📎 This article includes 2 downloadable practice files ↓
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Layout (one A4 landscape page)
- Top row: KPI cards: annual sales, average margin, best region, reps on target, H2 vs H1 growth (the practice tasks).
- Middle: the combo trend (lesson 1) and the dynamic region chart with its drop-down (lesson 3).
- Bottom: actual vs target by rep (lesson 4) and the heat map with sparklines (lesson 5).
Make it interactive
Convert data to Tables, build PivotCharts and add Slicers (Region) and a Timeline (Date) connected to all pivots. The drop-down covers non-pivot charts.
Finish
- View: hide gridlines and headings; consistent colours (theme colours only); same font sizes.
- Page Layout: Fit to 1 page wide; set the print area.
- Protect the sheet, leaving the drop-down and slicers usable.
💡 Put “Data as of 31-Mar-2026” (a formula from the data’s max date) in the header. Dashboards without a date get trusted when they shouldn’t be.
Practice
The practice workbook has the data and the helper formulas behind the chart (with automatic checks). Build the chart yourself, then open the finished examples file to compare. Excel built those charts and we checked their types and series.
📎 Practice files for this article
⬇ Download all 2 files (ZIP · 39 KB)
- 📗Practice workbookAll the course data, 5 KPI tasks.⬇ XLSX · 16 KB
- 📗Finished chart examplesCombo, waterfall, dynamic, actual-vs-target, sparklines and heat map, built by Excel.⬇ XLSX · 35 KB
Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.
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