Dashboards & A

‘CAKE WALK’

GET STARTED

Ingredients required…

2 Cups of Data

3 Oz of the right charts

4 Teaspoons of colors

5 Pinch of appealing visual design for taste

1 Dashboard tool

….. & a rock star

dashboard baker!

So, let’s start baking?

Source the right data for your dashboard STEP

#1

Your visualization tells the story

of your data. You cannot

empower business users with

decision making capabilities

with suspect or erroneous data

and limited context. Get the data

right and you’re on your way to

baking that perfect dashboard!

Ever heard of anyone

baking a cake with

cucumbers, peppers

and mustard?

No? Exactly!

“Data is what distinguishes the dilettante from the artist”- George V. Higgins

Identify right metrics to be captured STEP

#2

If baking involved

randomly mixing your

ingredients together,

even your little brother

could do it! Surely

there’s more to it?

“When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind”-Seneca

Once you have sourced the

data, identify the correct

metrics based on business

needs that not only inform but

convey actionable insights

Choose right charts to correctly communicate

your story STEP

#3

A master chef chooses

the layers of his cake

carefully to bring out his

intended flavors

“In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn't matter how hard it was to make it”-Cassandra Clare

Identify compelling charts that

help users interpret the data

quickly and easily – what use

is a pie that doesn’t satisfy?

Variety is not always the spice of life

How about a raspberry

infused banana apple

chocolate cake topped

with cherries and hot

fudge? Sounds good? I

think not!

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” – Jane Austen

STEP

#4

Use visualizations that work

best, rather than introducing

meaningless variety.

Sometimes, simple design can

make a CUSTOMER HAPPY !!

Take that ‘EXTRA’ care for colors shapes and sizes

What use is a misshapen

cake that sticks out like a

sore thumb? If you’ve

taken the effort to make

it, wouldn’t you go the

extra mile to make sure

it looks just right?

“Color is like cooking. The cook puts in more or less salt, that's the difference” – Joseph Albers

STEP

#5

Look for incongruity in your

dashboards – colors that don’t

fit the same palette, wildly

varying font sizes, red and

green charts that don’t have a

negative and positive

connotation.

Good looks are everything, but placement of data

also matters

Would you want to

dig the cherry and

icing from within the

cake? Or would prefer

it right on top?

“The goal is to arrange the data in the manner that fits the way its used” – Stephen Few

STEP

#6

Important information should

lead from the top left corner of

the dashboard, and then flow

seamlessly across it, revealing

insights as you go.

Do not exceed the boundaries of single screen

“Would you like the

three layers of a cake in

separate boxes sir?” -

Probably a question

you’ll never hear from

the baker!

“Something powerful happens when information is seen together, at the same time”- Stephen Few

STEP

#7

It is important to ensure that

your entire data is presented to

the user in one glance as we

can only hold a few chunks of

information at a time in short-

term memory. Ensure that

users don’t need to scroll down

or over, or move from screen to

screen.

Finally, avoid unnecessary artistic efforts

or decoration

Munched onto that

plastic rose on the cake

and couldn’t take

another bite?

“If a diagram is worth 1000 words, then it’s worth 1000 words of our attention” – Edward Tufte

STEP

#8

AVOID 3d effect charts, meters,

stretched graphs, time period

selector that looks like manual

switch etc.

Graphics dedicated to this end

are pure decoration, visual

content that the viewer must

process to get to the data.

The secrets to creating effective

dashboards are out now!

So what’s stopping you?

13

BRIDGEi2i

Masterchef of Dashboards!

Designed a comprehensive marketing

dashboard on Tableau for a global chip

manufacturer indicating the

performance of the marketing metrics

across various phases

Developed a cross functional dashboard

on XCELSIUS for a Fortune 100

technology firm to give a single version

of truth for their demand and financial

planning

You can do it, we can help

Designed ad hoc analysis environment

on Tableau for a Global Money Transfer

company with a view of FX Movement,

Spread, Customer Behavior & Retention

and Send/Receive Agent Dynamics

Developed CXO dashboards on

MicroStrategy to track renewal and

retention rates against sales

performance across states in USA for a

global insurance giant

14

BRIDGEi2i is an Analytics Solutions

company focused at helping you

BRIDGE

Transform and visualize big data into

meaningful business metrics

INFORMATION

Identify underlying patterns,

understand behavior and predict

outcome

INSIGHT

Operationalize data driven decisions

to realize sustainable business value

IMPACT www.bridgei2i.com

Enquries@bridgei2i.com

@BRIDGEi2i

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