Article May 1, 2025 From Spreadsheets to Screens: Dashboards that Empower Credit Teams Learn how hedge dashboards help private credit teams monitor exposure, streamline reporting, and improve oversight. Robert Showers Chief Revenue Officer If your portfolio-level hedging program still lives in spreadsheets, you’re not alone—but you’re also not scalable. As private credit and private equity firms manage more deals across more jurisdictions, the complexity of tracking risk exposure, mark-to-market valuations, and P&L attribution has outgrown traditional methods. The solution isn’t just better data—it’s smarter visibility. Dashboards built for today’s risk environment are becoming indispensable tools for fund CFOs, operations leaders, and deal professionals alike. The Limitations of Spreadsheet Culture Excel is powerful. But it’s not a platform for dynamic decision-making. Most credit sponsors today still rely on Excel-based models for managing interest rate swaps, FX forwards, and other derivatives. These files are often: Manually updated Siloed by deal or fund Prone to formula errors or data versioning issues Disconnected from real-time market inputs This creates friction at every level—from quarterly investor reporting to on-the-fly deal assessments. More importantly, it slows down your ability to respond to changes in rates, credit events, or macroeconomic shocks. Dashboards as an Operating Advantage Dashboards are not just about data visualization—they’re about control. At Derivative Path, we’ve seen growing demand from sponsors asking, “Can I view my total exposure by fund, counterparty, or region—instantly?” Or, “Can I see how my hedges are performing relative to the portfolio under different rate scenarios?” The answer is yes. But not with spreadsheets. Modern dashboards deliver: Real-time mark-to-market views Exposure breakdowns by currency, maturity, counterparty, or facility P&L attribution and scenario modeling Audit trails for compliance and board reporting Most importantly, they enable sponsors to shift from reactive to proactive risk management. Case Insight: A Sponsor Who Built It Themselves In a recent conversation with the treasurer of a top-tier credit sponsor, we heard a familiar story. She said, “We needed this six years ago, so we built it ourselves.” The reality is, only a handful of firms have the internal resources to custom-build a dashboard that integrates with market data, supports multiple asset classes, and can scale across funds. For everyone else, the better path is purpose-built infrastructure that’s already validated by many firms—and supported by advisory teams who understand the underlying risk. Getting Started: Crawl, Walk, Run Transitioning away from spreadsheets doesn’t have to be a big bang. Many clients start by: Centralizing all hedge data in one platform. Visualizing exposures via dashboard modules. Integrating downstream with internal reporting or data lake systems. The result is faster answers, fewer errors, and clearer communication across investment, operations, and finance teams. Conclusion: Visibility Is a Competitive Edge In private markets, firms are increasingly judged not just by returns—but by discipline, transparency, and execution. Dashboards provide the risk visibility needed to meet LP expectations, outperform peers, and scale with confidence. If your hedge data is still buried in spreadsheets, it’s time to put it on the screen.
