1.
Designing better
analytics dashboards

2.
Designing better
analytics dashboards
A ‘work in progress’approach for designing
analytics dashboards

3.
Substanceoverstyle?
Analystsareusuallymorecomfortableworkingwithdatathandesigningwithit
https://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/feature/Data-
scientist-skills-range-from-data-prep-to-storytelling

4.
Nofunctionwithoutform
Butdesignmakesthedifferencebetween:
Not understanding Understanding data

5.
Nofunctionwithoutform
Butdesignmakesthedifferencebetween:
Sharing stats Telling a story

6.
Nofunctionwithoutform
Butdesignmakesthedifferencebetween:
Providing information Shaping decisions

7.
Thenatureofdashboards
Adashboardisafixed,repeatabledisplayofinformation
Dashboard – a standardised, repeatable
visualisation of performance
Key features:
• Fixed structure (even with interactive filters /
elements)
• Focus on changes over time / trends
• Lends itself to real-time / rolling timeframe analysis
Report – a stand-alone snapshot of
performance
Key features:
• Selective use of data points and visualisations –
only the key ones that tell a story
• Focus on insights and recommendations
• Static / fixed timeframe

8.
Ourapproach
Asaresult,it’sessentialtogetthebalanceright
Meaningless ‘Sweet spot’ Incomprehensible
Beautiful Useful

9.
Ourapproach
Wecombinedifferenttechniquestodefineandstructurethequestionsthatneedanswering
• This ‘work in progress’approach combines
– understanding user groups
– defining their requirements
– creating storyframes
– building towards wireframes and a prototype
– establishing the data structure

10.
Understanding user groupsSTEP 1

11.
Understandingusergroups
Thereisusuallymorethanonetypeofuser–askingafewquestionshelpsuncoverthis
• Typical user groups:
– Who are our senior stakeholders?
A marketing dashboard should reflect what’s important to our boss’ boss
– Who are our decision makers?
Who will have the authority to decide what changes are made?
– Who will implement / act?
Decision makers aren’t always the ones who make changes. This might mean other agency / internal teams
– Who else should we consider?

12.
Understandingusergroups
Foreachofthesegroups,workoutwhattheyknowandtheirlevelofdataliteracy
• Levels of experience / knowledge
– What’s their level of data and digital marketing literacy?
– What level of [dashboard tool] experience do they have?
– What role will they play in:
• Analysis
• Decision making
• Taking action
Depending on their levels of knowledge and how similar their needs are, you might need to ‘layer’ information within the
dashboard. This can take different forms: top to bottom within a single view/page; different pages for different user groups; or even
separate dashboards for different users

13.
Defining requirementsSTEP 2

14.
Definingbusinessrequirements
Foreachgroupweestablishthequestionsthattheywillask,howtheywillusethedata,andhowoften
We use the Business Requirements Document (BRD) template below to do this. The USE category is critical – it acts as a check to
ensure all data ‘needs’ lead to action. It works well as an interactive session, getting groups to complete their own data questions
and uses, but can also be drafted by an analytics team and then reviewed by each group/stakeholder.
User group
Information NEED
("I want to…")
Information USE
("So that…")
Frequency
("On a …
basis")
As part of the Global
team
I want to understand media performance by
country
Each must-win country can be
supported equally through the
media plan
Weekly
As part of the Global
team
I want to know overall video completion rates,
broken down by video and indication
I can understand which video
content best meets the needs
of customers for each indication
and which to improve
Monthly

15.
Definingbusinessrequirements
Withthiscomplete,wecanstarttoprioritiseeach‘need’
Once we’ve defined requirements, we can prioritise these into priority 1, 2 and 3 categories. Inevitably, there will be more needs
than space within the dashboard. This prioritisation exercise allows us to de-scope some of the P3 needs and focus on the most
important ones
User group
Information NEED
("I want to…")
Information USE
("So that…")
Frequency
("On a …
basis")
As part of the Global
team
I want to understand media performance by country Each must win country can be
supported equally through the
media plan
Weekly
As part of the Global
team
I want to know alignment video completion rates,
broken down by video
I can understand which video
content best meets the needs of
customers and what to improve
Monthly
P1
Priority 1
Focused on key performance
measures / results
P2
Priority 2
Source of insights and optimization
opportunities
P3 Priority 3
Reference point / hygiene metric

16.
Creating storyframesSTEP 3

17.
WTFisastoryframe?
Storyframesareawrittenwireframe–ahybridbetweena scriptandasketch
Storyframes answer the question:
“How would I explain to a friend, in a conversation or
in an email, this thing/topic/product/story I am trying
to communicate?”
Fabricio Teixeria
They act hybrid document between a script/story
and a wireframe.
https://uxdesign.cc/storyframes-before-wireframes-starting-designs-in-the-
text-editor-ec69db78e6e4
Example storyframe for dropbox.com

18.
Howtowriteastoryframe
Startwiththeprioritised‘needs’fromeachusergroup,includingtheseasquestionsthatneedanswering
Tips on writing storyframes
1. Write it all down
2. Keep it short
3. Play around with the story. Change the order, the hierarchy
4. Shop it around for feedback
5. Think through how to design it: group modules, how to display information, proof points
https://uxdesign.cc/storyframes-before-wireframes-starting-designs-in-the-text-editor-ec69db78e6e4

19.
Build towards a prototypeSTEP 4

20.
Bringingitalltogether
Usingstoryframing,wecanrapidlyexploredifferentdashboardstructure/layoutsandmoveintowireframes
Priority User group
Information NEED
("I want to…")
Information USE
("So that…")
Frequency
("On a …
basis")
1
As part of the
Global team
I want to understand media performance
by country
Each must win country can
be supported equally
through the media plan
Weekly
2
As part of the
Global team
I want to know alignment video
completion rates, broken down by video
I can understand which
video content best meets
the needs of HCPs and
what to improve
Monthly
3
As part of the
global PRODUCT
team
I want to understand what the bounce
rate is per page for the PRODUCT
website section
I can identify any outliers or
changes over time
Bi-monthly

21.
Establishing the data structureSTEP 5

22.
Fromvisualtodatastructure
Basedonthewireframes,wecaneasilyworkoutwhatdataarerequiredtobuildthedashboard
P1 metrics
• Single metric
• Granularity: aggregated
• Metric / calculated metric
P2 metrics
• Time series
• Granularity: daily
• Metric / calculated metric
• New segment required
P3 metrics
• Heatmap
• Granularity: aggregated
• Related to a single dimension
• Metric / calculated metric

23.
Usingtheseconcepts
• These are just ‘ideas’on how to design dashboards
• They can be strung together into a single waterfall process…
• Or cherry-picked to fit into however you work