Sales Dashboard Project

Project Overview

Build a professional sales dashboard with:

• KPI cards
• Sales trends
• Product analysis
• Regional breakdown
• Interactive filters

Requirements

Data needed:

• Sales transactions (Date, Product, Amount, Quantity, Region)
• Product details (Name, Category, Price)
• Customer info (Name, Region, Type)

Visuals to create:

• 4 KPI cards (Revenue, Orders, Customers, Avg Order)
• Sales trend line chart
• Sales by product bar chart
• Sales by region map
• Top customers table
• Date and region slicers

Step-by-Step Build

1. Get Data

Load your sales data (Excel, SQL, CSV)

Transform in Power Query:

• Remove blanks
• Fix data types
• Add calculated columns if needed
• Create Date table

2. Build Model

Relationships:

• Sales to Products
• Sales to Customers
• Sales to Calendar

Star schema!

3. Create Measures

Key measures:

• Total Revenue = SUM(Sales[Amount])
• Total Orders = COUNTROWS(Sales)
• Unique Customers = DISTINCTCOUNT(Sales[CustomerID])
• Avg Order = DIVIDE([Total Revenue], [Total Orders])
• LY Revenue = CALCULATE([Total Revenue], SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(Calendar[Date]))
• YoY Growth = DIVIDE([Total Revenue] - [LY Revenue], [LY Revenue])

4. Design Layout

Top row: 4 KPI cards Left: Date slicer, Region slicer Center: Sales trend Bottom: Product bars, Regional map, Top customers

5. Build Visuals

Cards: Revenue, Orders, Customers, Avg Order

Line chart:

• X-axis: Date (Month)
• Y-axis: Total Revenue
• Add reference line for target

Bar chart:

• Y-axis: Product
• X-axis: Revenue
• Sort descending
• Top 10 filter

Map:

• Location: Region
• Size: Revenue

Table:

• Customer, Revenue, Orders
• Top 10 filter
• Conditional formatting

6. Format Everything

Consistent colors: Use theme (View > Themes)

Font sizes: Cards = 60pt, Charts = 12pt

Alignment: Use snap to grid

White space: Don't crowd!

7. Add Interactivity

Slicers: Date (relative: This year) Region (dropdown)

Cross-filtering: Click product > see regional breakdown

Tooltips: Hover for details

8. Test

Try all scenarios:

• Different date ranges
• All regions
• Click interactions
• Mobile view

Enhancements

Add these features:

Drill-through page: Product details when right-click

Bookmarks: Save "This Month" vs "This Year" views

Buttons: Toggle between charts

Conditional formatting: Red/green for growth

Common Challenges

Data quality issues: Clean in Power Query

Slow performance: Reduce visuals, add filters

Wrong totals: Check relationships

Doesn't look professional: Use theme, align visuals

Final Checklist

• All visuals load quickly (< 3 seconds)
• Numbers make sense
• Colors consistent
• Aligned properly
• Works on mobile
• Tested with real users
• Refresh schedule set

Next Steps

Build Financial Analysis Dashboard!

Tip: This project practices everything you've learned. Take your time!