For many agencies, dashboards start as reporting tools. Leaders want visibility into production, workloads or renewal activity, so dashboards are created to track performance.

But agencies that get the most value from their dashboards often take a different approach.

Inspired by a recent ACN “Epic Dashboards Power User: Ask Me Anything” session, here are three ways to get the most from your dashboards.

1. Build Around Tedious Tasks

Before building a dashboard, identify where your team is losing time.

Are supervisors pulling multiple reports each week to understand team performance? Are employees hunting through activities to find overdue work? Are recurring data quality issues surfacing during audits?

One participant described a process that required information from 13 to 14 separate reports and several hours of spreadsheet manipulation every week. Rather than continuing to manage the process manually, the agency built a dashboard that consolidated the information into a single view, eliminating hours of repetitive work.

Another agency created a dashboard specifically to help identify potential surplus lines filing issues before they became compliance concerns. The dashboard wasn't created because someone wanted another report. It was created because the agency had a specific operational risk it wanted to manage more effectively.

The best dashboards solve these kinds of operational challenges. Instead of asking, “What dashboard should we build?” ask, “What process is creating the most frustration?” The answer will often point you toward the most valuable dashboard opportunity.

2. Make Dashboards Part of the Daily Workflow

The most effective dashboards aren't just for managers. Several participants described using dashboards as employee-facing tools that help team members stay on top of their own work.

Instead of waiting for a manager to identify a problem, employees can quickly see overdue activities, missed expirations, pending reviews, unmatched downloads, or missing information that requires attention.

One agency even refers to its dashboard as a “self-correct report card.” Team members start with a summary dashboard that highlights issues requiring attention, then drill directly into the underlying records to resolve them.

Another agency uses dashboards to visualize workloads across account management teams. Employees can see not only their own open activities but also the workload of colleagues, making it easier to prioritize work and rebalance assignments when necessary.

Think of a dashboard as an operational home screen. Rather than searching for information across reports, spreadsheets and multiple system views, employees can start their day knowing exactly what requires attention.

3. Start Small and Let Them Evolve

One theme that surfaced repeatedly during the “Ask Me Anything” session was that dashboard programs rarely start fully formed.

Many agencies begin with a standard dashboard or a single-use case, then expand them over time as they identify additional opportunities. Several participants shared that some of their most-used tools are out-of-the-box dashboards that they expanded and refined over time.

One agency has progressed to highly customized dashboards that combine information from multiple explorers into a single view. Another built a specialized one to monitor issues like policy download exceptions and data-quality concerns.

The key is not to wait for the perfect design. Build something useful, gather feedback and improve it. The most successful dashboards tend to evolve alongside the needs of the agency.

Beyond Reporting

At their best, dashboards offer more than data visualization. They help agencies reduce manual work, increase accountability, improve data quality and make it easier for teams to focus on what matters most.

The next time you're considering a new dashboard, don't start with the metrics you want to track. Start with the problem you want to solve. The data will follow.

Want to learn more about Epic Dashboards? Explore the ACN Learning Center for recordings, training resources and upcoming live sessions designed to help agencies get more value from their data and workflows.