How to Create a Dashboard in Procore

The Power of Construction Data Visualization

In today's construction industry, data flows from every corner of your projects. From daily progress updates to financial statements, the ability to manage and interpret this information effectively can make or break your project outcomes. Procore's dashboards transform scattered data points into cohesive visual summaries that simplify complex decision-making processes for everyone involved.

These visual command centers allow project teams to gain immediate insights into project health without drowning in spreadsheets or lengthy reports. Project managers can track key performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time, while executives get the high-level overview they need to make strategic decisions. The transparency created through well-designed dashboards fosters better communication across departments and stakeholder groups.

What makes Procore dashboards particularly valuable is their flexibility and integration capabilities. You can customize visuals to highlight metrics that matter most to your specific role or project needs. The ability to share these dashboards team-wide ensures everyone works from the same information source, eliminating confusion and promoting data-driven collaboration.

Dashboard Types in the Procore Ecosystem

Understanding which dashboard type suits your needs is the first step toward effective data visualization. Procore offers several dashboard options, each designed for specific purposes and user groups within your organization.

Project Report Dashboards focus on individual project performance metrics. These dashboards display visuals created from custom project reports and provide granular insights into specific project activities. They're accessible through the Project 360 Reporting tool and prove invaluable for tracking critical project-specific metrics like construction progress, schedule adherence, and budget utilization.

Company Report Dashboards take a broader view by aggregating data across multiple projects. Built from visuals created in single tool reports at the company level, these dashboards help management teams identify trends across projects and departments. They're particularly useful for operations directors who need to compare performance across different job sites or project types.

Executive Dashboards provide the highest-level overview, offering graphical representations of portfolio-level performance. Available through the Portfolio tool, these dashboards help leadership teams quickly assess organizational health by program, project stage, or department. They transform complex data sets into easily digestible visuals that support strategic decision-making without requiring executives to dig through detailed reports.

The beauty of Procore's dashboard system lies in its hierarchical structure. Each dashboard type serves different stakeholders while pulling from the same underlying data, ensuring consistency across all reporting levels.

Essential Preparation for Dashboard Creation

Before diving into dashboard creation, you'll need to ensure you have the proper foundation in place. Taking time for preparation will save you countless hours of frustration later and result in more effective dashboards.

First, verify you have the necessary permissions within Procore. For Project 360 Reporting, you need at least "Standard" level permissions to create dashboards. Similarly, Company 360 Reporting requires "Standard" permissions or higher. If you're unsure about your access level, connect with your Procore administrator who can adjust your permissions as needed.

Beyond permissions, successful dashboard creation depends on having the right building blocks ready. Dashboards are constructed from visuals, which themselves come from custom reports. If you haven't already created these custom reports and visuals, you'll need to develop them first. This might involve setting up project reports that track specific metrics or creating single tool reports that focus on particular aspects of your construction process.

Make sure the Project 360 Reporting or Company 360 Reporting tools are properly configured in your Procore environment. These tools serve as the foundation for your dashboard creation process and must be accessible before you begin building. With these prerequisites in place, you'll be well-positioned to create dashboards that deliver meaningful insights to your team.

Building Your First Project Dashboard

Creating a project-specific dashboard doesn't require technical expertise—just a methodical approach and clear vision of what you want to monitor. The process begins with accessing the right tools and selecting the most relevant data visualizations for your needs.

Navigate to your Procore account and open the Project 360 Reporting tool for the specific project you want to monitor. Once inside, locate and click on the "Dashboard" tab in the main navigation menu. This area houses all existing dashboards and provides the starting point for creating new ones. Click the "Create Dashboard" button to initiate a fresh dashboard canvas where you'll build your visual command center.

The dashboard editor will open, revealing your Visual Library on the right side. This library contains all the charts, graphs, and data tables you've previously created from custom reports. Select the visuals that best represent your key project metrics by clicking on them. Common selections include budget tracking graphs, RFI status charts, submittal timelines, and progress indicators that give at-a-glance insights into project health.

Once you've added visuals to your dashboard, you enter edit mode where you can customize the layout. Resize each visual by dragging its corners to emphasize more important metrics. Reposition elements by dragging them to create a logical flow of information. Give your dashboard a descriptive title that clearly communicates its purpose, such as "Main Street Project Performance" or "Tower 3 Construction Progress." When satisfied with your design, click "Done" to save and exit edit mode, making your dashboard available for viewing and sharing.

Creating Company-Wide Performance Views

Company-level dashboards offer broader insights than project-specific views, allowing you to spot trends across your entire portfolio. The creation process shares similarities with project dashboards but focuses on organization-wide metrics instead of individual project details.

Switch your Procore environment to the Company 360 Reporting tool to begin. This tool provides access to data across all your projects, enabling comprehensive analysis. Navigate to the "Dashboard" tab within this tool and click "Create Dashboard" to start building your company-wide view. The interface will look familiar if you've created project dashboards before, though the available data sources will span your entire organization.

Your Visual Library in this context will contain visuals created from company-level reports. Select visuals that highlight cross-project metrics like overall budget performance, company-wide safety statistics, or resource allocation across multiple job sites. These visuals help executives and operations managers identify patterns that might not be apparent when looking at projects individually.

Customize your company dashboard layout with the same attention to detail you'd apply to project dashboards. Position related metrics together to tell a coherent story about organizational performance. For example, group financial metrics in one section and operational indicators in another. After finalizing your layout, save the dashboard and consider who should have access to these company-wide insights. Unlike project dashboards, company views often contain sensitive information that requires careful permission management.

Dashboard Design Best Practices

Creating an effective dashboard goes beyond simply arranging visuals on a screen. Thoughtful design principles ensure your dashboards communicate clearly and drive meaningful action across your organization.

Focus on simplicity and relevance when selecting which metrics to display. Every visual should serve a specific purpose and answer a key question about your project or company performance. Avoid the temptation to include every available metric, as information overload can obscure the insights that matter most. Instead, prioritize the 5-7 most critical indicators that drive decision-making for your intended audience.

The arrangement of your dashboard elements should follow a logical narrative flow. Place the most important high-level metrics at the top where they'll be seen first, then organize supporting details below. Group related metrics together to create visual sections that address specific aspects of performance. For example, keep all schedule-related visuals in one area and financial metrics in another to help users quickly find the information they need.

Consider the color schemes and visual styles you employ across your dashboard. Consistent colors help users quickly interpret information—for instance, using red consistently for negative variances and green for positive ones. Avoid cluttered visuals with excessive data points or labels that make interpretation difficult. Simple, clean designs with clear titles and appropriate scale settings will make your dashboards more accessible to all users, regardless of their data analysis experience.

Sharing Dashboards for Maximum Impact

The value of your carefully crafted dashboards multiplies when shared with the right stakeholders. Procore offers several options for distributing dashboards throughout your organization, ensuring everyone has access to the insights they need.

Within Procore, you can directly share dashboards with specific team members or groups. For Project 360 Reporting dashboards, share with anyone who has at least Read Only permissions for that project. This might include subcontractors who need visibility into schedule updates or clients who want to monitor progress. Company 360 Reporting dashboards can be shared with users who have appropriate company-level permissions, typically management and executive team members.

The following sharing options expand your dashboard's reach beyond the standard viewing experience:

• Email Scheduling: Set up automated email distributions that send dashboard snapshots to stakeholders on daily, weekly, or monthly schedules.
• PDF Export: Create downloadable versions of dashboards for inclusion in reports or presentations where Procore access isn't available.
• Embed Codes: Integrate live dashboards into other systems like company intranets or external websites for broader accessibility.

Remember that effective sharing involves more than just granting access. Take time to orient new users to your dashboards, explaining what each visual represents and how to interpret the data. Regular check-ins about dashboard utility ensure they continue to meet stakeholder needs. If certain team members consistently request additional information, consider updating your dashboards to include those metrics or creating specialized views for different user groups.

Leveraging Data for Decision-Making

Dashboards transform from pretty visuals into powerful tools when they directly influence project decisions and actions. The real value emerges when teams actively use dashboard insights to guide their daily work and strategic planning.

Project managers can leverage dashboards during daily huddles to focus team attention on critical issues. For example, a dashboard showing increasing RFI (Request for Information) response times might prompt immediate process improvements before delays impact the schedule. Similarly, budget dashboards that highlight cost variances in real-time allow for quick corrections before small overruns become major financial problems. This immediate feedback loop creates accountability and drives proactive management rather than reactive crisis handling.

Executive teams benefit from dashboards that reveal portfolio-wide patterns and trends. A company dashboard might show that certain project types consistently outperform others in terms of profitability, informing future bidding strategies. Resource allocation decisions become clearer when dashboards visualize utilization rates across multiple projects, highlighting where teams are overextended or underutilized. These insights support evidence-based strategic planning that might otherwise rely on gut feelings or incomplete information.

For maximum impact, establish regular dashboard review sessions at appropriate intervals for different stakeholder groups. Project teams might review operational dashboards daily or weekly, while executive reviews might occur monthly or quarterly. During these sessions, don't just observe the data—document decisions made based on dashboard insights and track their outcomes. This practice creates a continuous improvement cycle where dashboard utilization becomes increasingly refined and valuable over time.

Advanced Dashboard Customization Techniques

Once you've mastered basic dashboard creation, exploring advanced customization options can significantly enhance your data visualization capabilities. These techniques help you create more sophisticated, insightful dashboards tailored to your organization's specific needs.

The visual types you select dramatically impact how effectively your data communicates its story. Beyond standard bar and pie charts, consider these specialized visualization options:

• Heat Maps – Display data density across projects or timeframes with color intensity indicating value
• Gauge Charts – Show performance against targets with intuitive dial-style visuals
• Combination Charts – Layer multiple data series (like actual vs. planned progress) for direct comparison

Dynamic filtering transforms static dashboards into interactive tools that users can customize on the fly. Implement filter controls that allow viewers to adjust date ranges, project types, or other variables without needing to create multiple dashboard versions. This functionality is particularly valuable for company-level dashboards where users might want to focus on specific divisions or project categories within a larger dataset.

Consider implementing conditional formatting to highlight exceptions and critical issues automatically. For example, configure budget variance visuals to display in red when exceeding thresholds or schedule metrics to trigger alerts when falling behind baseline projections. These visual cues draw immediate attention to areas requiring intervention, ensuring important signals don't get lost among normal data variations.

Experiment with dashboard layouts that progress from summary to detail. Start with high-level KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that provide an overall status view, then include more detailed breakdowns below. This hierarchical approach allows users to quickly grasp the big picture while having access to supporting details when needed. Remember that effective dashboards balance comprehensive information with clean, uncluttered design—sometimes less truly is more when it comes to impactful data visualization.

Real-World Dashboard Applications

Construction professionals across different roles have discovered innovative ways to leverage Procore dashboards. These real-world applications demonstrate how dashboards can transform data into actionable insights for specific construction scenarios.

Field superintendents use daily progress dashboards to coordinate complex site activities. These dashboards typically display manpower allocation, material deliveries, and quality control metrics side by side. By reviewing these visuals each morning, superintendents can quickly identify potential bottlenecks and adjust daily work plans accordingly. One superintendent reported reducing coordination meetings by 30% after implementing a comprehensive field dashboard that kept all subcontractors informed of daily priorities and progress expectations.

Financial controllers benefit from dashboards that monitor cash flow and budget performance across multiple projects simultaneously. These dashboards often include committed cost tracking, change order status, and payment application timelines. The visual format makes it easier to spot projects approaching budget thresholds or experiencing unusual cost patterns. A regional construction firm used financial dashboards to identify $1.2 million in potential cost overruns early enough to implement mitigation strategies, ultimately preserving their projected profit margins.

Safety directors leverage incident tracking dashboards to identify patterns and proactively address risk factors. These specialized dashboards might display near-miss reports, safety inspection results, and training compliance across job sites. The visual presentation helps identify correlations between certain activities and safety incidents that might not be apparent in traditional reports. One national contractor credited their safety dashboard program with contributing to a 45% reduction in recordable incidents over 18 months by enabling more targeted safety interventions and training.

Integrating External Data Sources

While Procore contains vast amounts of valuable project data, the most comprehensive dashboards often incorporate information from external systems. This integration creates a more complete picture of project and company performance.

Many construction firms connect their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems with Procore to enhance financial dashboards. This integration allows dashboards to display accounting data alongside operational metrics, creating a more holistic view of project performance. For example, labor productivity dashboards become more meaningful when they incorporate actual cost data from payroll systems rather than just hours worked from Procore timecards. The combined view helps project managers understand both the schedule and financial implications of productivity trends.

The following external systems commonly integrate with Procore dashboards:

• Scheduling Software – Pull baseline and actual schedule data from specialized tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project
• Equipment Management Systems – Incorporate utilization rates and maintenance status for major equipment assets
• Quality Control Platforms – Include inspection results and deficiency tracking from specialized quality applications

Setting up these integrations typically involves working with your IT team or Procore administrator to establish data connections. While the technical setup might require some initial effort, the resulting dashboards provide unprecedented visibility across previously siloed systems. Construction managers report that integrated dashboards significantly reduce the time spent gathering information for decision-making, allowing more focus on analysis and action.

Remember that data consistency becomes especially important when working with multiple systems. Establish clear definitions for key metrics and ensure calculation methods remain consistent across platforms. Regular validation checks help maintain data integrity and ensure your integrated dashboards provide reliable insights for critical business decisions.

Transform Your Construction Data Management Today

Creating effective dashboards in Procore represents more than just a technical exercise—it's a strategic approach to construction management that transforms raw data into actionable intelligence. Throughout this guide, we've explored how thoughtfully designed dashboards can enhance decision-making, improve communication, and drive project success across your organization.

The journey to dashboard mastery begins with understanding the fundamentals we've covered. Start with a clear purpose for each dashboard, focusing on the specific questions it should answer and decisions it should support. Apply design best practices that emphasize simplicity, logical organization, and visual clarity. Share your dashboards strategically with stakeholders who can take meaningful action based on the insights provided. As your comfort level grows, explore advanced customization options and external data integrations that further enhance your visualization capabilities.

Remember that the most valuable dashboards evolve over time in response to changing project needs and user feedback. Schedule regular reviews to assess dashboard effectiveness and make refinements as necessary. Encourage your team to suggest improvements and new metrics that would support their decision-making processes. By treating your dashboards as living tools rather than static reports, you'll maximize their impact on project outcomes and organizational performance. With Procore's powerful dashboard capabilities at your fingertips, you're well-equipped to transform construction data into the insights that drive project success.