Your dashboard design needs to be simple and clean with a focus on the data.   Your challenge is to display all the required information on a single screen in a way that can be instantly digested and with minimal distractions.  The idea is that the less the business user has to think, the better your dashboard design.  

There are a lot of theories about the layout of dashboards, but there are no hard and fast rules.  The basic tenet is that a dashboard needs to be customized for its purpose, well organized, concise and free of distractions.  There are some elements that need to be considered:  

• Windows:  If you have  too many windows the mind can’t focus on any one of them.  Generally good dashboard designers don’t use more than 6 windows in a 3 x 3 symmetrical layout.  The windows should be equally sized to be the least distracting.
• Widgets:  The widgets you use need to make sense based on the data it’s representing and be easy to read and understand.  If you have animation it should be controlled by the business user rather than run automatically or in a continuous loop.
• Colors:  The color scheme should be neutral and if you’re conveying information with color, check it out in black and white:  10% of us are color-blind and different monitors render colors differently

It's a good idea to perform user testing to be sure the dashboard is user friendly, particularly if you have a lot of interactions.  Finally, make certain you get input from your business users; they know what they need and like.