Beesy Academy

Dashboards People Actually Use

Design reporting that changes a decision instead of decorating a wall.

Level
Intermediate
Duration
8 weeks
Price
$429
Course code
DA-250
Overview

Almost every organization has a dashboard that was celebrated at launch and abandoned within a quarter. It happens for the same reasons each time: it was built for a stakeholder rather than a decision, it shows what was easy to measure, and nobody agreed what anyone should do when a number moves.

This course starts from the decision and works backwards. You identify the choice a person makes repeatedly, the information that would change it, and the smallest view that delivers that. Then you build it, watch real users try to read it, and fix what they misread.

You should already be comfortable getting data into a shape you can work with. If you are not, take Spreadsheet Analysis for Decision Makers first. The tool you build in is up to you: students have used spreadsheets, business intelligence platforms and a plain web page, and the design principles are the same.

Who this is for
  • Analysts whose reports are opened once and never again
  • Managers commissioning reporting for their own team
  • Operations leads maintaining a set of spreadsheets that grew
  • Anyone rebuilding reporting that nobody currently trusts

Next Cohort

Applications open
  • Q4 2026Monday 5 October 2026
  • Q1 2027Monday 11 January 2027
  • Q2 2027Monday 12 April 2027
  • Q3 2027Monday 5 July 2027

Applications for the Q4 2026 cohort close on Friday 18 September 2026. We reply to every application within two business days.

Yasmin Halloran

Analysis and reporting for people who are not analysts

We work with genuinely messy data, including the duplicate rows and the inconsistent dates, because clean sample files teach the wrong instincts.

Read the full profile
Intermediate, assumes working experience. One live session of ninety minutes each week, plus about three hours applying it to your own work. Sixteen seats. Full details on how enrollment works.
Apply for DA-250
Module plan

8 modules across 8 weeks.

Each module has one live session and one piece of practice applied to your own work.

  1. Week 1

    Start With the Decision, Not the Data

    Finding the choice somebody makes every week, and the information that would genuinely change it.

  2. Week 2

    Choosing Metrics You Can Defend

    Definitions people agree on, metrics that resist gaming, and knowing what each number will do when the business changes.

  3. Week 3

    Chart Choice on Purpose

    Matching the shape of the question to the shape of the mark, and the four chart types that cover most real reporting.

  4. Week 4

    Layout and Reading Order

    Designing the path an eye takes through a screen so the headline arrives before the detail.

  5. Week 5

    Context, Targets and Thresholds

    Making a number mean something by putting it next to what it should be, and agreeing what counts as a problem before it happens.

  6. Week 6

    Alerting Without Fatigue

    Deciding what deserves an interruption, who receives it, and how to retire an alert everybody has learned to ignore.

  7. Week 7

    Testing With Real Readers

    Watching five people read your dashboard without help, recording where they hesitate, and fixing what they misread.

  8. Week 8

    Adoption and Maintenance

    Getting a dashboard into a routine somebody already has, and agreeing who owns it in six months.

Outcomes

What you will be able to do.

By the last session of Dashboards People Actually Use you will have practised each of these on your own work, not on a case study.

  • Trace every element on a dashboard back to a decision it supports
  • Write metric definitions precise enough to settle a disagreement
  • Choose chart types deliberately rather than by habit
  • Lay out a screen so the most important reading happens first
  • Set thresholds and alerts that stay meaningful after three months
  • Run a short usability test on reporting and act on what you see
Same field

Also in Data and Analytics

Getting an honest answer out of the numbers you already have, and reporting it so it counts.

Where to next

Ready to take Dashboards People Actually Use?

Applications for the Q4 2026 cohort close on Friday 18 September 2026 and we reply within two business days. Questions about fit or prerequisites go to hello@beesy-academy.com.