KPI Dashboard Deck

About this template

For talking through numbers in a metrics meeting

Twelve slides for explaining monthly or quarterly numbers out loud. It is not for pasting dashboard screenshots; it compresses twenty managed metrics into four cards and walks the room through why they moved. An operations report that must list all twenty will not fit in this length.

What goes on the twelve slides

• Cover – reporting period and team. The label reads PROJECT MANAGEMENT, so replace it with something like “Q2 2026 metrics review”.
• Agenda, six items – metric framework / attainment / red-flag metrics / leading signals / data sources / next review. Only the first three have a divider and body.
• Three body slides – title, one summary line, three bullets: conclusion on the summary line, evidence in the bullets.
• Comparison slide – plan versus actual, or versus last quarter, three lines each.
• Four metric cards, four trend bars, one closing slide.

Leading signals, data sources and next review exist only in the agenda. Those questions always come up, so either duplicate a divider-plus-body pair for them or cut the agenda to three lines rather than promising slides that do not exist.

The four cards are already chosen for you

The defaults are 20 managed metrics, 91% average attainment, 3 red-flag metrics, refreshed at 06:00. Know that this set describes the state of the metric system itself rather than business results: how many you manage, what you hit on average, how many are at risk, and when the data refreshes. If you want business figures instead, replace all four but keep the shape – one for size, one for efficiency, one for speed, one for state. Keep the 06:00 refresh card if you can; without a cell stating when the numbers are from, the same question repeats every meeting.

How the three body slides are written

Conclusion on the summary line, evidence in the three bullets. The three slides narrow from framework to attainment to red flags, so do not reorder them.

• Framework – 6 financial, 5 customer, 9 operations and learning sum to 20, matching the “20 managed metrics” card. Change a count and the card must change too.
• Attainment – 12 green, 5 yellow, 3 red also sum to 20, and the 3 red equals the “3 red-flag metrics” card.
• Red flags – 2.1% signup conversion, 47 delayed shipments, first response at 3h12m: the value that fell below the line plus the cause. A metric whose cause you cannot state stalls the discussion, so push it to the next meeting.

The trend slide holds four bars and no more

It renders 76 in March, 83 in June, 87 in September, 91 in December as bar lengths. The final 91 equals the 91% attainment card, so it reads as attainment climbing quarter by quarter. Twelve months would mean drawing new shapes, so compress to four quarters or four years, and write the unit on the slide.

How to lose credibility in a metrics review

• Shrinking shapes to force six metrics into four cards, so the type sizes differ and nothing compares at a glance.
• Omitting the basis period, so nobody knows whether 91% is the year to date or December alone.
• Counting three red flags on the card but explaining only two in the body; a mismatch sends every other card back for verification.