Practical Analytics Chapter 8: Dashboards

Practical Analytics Chapter 8: Dashboards

Chapter 8 Learning Objectives §

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

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Describe dashboards and how they are used.

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Describe types of dashboards.

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Design dashboards that display key performance indicators (KPIs).

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Identify mechanisms and methods to create interactivity within dashboard visualizations.

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Outline §

An Overview of Dashboards

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Types of Dashboards

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The Dashboarding Process

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Summary

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Overview of Analytics Techniques

Analytics Techniques Exploration and Reporting • Slicing/dicing • Multidimensional analysis • Reporting

Knowledge discovery • Forecasting • Descriptive data mining • Predictive data mining

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Visualization • Charts • Dashboards • Advanced visualization

An Overview of Dashboards §

A dashboard is a graphical representation of summarized data that shows key performance indicators at a glance.

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The word dashboard comes from popular use in automobiles, where a dashboard is used to display important information in a format that is easy for the driver to read.

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The car dashboard includes controls that drivers can adjust to influence what and how they see the information. Similar options are available on digital dashboards.

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Business dashboards are sometimes configured in related clusters to form a cockpit.

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Examples

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Donna’s Daily Dealing with Dashboards

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Types of Dashboards §

Dashboards that do not allow for user interaction are referred to as display only dashboards.

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Interactive dashboards allow users to choose inputs that modify the visualization to meet their specific needs. Common interactive components include features such as radio buttons, sliders, and dropdown lists.

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Scorecards or balanced scorecards (BSC) are specialized types of dashboards used to display key performance indicators (KPIs) that are linked to corporate objectives and goals. §

Balanced scorecards are effective at creating goal congruence by using both financial and nonfinancial measures at various levels within the organization.

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Components for Interactive Dashboard Design Dropdown menus

List boxes

Dials and sliders

Combo boxes

Accordions

Radio buttons Check boxes Toggle buttons

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Components for Interactive Dashboard Design §

Slicers

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The Dashboarding Process

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Interactivity §

To make dashboards more responsive to user choices, designers can add interactive features such as radio buttons, dials, sliders, and dropdowns.

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Many programming languages are available for developers to add these interactive elements.

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The process of adding interactive functionality using a programming language is called scripting. More precisely, it is called client-side scripting because the program is run on the user’s device — called a client — rather than on the server side.

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More common scripting languages: javascript, actionscript, and vbscript.

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GBI Interactive Revenue Dashboard

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Summary §

Dashboards place visualizations of KPIs at our fingertips.

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Most dashboards are interactive; that is they allow users to choose various input values in order to zero in on data of interest.

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Interactivity is achieved via interactive charting components and programming languages such as javascript.

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Dashboards differ from standard visualizations not only in their purpose, but also in their form.

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The process of creating an effective dashboard starts with defining the function of the dashboard - what is it going to be used for?

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