Answer for the business as it works today — not for planned tools, future hires or the process you hope to have after implementation. Every question uses the same 0 to 2 scale: 0 for not in place, 1 for partly or sometimes, 2 for yes or consistently.
Checklist · Connected operations
Dashboard Readiness Checklist
A 20-question diagnostic for businesses that want to connect their systems, centralise work and automate suitable handoffs in one operational workspace — and want to know whether the operation is ready before anyone designs the interface.
LB Labs7 min readUpdated Sep 2026
At a glance
- Dashboard here means a connected operations system: one working layer that brings current work, actions and status together from your existing tools, then automates suitable handoffs.
- Twenty questions scored 0 to 2 across four sections — fragmentation, handoffs, systems and ownership — producing an opportunity total and a readiness total.
- A diagnostic matrix reads the two scores together and names the next move: ready to scope, target narrowly, build the foundation or map first.
- A stack inventory, a minimum ownership map and a 30 to 60 day priority canvas turn the score into a scope.
- Assess the operation before designing the interface — the checklist chooses the workflow, not the screen.
Every growing business reaches the point where one important workflow runs through three or more systems, a few spreadsheets and several inboxes, and the people inside it spend their day chasing status. The instinct is to build a dashboard. The better question is whether the operation is ready for one connected operating layer at all — and if it is, which workflow it should connect first.
This checklist is the diagnostic we run before scoping a connected operations build. Twenty questions, two separate scores and one focused next move. Specialist systems stay in place where they remain the right source of truth; the connected layer coordinates them rather than replacing them.
01
How to use the checklist
- 01Answer: score the operation as it works today.
- 02Separate: keep opportunity and readiness apart.
- 03Diagnose: read both totals in the matrix.
- 04Prioritise: choose one workflow and one outcome.
02
Opportunity signal: fragmentation
The first section finds the work that disappears between systems. A higher score means the priority workflow is more fragmented, more manual or more dependent on people bridging gaps between tools. The questions probe:
- Whether one important workflow moves through three or more systems, spreadsheets, inboxes or message threads.
- Whether staff copy, re-enter or reconcile the same information between systems.
- Whether people chase status because there is no shared view of the current stage and next action.
- Whether managers, customers or suppliers regularly ask where work, approvals, orders or requests are up to.
- Whether delays, missed steps or errors occur between teams because ownership or required information is unclear.
03
Opportunity signal: handoffs
The second section looks for status chasing, manual reporting and handoffs that rely on memory. A connected operating layer earns its place when it helps people see the work, move the work and manage exceptions without another round of manual coordination. Look for:
- Operational reports assembled by hand from multiple sources before anyone can make a decision.
- Approvals, reminders, updates and follow-ups that depend on someone remembering to send them.
- The same event triggering repeated actions across systems that could follow a consistent rule.
- Leaders without a current view of workload, bottlenecks, exceptions, ageing work or revenue movement.
- Staff, customers, suppliers or partners who would benefit from a controlled portal or self-service status view.
04
Readiness foundation: systems
A central system needs reliable sources of truth and practical connection routes. This section scores whether you can name the core systems in the workflow and the source of truth for each important record; whether customer, order, job, inventory, service and financial records are consistent enough to support automation; whether the priority systems connect through APIs, webhooks, reliable exports or supported integrations; whether the workflow can be described in clear stages, statuses, required fields and ownership rules; and whether access, identity, permissions, retention and security requirements can be defined before implementation.
A current operating stack inventory — system, source of truth, connection route, access owner, data health — sits alongside the questions so the answers are recorded, not remembered.
05
Readiness foundation: ownership
The system will only work if the business agrees how the work should move. The final section scores whether there is an executive sponsor and one internal owner who can make decisions and unblock the project; whether the current workflow can be measured in time, volume, conversion, delay, error, rework or revenue; whether the team will standardise on one shared operating view instead of creating parallel workarounds; whether the approvals and judgement calls that must stay human-led are understood; and whether a focused 30 to 60 day pilot is realistic.
The minimum ownership map for a focused build:
- An executive sponsor, an operations owner and a systems or integration owner — named, not implied.
- A primary success metric with its baseline and owner.
- The human approvals that stay with people — judgement, commercial and exception decisions.
- An access and data owner responsible for permissions, retention and audit.
06
Reading the two scores together
Opportunity tells you whether the fragmentation is worth solving. Readiness tells you whether the business can implement the connected system well. The matrix reads them together:
- High opportunity, high readiness — ready to scope: define a 30 to 60 day pilot around the highest-value connected workflow.
- Low opportunity, high readiness — target narrowly: do not force a broad build; validate one specific workflow with clear value.
- High opportunity, low readiness — build the foundation: protect the upside by standardising the workflow, cleaning data and securing access.
- Low opportunity, low readiness — map first: clarify the operation, records and owners before adding another system.
07
Ten practical moves
The checklist closes with ten moves for turning the diagnosis into one controlled connected workflow. Among them:
- Map one workflow from trigger to completed outcome, including every system, person, spreadsheet and approval it touches.
- Choose the bottleneck causing the most lost time, delayed revenue, rework or customer uncertainty — not the most impressive screen to build.
- Name the system that owns each important record; the connected layer coordinates sources of truth, it does not duplicate them.
- Decide what to connect, automate, redesign or keep human before selecting technology.
- Design role-based access, audit history and data boundaries alongside the workflow — not after the interface is built.
- Pilot one bounded process for 30 to 60 days, and expand only after it produces a measurable operational result the team actually uses.