Dashboard Requirements Document

A complete dashboard requirements doc that gives data engineers and analysts everything needed to build without a back-and-forth.

Best For

•A BI analyst turning a vague exec request for 'more visibility' into a scoped spec with exact metrics, filters, and access rules before opening a dashboard tool
•A product manager briefing a data engineering team on a new growth dashboard so the build starts with agreed KPI formulas instead of a back-and-forth over Slack
•A startup founder documenting what an investor-facing metrics dashboard needs to show before handing it to a contractor

Prompt Template

Write a dashboard requirements document for a [DASHBOARD_NAME] dashboard to be built for [PRIMARY_AUDIENCE, e.g., the executive team / the growth marketing team]. The dashboard's purpose: [DASHBOARD_PURPOSE]. Include the following sections: (1) Business objective, the specific decision this dashboard enables (not just "visibility"), (2) Primary users and their questions, for each user type: [USER_TYPES], list the top 3 questions they need this dashboard to answer, (3) Metrics and KPIs, for each metric: name, definition (exact calculation formula), data source, refresh frequency, and desired visualization type, (4) Filters and dimensions, list all filter controls users need (date range, region, segment, etc.) with default values, (5) Layout sketch, describe the grid layout in words (e.g., "KPI scorecard row at top, two charts side by side below, full-width table at bottom"), (6) Data sources, list all tables or APIs needed: [DATA_SOURCES], (7) Access control, who can view, who can edit, (8) Success criteria, how will you know the dashboard is actually being used and useful?

Pro Tip

Fill in the metric definitions section with the exact SQL-style formula for each KPI before the build starts, since most dashboard rework happens because two teams silently used different definitions of the same metric.

Example Output

A sample of what this prompt produces once you fill in the placeholders.

Business objective: help the growth team decide where to shift paid spend weekly. Primary users: growth marketers asking 'which channel has the best 30-day ROAS?' Metrics: Blended CAC (total spend / new customers, refreshed daily, line chart), 30-day ROAS (revenue / spend by channel, refreshed daily, bar chart). Layout: KPI scorecard row at top, channel comparison chart below, full-width spend table at bottom.