend, axis, labels, and colors as needed. Finally, move or resize the chart to fit your spreadsheet.

3 Create a dashboard

The final step is to create a dashboard that summarizes and highlights your team budget data. A dashboard is a collection of charts, tables, and other elements that provide a quick and easy overview of your key metrics and insights. To build one, start by creating a new worksheet, named Dashboard, and copy-pasting the charts you created in the previous step. You can also add slicers, filters, text boxes or images to the Dashboard worksheet and arrange them in an attractive layout. For added interactivity, link the elements to your data table or use conditional formatting. After doing so, you have created a simple yet effective team budget template in Excel that will help you visualize and analyze your team budget data. This template can be used to monitor progress, identify trends and issues, as well as communicate results to stakeholders.