How to Create a Simple Dashboard in Google Sheets with ChatGPT

Creating a business dashboard doesn't have to require expensive software or hours of technical training. By combining the familiar interface of Google Sheets with the power of ChatGPT, you can build a simple yet effective dashboard to track your most important metrics. This article will show you exactly how to do it, step-by-step.

Why Use Google Sheets for a Dashboard?

Before jumping into the how-to, let's appreciate why Google Sheets is such a great starting point for building a dashboard. For most, the number one reason is familiarity. You and your team likely already use spreadsheets, so there's no steep learning curve for a new platform. It's free, cloud-based, and built for collaboration, making it easy to share your progress with stakeholders.

While dedicated business intelligence tools are more powerful, a Google Sheets dashboard is often the perfect "Version 1.0." It helps you get clear on which metrics really matter before you invest in more complex systems. It's an excellent way to organize your data and start visualizing performance today, not next quarter.

The Role of ChatGPT as Your Data Assistant

So, where does ChatGPT fit in? Think of it as your on-demand data analyst or spreadsheet expert who is always ready to help. You don't need to memorize dozens of obscure formulas or know the intricacies of pivot tables anymore. ChatGPT can:

• Write complex formulas for you (like VLOOKUP, QUERY, or SUMIFS).

• Suggest the best chart type to visualize your specific data.

• Provide step-by-step instructions for tasks within Google Sheets.

• Help you clean up and structure messy data.

• Even write Google Apps Script code to automate repetitive tasks.

Instead of hitting a roadblock and spending 30 minutes searching for a tutorial, you can simply ask ChatGPT a direct question and get an answer in seconds. This greatly speeds up the dashboard creation process, especially for those who don't consider themselves "data people."

Step-by-Step: Building a Simple Website Traffic Dashboard

Let's build a practical example: a simple dashboard to track website traffic using data you might export from Google Analytics. Our dashboard will show Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), a trend of sessions over time, and a breakdown of the top traffic sources.

Step 1: Gather and Organize Your Data

Every great dashboard starts with clean, well-structured data. This is arguably the most important step. For our example, we'll assume you've exported a simple report from Google Analytics that includes columns for Date, Traffic Source, Sessions, and Users.

Create a new Google Sheet. Rename the first tab "Dashboard" – this will be our final canvas. Create a second tab and name it "RawData." Paste your exported data into this "RawData" tab. Keeping your raw data separate from your dashboard makes everything much tidier and easier to manage.

Your "RawData" tab should look something like this:

RawData Tab

Step 2: Calculate Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

On your clean "Dashboard" tab, let's start by displaying some top-level metrics. These are your "at-a-glance" numbers. We'll add Total Sessions and Total Users. We can ask ChatGPT to generate the formulas for us.

First, ask ChatGPT for the Total Sessions formula. You can use a prompt like this:

"I have a Google Sheet with a tab named 'RawData'. This tab has 'Sessions' data in Column C, starting from C2. What is the formula to calculate the total sum of all sessions?"

ChatGPT will likely return a simple formula:

Choose a cell on your "Dashboard" tab (e.g., B2), give it a label in the cell next to it ("Total Sessions"), and paste this formula in. Now do the same for Total Users, which is in Column D.

Your prompt for Total Users:

"Great, now do the same for my 'Users' data, which is in Column D of the 'RawData' tab."

It will give you:

Now your dashboard has its first building blocks! It might look a little plain now, but it's a functional start.

Step 3: Create Visualizations with ChatGPT's Guidance

Next, let's bring some visuals to our dashboard. Numbers are good, but charts tell a story. We’ll use a line chart to see our session trends and a pie chart to see our traffic source mix.

Creating a Sessions Over Time Line Chart

A line chart is perfect for showing a metric's performance over time. Let's ask ChatGPT how to assemble the data for this.

Your prompt to ChatGPT:

"In my 'RawData' tab, I have dates in Column A and sessions in Column C. I need to create a summary table that shows the total sessions for each unique date. How can I do this with a single formula in Google Sheets?"

ChatGPT is very good at "thinking" through multi-step problems. It might suggest a Pivot Table, but you can also ask for a formula-based approach. It will likely give you a powerful QUERY formula like this:

Create a new tab called "ChartData" and paste this formula into cell A1. This will auto-generate a clean summary table – no manual VLOOKUPs needed! Now that you have dedicated data for the chart, you can easily create the chart. Select the two columns of data, then go to Insert > Chart and choose the line chart option. Once it's created, copy the chart (using the three dots in the corner of the chart) and paste it into your "Dashboard" tab.

Creating a Traffic Sources Pie Chart

Now let's see which sources are driving traffic. We'll use the same process.

Your prompt to ChatGPT:

"Using the same 'RawData' sheet, I want to create a summary table of total sessions (Column C) broken down by Traffic Source (Column B). Please give me a QUERY formula for this."

ChatGPT will give you another formula tailor-made for your question:

Paste this formula into an empty spot on your "ChartData" sheet. It will create a tidy summary table. Now, highlight that data, go to Insert > Chart and select a Pie Chart visualization. Once again, copy this chart and paste it onto your "Dashboard" tab.

Step 4: Arrange Your Dashboard and Add Slicers

Now all your core components are built! Head to your "Dashboard" tab and arrange your KPIs and charts in a logical, clean layout. You can use merged cells for titles and adjust colors and fonts to match your brand.

To make it even better, let's add an interactive filter. In Google Sheets, this is called a Slicer. After selecting one of your charts, go to Data -> Add a slicer. Slicers give dashboard users a very simple experience to filter by date or another category.

Improving Your Results with Better Prompts

ChatGPT is an incredible tool, but the quality of your output depends on the quality of your input. Here are a few tips for getting better results when building dashboards:

• Be Specific and Verbose: Always mention the tab name and column letters in your prompts (e.g., "In the 'RawData' tab, calculate the average of Column C"). Don't make the AI guess where your data lives.

• Provide Context: Briefly explain your end goal. Instead of "Give me a formula," try "I'm trying to find my top 5 most viewed pages. Can you give me a formula that looks at Page Titles in Column B and Sessions in Column C to extract this data?"

• Break Down the Problem: Don't ask ChatGPT to build the entire dashboard in one prompt. Ask for one formula or one chart at a time. This keeps the responses focused and accurate.

• Check The Work: ChatGPT, like other LLMs, can occasionally make mistakes or "hallucinate" formulas. Always test the formula it gives you on a small data set to make sure it's working as expected. Think of it as a helpful assistant that needs your final approval. Remember, ChatGPT has no real-time connection to your Sheet and is working based only on the info you provide.

Final Thoughts

Using Google Sheets and ChatGPT together, you have a powerful combination for creating effective, custom dashboards without requiring deep technical skills. This process empowers you to turn raw data into valuable business insights, helping you make more informed decisions about your marketing, sales, or operational strategies.

While this manual method is a great place to start, you'll soon notice the ongoing work of downloading files, cleaning data, and copy-pasting it into Sheets just to keep your dashboard updated. That’s why we built Graphed. We automate the entire data connection and visualization process, so you can stop wrestling with CSVs and formulas. You simply connect your data sources — like Google Analytics, Shopify, or Facebook Ads — and use plain English to build real-time dashboards that update automatically.