KPI Cards and Conditional Highlights

A KPI card is a single headline number that tells the reader the one thing they most need to know: total revenue, orders today, average order value. Dashboards usually open with a row of these cards.

A good card combines three parts: a clear label, the big number from a formula, and often a small comparison such as change versus last period.

In this lesson you will build KPI numbers with aggregation formulas, add period-over-period comparisons, and use conditional logic to highlight values that need attention.

Start with the core metric. Total revenue from a Sales sheet is just a SUM over the amount column.

Place this in the card's value cell:

For an order count, use COUNTA on a column that always has a value, like an order ID. The card label, a plain text cell above it, names what the number means. Keep each card to one number so it reads instantly.