Overview Page

CEB Ignition™ Guide

to Creating a Dashboard
for HR
CEB Corporate Leadership Council™

This five-step guide includes 10 documents that will help you: Time1: 2–3 Months
(80–100 hours)
■■ Select meaningful metrics that align with functional and business
priorities, Effort2: 1–3 FTEs
■■ Create a visually appealing dashboard, and Costs3: $0
■■ Present the dashboard to tell a story and to support decision making. Input: ■■ Company and
HR strategy
documents
■■ Existing metrics
and dashboards
■■ Metrics requests
from senior
management or
business leaders
over the past 12
months

Plan
Step 1: Plan for the dashboard creation process.
1 Task, 1 Document
Build
Step 2: Determine what metrics to include.
3 Tasks, 3 Documents
Step 3: Establish governance processes for metrics data collection.
2 Tasks, 2 Documents
Step 4: Design and present the dashboard.
2 Tasks, 2 Documents
Monitor
Step 5: Monitor dashboard effectiveness.
1 Task, 2 Documents

1 Time refers to the total duration for completing the activity end to end.
2 Effort refers to the total number of FTEs required to execute the activity. Get Help
3 Cost refers to the incremental expenses required for the activity and excludes internal resources. from Peers

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Step 1

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 1 of 5: Plan for the Dashboard Creation

Process
Lay the groundwork for the dashboard creation process and ensure all participants
understand their responsibilities, process timeline, and expected outcomes.

Business Case
for Change
Project Outcomes
■■ HR metrics align to business
priorities.
■■ Metrics give early warning of talent
risks and barriers to successful
execution of business priorities.
■■ Dashboards assist in business
decision making and lead to action.
■■ Business leader involvement and
buy-in to HR activities and metrics.
Problems Addressed
■■ Corporate and functional strategy
does not align with HR metrics.
■■ Metrics are inconsistently
collected and defined across the
HR organization.
■■ An excessive number of time-
consuming metrics and resources
to collect overwhelms decision
makers.
■■ Line leaders are skeptical of the
value of HR data.

Roles and
Responsibilities
CHRO
Designate leader for HR dashboard creation (often HR analytics team
CEB Ignition™
member); provide final sign-off on dashboard metrics and presentation.
Project Manager
HR Dashboard Lead
Build the project plan and lead metrics selection, data collection, reporting
cadence, and HR dashboard design.
HR Analytics Team
Collaborate with the HR dashboard lead.
IT/HRIS Team
Assist with pulling metrics and the actual creation of dashboard.
Business Leaders
Provide input on HR questions and metrics that align with corporate strategy.

Get Help
from Peers

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Before
You Start
Before starting the planning process:
■■ Agree on overall dashboard objectives and process plan among HR team.
■■ Download the HR Dashboard Creation Project Plan within the CEB
Ignition™ Project Manager. This project plan will help your team remain
organized and on track.

Common
Pitfalls & Keys Insular Planning Process Early Business Leader
Involvement
to Success
It’s easy to default to familiar HR Engage business partners in
dashboards It’s easy to default to selecting initial metrics and
familiar HR dashboards when you designing dashboard structure.
don’t have feedback from the line
to help clarify and support.

Too Many Metrics Metrics Answer Critical

The HR dashboard aims to
provide an exhaustive overview
of all HR activities and metrics
or constantly expands metrics to
meet reactive requests.
Talent Questions
Use conversations with business
partners to prioritize key
talent questions, and focus the
dashboard only on those areas.

Powerless Dashboards Dashboard Communicates

Business and HR leaders are
unclear about how to take
action and draw meaning from
dashboard data.
Implications and Action
Present metrics that tell a
story and help leaders draw
conclusions from dashboard data.

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from Peers

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Step 2

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 2 of 5: Determine What Metrics

to Include
Focus on the right talent questions to answer through HR metrics.

Your Tasks
2.1 Identify the audience and scope for dashboard.
Dashboard Determine which specific stakeholders and line leaders will be active participants
Participant List in using the final dashboard to make decisions.
Builder
ADVICE FROM PEERS

“I think the best dashboards touch on three levels—enterprise-level data for the CEO/
board, business unit–level data for specific projects or brands, and HR-specific
metrics to track internally. It’s common to put too much focus on HR-level metrics.
Don’t neglect the other two groups.”

CHRO, Business Services Company

2.2 Determine the audience’s most important talent questions.

Guide to Surface Collect input from leaders to understand their priorities and identify talent risks
Dashboard that should be measured and tracked.
Priorities
ADVICE FROM PEERS

“Independent of the type of analysis we do, our most successful analytics work when
we hit on a challenge aligned with the current business priorities.”

VP, Head of Talent Analytics, Manufacturing Organization

2.3 Choose metrics to answer the most important talent questions and
identify any current gaps in metrics availability.
Metrics Generator
and Review Use partners’ most critical talent challenges and goals to align supporting metrics
Template and data sources that the target audience can act on.

Case Study

Gap Inc’s Analytic Prioritization

Principles
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from Peers

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Review Your
Progress
Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
■■ Meaningful dialogue ■■ Disengaged Does this set of metrics
with business partners stakeholders and address an articulated
on their priorities and users of HR metrics business challenge that
challenges ■■ Too many metrics will inform decisions
■■ Clear connection (12–15 is more across the HR team
between functional than enough for and business partners?
goals and agreed-on each group)—if
metrics you’re falling into
■■ Common this trap, you may
understanding consider customizing
between HR and dashboards for
business leaders different audiences.
on the decisions ■■ Holding onto
individual metrics dashboard metrics for
inform the sake of continuity
or availability, not for
immediate business
needs

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from Peers

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Step 3

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 3 of 5: Establish Governance Processes

for Metrics Data Collection
Embed accountability and consistency in data collection.

Your Tasks
3.1 Define a data collection process for HR metrics.
HR Metrics Clearly define the roadmap for data collection, data sources, and data collection
Sourcing Guide responsibilities to ensure accurate dashboard data.

HR Metrics ADVICE FROM PEERS

Governance “A great HR dashboard model can’t just exist on paper. In order to make it work, you
Template need a consistent and reliable process for data collection and analysis.”

HR Analytics Manager, Pharmaceutical Company

3.2 Create a documented library of metrics to establish quality standards

and consistency.
Compile all the metrics’ definitions to facilitate organization-wide understanding
and universal application of the HR dashboard.

Case Study

Novo Nordisk’s Business-Driven

HR Analytics

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from Peers

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 STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Review Your
Progress
Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
■■ Clarity and ■■ Relying on inertia of ■■ How do we align
organizational old metrics instead of our data collection
agreement on the collecting new data cadence with
governance process ■■ Data owners do not decision-making
to gather metrics for have enough time or timelines?
timely dashboard incentive for timely ■■ Have we considered
creation and accurate data all places within
■■ Organization-wide collection and outside the
understanding of HR ■■ Effort involved in data organization where
metrics definitions collection outweighs some of this data
■■ Assigned individual the value of the may already exist?
and data collection decisions the metric ■■ What checks and
timeline for each supports balances do we need
metric ■■ Inaccurate, in place to validate or
incomplete, or spot-check reported
inconsistently data for accuracy?
applied data

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from Peers

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Step 4

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 4 of 5: Design and Present Dashboard

Present metrics in a credible and actionable way.

Your Tasks
4.1 Prepare and test the dashboard presentation.
Tips for Create a visually engaging and actionable dashboard, and prepare to communicate
Dashboard Design it to stakeholders.
and Delivery

4.2 Communicate the dashboard to stakeholders, and support follow-up.

Develop a plan and cadence for dashboard delivery.
Communication
Plan Template
Case Study

Seagate’s Implication-Based
Decision Support

Review Your
Progress
Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
■■ Established ■■ Emphasis only on HR How does our focus
performance measures operational metrics on specific metrics
on a dashboard that from information influence employee
guides the organization systems, such as culture and morale?
throughout the year number of employees,
■■ HR dashboard tells performance scores,
a story about how etc.
HR impacts business ■■ Providing prescriptive
decisions and solutions rather than
outcomes engaging leaders in
■■ HR team prepped a discussion about
to be confident and metrics implications
credible in presentation ■■ One-size-fits-all
of metrics to business reporting strategy for
partners communicating key
HR metrics
■■ Focusing on detailed
metrics rather than
the message and Get Help
story of the data from Peers

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Last Step

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Step 5 of 5: Monitor Dashboard Effectiveness

Upon completion of the HR dashboard, take a step back to gather feedback on the
project’s success and articulate lessons learned.

Review Your
Performance
Closing the Project
■■ Assess the effectiveness of the HR dashboard creation process.
CEB Ignition™
Project Reviewer ■■ Document lessons learned and make adjustments.

Feedback Survey
■■ Get feedback from key stakeholders on the dashboard creation process.
Template
Review and Track Performance
■■ Review individual metrics’ ability to influence business decisions in a timely
manner.
■■ Periodically spot-check for data quality issues.
■■ Monitor metric trends and make course corrections as needed.

Keys to
Continued
Success
Regularly Review the HR Dashboard and Revisit Metrics
Periodically meet with the HR leadership team and senior business
partners to review the HR dashboard and refresh metrics as the business
and IT change (formally once per year; discuss and course correct
quarterly).

Kill Irrelevant Metrics Quickly

Never track a metric solely for the sake of continuity or because the data
is available. Set reminders to review metrics against defined business
priorities, and ensure their continued relevance.

Do Not Underestimate How Metrics Influence HR Staff Behaviors

HR’s dashboard shapes perceptions about how HR employees are
expected to behave, and it shapes perceptions of HR’s relevance to the
business.

Related
Resources ■■ HR Dashboard Database
■■ HR Metrics Library

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from Peers

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