Should I build CRM dashboards in Salesforce or a BI tool?

Build operational dashboards (rep activity, pipeline) in your CRM for real-time access. Build analytical dashboards (trend analysis, forecasting, cross-system metrics) in a BI tool like Looker or Tableau where you can join data from multiple sources.

How often should RevOps dashboards be reviewed?

Pipeline and forecast dashboards should be reviewed weekly in leadership meetings. Rep activity and data quality dashboards should be checked daily by frontline managers. Stage velocity and comp dashboards work best on a monthly cadence.

The 7 CRM Dashboards Every RevOps Team Should Build

Dashboards are how RevOps makes data actionable. But most CRM orgs have too many dashboards that nobody uses and too few that actually drive decisions. These seven dashboards represent the core set that every RevOps team needs - each one tied to a specific business question and review cadence.

1. Pipeline Health Dashboard
2. Forecast Accuracy Dashboard
3. Rep Activity Dashboard
4. Lead Conversion Dashboard
5. Stage Velocity Dashboard
6. Data Quality Dashboard
7. Compensation Tracking Dashboard
Key Takeaways

1. Pipeline Health Dashboard¶

Business question: Do we have enough pipeline to hit our number?

Component	Metric	Target
Pipeline coverage ratio	Open pipeline / Quota	3x–4x
Pipeline by stage	Dollar value in each stage	Balanced distribution
New pipeline created (this month)	New opp $ created	Track to monthly target
Pipeline trend	Week-over-week pipeline change	Stable or growing
Weighted pipeline	Stage-weighted dollar value	> 1.2x quota

Key insight: If weighted pipeline drops below 1.2x quota with 30+ days left in the quarter, you have a coverage problem - even if raw pipeline looks healthy.

2. Forecast Accuracy Dashboard¶

Business question: Can we trust our forecast?

Forecast vs. actual - Compare called forecast to actual closed revenue (trailing 3 quarters)
Rep-level accuracy - Which reps consistently over- or under-forecast?
Category movement - Track deals moving between Commit, Best Case, and Pipeline week over week
Forecast bias - Are you systematically optimistic or pessimistic?

Pro tip: Calculate a forecast accuracy score per rep: 1 - ABS(Forecast - Actual) / Actual. Track this over time and use it to weight future forecasts.

3. Rep Activity Dashboard¶

Business question: Are reps doing enough of the right activities?

Calls logged per rep per week
Emails sent per rep per week
Meetings held per rep per week
Opportunities touched this week (any activity logged)
Untouched open opportunities (no activity in 14+ days)

Display format: Use a leaderboard layout. Show team averages alongside individual performance. Highlight reps with open pipeline but low activity - that’s where deals go to die.

4. Lead Conversion Dashboard¶

Business question: How efficiently are we converting leads to pipeline?

Metric	Formula	Benchmark
MQL to SQL rate	SQLs / MQLs	25–35%
SQL to Opportunity rate	Opps / SQLs	40–60%
Lead response time	Median time from MQL to first touch	< 5 minutes
Conversion by source	Win rate segmented by lead source	Varies
SDR conversion rate	Opps created / Leads worked per SDR	Track trend

Break this down by lead source. Aggregate conversion rates hide underperforming channels. A 30% MQL-to-SQL rate might mask a 50% rate from paid search and a 10% rate from purchased lists.

5. Stage Velocity Dashboard¶

Business question: Where are deals getting stuck?

Average days in each stage - Bar chart comparing current quarter to previous quarter
Stage conversion rates - Percentage of deals advancing from each stage to the next
Deals aging in stage - Table showing deals in any stage for more than 2x the stage average
Velocity by segment - Compare Enterprise vs. Mid-Market vs. SMB cycle times

Action trigger: Any deal sitting in a stage for more than double the average should be flagged for manager review. These are likely to slip or be lost.

6. Data Quality Dashboard¶

Business question: Can we trust the data in our CRM?

Track completeness and accuracy across critical fields:

Account fields: Industry, Employee Count, Owner - target 95%+ completeness
Contact fields: Title, Email, Account Association - target 90%+ completeness
Opportunity fields: Amount, Close Date, Stage, Contact Roles - target 98%+ completeness
Duplicate rate: Percentage of duplicate Accounts and Contacts - target < 3%
Stale records: Open opportunities with no activity in 30+ days

Display this as a scorecard with red/yellow/green indicators. Make it visible to the entire revenue team - not just ops.

7. Compensation Tracking Dashboard¶

Business question: Are we tracking to plan, and are reps paid correctly?

Quota attainment by rep - Current period attainment vs. target
Commission accrual - Estimated commission based on current pipeline and probability
Accelerator tracking - Reps approaching or exceeding accelerator thresholds
Dispute log - Open compensation disputes and resolution status
Team-level attainment - Roll-up to manager and VP level for capacity planning

Important: This dashboard often requires data from compensation tools (CaptivateIQ, Spiff, Xactly) joined with CRM data. Build it in your BI layer, not natively in the CRM.

Key Takeaways¶

Build seven core dashboards: pipeline, forecast, activity, lead conversion, velocity, data quality, and comp
Tie each dashboard to a specific business question and a review cadence
Use operational dashboards in the CRM for daily use; analytical dashboards in BI tools for trend analysis
Data quality dashboards should be visible to the whole revenue team, not hidden in ops
Flag outliers automatically - deals aging in stage, reps with untouched pipeline, and forecast bias