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Here’s How to WOW! Your Boss
And Save Hours of Work Each Month...
With a 3-Minute, One-Page Excel Report

A long-forgotten example from the Harvard Business Review – supported by
cutting-edge scientific research and 30 years of spreadsheet development –
offers a quick and easy way to give your managers the business insight they need.

Dear Excel User,

These are tough times for many Excel users, and the organizations they work for. What about you?

• Are you and your managers desperate to solve a long list of business problems?
   
• Do your managers ask for reports and analyses that they seldom take time to study?
   
• Are you working long hours to prepare Excel reports and analyses?
   
• Are you looking for a way to PROVE your professional and Excel skills in your resume?

Am I close?

This example is similar to the report that George Blake shared with HBR readers more than 30 years ago.

It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Excel users all over the world are facing similar problems today. But problems like these aren’t new. I first experienced them during the 1980 recession.

Spreadsheets were new back then. But I worked long hours with them to report and analyze my company’s business problems. First using VisiCalc, and then Lotus 1‑2‑3, I created hundreds of reports and analyses.

Even with those primitive tools I gave my managers some great reports -- many tall stacks of them. My managers hated those reports, even though they had asked for many of them. They hated them for a very good reason:

To get much value from my reports the managers needed to study them carefully…like homework. So, like homework, my managers usually set those pages aside until later. And then I would add another set of reports to the stack…

We were trapped. My managers needed that information desperately, buy they couldn’t or wouldn’t study my reports.

Then I discovered a short article in the Harvard Business Review that showed me how to escape that trap. The article completely changed my ideas about management reporting.

Here’s how it began:

This figure shows a ten-chart dashboard report similar to George Blake's example from more than 30 years ago.

Desperate to find solutions to our problems, I was working long hours to generate reports by the truckload…reports that my managers ignored. But this guy had found a way to replace that growing mountain of paper with just one sheet. What a concept!

His example report was amazing. Like the examples shown on this page, it used many small charts to show trends in performance.

In just a few seconds, a page like this helped him and other managers get a true picture of performance. My mountain of paper never could have provided that insight, even if managers had studied the reports for hours.

Today, we would call Blake’s report a dashboard report.
 

How Science Supports
Chart-Rich Dashboard Reports

In recent years, scientists have learned a lot about the way humans absorb visual information. Their findings support my enthusiasm for using small, simple charts for management reporting.

Specifically, scientists have explained why people can read dashboard charts quickly, find their meaning automatically, and remember many charts easily:
 

1. People Can Read Small Charts More Quickly Than Numbers

Research shows that as you read this sentence, your eye is making between two and five snapshots -- called saccades -- per second. At a typical reading distance, each saccade has a diameter about the size of the word "snapshot".

Each time you read a number in a report, your eye takes at least one snapshot. Reading many numbers requires many snapshots. Searching for trends and other patterns in all those numbers requires not only mental gymnastics, but many more snapshots.

Searching for patterns in numeric data is hard work!

In contrast, your managers and other readers can see the meaning of small, simple charts in less than a second. Readers can see trends, seasonalities, variances, correlations, and other patterns at a glance.

Searching for patterns in charted data is EASY!
 

2. People Can Find Meaning In Charts Automatically

When humans see images, we automatically find connections with information in our long-term memory. Scientists call this “gist”.

When we look at an image, including charts, gist memory processes the information immediately and determines how it fits into our existing storehouse of knowledge. Before we even have time to think about it, our brain looks for patterns in the visual data. Scientists call this preattentive visual processing.

Research shows that our brains can find the gist of an image as quickly as one-tenth of a second!

So when we use small, simple charts, we automatically give our brains a quick and easy way to find meaning in our data.
 

3. People Can Remember a Massive Amount of Chart Content

“Visual long-term memory has a massive storage capacity for object details”

This intriguing statement is also the title of an article published in the September, 2008, edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We found that observers could successfully remember details about thousands of images after only a single viewing,” the four authors from MIT wrote. “The present results demonstrate visual memory is a massive store that is not exhausted by a set of 2,500 detailed representations of objects.”

There are at least two practical reasons this discovery is important for management reporting.

First, it’s difficult for humans to remember numbers long enough to compare one set of them to others. But it’s easy for us to remember and compare one chart to others. Therefore, chart-rich reports give managers the ability to visually compare patterns of performance among many charts, patterns that can point to business solutions.

Second, the easier it is for managers to remember the contents of their reports, the more valuable the reports become. This research shows that by converting numeric data to simple charts, we make it MUCH easier for managers to remember performance results.

When I first saw Blake’s dashboard, I didn’t know that scientists eventually would support my enthusiasm for his use of small, simple charts. I just knew that similar reports would provide so much information so quickly that they could change my managers' lives, and improve my company's performance.

But then I discovered the bad news about dashboard reporting with spreadsheets…
 

My Thirty-Year Search for Practical Ways
To Generate Spreadsheet Dashboard Reports

The first bad news was that we can’t create good spreadsheet dashboards without the right spreadsheet technology.

Excel hadn’t been invented when I first read about Blake’s dashboard report. So I used Lotus 1‑2‑3 to create a primitive spreadsheet dashboard. In the mid 1980s I used one chapter of a book I wrote for McGraw-Hill to explain how to create that Lotus dashboard.

About 1987 I started to develop dashboards using Excel. By 1990, several clients were using them for management reporting. And by 1993, Tektronix Inc. was using samples of my Excel dashboard reports to promote their Phaser III color printer.

Several of my dashboard reports back then looked a lot like they do today. Even so, those early Excel dashboards were very hard to create and maintain because early Excel had many technical limitations.

But with the introduction of Excel 97, Excel’s worst technical limitations disappeared.

My second bad news was more of a problem: There are many design challenges to overcome. Here are some of the challenges I faced:

• We need to be able to create and update our Excel dashboards in minutes. How could I make this possible to do?
   
• Dashboards need the ability to show any data from any source. How could Excel users update and manage that data easily?
   
• Very small charts must be able to display data with very large numbers. But how?
   
• Dashboard workbooks must act as templates. So chart figures must change automatically from percent to currency to other units as our data changes. But how could this be possible without using macros?
   
• Excel’s standard color schemes are terrible for dashboard reporting. What should a better color scheme system be like? How can we change color schemes easily?
   
• We need to be able to modify our dashboard reports easily. But how is this possible? And how can we do it without breaking our reports?
   
• We want the dashboards simple and powerful. To keep them simple, we need to avoid macros. But if we avoid macros, how can they also be powerful?

These aren’t the only challenges I faced, but they’re ones that took up a lot of my time over many years.

But after many years of work, I’ve finally found solutions to all these problems.

IncSight QnE is the result.
 

Four Big Reasons
You Should Try IncSight^® QnE Today

This "7x4" landscape report is 7 charts wide by 4 charts high. It's one of 34 dashboard reporting templates that come with IncSight QnE.

1. Give your managers more business insight, more quickly and easily, so your organization will be more successful.
    
2. Set up new reports in about 3 minutes and update them in seconds, so you’ll reduce your Excel reporting time and effort.
    
3. WOW! your managers and clients, so you can communicate your professional knowledge and skills more effectively.
    
4. Add a significant skill to your professional qualifications, so you can stand out from the other applicants the next time you look for a job.

IncSight QnE contains a total of 42 workbooks. These include…

• 4 database workbooks for actual data, with one file each for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual data. (Have you ever used a database workbook before? These simple files show you how it's done.)
   
• 4 matching database workbooks for target data. (If you don’t have targets for some data series, it’s not a problem. Just erase the sample data.)
   
• 18 workbooks with landscape reports that get their data from the database files. Each file can report a different number of charts, from 2x2 (two charts wide by two charts high), to 2x3, 2x4, 3x2, and so on, through 7x4. (No matter how few or how many charts you need, you’ll probably find a workbook that can display them.)
   
• 16 workbooks with portrait reports that have layouts from 2x2 through 5x5 charts per page. Like the landscape workbooks, these templates include two report worksheets, each with the same layout but with a different use of colors. (Have you ever created reports linked to a database file? A similar technique works very well for tabular reports.)
   

IncSight^® QnE Offers a Quick and Easy Way
To Create Reports That Give Fast Insight

	Set up your first report in about 3 minutes. You'll take about half this time to copy your data to the Excel database. After that, you merely open any report workbook, choose a report date, and press F9 to display your data in the report. Then you change a few titles to complete your report!
	Choose any common date period. To switch your date "buckets" from months to weeks or quarters or years, just link your report workbook to the correct database workbooks, and then choose the correct setting from a drop-down list. That's the power of Excel!
	Reuse your report templates to save time. Use the same report workbook as a template to report period after period, department after department, product after product, and so on. As the scale of your data changes between reports -- from hundreds to millions, as these figures demonstrate -- your charts adapt automatically.
	Adapt quickly to managers' new requirements. Suppose that one of your chart figures displays gross margin percentage. But now your manager wants to display millions of kilowatt hours, or thousands of page views, or hundreds of employees, or whatever. No problem. Just choose the short name for the new data series from a drop-down list, and then press F9 to recalculate your workbook.
	Display any data in your reports. You can save hours of work each period and report any data from any source. Just copy new data from any source to your database workbooks, and then display the data in any number of reports.
	Use automatic chart scaling. If you chart a large number like 1,938,529, Excel displays “2,000,000” in the Y axis. But small charts don’t have room for all those zeros. So IncSight QnE uses the same technique that high-quality magazines do. To illustrate, the second chart at the right automatically displays “2.0” in the Y axis and displays “Millions” below the chart.
	Use automatic chart labeling. Enter any text to label your data, like “Employees” or “Barrels of Oil” or “Visitors”. Your charts automatically will display “Thousands of Barrels of Oil” or “Millions of Visitors” as needed. You also can specify a percentage, or show no data label at all.
	Format your chart dates easily. Large charts might have room to display months as "Sep" or "Dec"; but small charts like the ones shown here have room to display only "9" or "12" instead. Large charts might have room to display these labels every period; but small charts might have room only to display labels every two or three periods. You can change these display options easily with the click of a mouse.
	Apply new color schemes instantly. IncSight QnE comes with two color schemes, shown in the examples above and below. And a companion product, IncSight Colors, offers a total of 35 color schemes to choose from.
	Apply international settings quickly. The Country Constant settings make it easy to adapt your report to any country's language and currency: ● Currency. The reports use Dollars as the default currency. But you can use any other currency by entering its symbol as one setting, and its name as another. ● Scale Labels. By default, charts use short scale labels like “Billions”. But change the setting in one cell and your charts will use long scale labels, like “Thousand Millions”. • Date Codes. Computers set up for English use “y” and “m” to specify the year and month date formats. But different languages use different characters for this purpose. So IncSight QnE allows you to specify the date-format characters that your computer requires.
	Assign report labels easily. IncSight QnE provides many ways to label your report quickly: A chart title. Long titles or descriptions at the top and bottom of the page. And section labels within the body of the report.
	Modify your reports easily. One of the strengths of Excel is that you can modify your reports easily. IncSight QnE templates offer the same flexibility. You can make your charts bigger or smaller. You can change chart types. You can add new data series. In fact, you can do anything that Excel can do because IncSight QnE uses only Excel.
	Learn how it all works. Nothing in IncSight QnE is hidden or protected. Nothing is programmed. Also, nearly every row of formulas in the report workbook is commented. If you want to do so, you can see how these reports work.

After you get QnE, be sure to check the workbooks to see how I created these features. The educational value alone is worth significantly more than its small price.

Who the Heck Is Charley Kyd?

You might be wondering what qualifies me to create Excel dashboard reports used by companies all over the world.

Fair question.

Each report workbook offers two versions of the same color scheme. This is version 2 from the 4x2 portrait report.

Briefly, here are a few key activities and accomplishments during my career:

• Worked as an information consultant for an international firm, and for my own firm. Client industries included software, financial, pharmaceuticals, trucking, public utilities, publishing, telecommunications, retail, manufacturing, and fat rendering, among others.
   
• Received Microsoft’s Excel MVP award in 2005, and every year since. I'm one of about 90 Excel MVP awardees in the world.
   
• Beta-tested VisiCalc in 1979. Nobody has used spreadsheets longer than I have.
   
• Created the first-ever spreadsheet dashboard reports, first using Lotus 1-2-3, then using Excel.
   
• Worked as a small-company CFO and a large-company accounting manager.
   
• Taught financial management at three universities.
   
• Wrote monthly columns for Inc, Lotus, and other magazines. (Lotus was the best magazine ever published about using spreadsheets in business.)
   
• Wrote three books about Excel for Microsoft Press and one book about Lotus 1‑2‑3 for McGraw-Hill.
   
• Have written hundreds of articles for ExcelUser.com, which explain how to use Excel in business.
   
• Have provided Excel dashboard solutions to thousands of users, in 145 countries, in nearly every industry.

My experience has given me a good idea about the kinds of information that managers are looking for, and the problems they normally have in getting that information.
 

IncSight^® QnE's Hidden Power Turns A Few Charts
Into a Powerful Dashboard Reporting System

Although IncSight QnE is new, Excel users all over the world are using my earlier dashboard products. Here's a recent summary of users by continent and country.

What attracted Excel users to my products were the pages of chart-rich dashboard reports.

What made Excel users loyal to my products was the system of formulas that controls and summarizes the data, and supports the charts.

Those simple formulas turn a mere page of charts into a powerful, time-saving dashboard system.

The formulas pull the data you specify from the Excel database. They scale the data. They add units of measure. They convert date serial numbers into the date labels you specify. And they synchronize target and actual data.

In short, those simple formulas are the hidden power of my Excel dashboard reports.

The formulas are simple because it took years of development to make them simple.  But they work well, as two of my early QnE customers told me recently:

Because this is a new product, I only have these two endorsements. And that's why I'm making this special limited-time offer.

Here's Why This Is a Limited-Time Offer

There will never be a better time than today to claim your copy of IncSight QnE.

Why?

I am going to make you an offer that I never would have allowed if I were still working as a bean counter.

Although the introductory price of IncSight QnE is $149.95, you'll not have to pay that amount. This is because I need more customer questions and feedback before I can have an official product launch at that price. So I’m offering it to you today for just $69.95. That's $80 less than the introductory price, for a savings of more than 50%!

Plus...I'm offering hundreds of dollars of additional value.

But here’s the catch…

Since I’m willing to give you my $150 product for more than half off, along with two hours of Excel training and additional benefits, you HAVE to give me at least a two-paragraph product review once you’ve had a chance to use the product.

I really need your opinion and your feedback. I'm planning to offer a major product launch soon and this is really important to me.

There is no other reason for me to offer such a deep discount. I need your case studies and success stories. So to that end...
 

Here's another benefit that I offer with all my products......

Finally, there's only one thing more to cover...

Time is Very Much 'Of the Essence'...

I can't stress enough how time-sensitiveness this offer is. I will offer IncSight QnE only to a few people at this extremely low price. This is because my real goal is to get user feedback.

Not only will the feedback I need come quickly (at which point the $80 discount will expire), but more importantly, the best video training will become part of a more expensive training series. And trust me, you don't want to miss this training...

Today, you can...

	Give your managers the most-useful reports they've ever received.
	Save more than 50% off the normal introductory price, a savings of $80.
	Watch two full hours of Excel video training, a savings of $358.
	Receive FREE updates for the life of IncSight QnE, a savings of $29.95.
	Get three bonus dashboard reports, a savings of $87.
	Get a second copy of IncSight QnE for free, a savings of $69.95.

That's a total discount of $624.90. You can see why I would have opposed this offer if I were still a bean counter.

To take advantage of this offer while it lasts, just click on one of the "Add To Cart" buttons below. You'll get instant access to IncSight QnE for just $69.95...
 

Try IncSight® QnE For Just $69.95 Category Price Quick-Feedback Offer... $69.95   Introductory Offer... $149.95 (One Video. No bonus dashboards.) Standard Offer... $199.95 (One Video. No bonus dashboards.) Price Today for Either Version of Excel: $199.95  $149.95  Only $69.95   Save $30 More When You Try Both Versions of Excel  Only $109.95

There's no reason to procrastinate or deliberate any longer. Your managers and co-workers need greater business insight; the price is very low; and there's no risk. The time for action is now. And if you wait there's a very good chance that this offer will be gone.

So click one of the buttons above to try IncSight QnE today.

All the best,

Charley Kyd

P.S. Keep in mind that you have nothing to lose. IncSight QnE has the longest guarantee of any business product I know of. You have one full year to decide if it will work for you. You have everything to gain. The risk is squarely on my back.

There’s no quicker or easier way to give your managers, clients, and co-workers the business insight they need. So what’s holding you back? Claim your copy of IncSight QnE today.

P.P.S. Seriously, this offer lasts only until I get the feedback I need. Once that happens, the price goes up and the number of videos goes down.

P.P.P.S. Just so you know, I'm a real person living on the windy, rainy coast of Washington State. Here's my mailing address:

ExcelUser.com
PO Box 1996
Ocean Shores, WA 98569 USA