In this article, Alisa-Arifa AGALI ABDOU TOURÉ (ESSEC Business School, Global Bachelor of Business Administration – Exchange student from Germany, 2024-2025) describes the benefits of using Excel dashboards in human resources (HR) and financial management.
Also, how Excel dashboards help to accurately evaluate, clearly display and efficiently analyze important key figures such as fluctuation, absences, turnover or cash flow.
What is an Excel dashboard (for example in the HR or finance department)?
Excel dashboard in HR management or finance department is a visual analysis tool that provides a clear overview of important key figures in a company. These include, for example: key personnel figures, employee absences, fluctuation and more. It helps the HR department in the company to quickly evaluate data and ensure that everything is accurate, helping them to make the right decisions. With the help of tables or diagrams and the right formatting, important information can be captured, and anomalies are quickly visible. Dashboards save time, increase transparency and support data-based personnel management.
Advantage
How can Excel dashboards be an advantage in finance?
Excel dashboards offer a number of advantages in finance, for example, the ability to filter and update data at any time, providing a clear and transparent overview of the various financial developments. The use of Excel dashboards in a company promotes transparency in areas such as income, expenses, budgets and forecasts, which is very important for the controlling and HR departments. Another important reason why Excel dashboards are beneficial in a company is that dashboards can play a major role in important decisions, as they clearly show important key figures such as cash flow, profit margins or ROI. Dashboards also save a company an enormous amount of time when processing data.
Key components and application areas of financial dashboards in Excel
A financial dashboard shows all relevant key figures to present the financial situation of a company as simply and comprehensibly as possible. Among other things, a financial dashboard shows the development of turnover over various periods of time and also provides a detailed cost analysis, breaking down into fixed and variable costs. Other important components that a financial dashboard shows are the profit and loss statement, cash flow overviews and key financial figures such as ROI or liquidity ratios. Excel dashboards are used in numerous areas such as controlling, financial planning, capital budgeting and reporting. They support employees in the respective departments in their analyses and strategic decisions through the acquired data they find there.
Efficient data processing and analysis with Excel tools and functions
Excel provides a variety of tools and functions that simplify the processing of data and provide a clear overview. The useful tools and functions include, for example, tables and charts, which enable flexible and dynamic data analysis in companies, slicers and timeline filters facilitate control. Formulas and functions such as “IF” or “INDEX” can be used to perform calculations and automatically adapt to changes. Another important point regarding the efficient use of Excel dashboards is the help of Power Query and Power Pivot, which allows large amounts of data to be easily and efficiently evaluated, adjusted, imported or modalized.
To summarize
It is a great advantage for companies to introduce Excel dashboards into their departments, especially in departments such as HR and financial management. They help to work more efficiently and simplify processes, create a clear and transparent overview of data processing and visualize important key figures such as employee turnover, absenteeism, sales or cash flow.
Thanks to the elements and functions such as filters, charts, pivot tables, Power Query and Power Pivot offered by Excel Dashboards, the large and unclear amount of data can be filtered, analyzed and updated in a targeted manner so that the data is as up to date as possible.
Excel dashboards also promote strategic planning and save valuable time when creating reports. They support data-based management, are flexible and cost-effective for the company and save time.
Why should I be interested in this post?
As an ESSEC student, this article may be of interest because it shows how Excel dashboards in HR and finance can contribute to data-based decision-making and the important role they play in a company. Tools such as Excel dashboards are an important component in today’s world and a skill that is in great demand both in studies and in the professional world, as Excel dashboards help to analyze processes efficiently and present important key figures in an understandable way.
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About the author
The article was written in August 2025 by Alisa-Arifa AGALI ABDOU TOURÉ (ESSEC Business School, Global Bachelor of Business Administration – Exchange student from Germany, 2024-2025).