2026 Best Practices Submission University of Florida

2026 Best Practices Submission

Presentation Title:

Real-Time Financial Decision-Making: Building a Unified Dashboard for Academia

Presenters:

Chris Zajac, University of Florida
Mauren Piucco, University of Florida

Presentation Description:

In this session, we’ll walk through how we transformed fragmented financial reports into a single, real-time dashboard that gives senior leadership actionable insights at a glance. Using a case study from the University of Florida’s College of Health and Human Performance, we’ll share how we designed, integrated, and governed data to turn static historical reports into a live decision-support tool. Along the way, we’ll highlight key performance indicators, data-source mapping, and visualization best practices using Microsoft Power BI and Excel. By the end of the session, you’ll come away with a practical, repeatable framework for building a sustainable financial dashboard—one that aligns with your institution’s priorities and supports proactive, data-informed decision-making.

Statement of the Problem:

Senior leadership in our college was making multi-million-dollar investment and budget decisions based on static, historical reports drawn from multiple disconnected systems. These reports were often several weeks—or even months—out of date, lacked critical context, and required extensive manual reconciliation. As a result, decision-making was slowed, opportunities were sometimes missed, and priorities between academic programs and financial realities occasionally fell out of alignment. To address these challenges, we set out to design a unified, real-time financial dashboard that could bring all key data sources together in one place. Our goal was to create a tool that not only improved accuracy and timeliness but also provided meaningful, actionable insights to guide strategic resource allocation.

Identify the Solution:

We developed a centralized Financial Dashboard using Microsoft Power BI, with supporting data preparation in Excel, to bring together real-time information from across our key systems. This includes our ERP, Workday; our student information system; our research fund management platform; and various auxiliary revenue sources—all integrated into one interactive environment. The dashboard features key metrics, including fund balances by source, enrollment-driven revenue projections, salary encumbrances, commitment tracking, and cash flow forecasts. To ensure accuracy and alignment, we assembled a cross-functional team that included senior leadership, the budget office, and the Dean’s Office. Together, we defined requirements, validated data integrity, and established daily refresh cadences to maintain real-time visibility. We also implemented tiered user-access roles—so Deans can view college-level summaries, while department managers see department-level details. Today, the dashboard serves as our single source of truth for monthly leadership reviews, annual budget planning, and ad-hoc scenario modeling.

Implementation Timeline:

Validate goals, identify data sources, and secure IT access (Month 1)
Map, extract, and connect data using Power BI and Excel; build a prototype (Month 2)
Design core KPIs, incorporate senior leadership feedback, & optimize visuals (Months 2-3)
Launch college-wide rollout with training and user guides; begin ongoing refinement (Month 4)

Benefits & Retrospect:

Launched in 2025, the dashboard has transformed our financial decision-making process, reducing the decision cycle from weeks to just hours. It delivers real-time data in a clear, visually compelling format that tells the financial story at a glance. Senior leadership can now make better-informed, data-driven decisions with greater confidence, while the budget team spends far less time on manual reporting and reconciliation. The process has unified our leadership around transparent, shared metrics and has already guided mid-year resource reallocations and strategic program investments. Maintenance is minimal and sustainable, demonstrating that this model is both scalable and adaptable for other colleges and campuses across the university. In closing, this project reinforced an important lesson: meaningful transformation doesn’t always require new systems—it requires stronger connection, collaboration, and clarity. By bringing our data together, we created more than just a dashboard; we built a shared framework for transparency, accountability, and strategic alignment. This approach is practical, sustainable, and replicable. It shows that with the proper structure and commitment, any institution can turn fragmented data into a powerful decision-support tool—one that strengthens financial stewardship and advances institutional goals.