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How to Create an Inventory Dashboard in Excel with AI

Cody Schneider•

Building an actionable inventory dashboard doesn't have to be a complicated, multi-day project. Using some of Excel's built-in AI features, you can go from a static spreadsheet to a dynamic dashboard that helps you spot trends, prevent stockouts, and manage your inventory with clarity. This article will walk you through setting up your data, leveraging Excel's AI for insights, and building a professional inventory dashboard from scratch.

Why an Inventory Dashboard Matters

Before jumping into the "how," let's briefly touch on the "why." A well-designed dashboard is more than just a collection of charts, it’s a command center for your business operations. It turns mountains of raw data - often scattered in different files and formats - into actionable information at a glance. For inventory, this is particularly valuable.

A good inventory dashboard helps you immediately answer critical questions:

  • What is the total value of the inventory I'm holding?

  • Which products are selling fast, and which are sitting on the shelves?

  • Am I at risk of running out of stock for popular items?

  • How have my stock levels changed over the last quarter?

Tracking these metrics manually is a time-consuming grind. The common weekly routine of downloading CSVs, cleaning them up, and wrestling with pivot tables takes hours away from strategic decisions. A dashboard automates this process, freeing you up to act on the insights, not just look for them.

Step 1: Structure Your Inventory Data Correctly

Your dashboard is only as good as the data feeding it. AI-powered tools perform best with clean, structured information. The first - and most important - step is to organize your inventory data into a proper Excel Table.

Create a single worksheet for your raw data and set it up with clear, descriptive headers. Here's a solid template for your column headers:

  • SKU: A unique identifier for each product.

  • ProductName: The name of the product.

  • Category: Groupings like "Electronics," "Apparel," or "Office Supplies."

  • Supplier: Who you order the product from.

  • UnitCost: The cost for a single unit.

  • QuantityOnHand: The current number of units in stock.

  • TotalValue: A calculated column (UnitCost * QuantityOnHand).

  • ReorderLevel: The stock level that triggers a new order.

  • DaysToRestock: How long it takes for a new order to arrive.

  • LastOrderDate: The date of the last purchase order.

Once your columns are set up and populated, select your data range and format it as a Table. You can do this by going to the Insert tab and clicking Table, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T (or Cmd+T on Mac). Using an official Excel Table is critical because it automatically expands as you add new data and makes formulas and charting much more manageable.

Pro Tip: Keep your raw data tab separate from your dashboard tab. This separation keeps your report clean and prevents accidental changes to your source information.

Step 2: Leverage AI for Instant Insights with "Analyze Data"

Now for the fun part. Excel has a powerful built-in feature called Analyze Data (formerly "Ideas") that uses AI to scan your dataset and suggest relevant visualizations, pivot tables, and insights. This tool is a perfect way to jumpstart your dashboard creation process because it handles a lot of the initial analysis for you. You don't have to be a data expert to use it, you just need to have a question in mind.

Here’s how to use it:

  1. Click on any cell within your inventory Table.

  2. Go to the Home tab on the Excel ribbon.

  3. On the far right, click the Analyze Data button.

A new pane will open on the right side of your screen. Excel will automatically generate several suggestions, like a bar chart showing QuantityOnHand by ProductName or a pivot chart breaking down TotalValue by Category. These are insights Excel has identified without you lifting a finger.

Even better, you can ask questions in plain English directly in the prompt box at the top of the pane. Try typing in questions like:

  • "What is the total value by supplier?"

  • "Which 5 products have the highest quantity on hand?"

  • "Show me unit cost for products in the 'Electronics' category."

Excel's AI will interpret your question and generate the most appropriate chart or table to answer it. This is where you see the power of AI - it bridges the gap between your curiosity and the technical steps needed to get an answer.

Step 3: Build Your Dashboard Layout

With a handful of AI-generated insights, you can start building your dashboard layout. Create a new, blank worksheet and name it Dashboard. A good dashboard typically has three sections:

1. Headline KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

These are the big, show-stopping numbers that give you a high-level overview. They should live at the top of your dashboard. For an inventory dashboard, these might include:

  • Total Inventory Value: The monetary value of all your stock.

  • Number of Products: The total count of distinct SKUs.

  • Items Low on Stock: A count of products below their reorder level.

  • Potential Stockouts: Products with zero quantity on hand.

2. Key Charts and Visualizations

This is the heart of your dashboard. Choose the 3-5 most important charts that tell a story about your inventory. Good starting points, likely suggested by Analyze Data, are:

  • Inventory Value by Category (Pie or Donut Chart): Shows which product categories represent the biggest investment.

  • Top 10 Products by Quantity (Bar Chart): Highlights your highest-stocked items.

  • Items Below Reorder Level (Table): A clear list of products that need immediate attention.

3. Interactive Filters (Slicers)

Slicers are user-friendly buttons that let you filter all the data on your dashboard. You can add slicers for Category, Supplier, or any other relevant dimension to make your dashboard interactive. This allows you, or anyone on your team, to drill down into the data without having to touch a single formula or filter menu.

Step 4: Assembling the Components with AI Help

Now, let's pull everything together. Go back to your Analyze Data pane. Find a chart that looks useful, like "Sum of TotalValue by Category," and click the + Insert PivotChart button. Excel will add a new sheet with both a PivotTable and a PivotChart. Simply cut and paste the chart (Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V) onto your Dashboard worksheet.

Calculating Your KPIs

For the headline KPIs, you'll use a few simple formulas that reference your data table. Let's say you named your table Inventory_Data.

In a cell on your dashboard, type:

=SUM(Inventory_Data[TotalValue])

...to get the Total Inventory Value.

For items needing reordering, use:

=COUNTIF(Inventory_Data[QuantityOnHand], "<" & Inventory_Data[ReorderLevel])

(Note: This basic formula works well, but more complex array formulas can be used for more accuracy if checking row-by-row.) A simpler approach is to create a helper column in your data tab called Status with an IF formula: =IF([@QuantityOnHand]<=[@ReorderLevel],"Reorder","OK"). Then your dashboard formula just becomes a simple =COUNTIF(Inventory_Data[Status],"Reorder").

Place these formulas inside neat text boxes or styled cells at the top of your dashboard for a professional finish.

Adding Slicers for Interactivity

Once your PivotCharts are on the dashboard, making them interactive is easy:

  1. Click on one of your PivotCharts.

  2. Go to the PivotChart Analyze tab that appears on the ribbon.

  3. Click Insert Slicer.

  4. A dialog box will appear with all your data columns. Check the boxes for the fields you want to filter by, like Category and Supplier.

  5. Click OK.

The slicers will appear on your sheet. Now, when you click a category like "Apparel," all connected PivotCharts will instantly update to show data only for that category. To connect a slicer to multiple charts, right-click the slicer, select Report Connections..., and check the boxes for all the PivotTables you want it to control.

Beyond Excel's Built-in Features

While Excel’s Analyze Data is great for getting started, you might also use a general AI tool like ChatGPT for more abstract analysis by uploading a CSV. For example, you could ask it to "act as a supply chain analyst and identify potential risks in this inventory data."

However, this approach has limitations. The analysis is static - the moment your data changes, your analysis is outdated. You're also uploading potentially sensitive business data to a third-party service. Furthermore, as anyone who has tried to upload a large CSV into ChatGPT knows, it can be slow and often hits processing limits. It’s a helpful brainstorming partner, but not a solution for live, operational reporting.

Final Thoughts

Creating an inventory dashboard in Excel is a powerful way to gain control over your business operations. By setting up your data properly in a Table and using built-in features like Analyze Data, you can get past the hurdle of creating insightful charts and pivot tables, moving straight to analysis without a steep learning curve.

While Excel is a great starting point for manual reporting, we built Graphed to eliminate the friction entirely. Instead of preparing and uploading data, we connect directly to your data sources like Shopify, QuickBooks, or even Google Sheets. From there, you can just ask questions in plain English, like "Show me a dashboard of my slow-moving inventory from Shopify," and get a live, interactive dashboard that updates automatically. No more downloading CSVs or wrestling with pivot table settings.