Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data pdf

... wereonceagainabletogrow.Whatreallycausedheadstoturninrecognition of dashboardsasmuchmorethanyoureverydayfledglingtechnology,however,was the Enronscandalin2001. The aftermathputnewpressureoncorporationstodemonstratetheirabilitytocloselymonitorwhatwasgoingonintheirmidstandtotherebyassureshareholdersthattheywereincontrol.Thisincreasedaccountability,combinedwith the concurrenteconomicdownturn,sentChief Information Officers(CIOs)onamissiontofindanythingthatcouldhelpmanagersatalllevelsmoreeasilyandefficientlykeepaneyeonperformance.MostBIvendorsthathadn'talreadystartedofferinga dashboard productsoonbegantodoso,sometimesbycleverlychanging the name of anexistingproduct,sometimesbyquicklypurchasing the rightstoanexistingproductfromasmallervendor,andsometimesbycobblingtogetherpieces of productsthatalreadyexisted. The marketplacesoonofferedavastarray of dashboard softwarefromwhichtochoose.1.3.Dispelling the ConfusionLikemanyproductsthathit the high‐techscenewithasplash,dashboardsareveiledinmarketinghype.Virtuallyeveryvendorin the BIspaceclaimstosell dashboard software,butfewclarifywhatdashboardsactuallyare.I'mreminded of the earlyyears of data warehousing,wheneagertolearnaboutthisnewapproachto data managementIaskedmyIBMaccountmanagerhowIBMdefined the term.Hisresponsewasclassicandrefreshinglycandid:"By data warehousingweatIBMmeanwhatever the customerthinksitmeans."Irealizethatthiswasn'tIBM'sofficialdefinition,whichI'msureexistedsomewhereintheirliterature,butitwasmyblue‐suitedfriend'sway of sayingthatasasalesperson,itwasusefultoleave the termvagueandflexible.Aslongasaproductorserviceremainsundefinedorlooselydefined,itiseasytoclaimthatyourcompanysellsit.Thoseraresoftwarevendorsthathavetaken the timetodefine the termintheirmarketingliteraturestartwith the specificfeatures of theirproductsas the core of the definition,ratherthanagenericdescription.Asaresult,vendordefinitionstendtobeself‐validatinglists of technologiesandfeatures.Forexample,Dr.GregoryL.Hovis,Director of ProductDeploymentforSnippetsSoftware,Inc.,asserts:www.it-ebooks.infoAbletouniversallyconnecttoanyXMLorHTML data source,robust dashboard productsintelligentlygatheranddisplay data, providingbusinessintelligencewithoutinterruptingworkflow…Anenterprise dashboard ischaracterizedbyacollection of intelligentagents(orgauges),eachperformingfrequentbidirectional communication with data sources.Likeavirtualstaff of 24x7analysts,eachagentin the dashboard intelligentlygathers,processesandpresents data, generatingalertsandrevisingactionsasconditionschange.1Anarticlein the June16,2003edition of ComputerworldcitesstatisticsfromastudydonebyAMRResearch,Inc.,whichdeclaresthat"mor ... journey.In the nextfewpages,you'llseescreenshots of anassortment of dashboards,whichweremostlyfoundon the websites of vendorsthatsell dashboard software.Take the timenowtobrowsethroughtheseexamplesandseeifyoucandiscerncommonthreadsthatmightbewovenintoausefuldefinition.1GregoryL.Hovis,"StopSearchingforInformationMonitoritwith Dashboard Technology,"DMDirect,February2002.2MarkLeon," ;Dashboard Democracy,"Computerworld,June16,20033Byincludingtheseexamplesfrom the websites of softwarevendorsandafewothersources,Idonotmeantoendorseany of thesedashboardsor the softwareproductsusedtocreatethemasexamples of gooddesign,norasextraordinaryexamples of poordesign.Tovaryingdegreestheyallexhibit visual designproblemsthatI'lladdressinlaterchapters.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐2.This dashboard fromBusinessObjectsreliesprimarilyongraphicalmeanstodisplayaseries of performancemeasures.alongwithalist of alerts,Noticethat the title of this dashboard is"MyKPIs."Keyperformanceindicatorsanddashboardsappeartobesynonymousin the minds of mostvendors.Notice the gaugesaswell.We'llseequiteafew of them.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐3.This dashboard fromOracleCorporationdisplaysacollection of salesmeasuresforanalyzingproductperformancebycategory.All of the measuresaredisplayedgraphically.We'llfindthatthisemphasisongraphicaldisplaymediaisfairlycommon.Figure1‐4.This dashboard fromInformaticaCorporationdisplaysmeasures of revenuebysaleschannelalongwithalist of reportsthatcanbeviewedseparately. The predominance of graphicaldisplaymediathatweobservedon the previousdashboardsappearsonthisoneaswell,notablyin the form of metersdesignedtolooklikespeedometers. The list of reportsaddsportalfunctionality,enablingthis dashboard tooperateasalaunchpadtocomplementary information. www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐5.This dashboard fromPrincipaprovidesanoverview of acompany'sfinancialperformancecomparedtotargetsfor the month of March,bothintabularformandasaseries of gauges. The information canbetailoredbyselectingdifferentmonthsandamounts of history.Onceagain,weseeastrongexpression of the dashboard metaphor,thistimein the form of graphicaldevicesthatweredesignedtolooklikefuelgauges.www.it-ebooks.infowww.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐6.This dashboard fromCognos,Inc.displaysatableandfivegraphsonein the form of aworldmaptocommunicatesales information. Despite the onetable,there'sacontinuedemphasisongraphicalmedia.Noticealsothatathemeregarding the visual natureandneedfor visual appeal of dashboardsisemergingintheseexamples.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐7.This dashboard fromHyperionSolutionsCorporationdisplaysregionalsalesrevenueinthreeforms:onamap,inabargraph,andinatable. Data canbefilteredbymeans of threesets of radiobuttonson the left.Thesefilteringmechanismsbuildrudimentaryanalyticalfunctionalityintothis dashboard. Visual decorationreinforces the themethatdashboardsintentionallystrivefor visual appeal.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐8.This dashboard fromCordaTechnologies,Inc.featuresflight‐loadingmeasuresforanairlineusingfourpanels of graphs.Hereagainweseeanattentionto the visual appeal of the display.Noticealsoin the instructionsat the topthatanabilitytointeractwith the graphshasbeenbuiltinto the dashboard, sothatuserscanaccessadditional information inpop‐upsanddrillintogreaterlevels of detail.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐9.This dashboard from Visual Mining,Inc.displaysvariousmeasures of acity'stransitsystemtogive the executivesinchargeaquickoverview of the system'scurrentandhistoricalperformance.Use of the colorsgreen,yellow,andredtoindicategood,satisfactory,andbadperformance,asyoucanseeon the threegraphicaldisplaysarrangedhorizontallyacross the middle,iscommonondashboards.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐10.This dashboard fromInfommersion,Inc.givesexecutives of ahotelchain the meanstoviewmultiplemeasures of performance,onehotelatatime.Itisnotunusualfordashboardstodivide the fullset of data intoindividualviews,asthisonedoesbyusing the listboxin the upper‐leftcornertoenableviewerstoselectanindividualhotelbylocation. The greatcarethatweseeinthisexampletorealisticallyreproduce the dashboard metaphor,evendownto the sheenonpolishedmetal,isaneffortthatmanyvendorstakequiteseriously.Figure1‐11.This dashboard fromCelequestCorporationintegratesaseries of relatedtablesandgraphsthatallowexecutivestoviewseveralaspects of salessimultaneously.Itexhibitsanefforttocombinearichset of related data on the screentoprovideacomprehensiveoverview of acompany'ssalesperformance.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐12.This dashboard fromGeneralElectric,calleda"digitalcockpit,"providesatabularsummary of performance,complementedbyacolor‐codedindicatorlightforeachmeasure'sstatus.Ratherthana dashboard designedbyasoftwarevendortoexhibititsproduct,thisisanactualworking dashboard thatwasdesignedbyacompanytoserveitsownbusinessneeds.Inthisexample,noeffortwasmadetoliterallyrepresent the dashboard (orcockpit)metaphor.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐13.This dashboard isusedby the TreasuryBoard of Canadatomonitor the performance of aproject.Hereagainwehavea dashboard thatwasdesignedbyanorganizationforitsownuse.Thistime, the dashboard metaphormakesatokenappearancein the form of gauges. The traffic‐lightcolorsgreen,yellow,andredherewith the addition of bluefor the exceptionallygoodstatus of "ahead of schedule"arealsoused.Unlikesome of the examplesthatwe'veseenthatdisplayedrelativelylittle information, thisonemakes the attempttoprovide the comprehensiveoverviewthatwouldbeneededtoeffectivelymonitorprogressandperformance.1.3.1.WhatIsa Dashboard? Asyouhavenodoubtdeterminedbyexaminingtheseexamples,there'safairdegree of diversityin the productsthatgoby the name" ;dashboard. "One of the fewcharacteristicsthatmostvendorsseemtoagreeonisthatforsomethingtobecalleda dashboard itmustincludegraphicaldisplaymechanismssuchastrafficlightsandavariety of gaugesandmeters,manysimilarto the fuelgaugesandspeedometersfoundinautomobiles.ThisclearlyassociatesBIdashboardswith the familiar ... inanespeciallypowerfulway.Dashboardsandvisualizationarecognitivetoolsthatimproveyour"span of control"overalot of business data. Thesetoolshelppeoplevisuallyidentifytrends,patternsandanomalies,reasonaboutwhattheyseeandhelpguidethemtoward effective decisions.Assuch,thesetoolsneedtoleveragepeople's visual capabilities.With the prevalence of scorecards,dashboardsandothervisualizationtoolsnowwidelyavailableforbusinessuserstoreviewtheir data, the issue of visual information designismoreimportantthanever.2 The finalsentimentthatBrathandPetersexpressedinthisexcerptfromtheirarticleunderscores the purpose of thisbook.As data visualizationbecomesincreasinglycommonasameans of business communication, itisimperativethatexpertisein data visualizationbeacquired.Thisexpertisemustbegroundedinanunderstanding of visual perception,and of howthisunderstandingcanbeeffectivelyappliedto the visual display of datawhatworks,whatdoesn't,andwhy.Theseskillsarerarelyfoundin the businessworld,notbecausetheyaredifficulttolearn,butbecause the needtolearnthemisseldomrecognized.Thisistrueingeneral,andespeciallywithregardtodashboards. The challenge of presentingalargeassortment of data onasinglescreeninawaythatproducesimmediateinsightisbynomeanstrivial.Buckleup;you'reinforafunride.1GregoryL.Hovis,"StopSearchingforInformationMonitoritwith Dashboard Technology,"DMDirect,February20022RichardBrathandMichaelPeters," ;Dashboard Design: WhyDesignisImportant,"DMDirect,October2004www.it-ebooks.infoChapter2.Variationsin Dashboard Usesand Data Dashboardscanbeusedtomonitormanytypes of data andtosupportalmostanyset of objectivesbusinessdeemsimportant.Therearemanywaystocategorizedashbo...

... wereonceagainabletogrow.Whatreallycausedheadstoturninrecognition of dashboardsasmuchmorethanyoureverydayfledglingtechnology,however,was the Enronscandalin2001. The aftermathputnewpressureoncorporationstodemonstratetheirabilitytocloselymonitorwhatwasgoingonintheirmidstandtotherebyassureshareholdersthattheywereincontrol.Thisincreasedaccountability,combinedwith the concurrenteconomicdownturn,sentChief Information Officers(CIOs)onamissiontofindanythingthatcouldhelpmanagersatalllevelsmoreeasilyandefficientlykeepaneyeonperformance.MostBIvendorsthathadn'talreadystartedofferinga dashboard productsoonbegantodoso,sometimesbycleverlychanging the name of anexistingproduct,sometimesbyquicklypurchasing the rightstoanexistingproductfromasmallervendor,andsometimesbycobblingtogetherpieces of productsthatalreadyexisted. The marketplacesoonofferedavastarray of dashboard softwarefromwhichtochoose.1.3.Dispelling the ConfusionLikemanyproductsthathit the high‐techscenewithasplash,dashboardsareveiledinmarketinghype.Virtuallyeveryvendorin the BIspaceclaimstosell dashboard software,butfewclarifywhatdashboardsactuallyare.I'mreminded of the earlyyears of data warehousing,wheneagertolearnaboutthisnewapproachto data managementIaskedmyIBMaccountmanagerhowIBMdefined the term.Hisresponsewasclassicandrefreshinglycandid:"By data warehousingweatIBMmeanwhatever the customerthinksitmeans."Irealizethatthiswasn'tIBM'sofficialdefinition,whichI'msureexistedsomewhereintheirliterature,butitwasmyblue‐suitedfriend'sway of sayingthatasasalesperson,itwasusefultoleave the termvagueandflexible.Aslongasaproductorserviceremainsundefinedorlooselydefined,itiseasytoclaimthatyourcompanysellsit.Thoseraresoftwarevendorsthathavetaken the timetodefine the termintheirmarketingliteraturestartwith the specificfeatures of theirproductsas the core of the definition,ratherthanagenericdescription.Asaresult,vendordefinitionstendtobeself‐validatinglists of technologiesandfeatures.Forexample,Dr.GregoryL.Hovis,Director of ProductDeploymentforSnippetsSoftware,Inc.,asserts:www.it-ebooks.infoAbletouniversallyconnecttoanyXMLorHTML data source,robust dashboard productsintelligentlygatheranddisplay data, providingbusinessintelligencewithoutinterruptingworkflow…Anenterprise dashboard ischaracterizedbyacollection of intelligentagents(orgauges),eachperformingfrequentbidirectional communication with data sources.Likeavirtualstaff of 24x7analysts,eachagentin the dashboard intelligentlygathers,processesandpresents data, generatingalertsandrevisingactionsasconditionschange.1Anarticlein the June16,2003edition of ComputerworldcitesstatisticsfromastudydonebyAMRResearch,Inc.,whichdeclaresthat"mor ... journey.In the nextfewpages,you'llseescreenshots of anassortment of dashboards,whichweremostlyfoundon the websites of vendorsthatsell dashboard software.Take the timenowtobrowsethroughtheseexamplesandseeifyoucandiscerncommonthreadsthatmightbewovenintoausefuldefinition.1GregoryL.Hovis,"StopSearchingforInformationMonitoritwith Dashboard Technology,"DMDirect,February2002.2MarkLeon," ;Dashboard Democracy,"Computerworld,June16,20033Byincludingtheseexamplesfrom the websites of softwarevendorsandafewothersources,Idonotmeantoendorseany of thesedashboardsor the softwareproductsusedtocreatethemasexamples of gooddesign,norasextraordinaryexamples of poordesign.Tovaryingdegreestheyallexhibit visual designproblemsthatI'lladdressinlaterchapters.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐2.This dashboard fromBusinessObjectsreliesprimarilyongraphicalmeanstodisplayaseries of performancemeasures.alongwithalist of alerts,Noticethat the title of this dashboard is"MyKPIs."Keyperformanceindicatorsanddashboardsappeartobesynonymousin the minds of mostvendors.Notice the gaugesaswell.We'llseequiteafew of them.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐3.This dashboard fromOracleCorporationdisplaysacollection of salesmeasuresforanalyzingproductperformancebycategory.All of the measuresaredisplayedgraphically.We'llfindthatthisemphasisongraphicaldisplaymediaisfairlycommon.Figure1‐4.This dashboard fromInformaticaCorporationdisplaysmeasures of revenuebysaleschannelalongwithalist of reportsthatcanbeviewedseparately. The predominance of graphicaldisplaymediathatweobservedon the previousdashboardsappearsonthisoneaswell,notablyin the form of metersdesignedtolooklikespeedometers. The list of reportsaddsportalfunctionality,enablingthis dashboard tooperateasalaunchpadtocomplementary information. www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐5.This dashboard fromPrincipaprovidesanoverview of acompany'sfinancialperformancecomparedtotargetsfor the month of March,bothintabularformandasaseries of gauges. The information canbetailoredbyselectingdifferentmonthsandamounts of history.Onceagain,weseeastrongexpression of the dashboard metaphor,thistimein the form of graphicaldevicesthatweredesignedtolooklikefuelgauges.www.it-ebooks.infowww.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐6.This dashboard fromCognos,Inc.displaysatableandfivegraphsonein the form of aworldmaptocommunicatesales information. Despite the onetable,there'sacontinuedemphasisongraphicalmedia.Noticealsothatathemeregarding the visual natureandneedfor visual appeal of dashboardsisemergingintheseexamples.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐7.This dashboard fromHyperionSolutionsCorporationdisplaysregionalsalesrevenueinthreeforms:onamap,inabargraph,andinatable. Data canbefilteredbymeans of threesets of radiobuttonson the left.Thesefilteringmechanismsbuildrudimentaryanalyticalfunctionalityintothis dashboard. Visual decorationreinforces the themethatdashboardsintentionallystrivefor visual appeal.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐8.This dashboard fromCordaTechnologies,Inc.featuresflight‐loadingmeasuresforanairlineusingfourpanels of graphs.Hereagainweseeanattentionto the visual appeal of the display.Noticealsoin the instructionsat the topthatanabilitytointeractwith the graphshasbeenbuiltinto the dashboard, sothatuserscanaccessadditional information inpop‐upsanddrillintogreaterlevels of detail.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐9.This dashboard from Visual Mining,Inc.displaysvariousmeasures of acity'stransitsystemtogive the executivesinchargeaquickoverview of the system'scurrentandhistoricalperformance.Use of the colorsgreen,yellow,andredtoindicategood,satisfactory,andbadperformance,asyoucanseeon the threegraphicaldisplaysarrangedhorizontallyacross the middle,iscommonondashboards.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐10.This dashboard fromInfommersion,Inc.givesexecutives of ahotelchain the meanstoviewmultiplemeasures of performance,onehotelatatime.Itisnotunusualfordashboardstodivide the fullset of data intoindividualviews,asthisonedoesbyusing the listboxin the upper‐leftcornertoenableviewerstoselectanindividualhotelbylocation. The greatcarethatweseeinthisexampletorealisticallyreproduce the dashboard metaphor,evendownto the sheenonpolishedmetal,isaneffortthatmanyvendorstakequiteseriously.Figure1‐11.This dashboard fromCelequestCorporationintegratesaseries of relatedtablesandgraphsthatallowexecutivestoviewseveralaspects of salessimultaneously.Itexhibitsanefforttocombinearichset of related data on the screentoprovideacomprehensiveoverview of acompany'ssalesperformance.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐12.This dashboard fromGeneralElectric,calleda"digitalcockpit,"providesatabularsummary of performance,complementedbyacolor‐codedindicatorlightforeachmeasure'sstatus.Ratherthana dashboard designedbyasoftwarevendortoexhibititsproduct,thisisanactualworking dashboard thatwasdesignedbyacompanytoserveitsownbusinessneeds.Inthisexample,noeffortwasmadetoliterallyrepresent the dashboard (orcockpit)metaphor.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐13.This dashboard isusedby the TreasuryBoard of Canadatomonitor the performance of aproject.Hereagainwehavea dashboard thatwasdesignedbyanorganizationforitsownuse.Thistime, the dashboard metaphormakesatokenappearancein the form of gauges. The traffic‐lightcolorsgreen,yellow,andredherewith the addition of bluefor the exceptionallygoodstatus of "ahead of schedule"arealsoused.Unlikesome of the examplesthatwe'veseenthatdisplayedrelativelylittle information, thisonemakes the attempttoprovide the comprehensiveoverviewthatwouldbeneededtoeffectivelymonitorprogressandperformance.1.3.1.WhatIsa Dashboard? Asyouhavenodoubtdeterminedbyexaminingtheseexamples,there'safairdegree of diversityin the productsthatgoby the name" ;dashboard. "One of the fewcharacteristicsthatmostvendorsseemtoagreeonisthatforsomethingtobecalleda dashboard itmustincludegraphicaldisplaymechanismssuchastrafficlightsandavariety of gaugesandmeters,manysimilarto the fuelgaugesandspeedometersfoundinautomobiles.ThisclearlyassociatesBIdashboardswith the familiar ... inanespeciallypowerfulway.Dashboardsandvisualizationarecognitivetoolsthatimproveyour"span of control"overalot of business data. Thesetoolshelppeoplevisuallyidentifytrends,patternsandanomalies,reasonaboutwhattheyseeandhelpguidethemtoward effective decisions.Assuch,thesetoolsneedtoleveragepeople's visual capabilities.With the prevalence of scorecards,dashboardsandothervisualizationtoolsnowwidelyavailableforbusinessuserstoreviewtheir data, the issue of visual information designismoreimportantthanever.2 The finalsentimentthatBrathandPetersexpressedinthisexcerptfromtheirarticleunderscores the purpose of thisbook.As data visualizationbecomesincreasinglycommonasameans of business communication, itisimperativethatexpertisein data visualizationbeacquired.Thisexpertisemustbegroundedinanunderstanding of visual perception,and of howthisunderstandingcanbeeffectivelyappliedto the visual display of datawhatworks,whatdoesn't,andwhy.Theseskillsarerarelyfoundin the businessworld,notbecausetheyaredifficulttolearn,butbecause the needtolearnthemisseldomrecognized.Thisistrueingeneral,andespeciallywithregardtodashboards. The challenge of presentingalargeassortment of data onasinglescreeninawaythatproducesimmediateinsightisbynomeanstrivial.Buckleup;you'reinforafunride.1GregoryL.Hovis,"StopSearchingforInformationMonitoritwith Dashboard Technology,"DMDirect,February20022RichardBrathandMichaelPeters," ;Dashboard Design: WhyDesignisImportant,"DMDirect,October2004www.it-ebooks.infoChapter2.Variationsin Dashboard Usesand Data Dashboardscanbeusedtomonitormanytypes of data andtosupportalmostanyset of objectivesbusinessdeemsimportant.Therearemanywaystocategorizedashbo...

... wereonceagainabletogrow.Whatreallycausedheadstoturninrecognition of dashboardsasmuchmorethanyoureverydayfledglingtechnology,however,was the Enronscandalin2001. The aftermathputnewpressureoncorporationstodemonstratetheirabilitytocloselymonitorwhatwasgoingonintheirmidstandtotherebyassureshareholdersthattheywereincontrol.Thisincreasedaccountability,combinedwith the concurrenteconomicdownturn,sentChief Information Officers(CIOs)onamissiontofindanythingthatcouldhelpmanagersatalllevelsmoreeasilyandefficientlykeepaneyeonperformance.MostBIvendorsthathadn'talreadystartedofferinga dashboard productsoonbegantodoso,sometimesbycleverlychanging the name of anexistingproduct,sometimesbyquicklypurchasing the rightstoanexistingproductfromasmallervendor,andsometimesbycobblingtogetherpieces of productsthatalreadyexisted. The marketplacesoonofferedavastarray of dashboard softwarefromwhichtochoose.1.3.Dispelling the ConfusionLikemanyproductsthathit the high‐techscenewithasplash,dashboardsareveiledinmarketinghype.Virtuallyeveryvendorin the BIspaceclaimstosell dashboard software,butfewclarifywhatdashboardsactuallyare.I'mreminded of the earlyyears of data warehousing,wheneagertolearnaboutthisnewapproachto data managementIaskedmyIBMaccountmanagerhowIBMdefined the term.Hisresponsewasclassicandrefreshinglycandid:"By data warehousingweatIBMmeanwhatever the customerthinksitmeans."Irealizethatthiswasn'tIBM'sofficialdefinition,whichI'msureexistedsomewhereintheirliterature,butitwasmyblue‐suitedfriend'sway of sayingthatasasalesperson,itwasusefultoleave the termvagueandflexible.Aslongasaproductorserviceremainsundefinedorlooselydefined,itiseasytoclaimthatyourcompanysellsit.Thoseraresoftwarevendorsthathavetaken the timetodefine the termintheirmarketingliteraturestartwith the specificfeatures of theirproductsas the core of the definition,ratherthanagenericdescription.Asaresult,vendordefinitionstendtobeself‐validatinglists of technologiesandfeatures.Forexample,Dr.GregoryL.Hovis,Director of ProductDeploymentforSnippetsSoftware,Inc.,asserts:www.it-ebooks.infoAbletouniversallyconnecttoanyXMLorHTML data source,robust dashboard productsintelligentlygatheranddisplay data, providingbusinessintelligencewithoutinterruptingworkflow…Anenterprise dashboard ischaracterizedbyacollection of intelligentagents(orgauges),eachperformingfrequentbidirectional communication with data sources.Likeavirtualstaff of 24x7analysts,eachagentin the dashboard intelligentlygathers,processesandpresents data, generatingalertsandrevisingactionsasconditionschange.1Anarticlein the June16,2003edition of ComputerworldcitesstatisticsfromastudydonebyAMRResearch,Inc.,whichdeclaresthat"mor ... journey.In the nextfewpages,you'llseescreenshots of anassortment of dashboards,whichweremostlyfoundon the websites of vendorsthatsell dashboard software.Take the timenowtobrowsethroughtheseexamplesandseeifyoucandiscerncommonthreadsthatmightbewovenintoausefuldefinition.1GregoryL.Hovis,"StopSearchingforInformationMonitoritwith Dashboard Technology,"DMDirect,February2002.2MarkLeon," ;Dashboard Democracy,"Computerworld,June16,20033Byincludingtheseexamplesfrom the websites of softwarevendorsandafewothersources,Idonotmeantoendorseany of thesedashboardsor the softwareproductsusedtocreatethemasexamples of gooddesign,norasextraordinaryexamples of poordesign.Tovaryingdegreestheyallexhibit visual designproblemsthatI'lladdressinlaterchapters.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐2.This dashboard fromBusinessObjectsreliesprimarilyongraphicalmeanstodisplayaseries of performancemeasures.alongwithalist of alerts,Noticethat the title of this dashboard is"MyKPIs."Keyperformanceindicatorsanddashboardsappeartobesynonymousin the minds of mostvendors.Notice the gaugesaswell.We'llseequiteafew of them.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐3.This dashboard fromOracleCorporationdisplaysacollection of salesmeasuresforanalyzingproductperformancebycategory.All of the measuresaredisplayedgraphically.We'llfindthatthisemphasisongraphicaldisplaymediaisfairlycommon.Figure1‐4.This dashboard fromInformaticaCorporationdisplaysmeasures of revenuebysaleschannelalongwithalist of reportsthatcanbeviewedseparately. The predominance of graphicaldisplaymediathatweobservedon the previousdashboardsappearsonthisoneaswell,notablyin the form of metersdesignedtolooklikespeedometers. The list of reportsaddsportalfunctionality,enablingthis dashboard tooperateasalaunchpadtocomplementary information. www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐5.This dashboard fromPrincipaprovidesanoverview of acompany'sfinancialperformancecomparedtotargetsfor the month of March,bothintabularformandasaseries of gauges. The information canbetailoredbyselectingdifferentmonthsandamounts of history.Onceagain,weseeastrongexpression of the dashboard metaphor,thistimein the form of graphicaldevicesthatweredesignedtolooklikefuelgauges.www.it-ebooks.infowww.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐6.This dashboard fromCognos,Inc.displaysatableandfivegraphsonein the form of aworldmaptocommunicatesales information. Despite the onetable,there'sacontinuedemphasisongraphicalmedia.Noticealsothatathemeregarding the visual natureandneedfor visual appeal of dashboardsisemergingintheseexamples.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐7.This dashboard fromHyperionSolutionsCorporationdisplaysregionalsalesrevenueinthreeforms:onamap,inabargraph,andinatable. Data canbefilteredbymeans of threesets of radiobuttonson the left.Thesefilteringmechanismsbuildrudimentaryanalyticalfunctionalityintothis dashboard. Visual decorationreinforces the themethatdashboardsintentionallystrivefor visual appeal.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐8.This dashboard fromCordaTechnologies,Inc.featuresflight‐loadingmeasuresforanairlineusingfourpanels of graphs.Hereagainweseeanattentionto the visual appeal of the display.Noticealsoin the instructionsat the topthatanabilitytointeractwith the graphshasbeenbuiltinto the dashboard, sothatuserscanaccessadditional information inpop‐upsanddrillintogreaterlevels of detail.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐9.This dashboard from Visual Mining,Inc.displaysvariousmeasures of acity'stransitsystemtogive the executivesinchargeaquickoverview of the system'scurrentandhistoricalperformance.Use of the colorsgreen,yellow,andredtoindicategood,satisfactory,andbadperformance,asyoucanseeon the threegraphicaldisplaysarrangedhorizontallyacross the middle,iscommonondashboards.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐10.This dashboard fromInfommersion,Inc.givesexecutives of ahotelchain the meanstoviewmultiplemeasures of performance,onehotelatatime.Itisnotunusualfordashboardstodivide the fullset of data intoindividualviews,asthisonedoesbyusing the listboxin the upper‐leftcornertoenableviewerstoselectanindividualhotelbylocation. The greatcarethatweseeinthisexampletorealisticallyreproduce the dashboard metaphor,evendownto the sheenonpolishedmetal,isaneffortthatmanyvendorstakequiteseriously.Figure1‐11.This dashboard fromCelequestCorporationintegratesaseries of relatedtablesandgraphsthatallowexecutivestoviewseveralaspects of salessimultaneously.Itexhibitsanefforttocombinearichset of related data on the screentoprovideacomprehensiveoverview of acompany'ssalesperformance.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐12.This dashboard fromGeneralElectric,calleda"digitalcockpit,"providesatabularsummary of performance,complementedbyacolor‐codedindicatorlightforeachmeasure'sstatus.Ratherthana dashboard designedbyasoftwarevendortoexhibititsproduct,thisisanactualworking dashboard thatwasdesignedbyacompanytoserveitsownbusinessneeds.Inthisexample,noeffortwasmadetoliterallyrepresent the dashboard (orcockpit)metaphor.www.it-ebooks.infoFigure1‐13.This dashboard isusedby the TreasuryBoard of Canadatomonitor the performance of aproject.Hereagainwehavea dashboard thatwasdesignedbyanorganizationforitsownuse.Thistime, the dashboard metaphormakesatokenappearancein the form of gauges. The traffic‐lightcolorsgreen,yellow,andredherewith the addition of bluefor the exceptionallygoodstatus of "ahead of schedule"arealsoused.Unlikesome of the examplesthatwe'veseenthatdisplayedrelativelylittle information, thisonemakes the attempttoprovide the comprehensiveoverviewthatwouldbeneededtoeffectivelymonitorprogressandperformance.1.3.1.WhatIsa Dashboard? Asyouhavenodoubtdeterminedbyexaminingtheseexamples,there'safairdegree of diversityin the productsthatgoby the name" ;dashboard. "One of the fewcharacteristicsthatmostvendorsseemtoagreeonisthatforsomethingtobecalleda dashboard itmustincludegraphicaldisplaymechanismssuchastrafficlightsandavariety of gaugesandmeters,manysimilarto the fuelgaugesandspeedometersfoundinautomobiles.ThisclearlyassociatesBIdashboardswith the familiar ... inanespeciallypowerfulway.Dashboardsandvisualizationarecognitivetoolsthatimproveyour"span of control"overalot of business data. Thesetoolshelppeoplevisuallyidentifytrends,patternsandanomalies,reasonaboutwhattheyseeandhelpguidethemtoward effective decisions.Assuch,thesetoolsneedtoleveragepeople's visual capabilities.With the prevalence of scorecards,dashboardsandothervisualizationtoolsnowwidelyavailableforbusinessuserstoreviewtheir data, the issue of visual information designismoreimportantthanever.2 The finalsentimentthatBrathandPetersexpressedinthisexcerptfromtheirarticleunderscores the purpose of thisbook.As data visualizationbecomesincreasinglycommonasameans of business communication, itisimperativethatexpertisein data visualizationbeacquired.Thisexpertisemustbegroundedinanunderstanding of visual perception,and of howthisunderstandingcanbeeffectivelyappliedto the visual display of datawhatworks,whatdoesn't,andwhy.Theseskillsarerarelyfoundin the businessworld,notbecausetheyaredifficulttolearn,butbecause the needtolearnthemisseldomrecognized.Thisistrueingeneral,andespeciallywithregardtodashboards. The challenge of presentingalargeassortment of data onasinglescreeninawaythatproducesimmediateinsightisbynomeanstrivial.Buckleup;you'reinforafunride.1GregoryL.Hovis,"StopSearchingforInformationMonitoritwith Dashboard Technology,"DMDirect,February20022RichardBrathandMichaelPeters," ;Dashboard Design: WhyDesignisImportant,"DMDirect,October2004www.it-ebooks.infoChapter2.Variationsin Dashboard Usesand Data Dashboardscanbeusedtomonitormanytypes of data andtosupportalmostanyset of objectivesbusinessdeemsimportant.Therearemanywaystocategorizedashbo...

... are the sum of the information requirements of the project stakeholders. Requirements are defined bycombining the type and format of information required with an analysis of the val-ue of that ... summarize the information gathered and present the results of any analysis. Reports should provide the kinds of information and the level of detail required by various stakeholders as documentedin the ... all projects share the need to communicate project information, the informational needs and the methods of distribution vary widely. Iden-tifying the informational needs of the stakeholders and...

... candidates• Explore convergence with other sources of information Thank You!An interim report of this study is available athttp://www.ets.org//toefl/research.htmlContact Information rtannenbaum@ets.orgMapping ... Identify scores on TOEFL® iBT corresponding to the sixproficiency levels of the CEFR– A1 and A2 (Basic)– B1 and B2 (Independent)– C1 and C2 (Proficient)• Focus on candidates with “just enough” ... range of topics in field of interest• Sustains conversation with degree of fluency and spontaneity• Takes listener and cultural contextinto account• Speaks without causing unduestress to the...

... background except for the other corner image on the opposite side. We’ll float the list item and the anchor to make them both shrink their width values to suit the size of the contained text.Applying ... Navigation 103offered by the list items themselves. So far, we’ve simply pushed the styling hooks out of the way, but now we’ll have to incorporate them as a fully fledged part of our menu. The basic ... aspects of our pages—not just the navigation—differently for each section of the web site, it’s a good idea to put an id attribute on the bodyelement, to specify the page or section of the site the...

... IBM got into the mind first and won the computer battle early. The law of the mind follows from the law of perception. If marketing is a battle of perception, not product, then the mind takes ... “getting the facts.” They analyze the situation to make sure that truth is on their side. Then they sail confidently into the marketing arena, secure in the knowledge that they have the best ... institutions. These outside representations of the world seem more real than the reality inside their own minds.People cling firmly to the belief that reality is the world outside of the mind and that the...

... described in the Materials and methods. Completion of the hydrolysis wasconfirmed by the disappearance of the (Met1)-ONC(M23L) signal in the MALDI-TOF mass spectra 1 h after the addition of AAP. The ... calculating the slope of the curves of Pyr-ONC (M23L) vs. time. From the rates of cyclizationshowninTable1,itcanbeinferredthattheformation of the N-terminal pyroglutamyl is not dependenton pH in the ... hydrogen bonded to the e-amino group of the Lys9 side-chain, which simultaneouslyinteracts with the main phosphate of the substrate [32]. The closer positioning of the N-terminus to the mainprotein...

... elasticity of demand measures the response of the quantity of one good demanded to a change in the price of another good. Elasticity of supply measures the response of the quan-tity of a good ... elasticity of demand A measure of the response of the quantity of one good demanded to a change in the price of another good. Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand Cross-price elasticity of demand, ... compilation of data that describe phenomena and facts. Examples of such data appear in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, a large volume of data published by the Department of Commerce...