DIY? How to build an executive communications dashboard with the tools you already have

You can build a one-page communications dashboard your leadership actually reads, using a spreadsheet and a tool like Looker Studio. It takes a few days to set up and a few hours each month to keep alive. Here is the method, step by step, and the faster way once you outgrow it.

Step 1. List the decisions leadership makes with communications data

Start from the meeting, before any data. Write down the five decisions your leadership team takes where communications matters. For example: which campaign gets more budget, whether a reputation issue needs escalating, which market to prioritise, whether an agency contract renews.

Every item on the dashboard must serve one of those decisions. Anything else goes.

Step 2. Choose five to seven indicators

Pick indicators that serve those decisions and that leadership already understands. A balanced set usually covers:

Keep the same indicators every month. Consistency builds trust faster than any single impressive number.

Step 3. Map every source and its owner

For each indicator, write down where the number comes from, who sends it, and when. Agencies, platforms, colleagues, freelancers: list them all. This map becomes your collection checklist, and it usually reveals why reporting takes so long.

Step 4. Set a collection rhythm everyone can keep

Agree on one date each week or month when every source sends its numbers, in one shared template. Social media and web analytics can be pulled weekly. Press coverage and agency results usually work monthly. Brand studies stay quarterly or yearly. Write those rhythms on the dashboard so leadership knows what each number covers.

Step 5. Build it in a spreadsheet and Looker Studio

1. Create one Google Sheet with a tab per source and a summary tab with your five to seven indicators.

2. Connect Google Analytics and any platform with a native Looker Studio connector directly.

3. Paste or import the rest into its tab on your collection date.

4. In Looker Studio, connect the summary tab and build one scorecard per indicator, each with its change from last month.

5. Add one trend chart per indicator over the last twelve months.

6. Share the report link with leadership and set it to refresh automatically.

Step 6. Design the one-page executive view

Leadership reads the top of the page and rarely scrolls. Order it like this:

1. Objective: what this period was meant to achieve.

2. Investment: budget and team time spent.

3. Actions: the main campaigns and moments.

4. Results: your indicators, with trends.

5. Next move: one recommendation and what you need to make it happen.

Where the manual build reaches its limits

• Someone still pastes numbers in every month, so the dashboard is only as fresh as its slowest source.

• Connections break when a platform changes or a subscription lapses.

• The logic lives with whoever built it, and leaves when they do.

• It shows results, and tells you little about what needs your attention today.

The faster way: kààt

kààt is an all-in-one dashboard suite for communications leaders, with monitoring, decision-making and reporting in one place. We pull the data from the tools you already use daily. In real time. It gives you the executive view above without the manual assembly, so your time goes to the decisions.

Frequently asked questions

What should an executive communications dashboard include? Five to seven indicators tied to leadership's decisions, each with a trend, plus objective, investment, actions and a recommendation.

Do I need Power BI or Tableau? No. A spreadsheet and Looker Studio cover most teams. Business intelligence tools help when you have an analyst and many sources.

How often should it update? Weekly for social media and web data, monthly for press and agency results, quarterly or yearly for brand studies.

Get the dashboard without the build

The first round of kààt demos ships in mid-October. Join the waitlist for the next round at getkaat.com.