The Dashboard Creator

Your Financial Dashboard

Numbers and grids are fantastic for detailed analysis, but sometimes you (or your investors) just need to see the big picture. CompassForecasting includes a powerful, automated Dashboard to visualize your financial future.

Accessing the Dashboard

The Dashboard isn’t available immediately when you create a worksheet. Because it relies on final, calculated data (like Net Profit and closing Bank Balances), the “View Dashboard” button only appears on the main sidebar after you have successfully generated your reports.

Note: Ensure you leave the “Dashboard & BI” checkbox toggled ON when generating your reports!

When you click View Dashboard, it opens a dedicated control panel in the sidebar where you can build and customize your charts.

Building Your Visuals

You don’t need to be a spreadsheet guru to build beautiful charts. Using the Dashboard Builder in the sidebar, you can easily add visuals directly to your Dashboard tab:

1. Select a Metric: Choose from a list of automatically calculated key performance indicators (KPIs), such as Total Revenue, Net Profit, or closing Cash Balance.
2. Choose a Chart Type: Pick the visual style that best tells your story (Line, Column, Area, Combo, Bar, or Pie chart).
3. Add to Dashboard: Click the button, and the system will instantly generate a perfectly formatted chart on your Dashboard tab.

You can add as many charts as you need, then drag and resize them on the spreadsheet canvas to create the perfect presentation layout.

How It Works (And the Golden Rule of Hidden Sheets)

When you generate reports, CompassForecasting does a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes. It takes all the complex data from your P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow, and flattens it into a special hidden spreadsheet tab (usually called ChartData).

Every chart on your Dashboard pulls its information directly from this hidden sheet.

The Golden Rule: If you see this hidden sheet, do not edit, delete, or unhide it. The system automatically manages this data sheet. If you modify it, your charts will break. It’s best to just leave it hidden and let the engine do its job!

Rolling Over: The Real Magic

The true power of the Dashboard is revealed as time goes on.

When a new month begins and you perform a Roll Forward (which updates your forecast by moving the start date forward one month and pulling in your latest Xero actuals), you might expect your charts to break or need manual updating.

Not with CompassForecasting! After a rollover, you simply hit Generate Reports again. The system will automatically delete the old hidden data sheet, rebuild a brand new one spanning your new time horizon, and dynamically reconnect all your existing charts to the fresh data.

Your entire Dashboard—with all your custom layouts and specific metrics—will instantly update to reflect the new month, with zero manual formatting required.