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Phase: Measure | Version: 2.0.0 | Category: validation | License: Apache-2.0

Try it: /dashboard-requirements "Your context here"

Dashboard Requirements

A dashboard requirements document specifies what questions a dashboard should answer, what metrics it displays, and how data should be visualized. Clear requirements help data teams build dashboards that actually inform decisions rather than just displaying numbers.

When to Use

  • When requesting a new dashboard from data/analytics teams
  • To define KPI tracking for a product, feature, or team
  • When formalizing ad-hoc reporting into a persistent dashboard
  • Before quarterly planning to specify what visibility you need
  • When onboarding stakeholders who need self-serve analytics

How to Use

Use the /dashboard-requirements slash command:

/dashboard-requirements "Your context here"

Or reference the skill file directly: skills/measure-dashboard-requirements/SKILL.md

Instructions

When asked to specify dashboard requirements, follow these steps:

  1. Define the Purpose Start with the questions this dashboard should answer, not the charts it should show. What decisions will this dashboard inform? A dashboard without clear purpose becomes a vanity metrics display.

  2. Identify the Audience Specify who will use this dashboard, how often, and in what context. An executive weekly review has different needs than a team's daily standup board.

  3. Specify Key Metrics For each metric, document: name, business definition (in plain language), calculation formula, data source, and baseline/target values. Ambiguous metrics lead to misaligned dashboards.

  4. Design Visualizations Recommend chart types based on what the data should communicate. Time trends need line charts; comparisons need bar charts; compositions need pie/treemaps. Include dimension breakdowns.

  5. Define Filters and Segments Specify what drill-downs users need: date ranges, user segments, product areas, geographic regions. Anticipate the "slice and dice" questions users will ask.

  6. Document Data Sources Identify where data comes from and any known data quality issues. Note latency requirements—does the dashboard need real-time data or is daily refresh sufficient?

  7. Set Permissions and Access Determine who can view what. Some metrics may need restricted access. Consider both security requirements and organizational politics.

Output Template

Dashboard Requirements: [Dashboard Name]

Overview

Dashboard Name: [Name] Requestor: [Who requested this] Date: [When requirements captured] Priority: [High/Medium/Low] Target Delivery: [When needed]


Purpose and Questions

Primary Questions This Dashboard Answers

  1. [Question 1 - e.g., "Are users successfully completing onboarding?"]
  2. [Question 2 - e.g., "Where do users drop off in the funnel?"]
  3. [Question 3 - e.g., "Which cohorts have the best retention?"]

Decisions This Will Inform

  • [Decision 1]
  • [Decision 2]
  • [Decision 3]

What This Dashboard Is NOT For

  • [Out of scope item 1]
  • [Out of scope item 2]

Audience

Audience Usage Frequency Primary Questions
[Role/Team 1] [Daily/Weekly/Monthly] [What they care about]
[Role/Team 2] [Daily/Weekly/Monthly] [What they care about]
[Role/Team 3] [Daily/Weekly/Monthly] [What they care about]

Usage Context

When will this be viewed? [E.g., "Weekly team meeting review", "Daily morning check", "Monthly board prep"]

What device/format? [E.g., "Desktop browser", "TV screen in office", "Mobile for on-the-go"]


Key Metrics

Metric 1: [Metric Name]

Attribute Value
Business Definition [Plain language explanation]
Calculation [Formula: numerator / denominator, etc.]
Data Source [Where data comes from]
Granularity [Daily/Weekly/Monthly]
Current Baseline [Current value if known]
Target [Goal value]
Notes [Edge cases, known issues]

Metric 2: [Metric Name]

Attribute Value
Business Definition [Plain language explanation]
Calculation [Formula: numerator / denominator, etc.]
Data Source [Where data comes from]
Granularity [Daily/Weekly/Monthly]
Current Baseline [Current value if known]
Target [Goal value]
Notes [Edge cases, known issues]

Metric 3: [Metric Name]

Attribute Value
Business Definition [Plain language explanation]
Calculation [Formula: numerator / denominator, etc.]
Data Source [Where data comes from]
Granularity [Daily/Weekly/Monthly]
Current Baseline [Current value if known]
Target [Goal value]
Notes [Edge cases, known issues]

Metrics Summary Table

Metric Definition Source Target
[Metric 1] [Short definition] [Source] [Target]
[Metric 2] [Short definition] [Source] [Target]
[Metric 3] [Short definition] [Source] [Target]
[Metric 4] [Short definition] [Source] [Target]

Visualization Specifications

Chart 1: [Chart Title]

Attribute Value
Purpose [What question this answers]
Chart Type [Line/Bar/Pie/Table/etc.]
X-Axis [Dimension - e.g., Date, Category]
Y-Axis [Metric(s)]
Series/Breakdown [How data is grouped]
Interactivity [Tooltips, drill-down, click actions]
Position [Top-left, prominent, etc.]

Chart 2: [Chart Title]

Attribute Value
Purpose [What question this answers]
Chart Type [Line/Bar/Pie/Table/etc.]
X-Axis [Dimension - e.g., Date, Category]
Y-Axis [Metric(s)]
Series/Breakdown [How data is grouped]
Interactivity [Tooltips, drill-down, click actions]
Position [Top-left, prominent, etc.]

Chart 3: [Chart Title]

Attribute Value
Purpose [What question this answers]
Chart Type [Line/Bar/Pie/Table/etc.]
X-Axis [Dimension - e.g., Date, Category]
Y-Axis [Metric(s)]
Series/Breakdown [How data is grouped]
Interactivity [Tooltips, drill-down, click actions]
Position [Top-left, prominent, etc.]

Dashboard Layout Sketch

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [KPI Card 1]  [KPI Card 2]  [KPI Card 3]      │
├────────────────────────┬────────────────────────┤
│                        │                        │
│   [Chart 1: Trend]     │   [Chart 2: Funnel]   │
│                        │                        │
├────────────────────────┴────────────────────────┤
│                                                 │
│            [Chart 3: Detailed Table]            │
│                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Filters and Segments

Global Filters

Filter Type Default Value Options
Date Range Date picker Last 30 days Custom, presets
[Filter 2] [Dropdown/Multi-select] [Default] [Options]
[Filter 3] [Dropdown/Multi-select] [Default] [Options]

Chart-Specific Filters

Chart Filter Type
[Chart 1] [Filter] [Type]
[Chart 2] [Filter] [Type]

Segment Definitions

Segment Name Definition Use Case
[Segment 1] [Criteria] [When to use]
[Segment 2] [Criteria] [When to use]

Data Sources

Primary Sources

Source Type Owner Latency Quality Notes
[Source 1] [Database/API/File] [Team] [Real-time/Daily/etc.] [Known issues]
[Source 2] [Database/API/File] [Team] [Real-time/Daily/etc.] [Known issues]

Data Pipeline Requirements

Refresh Frequency: [Real-time / Hourly / Daily / Weekly] Refresh Time: [When refresh should complete, e.g., "by 6am UTC"] Historical Data Needed: [How far back, e.g., "Last 12 months"] Data Retention: [How long to keep, e.g., "Rolling 2 years"]

Data Quality Considerations

  • [Known data quality issue 1 and how to handle]
  • [Known data quality issue 2 and how to handle]

Access and Permissions

Access Levels

Role/Group Access Level Restrictions
[Group 1] Full access None
[Group 2] View only Cannot export
[Group 3] Limited Only sees [section]

Sensitive Data

Data Element Sensitivity Handling
[Element 1] [PII/Confidential/etc.] [Mask/Aggregate/Restrict]

Alerts and Thresholds

Condition Threshold Action Recipients
[Metric 1] drops below [Value] Send email [Who]
[Metric 2] exceeds [Value] Slack alert [Channel]

Acceptance Criteria

  • All metrics match definitions when spot-checked
  • Filters work correctly across all charts
  • Dashboard loads in under [X] seconds
  • All users can access with correct permissions
  • Data refreshes by [time] each day

Open Questions

  • [Question 1 for data team]
  • [Question 2 needing clarification]

Appendix

  • [Link to related dashboard 1]
  • [Link to related dashboard 2]

Reference Documents

  • [Link to metric definitions]
  • [Link to data dictionary]

Requirements version 1.0. Update as needs evolve.

Example Output

Dashboard Requirements: Product Health Dashboard

Dashboard Requirements: Product Health Dashboard

Overview

Dashboard Name: Product Health Dashboard Requestor: Maya Johnson, Product Manager Date: January 2026 Priority: High Target Delivery: End of Q1 2026


Purpose and Questions

Primary Questions This Dashboard Answers

  1. Are users healthy? What is our overall user engagement and are users getting value from the product?
  2. Where do users struggle? Which parts of the product have the highest friction or drop-off?
  3. What features drive retention? Which features, when adopted, correlate with long-term retention?
  4. Are we trending up or down? How do key metrics compare to previous periods?

Decisions This Will Inform

  • Prioritization of product improvements based on friction points
  • Feature investment decisions based on retention correlation
  • Resource allocation to high-impact areas
  • Early warning on user health problems before they hit revenue

What This Dashboard Is NOT For

  • Deep-dive analysis on specific features (separate feature dashboards exist)
  • Real-time operational monitoring (use DataDog for that)
  • Individual user support (use admin tools)
  • Financial/revenue metrics (finance owns that dashboard)

Audience

Audience Usage Frequency Primary Questions
Product Team Daily Feature adoption, user friction
Leadership Weekly Overall health trends, KPIs
Engineering Weekly Error rates, performance impact on UX
Customer Success Daily Account health signals

Usage Context

When will this be viewed? - Product team: Daily standup (quick KPI check) and weekly deep-dive - Leadership: Weekly product review meeting - CS: Before customer calls to assess account health

What device/format? - Desktop browser (primary) - Shared on TV in product team area - Exported to PDF for monthly board reports


Key Metrics

Metric 1: Daily Active Users (DAU)

Attribute Value
Business Definition Unique users who performed any meaningful action in the product on a given day
Calculation COUNT(DISTINCT user_id) WHERE action_type NOT IN ('login', 'logout') AND event_date = date
Data Source events.user_actions table
Granularity Daily
Current Baseline 12,400
Target 15,000 by end of Q2
Notes Excludes bot accounts and internal users

Metric 2: DAU/MAU Ratio (Stickiness)

Attribute Value
Business Definition Ratio of daily active users to monthly active users, indicating how often users return
Calculation DAU / MAU (rolling 30-day MAU)
Data Source Derived from events.user_actions
Granularity Daily
Current Baseline 0.32 (32%)
Target 0.40 (40%)
Notes Industry benchmark for SaaS is 0.20-0.40

Metric 3: Feature Adoption Rate

Attribute Value
Business Definition Percentage of MAU who have used each core feature at least once in the past 30 days
Calculation COUNT(DISTINCT users who used feature) / MAU
Data Source events.feature_usage table
Granularity Daily (rolling 30-day)
Current Baseline Varies by feature (see chart)
Target Top 5 features > 50% adoption
Notes Breakdown by feature; shows per-feature adoption

Metric 4: User Retention (Cohort-based)

Attribute Value
Business Definition Percentage of users from a signup cohort who are still active after N days
Calculation (Active users in cohort at day N) / (Total users in cohort)
Data Source events.user_actions + users.signups
Granularity Weekly cohorts, measured at D7, D14, D30, D60, D90
Current Baseline D30: 42%
Target D30: 55%
Notes Compare cohorts over time to see if retention is improving

Metric 5: Time to First Value (TTFV)

Attribute Value
Business Definition Time from signup to completing first meaningful action (creating first project)
Calculation MEDIAN(first_project_created_at - signup_at)
Data Source users.signups + events.project_created
Granularity Daily (rolling 7-day average)
Current Baseline 2.3 days
Target < 1 day
Notes Users who never create a project counted as NULL/excluded

Metrics Summary Table

Metric Definition Source Target
DAU Unique users with meaningful action events.user_actions 15,000
DAU/MAU Stickiness ratio Derived 40%
Feature Adoption % MAU using each feature events.feature_usage Top 5 > 50%
D30 Retention Users active 30 days post-signup events + users 55%
TTFV Time to first project creation events + users < 1 day

Visualization Specifications

Chart 1: KPI Summary Cards

Attribute Value
Purpose At-a-glance health check of key metrics
Chart Type KPI Cards (4 cards in a row)
Metrics Shown DAU, DAU/MAU, D30 Retention, TTFV
Comparison Show vs. previous period and vs. target
Interactivity Click card to see trend chart
Position Top of dashboard, most prominent

Chart 2: Engagement Trend

Attribute Value
Purpose Show DAU and MAU trends over time
Chart Type Line chart with dual axis
X-Axis Date (daily)
Y-Axis Left: DAU, Right: DAU/MAU ratio
Series/Breakdown DAU line, MAU line, DAU/MAU line
Interactivity Hover for values, zoom on date range
Position Top-left main section

Chart 3: Feature Adoption Breakdown

Attribute Value
Purpose Show which features users are/aren't adopting
Chart Type Horizontal bar chart
X-Axis Adoption rate (%)
Y-Axis Feature name
Series/Breakdown Single series, sorted by adoption
Interactivity Click bar to see feature trend over time
Position Top-right main section

Chart 4: Retention Cohort Heatmap

Attribute Value
Purpose Compare retention across weekly cohorts
Chart Type Cohort heatmap (weeks × retention periods)
X-Axis Days since signup (D1, D7, D14, D30, D60, D90)
Y-Axis Signup week cohort
Series/Breakdown Color intensity = retention %
Interactivity Hover for exact values
Position Middle section, full width

Chart 5: Funnel Drop-off Analysis

Attribute Value
Purpose Identify where users struggle in key flows
Chart Type Funnel chart
X-Axis Funnel step
Y-Axis Users (absolute and %)
Series/Breakdown Steps: Signup → Onboarding Complete → First Project → Invited Team → Paid
Interactivity Click step to see breakdown by segment
Position Bottom-left

Chart 6: Detailed Metrics Table

Attribute Value
Purpose Detailed view for deep-dive analysis
Chart Type Data table with sorting
Columns Date, DAU, MAU, DAU/MAU, New Signups, Churned Users, Feature 1-5 adoption
Interactivity Sort by any column, export to CSV
Position Bottom section, collapsible

Dashboard Layout Sketch

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [DAU: 12.4K]  [Stickiness: 32%]  [D30 Ret: 42%]  [TTFV: 2.3d]    │
│     ▲ +5%          ▼ -2%              ▲ +3%           ▼ +0.2d      │
├────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                │                                    │
│  📈 Engagement Trend           │  📊 Feature Adoption               │
│  [Line chart: DAU/MAU]         │  [Horizontal bars by feature]     │
│                                │                                    │
├────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                     │
│  🔲 Retention Cohort Heatmap                                        │
│  [Week cohorts × D1/D7/D14/D30/D60/D90]                            │
│                                                                     │
├────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                │                                    │
│  ⬇️ Funnel Analysis            │  📋 Detailed Data Table            │
│  [Signup → Value funnel]       │  [Sortable metric table]          │
│                                │                                    │
└────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘

Filters and Segments

Global Filters

Filter Type Default Value Options
Date Range Date picker Last 30 days Last 7/30/90 days, MTD, QTD, Custom
Plan Type Multi-select All Free, Starter, Professional, Enterprise
User Segment Multi-select All New (<30d), Active, At-risk, Churned
Platform Dropdown All Web, iOS, Android

Chart-Specific Filters

Chart Filter Type
Feature Adoption Feature category Dropdown (Core, Advanced, Admin)
Funnel Entry point Dropdown (Organic, Paid, Referral)

Segment Definitions

Segment Name Definition Use Case
New Users Signed up within last 30 days Track onboarding effectiveness
At-Risk No login in 14+ days but not churned Target for re-engagement
Power Users > 20 sessions per month Understand ideal user behavior
Enterprise On Enterprise plan Compare enterprise vs. SMB health

Data Sources

Primary Sources

Source Type Owner Latency Quality Notes
events.user_actions Snowflake table Data Engineering 1 hour 99.9% complete
events.feature_usage Snowflake table Data Engineering 1 hour Some features not instrumented
users.signups Snowflake table Data Engineering Real-time Authoritative source
users.subscriptions Snowflake table Data Engineering Daily Synced from Stripe

Data Pipeline Requirements

Refresh Frequency: Hourly during business hours, daily overnight Refresh Time: Dashboard current as of top-of-hour; overnight refresh complete by 6am UTC Historical Data Needed: Last 24 months Data Retention: Aggregated data retained indefinitely; raw events 24 months

Data Quality Considerations

  • Bot traffic filtered but occasional false positives; flag if DAU spikes >20% unexpectedly
  • Feature usage for "Reports" feature incomplete before Nov 2025 (instrumentation added)
  • Enterprise accounts have multiple users; user_id is individual, account_id needed for account-level views

Access and Permissions

Access Levels

Role/Group Access Level Restrictions
Product Team Full access None
Engineering Full access None
Leadership Full access None
Customer Success Limited Cannot see individual user data
Sales View only Cannot export, account-level only

Sensitive Data

Data Element Sensitivity Handling
User email PII Not displayed; use user_id
Account name Confidential Visible to CS/Sales only

Alerts and Thresholds

Condition Threshold Action Recipients
DAU drops below 10,000 Email + Slack Product team
D30 retention drops below 35% Email PM + Leadership
TTFV exceeds 5 days Slack Onboarding squad
Feature adoption (any) drops >10% week-over-week Email Feature owner

Acceptance Criteria

  • All 5 core metrics display correctly and match manual SQL verification
  • Cohort retention heatmap shows at least 12 weeks of historical cohorts
  • All filters work across all charts simultaneously
  • Dashboard loads in under 5 seconds on standard connection
  • Data refreshes correctly by 7am UTC each morning
  • CS team confirms they can access account-level data
  • Export to CSV works for detailed table
  • Mobile-responsive for leadership checking on phones

Open Questions

  • Should we include revenue/MRR on this dashboard or keep it separate?
  • Do we need real-time DAU or is hourly sufficient?
  • Should cohorts be weekly or monthly granularity?

Appendix

  • Feature Deep-Dive: Reporting (dashboard link)
  • Onboarding Funnel Dashboard (dashboard link)
  • Finance & Revenue Dashboard (dashboard link)

Reference Documents

  • Metric Definitions Wiki (internal link)
  • Data Dictionary (internal link)
  • Instrumentation Spec for Feature Tracking (internal link)

Requirements version 1.0. Update as needs evolve.

Real-World Examples

See this skill applied to three different product contexts:

Storevine (B2B): Storevine B2B ecommerce platform — Campaigns adoption and revenue analytics dashboard requirements

Prompt:

/dashboard-requirements

Dashboard: Campaigns adoption and revenue — post-GA monitoring
Audience: Growth PM (daily), Merchant Success (weekly), Head of Product
          (monthly board prep)

Key questions to answer:
1. Are non-adopter merchants sending their first campaign?
   (primary hypothesis metric: first-send rate, 60-day window)
2. Is Campaigns driving measurable revenue for merchants?
   (7-day attributed revenue per campaign send)
3. Is the email-related churn rate declining since GA?
   (churn cohort analysis: merchants with and without Campaigns sends)

Metrics needed:
- First-send rate (60-day, non-adopter segment)
- Campaigns-attributed revenue (7-day window, rolling)
- Active Campaigns merchants (sent ≥1 campaign in last 30 days)
- Churn rate by Campaigns usage cohort
- Send failure rate and unsubscribe rate (guardrails)

Analytics platform: Amplitude (events) + Storevine order DB (revenue)

Need: full dashboard requirements doc with metric definitions,
visualizations, filters, data sources, and acceptance criteria.

Output:

Dashboard Requirements: Campaigns Adoption and Revenue

Brainshelf (Consumer): Brainshelf consumer PKM app — Resurface experiment dashboard requirements for Amplitude

Prompt:

/dashboard-requirements

resurface experiment dashboard for amplitude. need it ready before
the a/b test starts (mar 9).

two audiences:
1. product team (priya, chloe, alex, jordan) — daily monitoring
   during the 4-week test
2. marco (ceo) — weekly exec check-in, needs a single-screen summary

questions the dashboard should answer:
- is the treatment group returning more than control?
- are users clicking items in the digest?
- is the unsubscribe rate within the guardrail?
- what's the opt-in funnel conversion rate?
- are there segment differences (library size, cadence)?

charts i want:
1. 7-day return rate trend (treatment vs control, weekly)
2. email CTR trend (daily)
3. opt-in funnel (card viewed → opted in)
4. unsubscribe rate trend (weekly, with guardrail line)
5. segment breakdown table (library size, cadence)

filters: date range, experiment variant, library size segment.

Output:

Dashboard Requirements: Resurface Experiment Dashboard

Workbench (Enterprise): Workbench enterprise collaboration platform: Blueprints post-launch monitoring dashboard requirements

Prompt:

/dashboard-requirements

I need dashboard requirements for the Blueprints post-launch monitoring dashboard. Here's the context:

**Audiences:**
1. Rachel V. (PM) -- daily check: adoption trends, approval bottlenecks, template usage
2. Sandra C. (Head of Product) -- weekly review: executive summary, account growth, key health metrics
3. Karen L. (Engineering) -- real-time: system health, merge latency, error rates

**Key metrics from the PRD and experiment results:**
- Median time-to-approved (target: ≤2.5 days [fictional])
- Empty-section submission rate (target: ≤10% [fictional])
- Approval cycle count (target: ≤1.5 cycles [fictional])
- Blueprint adoption: monthly active Blueprint creators (target: 2,000 [fictional])
- Enterprise account growth (target: 500 → 650 in 12 months [fictional])

**Data sources:**
- Workbench analytics pipeline (event data from instrumentation spec)
- WebSocket provider telemetry (merge latency, connection count, error rate)
- CRM pipeline (account growth, enterprise tier)
- Support ticketing system (Blueprint-related ticket volume)

**Visualization preferences:**
- Time-to-approved: trend line over time (weekly median)
- Adoption: stacked area chart by department/template type
- Approval funnel: horizontal funnel chart
- System health: real-time gauges with alert thresholds

Please generate the full dashboard requirements including layout, filters, alerts, and acceptance criteria.

Output:

Dashboard Requirements: Blueprints Post-Launch Monitor

Quality Checklist

Before finalizing, verify:

  • Purpose is framed as questions to answer, not charts to build
  • All metrics have clear definitions and calculation formulas
  • Data sources are identified and accessible
  • Visualization choices match the type of insight needed
  • Filters enable the drill-downs users will want
  • Refresh frequency matches decision-making cadence

Output Format

Use the template in references/TEMPLATE.md to structure the output.