Assignment Brief — Interactive Dashboard Challenge
Objective
Your task is to design and build an interactive Excel dashboard using the provided
Superstore Sales dataset. This is not just about placing charts — it’s about telling a
story with data, experimenting with Excel’s capabilities, and showing your creativity
in presenting actionable insights.
Timeline
• Duration: 1 week
• Marks: 10 marks
What You Have
You are provided with a real-world sales dataset covering orders, shipping,
customers, product categories, sales, discounts, and profit data across multiple
regions.
What You Need to Do
✅ Use this data to create an interactive, meaningful, and visually appealing
dashboard in Excel.
✅ There are no strict limits on what to include or how to present it — use your
best judgment to highlight important patterns, trends, and insights.
✅ You may include metrics, charts, tables, slicers, timelines, conditional formatting,
pivot charts — anything you believe makes your dashboard insightful and user-
friendly.
✅ Aim to design a dashboard that someone with no background in the data can
understand and use easily.
Key Expectations
- Creativity: Surprise us — try layouts, chart types, and elements beyond basics.
- Interactivity: Make it easy to explore different aspects of the data (e.g., filter by
time, region, or product).
- Clarity: Even with creative visuals, your story and key takeaways must be clear.
- Professionalism: Neat layout, consistent formatting, appropriate labels, and a
polished look.
Allowed Tools
• Use Excel only (no Power BI, no Tableau, no Google Sheets).
• You may use built-in features like PivotTables, PivotCharts, Slicers, Timelines,
Conditional Formatting, Data Validation.
• Macros/VBA are optional — use them only if you wish to enhance your dashboard.
What to Submit
• Submit one Excel file containing:
- The original data (unchanged).
- Any working sheets you used.
- A separate Dashboard sheet — your final product.
• Name your file: YourName_SuperstoreDashboard.xlsx
Evaluation Criteria (10 Marks)
Criteria Marks
Creativity & Originality 3
Effective Interactivity 2
Visual Appeal & Design 2
Clarity & Insightfulness 2
File Organization & Neatness 1
How to Earn Top Marks
Given that examples are widely available online:
- The best dashboards will go beyond copying — show your unique design ideas.
- Don’t stop at obvious metrics — think critically: what would a manager care
about? What decisions could this dashboard support?
- Tell a clear story: what does this data say? What actions might it suggest?
- Keep it clean — a messy dashboard loses marks.
Variables Description
Below is a short description of each field you may find in the Superstore Sales
dataset:
Variable Description
Order ID Unique identifier for each order
transaction.
Order Date The date when the order was placed.
Ship Date The date when the order was shipped
to the customer.
Ship Mode The method used to ship the order (e.g.,
First Class, Second Class).
Customer ID Unique ID for each customer.
Customer Name Full name of the customer.
Segment The market segment the customer
belongs to (e.g., Consumer, Corporate,
Home Office).
Country Country of the customer.
City City of the customer.
State State of the customer.
Postal Code Zip code for delivery.
Region Sales region (e.g., East, West, Central,
South).
Product ID Unique ID for each product.
Category Main category of the product (e.g.,
Furniture, Office Supplies, Technology).
Sub-Category Sub-category of the product (e.g.,
Chairs, Binders, Phones).
Product Name Full name of the product.
Sales Dollar amount for the sale.
Quantity Number of units sold.
Discount Discount applied to the sale (as a
percentage).
Profit Profit earned from the sale.