The document discusses best practices for dashboards and visualizations to drive performance-oriented decision making. It covers topics like metric selection, visualization techniques, dashboard design principles, and MindTree's approach. Key points include selecting a few key metrics to monitor performance, choosing visuals that clearly convey insights, providing interactive dashboards with drill-down capabilities, and balancing lagging and leading indicators for decision making. The document also outlines common mistakes to avoid, such as including too many reports or focusing only on aesthetics rather than insights.

1. How Dashboards & Visualizations can drive resultoriented decision making
December2009
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© 2009 MindTree Limited
© 2008 MindTree Li

2. Agenda
 Introduction
 Dashboard Best Practices
 MindTree Approach
 Metric Alignment
 Visualization Best Practices
 Design and Navigation
 Insights and Learnings




Common Mistakes vs. Best Practices
Approach to Performance Management
MindTree’s Approach
Success Factors
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3. Dashboard
1.Visual
2.Monitor Performance
3.Drill down to lower level
4.Actionable
5.Diagnostic
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Slide 3

4. Definition of a Dashboard
“Dashboards are much more
than pretty data
presentations. They are
powerful, flexible business
tools which allow for true
information democracy –
actively empowering business
users at all levels to make
better decisions every single
day.”
Hyperion White Paper
Visual elements of
performance
management system
both a process and a
tool
Few sets of indicators
represent central
performance areas
Dashboard
Focus on trends and
patterns to monitor
performance
Diagnostic means of
ascertaining what is
working well and
what needs attention
“It is a well-established management principle that you cannot manage
what you cannot measure. It is equally true, however, that you cannot
manage well what you cannot monitor. That is where enterprise
dashboards come in.”
Business Case for Enterprise Dashboards, Dashboard Execution
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Slide 4

5. Application of Dashboards ( the three 3’s)
Strategy
Information
Management
Strategic
Dashboards
/ Scorecards
Analysis
Tactical/Interactive Dashboards
Monitoring
Operational/Static Dashboards
Graphical,
abstracted data with
graphs, charts
Summarized, dimensional
data with hierarchies, slice
and dice
Operational,
detailed data,
process centric
operational
reports
Data
Implementation
Sources: Wayne Eckerson 2005
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Slide 5

6. How Dashboards Help
Static/ Operational
Dashboard
Monitoring
Analysis
Management
Interactive/Tactical
Dashboard
Strategic Dashboard
Dashboard
BI Portal + Dashboard
Scorecard
Standard/Canned
Reports
OLAP Analysis
Interactive reporting
Advanced Visualization
Scenario Modeling
Statistical Models
Planning Models
Typically Not
Available
Alerts
Workflow (Possibly)
Strategy Maps
Planning Models
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Slide 6

7. ROI on Dashboards
• Reduction/Elimination of effort for consolidation of
disparate reports
• Reduction in time for coordinating and monitoring
complex processes
Cost
Savings
• Reduction in time wasted in reviewing and
assimilating overwhelming amounts of data and
reports
• Elimination of redundancies within organization in
processing similar data
• Reduction in effort for communicating progress and
enforcing compliance
Return
On
Investment
• Better decision making with more current and live
information
• Better business insight due to improved data visibility
through enhanced data visualization
Business
Benefits
• Proactive and timely decision making through alerts
and exception management
• Greater democratization of information empowering
frontline organization
• Improved interactions with external stakeholders
(customers, vendors) with transparent communication
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Slide 7

8. How to Build a Dashboard
Best Practices
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9. MindTree’s Approach
Design &
Navigation
Guided
Analytics (3
Analysis
Levels)
Dashboard
design
validation by
usability
specialist
Metric
Selection and
benchmarking
with Industry
Metrics
Balancing
(Right blend of
Lead and Lag
indicators)
MindTree’s
Performance
Management
Approach
Supply
Related
Analytical
context
Metrics
Association
“Right” Visual
Construct
Selection
Focus on
metrics
action-ability
(exceptions &
alerts)
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Alignment
Context
Mapping with
Metadata &
Analysis notes
© 2009 MindTree Limited
Visualization

10. Alignment - Right Metric
Key Learning from the story
1. Monitoring is important to directly controlling behavior
and indirectly to performance - the speedometer
reading impacts how hard or soft Tom pushes on the
accelerator
2. A few key measurements will go a long way toward
keeping a company on track towards achieving its
improvement objectives - like those on a speedometer
and fuel gauge.
Actionable
Common
Interpretation
Credible
Data
Transparent,
Simple
Calculation
3. Seemingly relevant, but cumbersome, measurements
are of little use, and are possibly a hindrance, in helping
to improve performance - like the Temp Gauge in the
car.
4. Picking the wrong measures and leaving out important
Perfect Metric
ones could lead to situation like losing market share or
having poor financial performance is - the way getting
speeding tickets and running out of fuel is an expensive
way to drive a car.
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Slide 10

11. Alignment – Right Balance of Metric
•Leading Indicators
•Predictive
•Actionable
•Data Integrity Issues
•Subjective
•New eMetrics
•Lower-Level Metrics
•Small Audience
Value
•Lagging Indicators
•Corporate Metrics
•Reactive
Cost
• Financial Metrics Will Typically Be Quicker Hits
• Ops & Quality Measures Typically Take More Time & Money
• Predictive & Market Measures Can Be Game Changers
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Slide 11

12. Alignment – Metric Association and Grouping
Subject/Role-Based
Dashboard
Functional Dashboard
Type
Description
User
Enterprise
Holistic view of the enterprise from consolidated data
across divisions and business segments
Senior Management
Divisional
Performance metrics for the division (E.g. Sales, HR,
Finance, Purchasing)
Divisional Heads,
Operational Managers
Process
Monitor business processes or widespread activities
Across multiple user
profiles
Application
Specific metrics defined for transactional applications
within which dashboard is embedded (E.g. Asset
management)
Users of the application
Type
Description
User
Vendor
Metrics relevant to vendor
Vendor
Customer
Outward facing dashboard with metrics relevant to
customer
Customer
Employee
Metrics relevant to employees
Employee
Reference: Shadan Malik - Enterprise Dashboards,
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Slide 12

13. Visualization – Why it is Important
A Simple Example:
Your organization has grown leaps and bounds.
….The New York skyscrapers on the other hand would
register the point very well.
1984
1989
1994
2000
2001
2002
11
30
130
300
400
600
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
1100
2300
3900
6000
7800
9500
10000
9000
8000
# of Employees
You can use the below table to prove the point……
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
Obviously, the table above has little impact…..
1000
0
1984 1989 1994 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Year
Representing data with right visual construct meets the objectives
1.
2.
Makes it easy to comprehend data
Amplifies the impact
Reference: Vivek Singh – 14 tips to present awesome charts
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Slide 13

14. Visualization - Which component to choose?
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15. Visualization - Choosing the right construct
A bar graph
showing
shareholding
pattern of a
company
A pie chart
would have
been a better
choice
A pie chart however is not a good choice when comparing
the shareholding across multiple companies
Co 1
Co 2
Co 3
A bar graph showing trend on
sales and profitability…can it be
better?
A stacked chart would have served the purpose better
Yes! When it is more than 15
data points and a trend, a line
graph is more intuitive.
Co 1
Co 2
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Co 3
© 2009 MindTree Limited
Slide 15

16. Visualization – MindTree’s Best Practices Framework
 Selecting the right visual construct makes analysis faster, clearer
and more insightful
Determine Enterprise
Dashboard
Information
needs/KPIs
Segregate dashboard
information
needs/KPIs by
business processes
and user groups
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Align KPIs with
industry best
practices
© 2009 MindTree Limited
Derive Analysis
Scenarios (drill down
paths, related
reports, events, action
s)
Select the right visual
construct for
delivering insight

17. Design and Navigation - Essentials
Timeliness, Aesthetic
value, Mobility, Connectivity, Da
ta detail, Data
density, Interactivity, Collaborati
on
Structure can serve as a
navigational mechanism for the
user. It shows where to start, and
where to go next.
Form
Structure
Functionality
Design
Incorporate drill
downs, filters, comparisons, alert
s and the option to export or
print
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Ensure compactness
modularity, gradual reveal, guide
attention, support casual use, lead
to action & be customizable
© 2009 MindTree Limited
Slide 17

18. Design and Navigation – A good example
Form
FunctionalityAdvance
Features
Design
Principle
Structure
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Slide 18

19. Design and Navigation - Key Elements
Dashboard
ASIA
Quick Location
Navigation
Metrics
Navigation
Crisp Line
ofSight
Standardized
Home Pages
One Click
Drill Downs
Drill Downs
Automatic
“Alerts”
E-Mail
Notification
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Slide 19

20. Insights and Learnings
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© 2009 MindTree Limited
© MindTree Limited
© 20092008 MindTree Li

21. Common Mistakes vs. Best Practices
Mistake
Best Practice
Pushing too many reports
Templates refreshed on demand
Focus on 1st generation data
Focus on high value data
Hard-code paths to shallow answers
Free-form Drills, Sorts and Queries to Deep Data
Focus on pretty pictures
Focus on Visuals That Quickly Tell An Important Story
Limiting the data model
Wide, Deep and Fully-Integrated Data Models
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Slide 21

22. Approach to Performance Management
Change Management Intensive
Step 4
Technology Intensive
Step 3
Step 2
Step 1
Build Enterprise
Data Warehouse
Resolve the integration
challenge by providing
a central consolidated
repository
Automate critical
functional & cross
functional report
Provide analytical
reports for information
driven insight
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Identify the right
measurement /
management
methodology (e.g.
Balanced
Scorecard)
Identify clearly the
goals and objectives of
the enterprise
Identify Management
framework best suited
for the organization
Identify and formulate
KPI lineage, metric
definition and strategy
maps in alignment with
the management
methodology and the
top line Vision and
Strategy
Identify and
Implement the
right
Performance
Management
Platform
Leverage on
consolidated, cleansed and
validated data from EDW
to build a performance
management system
Implement the
management
framework, KPI
lineage, strategy maps
and plans identified at
enterprise and function
level
Carry out a
successful change
project to align
users to the new
EPM framework
Manage organizational
change for new
management initiative
building a performance
accountable organization
Train users empowering
them with the tools to help
them manage their
execution towards the
companies goals and
objectives
Build scorecards and
management cockpits
enabling business
modeling, what-if analysis
etc.
© 2009 MindTree Limited
Slide 22

23. Therefore … MindTree’s 2-Staged Approach
Strategy
Framework
“Consulting” Intensive
Metrics Rationalization
Best practice metrics
Alignment of roles
Tying metrics to action
Change Management
(EVA / BSC / ABC)
Stage 2: Bolt EPM
Platform on EDW
“Plumbing” Intensive
Data Integration
Data quality
Performance
Scalability
Large volume handling
Stage 1: Build Enterprise Data Warehouse
Transactional Systems
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Page 23

24. 13 Key Success Factors
 Executive sponsorship (Budget)
 Give the project a brand name
 Deploy incremental projects with a strategic approach – No Big Bang
 Start in the highest value areas of the organization
 Alignment of metrics to the top line strategy & consistency in metric definition
 5-7 indicators on a dashboard is optimal
 Should be part of a comprehensive BI strategy
 Adopt a single integrated solution with shared, central database
 Attractive presentation with meaningful content
 Start simple and leverage existing investments
 Drive traffic to the solution (HR Benefits)
 Over-estimate your data integration needs
 Leverage the solution to provide external access to your information
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25. CONFIDENTIAL: For limited circulation only
© 2009 MindTree Limited
© MindTree Limited
© 20092008 MindTree Li