PROGRO
Almost every scaling company reaches a point where leadership asks: “Can we get a dashboard for this?”
The natural instinct is to spin one up quickly in Looker, Power BI, or GA4.
But here’s the problem: if the tracking underneath is broken, the dashboard will only mislead faster.
Dashboards are the end product of analytics. Tracking is the foundation. Get the order wrong, and you’ll end up with charts no one trusts.
Why Dashboards Fail Without Good Tracking
- Inconsistent event names → metrics defined differently in each chart.
- Missing conversions → funnels with unexplained drop-offs.
- Misaligned definitions → finance vs marketing vs product numbers don’t match.
The result: fancy visualisations that spark more arguments than action.
Tracking First, Dashboards Later
- Think of analytics like building a house:
- Tracking = the foundation (solid, consistent event data).
- Metrics layer = the frame (clear definitions everyone agrees on).
- Dashboards = the paint and windows (how people interact with the data).
If the foundation is shaky, the paint job won’t fix it.
How to Get the Order Right
- Start with a Tracking Plan: Document every event, property, and definition.
- Validate Tracking in Production: Test events firing across all platforms.
- Define a Metrics Layer: Create agreed definitions (e.g., what counts as “active user”).
- Then Build Dashboards: Layer dashboards on top of reliable, trusted data.
What Good Looks Like
- Dashboards with 10–15 core metrics, not 50.
- Clear ownership: growth team knows where “sign-ups” come from, finance knows where “revenue” comes from.
- Reports that align across teams instead of contradicting each other.
👉 When tracking comes first, dashboards don’t just look good, they become a single source of truth.
Dashboards are only as strong as the tracking underneath them.If you’re frustrated with inconsistent charts, don’t redesign the dashboard — fix the foundation.
📩 Want help cleaning your tracking before your next dashboard build? Let’s talk.
