This is a sample of a weekly dashboard manage generated using Mekko Graphics and used by a professional services firm to manage its utlization, backlog and sales pipeline.

1. Mekko Graphics-Based Professional Services Dashboard
David Goldstein
January 2013

2. Purpose of this Presentation
• The following slides are a sample of a weekly dashboard that
a professional services firm can use to track its performance.
• The dashboard was created by extracting data from our time
management and CRM systems, analyzing it using Excel
PivotTables, and presenting it in PowerPoint.
• The data are disguised and are based on a company with
about 50 billable consultants.
• The charts are described in several blog posts in:
http://www.mekkographics.com/category/charting-strategy/

3. Notes on Consulting Process
• Each consultant enters timesheet information weekly.
• Management forecasts hours for each consultant by project for the
upcoming four weeks.
• The sales team divides opportunities into fours phases. We assign dollar
values to opportunities in the last three (need identified, pre-proposal and
proposal) and track these.
• When a project is started we add its estimated hours to our backlog and
deduct from this as we complete work.
• From a technical perspective, data were collected using:
– Microsoft CRM to track opportunities
– Edison’s Attic’s Bigtime for project and time tracking
– A home grown Excel macro to extract data from CRM and Bigtime’s SQL Server
databases and populate Excel PivotTables

4. 1,000
1,100
1,200
1,300
1,400
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85%
Billable Hours
8/17
1,257
8/24
1,348
8/31
1,296
9/7
1,392
9/14
1,387
9/21
1,354
9/28
1,370
10/5
1,411
63% 68% 69% 71%67% 65% 87% 69%Utilization
Utilization
Breakeven
Target
Breakeven
Target
Utilization
Utilization and Hours Worked
actual budget
Utilization is a good indicator of profitability. We compute it by dividing billable hours by available hours. We also include
billable hours in the graph to tie this graph to upcoming graphs and so that employees can see the relationship between the
two variables.

5. Consulting Hours by Client
actual budget
With this 100% stacked bar, you can quickly see what percentage of your business comes
from your biggest clients and how this is trending over a two month period.
0
20
40
60
80
100%
8/17
1,257
8/24
1,348
8/31
1,392
9/7
1,392
9/14
1,387
9/21
1,354
9/28
1,370
10/5
1,411
Large ASP
Regional Law Firm
Global Conglomerate
National Energy
Local Hospital
Global Consumer Products
Local Bank
Regional Telecom
Private Equity
Boutique Retailer
High Tech Mfr
National Cable

6. Consulting Hours by Project Week of 9/7
Actual
This marimekko chart provides information on the mix of clients and projects from the
previous week. It can identify if we’re spread too thin or are overly dependent on large
projects of clients.
0
20
40
60
80
100%
Large CPG
KM System
246.0
Process
Automation
65.0
Office Productivity
10.0
321
Regional Telecom
Forms
Management
263.0
263
National
Energy
Compliance
Portal
187.0
187
Global
Conglomerate
BI
Dashboard
95.0
Intranet
86.0
181
Private
Equity
Deal
Tracking
143.0
143
Local
Hospital
BI
Dashboard
72.0
Extranet
26.0
98
Other
Local Bank:
Process
Mgmt 40.0
Boutique Retailer: Sw Eval 0.5
National
Cable:
Enterprise
Search
71.0
Large
ASP:
Workflow
87.0
199 Total = 1,392

7. Billable Hours by Project Actual Versus
Budget Week of 9/7
Row Labels ACTUAL BUDGET Variance
Local Hospital: BI Dashboard 72 24 48
Local Hospital: Extranet 26 83 -57
Large CPG: KMSystem 246 252 -6
Large CPG: Process Automation 65 81 -16
Large CPG: Office Productivity 10 0 10
Local Bank: Process MGmt 40 68 -28
Regional Telecom: Forms Management 263 223 40
Private Equity: Deal Tracking 143 127 16
Boutique Retailer: Sw Eval 0.5 0 0.5
National Cable: Enterprise Search 71 73 -2
Large ASP: Workflow 87 84 3
Global Conglomerate: BI Dashboard 95 109 -14
Global Conglomerate: Intranet 86 62 24
National Energy: Compliance Portal 187 183 4
Grand Total 1391.5 1369 22.5
We use the stop lights in Excel to highlight differences between actual and budget for the
previous week. This is a good check on our estimation process and it helps identify projects that
could be behind or could go over budget.

8. Consulting Hours by Project Budgeted for
Week of 9/14
Like the previous marimekko chart, this chart displays project/client mix. In this
instance for the upcoming week.
0
20
40
60
80
100%
Large CPG
KM System 287
Process Automation 65
Office Productivity 46
398
Regional
Telecom
Forms
Management
201
201
Private Equity
Deal Tracking
187
187
National
Energy
Compliance
Portal 176
176
Global
Conglomerate
BI
Dashboard
90
Intranet
20
110
Other
Local Hospital: BI
Dashboard 71
Local Bank: Process
Mgmt 65
Boutique Retailer: Sw
Eval 32
National Cable:
Enterprise Search 82
Large ASP: Workflow 65
315 Total = 1,387

9. 0
20
40
60
80
100%
Backlog
Consulting Graphics
1,667.5
Financial Reporting
1,288.0
Tech Office Auto 218.0
Pharma SharePoint 200.0
Tech Slide Tool 191.5
Bain & Company:MCM 129.0
Bank Portals 94.0
Projects Under 80 Hours 325.5
4,571
Projects Under 80 Hours Backlog
Pharma Extranet 63.0
Pharma Request for
Public Disclosure 55.5
Financial MOSS Review
55.0
Tech MOSS 2007
Consulting 45.5
Consulting BCX 40.0
Workflow & Document Reposit 21.5
SharePoint Intranet Phase 2 17.0
Portals:CBR-Treasury 16.0
326
Consulting Backlog By Project in Hours
The 100% stacked bar provides a summary of backlog by project. The second bar
is an explosion of the data for our smaller projects.

10. Sales Pipeline as of 9/14
The Marimekko chart captures the each significant project in the pipeline,
organized by stage. You can see the relative importance of both individual
projects and the stage itself.
0
20
40
60
80
100%
Need Identified
BVPS $15,000
Pharma BI $10,000
Apex Partners
SharePoint Consulting
$25,000
James Intl Project
Server/Sharepoint Integration
$15,000
MOSS intranet
$40,000
Pine Street Inn - Compliance
Portal Pilot $10,000
SDMC MOSS misc
assists $14,000
Health - QDS Survey integration
$6,000
WellPet SharePoint
portal $20,000
$155,000
Pre-Proposal
PJ's follow up $300,000
Life Sciences - Sharepoint planning $25,000
Long River SharePoint Consulting $20,000
College - custom dev web app (SQL) $12,500
MOSS architecture $10,000
Vistaview -- SharePoint consulting services $7,000
$374,500
Proposal
Caprio MOSS 2007 consulting
$17,500
SDPS / BVPS perf mgt 360 feedback solution $4,000
Micropower - SharePoint Work $5,000
Healthcare -- DACC Clinician
Info Repository $100,000
ANC -- SharePoint consulting $12,000
Inventive -- WSS tuning $5,000
API Enhacements $10,000
Compliance Portal $10,000
Non-profit - SharePoint Info
Architecture $41,500
$205,000 Total = $734,500