What is a Real Time Dashboard? | Sisense
Skip to Main Content

Real Time Dashboard

What is a Real Time Dashboard?

A real-time dashboard is a type of visualization that is automatically updated with the most current data available. These kinds of visualizations feature a combination of historic data and real-time information that is useful for identifying emerging trends and monitoring efficiency. Real time dashboards usually contain data that is time-sensitive, like operational data, sales numbers, and inventory-related figures. 

Organizations operate in dynamic environments that are constantly changing, whether that means sales ebbs and flows, industry fluctuations, or the effect of certain news stories on the market. This flux produces operational challenges that must always be monitored. Bottlenecks in supply chains and logistics, over-ordering of products, or long hold times at call centers can mean losses in profits. Monitoring your productivity in real time makes it easier to make quick decisions with greater confidence.

Real-time dashboards can be tailored to provide the most relevant operational reporting data and make it easier to manage data on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, they can improve reporting, as they’re able to collate multiple data sources into a single page.

By offering a current snapshot of operations at a granular level with a real-time analytics dashboard, organizations can resolve problems faster and introduce fewer mistakes.

Data Visualization and Visual Analytics

Benefits of real-time dashboards

Incorporating the use of live dashboards into your business operations can help you save time by highlighting only the insights that are relevant to you. The ability to analyze your data as soon as it is created will give you the most relevant and immediate information. You can get — and stay — ahead of your competitors by identifying patterns and trends faster and with better accuracy.

Once your data is available to you in real time via live dashboards, you won’t want to be limited to accessing it only when you’re in the office or logged on to your network. With a BI solution like Sisense, you can develop a mobile analytics app or offer your customers a white-labeled mobile app, and give your users access to the most up-to-the-minute analytics and BI in their pockets.

Watch a video on four ways to design the best dashboards.

What can I use real-time dashboards for?

There are a variety of use cases in multiple industries for live dashboards. One of the most common applications is deploying just-in-time inventory management. Companies that prefer minimal warehousing must constantly monitor their real-time data for updates on current in-store levels, sales, and replenishing levels.

Re-ordering has to occur quickly and efficiently to avoid shortages or surpluses. By installing a live dashboard, an inventory manager could centralize these figures to uncover BI insights that might help. It could lead to setting automatic re-supply triggers when certain products are running low or improve ordering by highlighting demand for certain goods.

One of the more common dashboard examples is for logistics. Companies that handle international shipping and moving require precise data from multiple sources to function properly. Estimated delivery times, current locations, outstanding orders, and more need to be properly monitored to avoid holdups and ensure deliveries arrive at the correct destination.

Adding a live dashboard lets users make quicker decisions about rerouting couriers, prioritizing orders, and streamlining their delivery process. Executives and other non-technical users can easily interpret the results and find ways to reduce costs by visualizing expenses and resource allocation in real-time.

Back to Glossary

Want the latest in analytics?