Custom Dashboard Solutions

In today’s data-driven world, dashboards have become essential tools for visualizing and interpreting complex information. They enable businesses to make informed decisions quickly, monitor performance in real-time, and identify trends that can shape strategy. Let’s explore various custom dashboard solutions available on the market, compare their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss the factors you should consider when selecting the right solution for your needs.

What are custom dashboards?

Custom dashboards are tailor-made interfaces that allow users to visualize data in a personalized, user-friendly format. Unlike generic, off-the-shelf solutions, custom dashboards are designed to address a company’s unique key performance indicators (KPIs), reporting needs, and organizational goals. They offer flexibility in terms of data sources, UX design, interactivity, and performance tuning.

Primary approaches to develop custom dashboards

Custom dashboards can be built using different approaches:

1. Developed from scratch

Overview:

These dashboards are developed entirely from scratch using programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, or Ruby, along with visualization libraries like D3.js, Chart.js, or Plotly. This approach provides complete control over every aspect of the dashboard.

Pros:

• Total customization: Developers can tailor every feature without limitations.
• Performance optimization: Code can be fine-tuned for optimal performance.
• Seamless integration: Can be integrated with existing systems or legacy infrastructure.
• Flexible UI: The interface can be easily adapted to your company’s brand guidelines and design standards.

Cons:

• Development time: Creating a dashboard from scratch requires significant time and expertise.
• Maintenance: Long-term maintenance and updates can be resource-intensive.
• Cost: The highest initial development costs compared to other solutions.

2. Low-code/No-code platforms

Overview:

Low-code/no-code platforms allow users to build custom dashboards with minimal programming. Tools such as Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Grafana, and Google Data Studio provide drag-and-drop functionalities along with pre-built templates and integrations.

Pros:

• Time to market: Rapid dashboard creation with minimal or no coding.
• User-friendly: Empower non-technical users to build and modify dashboards.
• Cost-effective: Lower initial development costs, especially for small to medium companies.

Cons:

• Limited customization: While many platforms offer a range of options, they often lack the detailed customization needed for specialized requirements. Achieving deep customization typically takes significant time and expertise, which undermines the simplicity promised by low-code/no-code solutions.
• Limited design flexibility: Creating a simple, sleek interface that precisely matches your company’s branding guidelines can be challenging. Additionally, low-code/no-code platforms often lack the flexibility required for white-label projects, where deep customization for individual clients is essential.
• Scalability issues: Handling very large datasets or complex data processing can lead to performance bottlenecks and unpredictable high costs.
• Vendor lock-in: Organizations might depend heavily on a single vendor’s ecosystem, potentially limiting future flexibility.

3. UI component libraries

Overview:

UI component libraries offer a balanced approach between developed from scratch solutions and low‑code/no‑code platforms. In this post, we will use the open‑source, React‑based SSA UI kit as our example. By using a UI component library—a toolkit that brings together components, widgets, blocks, and forms—you unlock powerful customization without the expense or scaling challenges of a developed from scratch solution. Unlike low‑code/no‑code platforms, which often constrain deeper custom work, component libraries provide nearly unlimited flexibility.

Pros:

• Rapid development: By using a library of UI components, developers can rapidly put together dashboards without having to build every element from scratch. This significantly reduces development time and allows teams to focus on business logic and data integration.
• Consistent and modern design: With components designed to align with modern web standards, your dashboards will have a cohesive and professional look. The library ensures visual consistency across all modules, which is essential for user-friendly interfaces and effective data visualization.
• High configurability: The components are built in the way to be highly customizable. Developers can tweak styles, behaviors, and functionalities to match specific branding guidelines and unique business requirements, giving you a tailored solution without the heavy lift of building everything manually.
• Ease of integration: The components are designed to integrate seamlessly with modern web frameworks and tools. This streamlines the process of extending functionality and combining the dashboard with other applications, making it simple to create a cohesive, interactive environment.
• Community and open source advantages: If the UI component library is open source, like SSA UI kit, you benefit from continuous improvements fueled by a community. This translates to regular enhancements, frequent security updates, and the addition of innovative features, all of which reduce reliance on commercial providers while ensuring long-term sustainability.
• Enhanced developer support with AI assistants: In open‑source libraries, AI tools can read the codebase and deliver targeted suggestions, speeding up development and problem‑solving, especially during a project’s early stages.

Cons:

• Limited support for highly specialized requirements: UI component libraries address a broad range of common scenarios, but some unique or complex needs may fall outside their prebuilt feature set. In those cases, you can either develop custom components yourself or work with the vendor to extend the library’s functionality.
• Dependency on community contributions: As an open source solution, updates and enhancements rely on community contributions. However, when a vendor stands behind the solution, it ensures reliable support and regular, timely updates, mitigating potential concerns.

Comparison: Key considerations

When choosing the right dashboard approach, consider the following factors:

• Business requirements: Determine what you need from the dashboard. Do you require complex analytics and real-time data processing, or is a high-level overview sufficient?
• Technical capabilities: Assess your in-house expertise. Can your team build a fully custom solution, or would a low-code platform or a UI component library approach better suit your skills and resources?
• Budget constraints: Consider both the initial development or subscription costs and the long-term expenses related to maintenance and scalability.
• Scalability and future-proofing: Ensure that the chosen solution can evolve with your business. Verify if it supports increasing data volumes, additional users, and integration with emerging technologies.
• Data security and compliance: Confirm that the dashboard solution adheres to industry-specific security protocols and compliance standards, especially if dealing with sensitive information.

The charts below illustrate the balance between deployment speed, investment level, and customization flexibility:

• Low‑code/No‑code gets you live fastest and cheapest but offers minimal flexibility; deep customization requires substantial time
• UI component library adds richer customization at a modest increase in time and cost
• Developed from scratch delivers total control but demands the most time and budget

Selecting the right custom dashboard solution is a balance between flexibility, development speed, and cost-effectiveness. Each approach brings its own unique benefits, tailored to different business objectives. By carefully considering your organization’s technical capabilities, business requirements, and future growth plans, you can choose a solution that enhances clarity, improves decision-making, and supports long-term success.

At SSA Group, we have built dashboards for ourselves and for clients across industries, and our experience guides this simple recommendation:

• If you already have a low‑code/no-code dashboard in use internally and it meets your needs, there’s no need to change, then keep using it.
• For all other scenarios, whether you are starting a new project or your current solution falls short, we strongly recommend a UI component library approach. Leveraging a UI library boosts productivity, accelerates delivery, and lets you focus on business logic instead of reinventing the wheel, even if you have the time and resources to build from scratch.

Remember, the ideal dashboard today may need to evolve tomorrow. Stay agile, continuously gather feedback from users, and be ready to iterate on your dashboard to keep pace with an ever-changing business landscape.

Need help choosing the best path? Reach out to our team for tailored advice and start building a dashboard solution that drives lasting value!