Just like the spring cleaning that comes next, we all need simplicity and overview. But then why do executives still want dashboards with 10 KPIs, everything tabular AND graphical, and click-through functions? That feels to me, as a Business Intelligence specialist, like an overpriced December. That's what we're going to talk about.
For those of you who like Christmas as adults probably had nice Christmases as children. In any case, I always looked forward to it very much. Especially all the pretty lights, the decorated shopping streets. All the stores have the most beautiful gift wrapping and the store staff is at their friendliest. Also, you can always wear your best dress for the holidays and everyone does their best to prepare some goodies. And just as I looked forward to those holidays so much as a child, I notice that drivers have a similar similar joy when it comes to their first dashboard. Once they see what is possible with their numbers and what they can do with them, there is a twinkle in their eyes. The possibilities are endless. Of course, that's great that the data-driven working string has been struck, but you still have to keep the conversation about usability and functionalities. Take a broom in mind, which we'll be doing through spring cleaning through your dashboards soon.
But coming back to the frills for a moment. Sometimes I have to dim the Christmas cheer wrapped up in data-driven work among executives. Because if you, as a data specialist, go along with this Christmas joy of directors, that first dashboard is going to look like a Christmas tree decorated by a child. Everything has to go in. No structure, everything by feel, first do and then think. And I don't mean that offensively, but that really comes from enthusiasm with a piece of ignorance. Indeed, what you then see is that every possible functionality must be created in a dashboard, for example Power BI. Because "...then they can properly compare what works and what doesn't". The possibilities are endless so ideally they want everything in it. "But oh yes the financial controller from operations would like to see everything in tables, because that's how she's always done it, so there have to be tables in there too"."And I also want to be able to click through to all the underlying figures, because yes imagine I need that one time."
You have to start thinking of creating reports and dashboards as an improvement process. So take out similar elements: what is the goal, who are we doing this for, when do you make adjustments, what are the nice-to-haves versus the need-to-haves. The latter is where the focus lies when your dashboard resembles a Christmas tree. The spring cleaning broom is going through it. I'm going to discuss two topics with you: I'll start by cleaning up the type numbers, then I'll tell you how to clean up visually. Like sorting out the variety of ornaments first, then neatly decorating the tree.
Start at the extreme: what three elements do you need to send if today your business is hit by both a fire and a hack and a power outage? What information do you need about your company to know where something might go wrong in your operations, production or personnel? It's a very extreme example and in this situation you obviously don't think about your numbers. But it paints a picture about what really matters, what you can't do without. Without these things you are adrift. Without this information, you have no idea how things are going, or where your business is headed. Note: this is not just financial. Next, you start looking at what information you can get to back up these 3 numbers. This gives you context to the outcome KPIs. You want to be able to demonstrate the cause of these results, so to speak. Try to do this in numbers; categories, outliers, trends. A pitfall is to dwell on this indefinitely. If you find that difficult, remove elements and ask yourself, "do I need this now and every day, or just as an analysis?". With that, you'll begin to recognize whether these elements add something structurally or whether they would also fit into a separate analysis. You should now have a cleaned-up set of numbers and KPIs. Start from what you need, then look at how to substantiate this.
Now that we've identified a clean set of numbers and KPIs, we can start presenting this in an organized way. The right numbers in a cluttered report, is not going to help you well enough. This is where the UX/UI comes in. You want to be able to easily see for yourself what's important. Also, every time you look at the report, you want to be able to interpret the numbers the same way. The grade presentation is independent of work experience, job title or study background and takes into account visual limitations. The most beautiful Christmas tree is in your company's colors, right? Beware of this in your reports, this reduces readability and come on; your employees know where they work right? Be critical of what really adds value.
In summary: don't turn your report into a Christmas tree. Be critical of what adds value, both in terms of numbers and readability. By making data solutions elegant, you make them more effective. Because at the end of the day, it's not about data. As I also wrote in my previous blog: it's about people making better choices thanks to data.