16.1 Planning the Dashboard
The single most reliable predictor of whether a dashboard succeeds is whether the analyst stopped to plan it before opening RStudio. A dashboard with no audience, no defined KPIs, and no wireframe is a project guaranteed to drift — and the cost of redesigning a built dashboard is much higher than the cost of editing a sketch.
The plan for this dashboard is a one-page document with five entries, derived directly from the BRS in Chapter 14:
- Audience. HR managers; non-technical; screen-first (laptop browser).
- Purpose. Monitor and reduce absenteeism through targeted wellness interventions.
- KPIs. Average absence hours, chronic absence rate, top absence reasons, estimated cost, monthly trend.
- Dashboard type. Analytical, with operational elements — managers explore patterns rather than monitor a live process.
- Update cadence. Monthly. The dataset is re-aggregated and the dashboard re-rendered each month.
16.1.1 KPI table
The five KPIs are formalized in the table below. Each one is paired with its data source and the visual element best suited to displaying it. A KPI without a designated visual element is a KPI that nobody will see.
| KPI | Source | Display |
|---|---|---|
| Average absence hours |
Mean of Absenteeism time in hours
|
Value box |
| Chronic absence rate | Share of employees with > 40 hr/quarter | Value box |
| Top absence reasons | Top reasons by total hours (ICD codes) | Bar chart |
| Estimated absence cost | Total hours x average hourly wage | Value box |
| Monthly trend | Monthly mean of absence hours | Line chart |
16.1.2 Wireframe
A wireframe is a sketch of the layout — boxes for KPIs and charts, with no real data. Drawing one before coding forces decisions about hierarchy, sizing, and placement. The wireframe below uses the F-pattern from Chapter 15: primary KPIs in the upper-left, supporting charts below.
+---------------------+---------------------+
| Value Box | Value Box |
| Avg Absence Hours | Chronic Absence Rate|
+---------------------+---------------------+
| Value Box | Gauge |
| Estimated Cost | Attendance Rate |
+---------------------+---------------------+
| Bar Chart |
| Top Absence Reasons |
+-------------------------------------------+
| Line Chart |
| Monthly Absence Trend |
+-------------------------------------------+Four value-box-or-gauge tiles populate the top two rows; the bar and line charts fill the bottom. With the wireframe in hand, the next step is to translate it into a Quarto Dashboard.