Dashboards for Excel

CHAPTER 7

Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Development and Design

There are two areas in which I find common pitfalls: in development and in design. The development side concerns the overuse and inefficient use of certain formulas and VBA code. The design side concerns ineffective use of layout.

Your goal for a finished dashboard should be an Excel file that runs quickly, uses less memory and processing, and requires less storage. Sometimes moving toward this goal will call for enhancements in design that come at the expense of development, or vice versa. In these instances, you’ll need to understand the trade-offs for each. I’ll go through those ...