Build a Product Inventory Dashboard With SQL

Keeping track of your inventory can be a headache, especially when stock shortages or excess products start causing problems. A product inventory dashboard built with SQL makes it easier to stay on top of stock levels, sales patterns, and reorder points. Instead of guessing when to restock or worrying about over-ordering, you can use data to make smarter decisions. With the right SQL queries, you’ll be able to monitor trends, track sales, and manage your inventory like a pro.

Let’s break this down step by step so you can build an inventory dashboard using SQL without feeling overwhelmed. If SQL isn’t your strong suit, or you just need a refresher, check out our SQL Reporting course at LearnSQL.com. It’s a hands-on way to get comfortable with SQL reporting and analytics.

We’ll walk through the entire process – from pulling data with SQL to turning it into a visual dashboard. By the end, you’ll have a working dashboard that helps you track stock levels, monitor sales trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Whether you work in retail, logistics, or any other business that needs to track product movement, this guide is for you. We keep things simple, use real-world examples, and focus on techniques you can use right away.

Understanding Product Inventory Data

Before you build any dashboard, it’s important to understand the data behind it. Inventory data typically includes records on product quantities, sales figures, restock dates, and supplier details. With accurate data, businesses can make informed decisions about stock management and order timing.

What is Inventory Data?

Inventory data includes all relevant information about the products a company holds. Key elements include:

• Product Details: names, descriptions, SKU numbers, and categories.
• Stock Levels: current quantities available in warehouses or on shelves.
• Sales Data: information on units sold, returns, and reorder levels.
• Supplier Information: data related to the sources of the products.

Data Models & Database Design

A structured database simplifies inventory tracking and reporting. A typical inventory database consists of multiple interconnected tables. The Products table stores essential product details, while the Inventory table maintains stock levels. Sales transactions are recorded in the Sales table, and supplier details are managed in the Suppliers table. These relationships ensure smooth data retrieval and provide a solid foundation for generating insights.

Below is an example table structure for a basic inventory system:

This structure serves as the foundation for organizing dashboard data effectively and enables the creation of efficient SQL queries.

Key Metrics for Inventory Management

Some of the most common metrics that drive decision-making include:

• Stock turnover ratio: measures how quickly inventory is sold.
• Reorder point: indicates when new stock should be ordered.
• Days of inventory: estimates the duration current stock will last.
• Sales velocity: tracks the rate at which products are sold.

Understanding these metrics will help you tailor your SQL queries to extract the most useful information.

SQL Essentials for Inventory Management

SQL is a powerful language for interacting with databases. When building an inventory dashboard, you will use SQL to retrieve, aggregate, and filter data.

Core SQL Concepts

Before writing SQL queries, it helps to understand some key concepts:

• Retrieving data: The SELECT statement is the foundation of SQL queries, allowing you to retrieve data efficiently.
• Joining tables: JOIN clauses combine related data from multiple tables based on common fields.
• Grouping data: The GROUP BYGROUP BY clause helps aggregate records into useful insights.
• Filtering data: The WHERE clause extracts only relevant data based on conditions.

These concepts form the building blocks of your dashboard queries.

Step-by-Step SQL Code Examples

1. Retrieving Product Details and Stock Levels

SELECT product_id, product_name, stock_quantity FROM products; 

2. Aggregating Total Stock by Category

SELECT category, SUM(stock_quantity) AS total_stock FROM products GROUP BY category;

3. Calculating Daily Sales per Product

SELECT p.product_id, p.product_name, SUM(s.units_sold) AS total_units_sold, COUNT(s.sale_date) AS total_sales
FROM products p
JOIN sales s ON p.product_id = s.product_id
WHERE s.sale_date >= '2025-01-01'
GROUP BY p.product_id, p.product_name;

Building the Product Inventory Dashboard With Power BI

After preparing the data, integrate it into Power BI to create an interactive and dynamic dashboard. Follow these steps:

1. Connect Power BI to Your SQL Database

• Open Power BI and select Get Data > SQL Server.
• Enter your server name and database credentials.
• Choose DirectQuery for real-time updates or Import for faster performance with static data.
• Click Load to bring your tables into Power BI.

2. Create Data Relationships

• Go to Model View and establish relationships between tables (e.g., linking products.product_id with sales.product_id).
• Ensure relationships are set correctly for accurate data aggregation.

3. Build key Visualizations

• Bar Chart: to track stock by category
  • Select Clustered Bar Chart from the visualization panel.
  • Drag category to the X-axis and SUM(stock_quantity) to the Y-axis.
• Line Chart: to analyze sales trends
  • Choose Line Chart, set sale_date on the X-axis and SUM(units_sold) on the Y-axis.
• Table: to highlight low-stock products
  • Add a Table visualization.
  • Include product_name, stock_quantity, and reorder_level.
  • Apply a filter to show only products where stock_quantity < reorder_level.

4. Automate Data Refresh

• Go to Transform Data > Manage Queries to clean and prepare data.
• Schedule automatic refreshes in Power BI Service for real-time updates.

5. Publish and Share the Dashboard

• Click Publish to share the dashboard within your organization.
• Embed the report in Microsoft Teams or export it to PowerPoint or PDF.

By following these steps, you can create an interactive inventory dashboard in Power BI that provides real-time insights into stock levels, sales trends, and reorder points.

Conclusion

Building a product inventory dashboard with SQL is a practical way to gain insights into your business operations. By understanding your data, writing clear SQL queries, and integrating the results with visualization tools, you can create a dashboard that improves decision-making and inventory management.

Now it’s your turn – start building your own inventory dashboard today! If you want to master SQL reporting, check out our SQL Reporting course at LearnSQL.com.

This course will teach you how to write advanced SQL queries for reporting, generate meaningful business insights, and optimize query performance. Don't just analyze data – turn it into actionable reports with SQL!