2 Methods for Creating KPI Cards (that are easier than my method)
A few months ago, I published my Superstore KPI Dashboard to Tableau Public. This dashboard is very similar to a dashboard that I built for a client. One major difference is that this Tableau Public dashboard shows sales for every single "KPI Card" just sliced by Subcategory, where the client dashboard showed a different measure for every KPI Card.
I followed up this dashboard with a blog post about how I typically create these KPI Cards in Tableau. The truth is, building these takes a lot of calculations, a lot of sheets, and a lot of time. My blog post introduces 4 different calculations used to create a KPI Card. As mentioned, my Tableau Public version visualizes sales across categories, so 5 calculations was all I needed. However, in the client dashboard, where I visualized 12 different measures, I had to use 4 calculations for each measure - that's 48 different calculations. And half of those calculations are used just to color-code the % difference differently for increases and decreases.
On top of that, I used 2 sheets for every card, so my relatively simple dashboard contains 24 sheets.
If you are like me, you build a lot of these. And you can absolutely do it in Tableau and truthfully, when you build one kpi card, then you can do a lot of copy/pasting of calculations, duplicating sheets, replacing fields, etc. to create additional kpi cards.
That said, Ken and I thought it would be super valuable to discuss two other methods of building these KPI Cards much more quickly and efficiently. These come via two different KPI extensions through two really wonderful companies and their wonderful products: Apps for Tableau's PowerKPIs and LaDataviz's KPI Card Extension. I've used both tools and I'm here to tell you they will exponentially increase your efficiency when building KPI Cards. (Note that both have lots of great products on their websites, so check those out as well).
So, in this blog post, we will be presenting 3 techniques for building KPI Cards, my technique, PowerKPIs, and BANg...(in no particular order). And for the two extensions, I've asked some of the people that actually built the extensions to create a similar dashboard using their extensions and write about it.
I've already written about my technique, so just check out my blog post here.
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2) Apps for Tableau's PowerKPIs
In order to discuss PowerKPIs, I'd like to welcome Tableau Visionary Hall of Famer (currently just 1 of 36 in the world) and one of the chief architects of PowerKPIs, the incredibly brilliant and humble, Klaus Schulte. Welcome to the website, Klaus.
(Klaus is now speaking 😊)
At Apps for Tableau, our goal is not just to create new visualization types, but to build analytical apps that support real analytical processes. PowerKPIs is a good example.
From the start, we saw KPI analysis as more than putting a number on a nicely styled card. A useful KPI cockpit needs to bring metrics together, give them structure and context, and help users understand not only what changed, but why.
That is why PowerKPIs supports everything from flexible KPI grids and driver trees to filtering, sorting, contextual analysis, collaboration, and AI-generated summaries. The unit of value is not the individual KPI card, it is the cockpit or tree around it.
Another important principle is flexibility. PowerKPIs works with different data structures, wide or tall, because in the real world the person building the dashboard often doesn't control how the underlying data is shaped.
But rather than explaining all of that through a feature list, there is a much better way to see what this means in practice: take a great KPI dashboard built in Tableau…
…and rebuild it with PowerKPIs.
And that is exactly what we're going to do in this post, step by step.
Build Process
1. Loading the extension
For this project, I’m using the Tableau Exchange version of our product. It’s a Tableau trusted extension and can also be used on Tableau Public.
Values for the BAN and the time series can come from different measures (missed that in the initial gif but added here 🙂).
4. Categorical Grouping
As the number of Sub-Categories grows, the KPI grid can quickly become a wall of numbers. In the original dashboard, each KPI card was assembled individually and labels were added manually to create the Category groups.
5. Design
Now let’s make a few adjustments to match Kevin’s design as much as possible.
Change the number format.
Change the Chart Type to a line chart. Chart types can be defined per card, or globally for all cards.
Highlight the border of the KPI cards with the correct colors.
Give the cards a squared layout - no rounded corners!
6. That’s it!
Last step is to bring the sheet to the dashboard, apply the filters, and done.
From KPI cards to an analytical app
Rebuilding this dashboard is a good illustration of where PowerKPIs stands out. Kevin’s original Tableau dashboard already delivered a strong KPI experience, but creating it natively meant assembling individual KPI cards, comparisons, formatting, and grouping as part of the dashboard build.
With PowerKPIs, much of that structure becomes data-driven rather than manually assembled. Sub-Categories generate the KPI cards, Category creates the grouping, and date-based comparisons, sparklines, formatting, sorting, and filtering become reusable capabilities of the cockpit rather than something that needs to be built for every KPI.
One big benefit of this approach is, that we can keep the cockpit dynamic. Kevin’s dashboard is for example missing Sub-Cateogry a filter, because you cannot filter out dashboard elements without further ado. PowerKPIs does let you filter the cards, which could also be used to apply row level security for example. The dashboard would then only show KPI cards a user is entitled to see.
As the KPI use case grows, the same foundation can evolve from a simple KPI grid into driver trees, different layouts, deeper context, collaboration, and AI-assisted analysis without rebuilding the experience from scratch (this feature is not part of the Tableau exchange version).
That is where we see the real value of PowerKPIs. It is not about replacing what Tableau can do or simply building a better KPI card. It is about taking a great Tableau dashboard and making the KPI experience faster to build, easier to maintain, and much easier to scale.
You can download the workbook from Tableau Public here.
Want to explore more? Check out our products at appsfortableau.com.
PowerKPIs is also part of Trulyp, our new platform that brings all our extensions together and lets you generate data apps with AI in a governed and secure environment. Learn more at trulyp.com.
Thanks,
Klaus
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3) LaDataviz's KPI Card Extension
As I welcome the following person to discuss BANg, my description will sound like (won't just sound like, it will be exactly like) my description for Klaus, because both of these people are so talented, yet so kind and down to earth.
With that said, I'd like to welcome Tableau Visionary Hall of Famer (currently just 1 of 36 in the world) and one of the chief architects of BANg (as well as co-founder of LaDataViz), the incredibly brilliant and humble, Tristan Guillevin. Welcome to the website, Tristan.
(Tristan is now speaking 😊)
Hey everyone, and thanks a lot, Kevin, for inviting us to write about KPI!
Even after reaching the point of presenting how to do cool stuff in Tableau in the main Keynote room, there is no way around doing the not-so-cool stuff when you build a KPI Card the traditional way. At the end of the day, no one likes having to write many repetitive calculations and deal with containers.
So when Kevin asked me to rebuild his chart with our KPI Card extension, I said yes immediately.
The KPI Card Extension
Viz Extensions let us build any experience right inside a Tableau worksheet, so it was finally time to create the perfect KPI Card: no hacks, no calculations, all in one worksheet.
The idea is simple. Drop a measure and a date onto one worksheet, and the extension renders the whole card for you: the title, the date, the value, the comparison, and the trend chart.
But on top of this simplicity, we added a few extra features:
1. Pick your chart. On the Chart tab, choose Area, Bar, or Line.
2. Comparison. Set the comparison type (Last Period or Same Period Last Year).
3. Add a target. Drop a target measure on the Target shelf
Everything that is normally a calculation (current versus prior period, the difference, the percent change, the red and green conditional coloring, and so on) is computed inside the extension. You write none of it.
Show, don’t tell
Now, let me show you how you can rebuild the KPI Dashboard in just a few drag-and-drops:
Get the extension: Go to Marks, select “Add Extension”, look for ‘kpi’ or ‘ladataviz’ and select the KPI Card (BANs) extension:
Create a KPI: Add Sales on KPI and Order Date on Time: You already get a nice-looking and functional KPI Card by year. Right-click on Order Date and select Month (continuous) to have a monthly KPI.
Dynamic title: Put Sub-Category on Filters and select one Sub-category in the list. Add a Sub-Category on Detail and, in the Format Extension page, select “Take name from Detail” to have a dynamic KPI title.
Customize your KPI: In the Format Extension window, on the KPI tab, select “Same period Last Year’ in Comparison Type, and check “Show value after message.”
On the Chart tab, select “Line” as Chart Type and check “Show previous year” to see the visual comparison.
Build your dashboard: simply duplicate the worksheet, select a different Sub-Category, and see everything update instantly. Now you just have to add your sheet to the dashboard, and you are done!
As easy as that!
After a bit of formatting and starting from Kevin’s base, here’s the updated version with no calculations and 12 worksheets:
Rebuilding Kevin's dashboard actually exposed a few things our extension was missing. So instead of leaving it as is, we fixed it and added dynamic titles, a line for the previous year on the chart, and the comparison value in the text. Check it out!
Try it yourself!
All our extensions are free to use on Tableau Public and Tableau Desktop, so give it a try! You will find the KPI Card and the rest of the family here on our website.
Thanks,
Tristan and Jessica
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And there you have it. Two great resources if you are doing this type of work a lot. I encourage you to check out both KPI tools and check out all their other resources. Also, go follow them on LinkedIn, they are great people! Thanks for reading!
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