Analysis
Dashboard
Also called overview.
Dashboard is a standing screen of a handful of metrics meant to be read on a schedule. It answers 'is anything wrong or changing' in under a minute.
How it is measured
A dashboard is a saved layout: a few charts and figures, a default date range, and shared filters. It does not run new questions. It reruns the same ones every time someone opens it.
Judge it by use. Count who opens it in a week and what they do afterward. A screen with fifteen tiles and no weekly viewers is a poster, not a dashboard.
Worked example
A three-person agency builds a client screen for a regional dentist: appointment-form submits, phone-tap clicks, page speed on the booking page, and uptime. Four tiles, last 28 days, nothing else.
The dentist opens it Monday mornings and spots phone taps falling from 64 to 31 after a header redesign hid the number on mobile. A full 40-chart report pack had been sent monthly and never changed anything.
How it differs
A dashboard is a live standing view. A report is a deeper query you rerun to answer a particular question. The dashboard points; the report digs.
Common errors
Cramming everything on one screen. Showing totals with no comparison. Leaving the default range at all-time. Building it for a boss who never opens it. Never removing a tile.
In practice
Open your dashboard and cut it to the five numbers someone would act on. Set the range to last 28 days with a comparison. Add one annotation for the latest change.