Simple Dashboards2.0.5

You can store large quantities of data in spreadsheets, and work with advanced expressions and formulae to perform necessary tasks. Data visualization is also possible through graphs, but to further expand visualization possibilities, Simple Dashboards comes as a powerful editing application with which to use data to build interactive dashboards.

Load values from databases or local files

The first time you launch the application you need to select the source of your data. This can be done from local files or external databases. As such, you can establish a connection to an SQL Server to use the Query Builder or SQL query, connect to an OLAP cube in an MS Analysis Services database, or load your data from a local XLS or CSV file.Once you load the file of interest things you get to the actual design part. Your canvas splits into a couple of sections, one to act as a data source selection panel, while the other is where you define and manage dashboard elements. Most management is done through drag and drop operations, thus making things a walk in the park for individuals of all levels of experience.

Various items to include and customize

The home menu is where you find all the element types to insert. As such, you get to use pivot, grid, chart, scatter chart, pies, gauges, cards, choropleth map, geo point map, image, text box, group, but also range filters, and the possibility to directly filter elements.Each object you add can be defined and manipulated on the spot. Data values from the source panel need to be dropped over data items of interest, with instant feedback provided in the dashboard item graphic.Items can be interconnected, so that the end-user can apply filters and select data to view in categories. The design tab lets you thoroughly configure the aspect and position of elements in the dashboard. When done, the dashboard can be exported to PDF or image.

In conclusion

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that Simple Dashboards is a neat application with which you can build cool dashboards using data from a variety of sources, such as SQL databases or local CSV files or spreadsheets.