A dashboard can look finished while joining at the wrong grain, averaging ratios, comparing a partial week with a full one, or showing sample data as if it were current. This skill puts the metric and source controls ahead of the polish.
It starts with the decision, audience, source boundary, grain, keys, cutoff, metric owners, delivery tool, accessibility target, privacy boundary, and release authority. Each KPI gets a contract for its formula, population, exclusions, time basis, units, filters, nulls, restatements, and validation. The workflow then maps decision questions to views, coordinates interactions, and tests calculation, empty, stale, failed-refresh, accessibility, privacy, export, and drill paths against the exact artifact.
The handoff includes a dashboard contract, source and transformation register, metric contracts, decision-to-view map, filter contract, QA matrix, refresh runbook, open gates, and an evidence-matched verdict. It supports HTML, Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, spreadsheets, notebooks, or another named tool. It does not invent source data, approve metric definitions, claim an unexecuted refresh, or call a dashboard released without exact review evidence.