Visualize Key Performance Indicators In SharePoint

Most of us can grasp information easier  if it is visualized, and even if SharePoint is not primarily built for visualization it has some tools that can be used. You can  also add dynamic images created in other platforms, like Excel, to SharePoint.

Key indicators in list views
The easiest way to show key indicators is probably to base list views on them. If you for example want to see the average of hours worked on items in an Issue Tracking list, you can add such a calculation to the Hours Worked column.

Add list views for different issue categories or assignees, or just filter the items, and you will see the average for each category/assignee. This value is calculated automatically, and once you have created the column you can leave the rest to SharePoint.

Performance key indicators
To have a more visually interesting alert you can add icons. A green icon for a low number of hours worked, a yellow for normal and a red icon for a high number will draw more attention to the average hours worked figure.

Such indicators are a bit more complicated to create than views, but it can still be done in a few minutes. In a new article in the kalmstrom.com Tips section I describe in a demo and in a step by step instruction how to create a Status indicator for average of hours worked and add it to a landing page for an issue tracking list.

Each time you refresh the SharePoint page, the status indicator is  automatically updated to the correct color and value according to the calculation of average hours worked.

Auto-update Excel chart
In an earlier blog post I wrote about some Tips articles where I describe how to enhance a SharePoint Issue Tracking list in various ways, for example by adding an Excel chart based in list data to a landing page for the list.

An Excel chart can give more information than a status indicator, but you have to be aware of the update issue. If you create an Excel chart based on list data exported to Excel from SharePoint, the chart must be refreshed manually – or with a script.

In another new Tips article I show how to make a script update the Excel chart automatically. This solution is the most good looking and therefore also the most impressive! I recommend you to try it, and if you feel uncertain you can always go back to earlier articles in my SharePoint Online series for more information.

Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions