What defines an executive dashboard?

An executive dashboard is specifically designed to provide high-level insights and summarize key performance indicators (KPIs) that are critical to an organization's strategic objectives. This type of dashboard typically focuses on long-term trends, allowing executives to quickly assess the health of the business and make informed decisions based on the overarching data patterns and strategic goals.

By showing overviews of long-term trends, an executive dashboard enables leaders to see how various metrics change over time, which helps in forecasting future performance and aligning actions with organizational goals. The focus on long-term trends distinguishes executive dashboards from other tools that may center on daily operations or detailed reports.

Other options, such as managing day-to-day tasks or displaying all employee activities, are more appropriate for operational dashboards or project management tools, which are aimed at specific workflows and immediate tasks. Similarly, a report focused solely on monthly expenditures provides detailed financial insights, but it lacks the comprehensive, strategic perspective that an executive dashboard is designed to present.