Custom internal dashboards, built around your data
Avokodo builds custom internal dashboards that pull from the systems a team already runs and put the numbers, the work queue and the exceptions on one screen. A dashboard build is a fixed NZ$1,000–NZ$5,000 with NZ$50–NZ$250 a month to run, and typically goes live in 2–4 weeks.
Five signs a spreadsheet has stopped working
Spreadsheets are excellent and most businesses should keep using them. These are the specific points at which one stops being the right tool.
- Somebody owns the file
- There is one person who understands the formulas, and work stops when they are away. The spreadsheet has become a system with a single point of failure.
- You keep a copy of the copy
- Versions have started multiplying — a working file, a shared file, someone's local edit — and reconciling them is now a job.
- The numbers are stale before they are read
- Someone exports from two systems and pastes them together weekly. By the time anyone looks, the picture is days old.
- You cannot see what needs doing
- It records what happened but does not tell anyone what to act on next. The queue lives in someone's head or their inbox.
- Mistakes are expensive and invisible
- A wrong formula or an overwritten cell causes a real problem, and nothing catches it until a customer does.
What goes on a dashboard people actually use
Most internal dashboards fail because they are built to impress rather than to be used every morning. The ones that stick answer three questions and stop.
- Where do we stand?
- The handful of numbers that actually change a decision — not every metric that could be calculated.
- What needs doing now?
- A live work queue, ordered, showing who owns each item. This is the part a BI tool cannot give you.
- What has gone wrong?
- An exceptions list: the records that failed, stalled or disagree with each other, surfaced rather than buried.
Everything else is a report, and reports belong somewhere you visit occasionally rather than on the screen a team keeps open all day.
Where the data comes from
Avokodo reads from the systems you already run rather than asking you to move your data somewhere new. That usually means a CRM, an accounting or billing system, a spreadsheet or two that nobody is ready to retire, and sometimes a database or an email inbox.
Where a system has a decent API, the dashboard reads it directly and stays current. Where it does not — and plenty of older business software does not — the build handles scheduled exports or file drops instead. Which of those applies is one of the three things that decides where a project lands in the price range, and it gets worked out before the number is fixed.
Custom dashboard vs BI tool vs spreadsheet
These solve different problems and the differences are not always obvious from the marketing.
| Option | Best at | Live work queue | Cost shape | Who maintains it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet | Ad-hoc analysis, small volumes | No | Free, plus staff hours | Whoever built it |
| BI tool (Power BI, Looker) | Reporting and historical analysis | No | Per seat, forever | A data-literate person |
| Low-code (Retool) | Internal screens over your data | Yes | Per builder seat, forever | An in-house technical owner |
| Custom dashboard | Your specific queue and exceptions | Yes | NZ$1,000–NZ$5,000 + NZ$50–NZ$250/mo | Avokodo, or any developer |
The short version: if you need to analyse history, buy a BI tool. If you need your team to see what to do next in a process specific to your business, that is what a custom dashboard is for.
Common questions
How much does a custom internal dashboard cost?
A dashboard build from Avokodo is a fixed NZ$1,000–NZ$5,000, agreed before work starts, with NZ$50–NZ$250 a month for hosting and upkeep. A single dashboard reading one system sits near the bottom of that range; several screens with permissions and multiple integrations sits near the top.
Can you replace the spreadsheet we run the business on?
Usually yes, and often it is worth keeping the spreadsheet as one of the data sources at first rather than migrating everything on day one. Avokodo maps how the sheet is actually used before replacing any of it — the formulas people rely on are frequently the most important requirement.
Do we need to move our data somewhere new?
No. The dashboard reads from the systems you already run. Where a system has a workable API it reads live; where it does not, the build handles scheduled exports instead.
How is this different from Power BI or Looker?
BI tools are built for analysing history and they are very good at it. They do not give your team a live work queue with ownership and exception handling, which is usually the thing that actually saves hours in an operations team.
How long does a dashboard take to build?
Typically 2–4 weeks from the first call. Week one maps the process and fixes scope and price, weeks two and three build it in the open, and weeks three and four launch it with your team.
Pricing is broken down in full on the pricing page, and build vs buy covers when a cheaper option is the right one.