Introduction

During the development of a typical Dashboard Design dashboard, the number of components on the canvas increases steadily and the exact type of used components may change over time. Also, several interactions between components are added and maybe one or more connections with external data sources are created. All those canvas components are bound to the Excel data model that has been defined in the spreadsheet area.

To prevent us from getting lost in an unmanageable chaos of components, interactions, bindings, and several different Excel functionalities, a structured approach should be followed right from the start of the dashboard development. Also, we should use the advantages Excel gives us to build an optimal data model that is easy to read and maintain.