176 posts from: Dashboards by Example
Pie Chart Runs Amok
(Indexed 2010-09-09):
As business intelligence professionals, we often present our observations and findings in front of an audience. As I rule, I am seldom nervous about the content, but I am often worried about the technology. How many times have you had technical difficulties in your presentations? But have you ever had it happen in front [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Excel Infographics
(Indexed 2010-03-03):
Dashboard Spy Topic: Excel Dashboard Example.Excel dashboard guru Chandoo offers a download of an excellent infographic he created using Excel 2010. Did you know that Excel 2010 has sparklines? Take a look at this awesome excel dashboard done in an infographic poster style.Visit his post to download the excel file: Sachin Tendulkar Statistics [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
iDashboards Winter Olympics Dashboard
(Indexed 2010-02-22):
Dashboard Spy Topic: 2010 Winter Olympics Scorecard from iDashboards.The dashboard gurus at business intelligencedashboard software vendor, iDashboards, are continuing their tradition of helping fans of the Olympic Games track the medal counts of the competing countries.Take a look at this dashboard screenshot. Use this link totry out the interactive iDashboards Winter Olympics Dashboard for [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Go Back to School for Excel
(Indexed 2010-02-14):
Dashboard Topic: Excel SchoolThe dirty little secret in business intelligence dashboards is that sometimes (and actually more often than you think!), Microsoft Excel is a perfectly fine choice of platform for a business dashboard.And the even dirtier secret is that we business intelligence gurus are less adept at Excel than we should be.Is it [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
7 Ways to Remain Relevant for Business Intelligence in 2010
(Indexed 2010-01-11):
This year, while saying “Happy New Year!”, I was also thinking “Good riddance!”. Face it, the year was a really rough one for many of you Dashboard Spy readers. Corporate earnings were horrible, revenues fell off a cliff, I.T. budgets got slashed, and many, many smart, hardworking people were downsized.I personally attended goodbye lunch [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Dashboard Data Table Navigation
(Indexed 2009-12-11):
Dashboard Spy Topic: Business Intelligence Dashboard Navigation (dashboard example: Oracle Interactive Dashboards)By their nature, business dashboards encourage users to adopt a “smorgasbord” approach to navigation. Since a dashboard lays out details, summaries and graphs all at the same time, user is invited to use a browsing style of search rather than the traditional “known [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Dashboard Metrics Status Indicators
(Indexed 2009-12-02):
Every dashboard needs to display the status of various KPIs and metrics, right? We’re all familiar with the red, green, yellow statuses as indicated by little icons.Here are some of my favorites. Maybe they’ll be useful to you:Be careful to think through what the colors mean. You may think that the meaning of green [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Communicating Through Business Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-11-30):
Many companies are still just getting into business intelligence dashboards, so it probably is a bit premature to talk about Dashboards 2.0. But, we as a community have certainly learned a thing or two about the best practices of presenting business information through digital dashboards.Let’s look at the cutting edge of dashboarding and see [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Building a Flex Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-10-05):
“How to create interactive gauges in Adobe Flex Dashboards and connect them to dynamic data sources” is the name of an article by Pallav Nadhani of FusionCharts.In the article, he demonstrates how to build the following Flex-based Weather Dashboard:As explained in the article, the following architecture was used for this Flex dashboard:Fusion Charts for [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Retail Store Scorecard
(Indexed 2009-08-18):
Business Dashboard Topic: Tracking KPIs and Metrics for Retail StoresWalking along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, I noticed through one of the store windows this dashboard. Titled Retail Scorecard, it’s a pen and paper (ok, erasable marker and plastic poster) dashboard used by the retailer to track store performance metrics.I won’t name the retailer as [...]a[Image][Image][Image]
Google Analytics Marketing Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-07-24):
From the Desk of The Dashboard Spy (dashboardspy.com) - Long time readers know that I always approach business dashboard design with a fierce user-centric focus. My background as a user experience director and information architect just doesn’t allow me to do otherwise. (In fact, I’m the originator of a user-centric approach called Users FIRST [...]aGoogle Analytics Marketing Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
Seth Godin on Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-07-22):
Dashboards are getting lots of great press this month. First, we had that picture of President Obama using the Federal IT Dashboard (which identified 45 projects to shut down right away because of cost overruns and schedule concerns).Now we have marketing guru and possibly the world’s smartest man, Seth Godin, giving dashboards some focus [...]aSeth Godin on Dashboards[Image][Image][Image]
Using Dashboards to Cut Bad Projects
(Indexed 2009-07-20):
Business dashboards enable management transparency which in turn allows the entire user base to “call out” unacceptable levels of performance. We are seeing this in a major way with the Federal IT Dashboard. Since the launch, there has been quite a bit of focus on the “red” indicators showing up on the dashboard charts [...]aUsing Dashboards to Cut Bad Projects[Image][Image][Image]
Federal Dashboard Reaches 20 Million Hits in 2 Weeks
(Indexed 2009-07-14):
In a recent Dashboard Spy post about the Federal Dashboard (see http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com), I lauded the efforts of Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, especially his recent work with the IT Dashboard. Some of you probably thought I was a bit over the top with all my gushing praise about the dashboard and my claim that this [...]aFederal Dashboard Reaches 20 Million Hits in 2 Weeks[Image][Image][Image]
Federal IT Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-07-01):
Exciting Dashboard News from The Dashboard Spy: New Federal IT Portfolio Spending Dashboard Set to Usher in New Level of Business Dashboard Adoption. Forgive my excitement, but in the course of carefully studying thousands of business intelligence dashboards for the Dashboards By Example blog and various Dashboard Spy publications, I’ve become very confident in [...]aFederal IT Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
Financial Crisis Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-06-30):
Business Dashboard coverage from The Dashboard Spy: Crisis Dashboard - Coverage of Financial Market KPIs by thedeal.com.A couple of posts ago, we examined a dashboard meant as a tool for financial intermediaries (see Economic Recovery Dashboard for Financial Advisors). The point I was trying to make in that post was that some dashboards are [...]aFinancial Crisis Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
GIS Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-06-26):
A reader of the Dashboard Spy newsletter wrote asking about the current state-of-the-art practices on incorporating GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Geospatial techniques into business dashboards. The reader was concerned about the complexity of doing so because she remembered how clunky (and expensive!) GIS systems were when she last looked into them 20 years [...]aGIS Dashboards[Image][Image][Image]
Economic Recovery Dashboard for Financial Advisors
(Indexed 2009-06-25):
Dashboard Spy Topic: Business Intelligence Dashboards as Tools for Advisors and Other Intermediaries.When we think of the target audience for our business dashboards, we typically think of end users within the enterprise. For example, an overall executive dashboard would be viewed by top-level executives, a financial dashboard’s audience would be the CFO and others [...]aEconomic Recovery Dashboard for Financial Advisors[Image][Image][Image]
Impact of Gaming on Business Dashboard Design
(Indexed 2009-06-23):
Today’s Dashboards By Example post examines the influence that video games may be having on data visualizations used on digital dashboards. Advances in the design of business intelligence dashboards can come from many different places and reflect many different interests. When the Ford Motor Company and one of its design firms, Smart Design, studied [...]aImpact of Gaming on Business Dashboard Design[Image][Image][Image]
SAS Graph iPhone Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-06-19):
A lot of Dashboard Spy readers have Apple iPhones on their brains these days. With the release of the new iPhone models (3G S) and the price drop of the older 8 gb iPhone to $99, there’s a lot of buzz right now. Personally, I’ve been having an adventure with a “detected but not [...]aSAS Graph iPhone Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
Switching Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-06-17):
The title of today’s Dashboards By Example post, “Switching Dashboards” has a double meaning. It’s true that many business intelligence users are switching to desktop dashboards because of the benefits of the “immediacy” of data when it’s on your personal desktop. I’ve posted in the past about the use of the desktop dashboard by [...]aSwitching Dashboards[Image][Image][Image]
Effective Dashboard Design Presentation
(Indexed 2009-06-17):
Dashboard Spy reader and veteran dashboard designer, Aaron Hursman, has an awesome presentation titled Effective Dashboard Design in which he not only presents his approach to designing effective dashboards, but also illustrates best practices with his own dashboard designs.This is one of my favorite presentations on dashboard design. I’m presenting it because of a [...]aEffective Dashboard Design Presentation[Image][Image][Image]
Donation Portfolio Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-06-15):
The Donation Dashboard is a project run by the Berkeley Center for New Media at berkeley.edu that uses a dashboard approach to help users choose charitable giving opportunities. Did you know that, in the Unitied States, there are over a million registered non-profit organizations? This dashboard helps you select the right mix of charitable [...]aDonation Portfolio Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
Google Local Search Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-06-02):
Dashboards By Example readers will recall the sneak peek of the new upcoming search engine, Microsoft Bing, and it’s use of a dashboard/scorecard to present reviews of certain local search results such as restaurants. See Microsoft Bing Scorecard. In a similar vein, Google has rolled out today (June 1, 2009) a dashboard layout for [...]aGoogle Local Search Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
Microsoft Bing Scorecard
(Indexed 2009-05-29):
Dashboard Topic: A Sneak Peek at Microsoft Bing Search Engine’s ScorecardMicrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Bing.com to the public yesterday at a conference. It’s the replacement to the Live search engine that will go live by June 3, 2009.Upon hearing of the announcement I put out a call to my Dashboard Spy network to [...]aMicrosoft Bing Scorecard[Image][Image][Image]
New Klipfolio Dashboard Release Incorporates Improvements for Enterprise Dashboard Reporting
(Indexed 2009-05-26):
Dashboards by Example will now provide coverage of news releases related to business intelligence dashboard products, vendors and news. Thanks to the suggestions by Dashboard Spy readers who want their business intelligence news collected in one place - the Dashboards by Example blog!I forsee typical news coverage taking the following form: First a reprint [...]aNew Klipfolio Dashboard Release Incorporates Improvements for Enterprise Dashboard Reporting[Image][Image][Image]
Swine Flu Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-05-20):
The dashboard design pattern has not only been fully adopted by practitioners and users in the fields of business intelligence and corporate management, but is now considered the “go-to” design solution by a multitude of people across myriad industry verticals. Anyone in any industry with a need for communicating information seems to benefit from [...]aSwine Flu Dashboards[Image][Image][Image]
8 Step Approach to Developing Clinical Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-05-18):
Dashboard Spy post: 8 Step Approach to Developing BI Dashboards. The CTO of a healthcare company shares his 8 step dashboard methodology in the Computerworld article Developing Clinical Dashboards.Hospitals, medical centers and other health systems are increasingly using digital dashboard technology to provide relevant, up-to-the-minute information to clinicians in a visually rich format to [...]a8 Step Approach to Developing Clinical Dashboards[Image][Image][Image]
2009 Excel Dashboard Contest
(Indexed 2009-05-12):
Excel Dashboard designers get another chance to show off their skills in the BonaVista Systems 2009 Excel Dashboard Competition.Dashboard Spy readers will recall that last year’s winners included an International Bank Dashboard, an Outpatient Surgery Center Dashboard, and a Pharmaceutical Sales Dashboard. See Best Excel Dashboards of 2008.In addition to bragging rights to having [...]a2009 Excel Dashboard Contest[Image][Image][Image]
Using a Dashboard to Pitch your Company to Investors
(Indexed 2009-05-08):
Business Week has published a Small Business FInancing article that recommends using a business dashboard as a tool for use while pitching a company to investors. Titled “Pitching? Let Your Dashboard Do the Work: The dashboarda single screen of key metrics and infocan give investors a better understanding of your company than slide shows [...]aUsing a Dashboard to Pitch your Company to Investors[Image][Image][Image]
Business Dashboards: A Visual Catalog for Design and Deployment
(Indexed 2009-05-05):
Business Dashboard books are growing in number. Here’s a first look at a newly available dashboard book titled, Business Dashboards: A Visual Catalog for Design and DeploymentI bring it to your attention because it seems that the authors love dashboard screenshots as much as I do. The description for the book promises lots of [...]aBusiness Dashboards: A Visual Catalog for Design and Deployment[Image][Image][Image]
Percent Mobile Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-05-01):
Here’s an interesting web analytics dashboard spotted by Pointy Haired Dilbert (Thanks for the discovery of this dashboard, Chandoo!). This mobile analytics dashboard from percent mobile displays usage metrics for visitors coming to your site on mobile devices. The summary information is displayed prominently at the top: Percentage of visitors from mobile traffic, [...]aPercent Mobile Dashboard[Image][Image][Image]
Recovery Act Data Dashboard from MicroStrategy
(Indexed 2009-04-28):
Dashboard topic: Recovery Act Dashboard from Microstrategy. The Recovery Act (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) was signed into law on 2/17/2009 by President Obama and is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart the economy. Recovery.gov was set up to provide transparency for Recovery Act spending.This week, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board [...]aRecovery Act Data Dashboard from MicroStrategy[Image][Image][Image]
Visual Design Guidelines for Geographical Data Visualization Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-04-18):
We business intelligence dashboarders have been taken advantage of the relative ease of incorporating maps and geographic location information into our business dashboards more than ever. Remember how expensive geographic information systems used to be and how arcane a science it was? Well, now there are plenty of free APIs that you can incorporate into [...]aVisual Design Guidelines for Geographical Data Visualization Dashboards[Image][Image]
Taking Data Chart Minimalism Too Far
(Indexed 2009-04-15):
In the recent issue of his Visual Business Intelligence Newsletter: Sometimes We Must Raise Our Voices, Stephen Few explains what he calls a “rare disagreement” with the principles of graph design as espoused by Edward Tufte (See The Visual Display of Quantitative Information).Few begins with an explanation of the title of this issue:When we create [...]aTaking Data Chart Minimalism Too Far[Image][Image]
A Dashboard Blog of Your Own
(Indexed 2009-04-14):
Dashboard Spy readers are invited to start their very own blog. It’s an easy and fun way to connect with the business intelligence community and promote your company or your self. Whether you want to blog about dashboards, business intelligence, metrics, management or anything else you’d like to rant about, you’re welcome to claim your [...]aA Dashboard Blog of Your Own[Image][Image]
Yellow Boxy Dashboard HTML Template
(Indexed 2009-04-06):
The last two Dashboard Spy templates have been very popular. Thanks for the positive comments! I’m glad you’re using them to mock up your business dashboard projects. A Dashboard Spy newsletter subscriber wrote me asking if I would provide a dashboard template that dealt with thebrowser size issue. Typically, in a corporate environment, we have [...]aYellow Boxy Dashboard HTML Template[Image][Image]
SAS Dashboards on Nintendo Wii
(Indexed 2009-04-02):
Think you can get away from the pressures of business intelligence dashboards by hiding in your den and playing video games on the Nintendo Wii? Think again because SAS announced today that they are bringing SAS Dashboards to the Nintendo Wii platform. It seems that the product team at SAS feels that the Wii’s innovative [...]aSAS Dashboards on Nintendo Wii[Image][Image]
Church Dashboard Measures More Than Attendance
(Indexed 2009-03-30):
No matter what business niche we measure with our information dashboards, the success of our effort depends on selecting the right metrics and indicators. When attempting to truly understand the health of our business, we are challenged to look beyond the usual and obvious KPIs and incorporate the “you’re right, we have to take that [...]aChurch Dashboard Measures More Than Attendance[Image][Image]
NCAA Tournament Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-03-26):
So how is March Madness going for you Dashboard Spies? Did you predict the Sweet 16 successfully? What? Don’t tell me you didn’t apply all that analytical skill and business intelligence savvy you have to your pool picks? You can model sales forecasts in the face of the worst economy since the Great Depression, but [...]aNCAA Tournament Dashboard[Image][Image]
Network Operation Center Nimsoft Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-03-23):
Service Level Management (SLM) is the process of ensuring that IT services are linked to business processes and providing detailed visibility of service. By monitoring SLAs (service level agreements) and operating level agreements (OLAs), business and technology units can talk in terms that represent a common denominator in departments that used to be world’s apart. [...]aNetwork Operation Center Nimsoft Dashboards[Image][Image]
Reputation Management Dashboard Built with iGoogle
(Indexed 2009-03-18):
Dashboard Spy readers from the marketing side of the house will find fascinating the post by Marty Weintraub titled “How to Build a Reputation Management Dashboard“. Marty offers comprehensive, step-by-step instructions in his post on assembling a robust dashboard that allows a company to track your business keywords such as brand, products, company executives intent [...]aReputation Management Dashboard Built with iGoogle[Image][Image]
Simple Grey Metrics Dashboard HTML Template
(Indexed 2009-03-18):
Dashboard Spy readers: Here’s another HTML dashboard template for your mockup and project implementation purposes. It was created in response to some feedback from the previous Dashboard Spy HTML Dashboard template. For those readers catching up, I recently sent an HTML dashboard template out to people signing up for the Dashboard Spy email list. [...]aSimple Grey Metrics Dashboard HTML Template[Image][Image]
Dashboard HTML Template
(Indexed 2009-03-12):
Announcing a New Dashboard Template from The Dashboard Spy!HTML coding for digital dashboard projects is not rocket science but does require an incredible attention to detail. When you are dealing with a complicated layout with multiple portlets and nested scroll bars, the HTML details can be tricky to say the least.The latest Dashboard Template from [...]aDashboard HTML Template[Image][Image]
Mobile Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-03-06):
As you browse the archive of dashboard screenshots on the Dashboards by Example blog, you’ll find information dashboard projects spanning an incredibly diverse range of needs and interests. Dashboards fit the business intelligence presentation needs of every industry I can think of and we’ve seen examples from bottle filling lines to the situation awareness dashboard [...]aMobile Dashboard[Image][Image]
Google Apps Status Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-02-27):
Dashboard Spy Design Topic: No Eye Candy for the Google Apps Dashboard.Google’s latest dashboard allows users to monitor the availability of the various Google Apps services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Calendar, Google Video and Google Talk. The application health status dashboard was launched on February 26, 2009 as part of Google’s [...]aGoogle Apps Status Dashboard[Image][Image]
Open Dashboard Methodology
(Indexed 2009-02-19):
As we gain hands-on experience with the design, implementation, launch and maintenance of business intelligence dashboards, we accumulate best practices and design patterns that we can rely upon and toss aside activities that lead us astray. After several dashboard projects, we come to realize the value of a dashboarding methodology. Of course, when discussing business [...]aOpen Dashboard Methodology[Image][Image]
Interaction Design Principles
(Indexed 2009-02-16):
Dashboard Design Topic: Principles of Interaction Design for Dashboard Designers.Dashboard designers and builders often back into the disciples of user interface and interaction design through necessity after a few business intelligence projects. Once they get a few dashboard projects under their belt, they realize that there are quite a few subtleties in a dashboard project [...]aInteraction Design Principles[Image][Image]
When Dashboards Are Not Enough
(Indexed 2009-02-13):
As much as digital dashboards rock my world, I have to keep in mind that business intelligence is much more than a dashboard. In terms of that old tired metaphor, if a dashboard shows me the metrics of my vehicle in a small location right in front of me, then business intelligence is everything else [...]aWhen Dashboards Are Not Enough[Image][Image]
Quiz Results Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-02-11):
Business intelligence dashboards are usually serious affairs, with plenty of ominous red lights, tons of squiggly lines and stuffy disclaimers in tiny text. So, it’s always nice when a Dashboard Spy reader sends in a dashboard with a bit of whimsy. Aaron Lyon (monkeymatic.com) is a skilled designer that was tasked to provide a leaderboard [...]aQuiz Results Dashboard[Image][Image]
Lightbox Images on Excel Dashboards
(Indexed 2009-02-10):
Today’s Dashboard Design Tip from the Dashboard Spy: Showing Images in Excel with a Web 2.0 Flair!Excel dashboards can use the Lightbox image technique so popular with blogs and websites these days. Thanks to the always innovative dashboard experts at Juice Analytics who wrote the post, Lightboxing Images in Excel, we get this Excel Dashboard [...]aLightbox Images on Excel Dashboards[Image][Image]
Dashboard Overload
(Indexed 2009-02-02):
Hello, my name is the Dashboard Spy and I’m a dashboard-aholic. Yes, I’ve looked at thousands of dashboards and I think they’re all wonderful. And, if you’re like most of my readers and involved in the design, implementationor management of business dashboards, I bet you alsothink that they are the best thing since thepie chart.BUT, [...]aDashboard Overload[Image][Image]
Intuition through Business Intelligence
(Indexed 2009-01-27):
Dashboards: Business intelligence tools, Business intuition enablers, or both?The role of intuition in the business place has certainly grown in the “softer”, more people-focused areas of the enterprise. Note the number of books available on topics such as emotional quotients, consumer desire and team building. Decisions are made based not only on the cold hard [...]aIntuition through Business Intelligence[Image][Image]
Sales Throughput Dashboard with LED Meters
(Indexed 2009-01-23):
Dashboard designer and SAS/GRAPH expert Robert Allison walks us through the thinking behind his latest dashboard - a sales throughput dashboard complete with LED meters. Thank you Robert!Dashboard Spy, a while back, you featured a sales dashboard with LED-meters . It measured sales order throughput and was accompanied by some negative commentary from Stephen Few.Your [...]aSales Throughput Dashboard with LED Meters
Manufacturing Dashboard using SAS/GRAPH
(Indexed 2009-01-20):
“SAS/GRAPH for great dashboards - Can SAS really do that?” Yes. If you license BASE SAS and SAS/GRAPH, you may already own the most powerful dashboard software in the world. You would never know it from the examples published by the SAS Institute, but SAS/GRAPH can render virtually any graphical display with high resolution and [...]aManufacturing Dashboard using SAS/GRAPH[Image][Image]
Banking Widgets Dashboard
(Indexed 2009-01-19):
Personal finance widgets and calculators are commonplace on web applications, but are sometimes awkwardly presented in terms of layout on a page. Typically, they are relegated to page sidebars, collected vertically on a resources page, or displayed by themselves on a single page. How about considering the dashboard design pattern as a solution?By grouping [...]aBanking Widgets Dashboard[Image][Image]
Mashup Dashboard Configuration
(Indexed 2009-01-16):
By their nature and design, some business dashboards are “set and forget”. That is, the dashboard user configures the dashboard settings at some point when they start using it and hardly ever fiddles with it again going forward. Or, they never change it from the default settings. In fact, many dashboards don’t offer any user [...]aMashup Dashboard Configuration[Image][Image]
5 Hot Business Intelligence Dashboard Topics in 2009
(Indexed 2009-01-13):
Even before the hectic events in the financial markets, 2008 was an eventful year for those of us in business intelligence. We saw adoption of the dashboard design paradigm accelerate, interesting developments in the dashboard product space and the growing sophistication of business dashboard user interface design. What we can be assured of in 2009 [...]a5 Hot Business Intelligence Dashboard Topics in 2009[Image][Image]
2009 Year of the Mashup Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-12-31):
If poring over another year’s worth of business intelligence dashboards has taught me anything, it’s that the very form and structure of a digital dashboard is what gives it such value and utility. We’ve heard it said over and over from many a dashboard design guru that a dashboard should be a single page, easy-to-absorb, [...]a2009 Year of the Mashup Dashboard[Image][Image]
Copyright Infringement Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-12-30):
Depending on your philosophy and business model, information may or may not be freely copied and shared. Like it or not, however, mass copying and distribution of practically any web content is occurring at blindingly fast speeds. You wouldn’t believe how far and wide the Dashboard Spy commentary on business intelligence dashboards goes because of [...]aCopyright Infringement Dashboard[Image][Image]
Web Analytics Dashboard for Tracking Premium Service Conversions
(Indexed 2008-12-22):
The “freemium” business model - now common among Web 2.0 services (where thebasic service is free because ofthe subsidy from the premium features) - calls for careful tracking of the numbers. Grabbing eyeballs via the free content is easy. Converting them to paying customers for your premium service is the challenge.Today’s Dashboards by Example case [...]aWeb Analytics Dashboard for Tracking Premium Service Conversions[Image][Image]
Santa Claus Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-12-17):
Tis the season to make your lists and check them twice, isn’t it? Business intelligence practitioners among the Dashboard Spy readership know that the right business analytics and dashboards make all the difference between a smooth holiday season and one full of fulfillment mishaps. It turns out that Santa implemented several new business intelligence systems [...]aSanta Claus Dashboard[Image][Image]
OEE Overall Equipment Effectiveness Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-12-16):
Manufacturing systems look to optimize flows within the production lines. OEE or Overall Equipment Effectiveness is the study of production assets (machinery) in order to eliminate bottlenecks and identify areas of poor performance or excess capacity. The underlying idea is that you can create a combined measurement of equipment availability, performance rate and quality rate [...]aOEE Overall Equipment Effectiveness Dashboards[Image][Image]
Internal Communications Dashboard from Klipfolio
(Indexed 2008-12-11):
Business dashboards communicate information to various stakeholders across the enterprise. The challenge has been to make sure that the message gets through to the intended audience. I’ve posted in the past of how one company, Serence (now Klipfolio - more on that in a moment.) has tackled the idea of “the unvoidable dashboard“, by developing [...][Image][Image]
Big Dashboard Alerts
(Indexed 2008-12-09):
How prominent should alerts be on our business intelligence dashboards? One might be tempted to say right away that alerts and alarms should always be as big as possible. Well, keep in mind that digital dashboards are challenged to reflect the shades of grey that exist in the business and political environments in which they [...][Image][Image]
Conducting Brainstorming Sessions
(Indexed 2008-12-08):
All software development projects demand high degrees of collaboration but Business Dashboards in particular span so many domains within an organization that strong group vision is an absolute must. Dashboards are so user-centric that without contribution by members of the various intended audiences during the design phase, the resulting software is an annoyance at best [...][Image][Image]
Mortgage Loan Process Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-12-05):
A Dashboard Spy reader and I were commiserating about the economy and the impact on I.T. budgets recently. Feeling curmudgeonly, we decided that we were all at fault. When house prices were high and mortgage credit was easy, not too many of us complained. But, now of course, we are all paying a steep price [...][Image][Image]
Real Time Operational Dashboard Case Study
(Indexed 2008-12-03):
The Dashboard Spy is pleased to be cited as a enterprise digital dashboard resource in the fine whitepaper by Sidney Shek titled Enterprise Digital Dashboards as Rich Internet Applications. This CSC paper was added to the CSC Leading Edge Forum Knowledge Library a while back, but came back to mind recently as I helped a [...][Image][Image]
Marketing Dashboard for Measuring Fan Reach
(Indexed 2008-12-02):
Marketing Dashboard Example: The ReverbNation Dashboard. Bands and musicians have revolutionized the marketing of their music through their eager adoption of social networking technologies. Even the largest labels now realize that the independent artists and garage bands were really onto something with their myspace pages and blogs. Today, marketing to music fans and communities is [...][Image][Image]
E-Zone Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-12-01):
A Dashboard Spy’s job is never done, it seems. Even while doing some traveling and shopping for the holidays, I came across some very interesting data visualizations such as this Spanish language diagram about e-zones of all things. It was in a book I was flipping through at Saks on Fifth Avenue titled Latin American [...][Image][Image]
Project Gemini and Excel Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-11-17):
One of the highlights of Microsoft’s Business Intelligence 2008 Conference in October was the announcement of “Project Gemini”. As Forrester reported, “With its just-announced Project Gemini, Microsoft aims to bring an Excel-based user analytics mashup tool into the core of Microsoft’s BI and data warehousing product portfolio. What is now only in the hands of [...][Image][Image]
Bling My Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-11-13):
Here’s a proposal for a new dashboarding technique that lets your dashboard users control the amount of “eye candy” that they see on thier dashboards and scorecards. How about a “bling” button that you can use to “turn up” the graphic volume of your business dashboards? Imagine being able to toggle back and forth between [...][Image][Image]
Direct Marketing Metrics Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-11-10):
A Dashboard Spy reader wrote me to ask what the abbreviation UAA stood for. It seems that she is a designer who just joined a marketing metrics dashboard project team and was reviewing some wireframes that a business analyst created. On the top of a couple of columns of numbers were the letters “UAA” and [...][Image][Image]
Pop-Up Dashboard for 2008 Election Results
(Indexed 2008-11-04):
Topic: The Times Uses a Pop-Up Dashboard for its Election 2008 Dashboard.The New York Times site is known for its strength with information visualization and use of the information dashboard paradigm. It goes without saying that The Dashboard Spy constantly monitors them for new uses and presentations of business intelligence dashboards.Today, Election Day 2008, we [...][Image][Image]
Synchronized Presidential Debates Dashboard-Style
(Indexed 2008-10-30):
Sychronized Presidental Debates on a dashboard. Digital Dashboard watchers must immediately watch this video. If you are like me, you think that every information asset would benefit from being displayed on a dashboard. This video takes the dashboard design pattern to an extreme. Video clips of the three presidential debates of 2008 are displayed [...][Image][Image]
2008 Political Dashboards for the Election Home Stretch
(Indexed 2008-10-27):
This has been a banner year for political dashboards and visualizations. The “At-a-Glance Political Dashboard” zeitgeist of this election year is evidenced by the appearance of all manners of interactive maps, information visualizations and calculators. Gone are the days of the simple static diagrams of the red and blue states. Turn on any news channel [...][Image][Image]
Intranets, Portals and Dashboards, Oh My!
(Indexed 2008-10-22):
A couple of posts ago, Dashboard Spy readers debated the definition of a dashboard. Some stated that the dashboard metaphor as a layout pattern or navigation device makes for a perfectly fine dashboard - even if it didn’t contain business intelligence artifacts such as metrics or charts. Others insisted that dashboards as we study them [...][Image][Image]
Real Time Excel Dashboard Tracks Gas Prices
(Indexed 2008-10-20):
Dashboard Topic: Excel Gas DashboardWeb queries have been part of the Microsoft Excel object model for quite a while now, but are not often seen on Excel dashboards. Talented Xcelsius and Excel developer Kalyan Verma (author of the fabulous myxcelsius.com blog), has posted an example of using Excel Web Queries to power an Excel dashboard [...][Image][Image]
CERN Collider Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-10-17):
Digital Dashboards have been implemented to measure and track an unimaginably wide range of business activity. A Dashboard Spy reader asked me how I keep up my interest in the subject of business intelligence dashboards. After viewing thousands of dashboards, don’t they all blur into a swirl of graphs and blinking lights? I replied that [...][Image][Image]
Dashboards As Navigation
(Indexed 2008-10-14):
When is a dashboard a dashboard? Recently we looked at the Dell IdeaStorm Dashboard and one of the comments was “How is this a dashboard? It might be a portal, but all it does is list links of other things to go look at. It actually contains precious little real information.” If you bring [...][Image][Image]
Dow Jones Sparklines
(Indexed 2008-10-13):
Every meeting in the office these days seems to start with talk about the economic crisis. Many people are quite worried about the stock market and check quotes all day long. I thought I’d try and keep your mind at least somewhat involved with data visualization while you check the Dow Jones.Visit the Sparkline Stock [...][Image][Image]
Business Graphics from Apple Computer
(Indexed 2008-10-09):
Business Intelligence - “You’ve come a long way, baby.” Sorry, I couldn’t help but think of that slogan from the old Virginia Slim ads when I saw this short film from Apple Computer. It’s on the advantages of business graphics.Yes, Apple business graphics can help you do the following:Turn a lot of numbers into a [...][Image][Image]
Carbon Footprint Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-10-07):
When Dashboard Spy reader Jonathan Nell said that the dashboard screenshot he just sent over was really “cool”, I didn’t think he meant it literally. Well, he did. The Carbon Footprint Calculator is a data visualization example featured at CoolCalifornia.org, the portal for a consortium of California agencies and organizations. The California Air Resources Board, [...][Image][Image]
Glanceable Dashboard Monitors Physician Performance
(Indexed 2008-10-03):
Dashboard Topic: Patient Feedback Dashboard Allows Doctors to Measure Communication Skills.Today’s physicians and health care facilities make use of the latest advances in technology to aid in their diagnoses, manage their practices and even assist in surgery. Have you noticed, however, that there has been a decline in the quality of a doctor’s bedside manner? [...][Image][Image]
The Dashboard in the Lobby
(Indexed 2008-10-02):
Information architecture uses the idea of architecture as a metaphor. But what if we information dashboard designers and data visualization professionals took our ideas out into the architecture of the physical world?Long-time Dashboard Spy readers will remember my fondness for real-world dashboards such as:Dashboard on an EaselAmbient Orbs & Dial DashboardsRest Room Stall DashboardWell, here [...][Image][Image]
Stock Market Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-09-30):
Every time I post a business dashboard that makes use of dial gauges, I get lots of feedback from data visualization experts about why the gauges don’t add much value to the dashboard. OK, my infoviz specialists, try my latest thinking on for size: So, if a particular dial gauge only adds a little value [...][Image][Image]
Animating Dashboard Charts with Flash
(Indexed 2008-09-29):
The previous post detailing a Lotus Notes Dashboard showed some good looking charts and graphs. What the screenshots did not show, however, was the fact that those graphs were animated. Today we give you a flavor of the animation of the graphs, as well as dig into the technology behind the dashboard charts.The metrics [...][Image][Image]
Dashboards in Lotus Notes
(Indexed 2008-09-25):
Thanks goes to the Dashboard Spy reader who sent in material regarding creating dashboard reports in the Lotus Notes client. My quick research leads me to agree with your opinion that the “buy” option is better than the “build” option. Let’s share with the other readers what you found for creating dashboards against a Notes [...][Image][Image]
A Beautiful Dashboard Journey
(Indexed 2008-09-23):
Business dashboard projects are often journeys rather than simple implementations. It’s a journey through a world of choices between the right metrics, the technologies, the data collection challenges and data visualization techniques. Sometimes it feels to us dashboard designers that BI is an exotic land in which our challenge is to find (or create) the [...][Image][Image]
Difference Between BI and BAM
(Indexed 2008-09-22):
A Dashboard Spy reader wanted to know the difference between BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) and BI (Business Intelligence). He caught part of a BAM software presentation from an enterprise software vendor and was hard-pressed to see the difference between what he saw and what BI systems as he knew them offered.Let’s do a little research [...][Image][Image]
Business Intelligence Data Mashups with Jay-Z and The Beatles
(Indexed 2008-09-18):
What do The Beatles and Jay-Z have to do with business intelligence dashboards? Welcome to the world of the data mashup!As we have seen in the last few business intelligence dashboard examples, there is definitely a trend towards the use of data mashups on enterprise dashboards. Components such as Google Maps are valuable contributions on [...][Image][Image]
GMaps Plugin for Xcelsius Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-09-16):
The ComputerWorld Best Places toWork Dashboard was a mashup that featured a Google Maps component. I particularly liked seeing that on the dashboard, so I decided delve into the details of how Google Maps was incorporated into the Xcelsius 2008 dashboard.It turns out that the functionality is achieved through Xcelsius plugins from Centigon Solutions. Ryan [...][Image][Image]
Best Places to Live Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-09-15):
In light of some recent negative reviews of Xcelsius 2008 (see Xcelsius Dashboards Bashed), the Dashboard Spy recently sent out a call for Business Objects Xcelsius 2008 dashboards so as to see how the product is being used out in the field. Today we start our brief visit of some Xcelsius 2008 dashboards by looking [...][Image][Image]
Best Places to Work Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-09-15):
In light of some recent negative reviews of Xcelsius 2008 (see Xcelsius Dashboards Bashed), the Dashboard Spy recently sent out a call for Business Objects Xcelsius 2008 dashboards so as to see how the product is being used out in the field. Today we start our brief visit of some Xcelsius 2008 dashboards by [...][Image][Image]
Building Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-09-09):
Building dashboards, of course, is the topic of discussion here at Dashboards by Example, The Dashboard Spy and Dashboards.TV, where we bring you real-life examples of business intelligence visualizations. Today, however, let’s take the term “building dashboards” literally, and look at dashboards for buildings (i.e. “Building Dashboards”). Yes, there are dashboards being used for monitoring [...][Image][Image]
SLA Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-09-08):
This SLA Dashboard comes courtesy of a Dashboard Spy in the IBM Service Management organization who has worked on multiple projects in the area of Process Management. Process Managers are applications that implement and manage procss flows involving people, information and technology components. The goals of PM applications are to improve organizational productivity and also [...][Image][Image]
Xcelsius Present Dashboards Bashed
(Indexed 2008-09-04):
The battle regarding the value of business dashboard glitz continues with the introduction of the latest BusinessObjects Xcelsius 2008 offering. It’s now easier than ever to create business dashboards with slick visual interfaces complete with shiny reflections and flash interaction.Is this business charting bling a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on who [...][Image][Image]
Hospital Financial Management Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-08-27):
Keane Practice Management Dashboards are part of their H.I.S. (Hospital Information Systems) offerings and are designed to allow MSOs (Management Services Organizations), PHOs (Physician Hospital Organizations), IDNs (Integrated Delivery Networks), large multi-specialty group practices and even large physician practices to track profitability and minimize risk within their practices.Here we see an example of an executive [...][Image][Image]
Business Intelligence Architectural Stack
(Indexed 2008-08-26):
Topic: The BI Stack. Here is an excellent depiction of the business intelligence architectural stack as envisioned by the analysts at Forrester.Here at the Dashboard Spy’s Dashboards by Example, we have been focusing on Dashboards (of course!) but are fully aware that they are but a portion of the business intelligence landscape. This excellent diagram [...][Image][Image]
Restaurant Performance Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-08-26):
BI for Breakfast? Here’s a look at how a restaurant might monitor their business via a performance dashboard. Thanks goes to Robert Allison who created this restaurant dashboard in SAS/GRAPH leveraging a design by Charley Kyd of ExcelUser dashboards.Here is the restaurant performance dashboard. It’s titled “Performance for the Month”.I’m particularly intrigued by the commentary:Sales [...][Image][Image]
3 Steps for Performance Improvement
(Indexed 2008-08-24):
Performance improvement is both amazingly simple and frustratingly difficult. I say “amazingly simple” because of the effect where simply focusing attention on an area will lead to improvements. And of course, in terms of “frustratingly difficult”, we are all aware of the wall we run into where no matter what further actions we take, we [...][Image][Image]
More on the Pie Chart
(Indexed 2008-08-22):
The question of whether pie charts are as good as they would appear to be (judging by their popularity with business users), continues to be examined. The excellent statistical visualization / infographics blog, flowingdata.com, recently discussed alternatives to the pie chart when reviewing the results of a reader survey. Here is a brief screengrab from [...]ShareThis[Image][Image]
Dell IdeaStorm Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-08-21):
Dell’s IdeaStorm project embraces their customer’s ideas and input in a serious manner. Customers have contributed over 9700 ideas through the program. Dell management is committed to reviewing submissions and identifying trends in customer ideas and wishes - “to gauge which ideas are most important and relevant to the public”.Once you sign up, you may [...]ShareThis[Image][Image]
Excel Tool Tips
(Indexed 2008-08-19):
A Dashboard Spy reader wrote me to ask about adding comments to his Excel worksheets so that his users would be prompted to take certain input actions. He’s building a series of excel dashboards complete with data input screens.I directed him to Michael Alexander’s latest Excel Tip: Adding Tool Tips to Cells, a quick but [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Excel Tool Tips", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/08/19/excel-tool-tips/" });[Image][Image]
Rube Goldberg Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-08-18):
Take a look at this business dashboard. Forgive me for saying so, but upon viewing this dashboard, I couldn’t help but think of Rube Goldberg Machines, those convoluted devices that take incredibly complicated paths to perform a simple task.I’ll let you decide for yourself. Here’s the video of the dashboard. It is titled “Visual Communication [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Rube Goldberg Dashboard", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/08/18/rube-goldber...(tr...(truncated)...
Dashboard Spy White Paper Collection Launches
(Indexed 2008-08-14):
The Dashboard Spy Collection of Business Intelligence White Papers is now live. You can easily preview and select white papers from multiple vendors across industry categorizations. Case studies and free business trade magazines are also available.Some of the most interesting BI white papers on the site are:Business Intelligence Best Practices for Dashboard DesignBusiness Intelligence for [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Dashboard Spy White Paper Collection Launches", url: "http://www.enterpris...(truncated)...
Excel Visualization of Olympic Medal Count
(Indexed 2008-08-12):
In keeping with the spirit of the 2008 Summer Olympics, I’ve been posting some data visualizations and dashboards related to the Beijing Games. On Dashboards by Example we saw the Olympics Dashboard done in Adobe Flex by iDashboards and, on The Dashboard Spy, we saw the New York Times Olympic Medal Count Infographic.As a reminder, [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Excel Visualization of Olympic Medal Count", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/08/12/excel-visual...(truncated)......(truncated)...
Executive Dashboards for Wholesale Distributors
(Indexed 2008-08-12):
The beauty of the executive dashboard as a paradigm is that it applies equally well to a wide range of commerical activity. Yes, business intelligence dashboard implementors do specialize in industry verticals, but so many best practices and KPI/metrics apply horizontally, that they eventually move into related industries.For example, I recently received a dashboard [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Executive Dashboards for Wholesale Distributors", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/...(truncated)...
Focus on Priorities with Desktop Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-08-08):
“A list of 90 Key Performance Indicators is a contradiction in terms.” insists Allan Wille, long-time Dashboard Spy contributor and President/CEO of Serence, the desktop dashboard company. He went on to explain that today’s business users are hard pressed to monitor what really matters (business progress) in a world where the most precious commodity seems [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Focus on Priorities with Desktop Dashboards", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/20...(truncated)...
3rd Place Excel Dashboard is for Pharmaceutical Sales
(Indexed 2008-08-05):
Executive dashboards are hot IT projects at Bristol-Myers Squibb this year. The sales operations management area at the company has already developed 10 business intelligence dashboards (and 100 operational reports) so far in 2008.This particular sales forcedashboard, developed inMicrosoft Excelby Hitesh Patel and Mike Askew of Data Intelligence, was entered into the Microcharts Best Excel [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "3rd Place Excel Dashboard is for Pharmaceutical Sales", url: "http://www....(truncated)...
Diversity Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-07-28):
The Arizona State University Office of Diversity Dashboardallows the human resources department of the university to demonstrate the school’s compliance with federal and state laws regarding affirmative action in employment and educational programs. This employment monitoring dashboard is presented on the ASU Office of Diversity websitewith the navigational link “Dashboard Graphs”.This dashboard isconsidered a valuable [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Diversity Dashboard", url...(truncated)...
Second Best Excel Dashboard of 2008
(Indexed 2008-07-25):
The Excel Dashboard that placed second best in the MicroCharts 2008 Excel Dashboard Competition was created by Jim Uden. His Outpatient Surgery Center Dashboardshows the metrics for the operations of a health care facility. Owned by a partnership that demands comprehensive reporting, the ambulatory center operations generate large volumes of data that must be digested [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Second Best Excel Dashboard of 2008", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/07/25/seco...(truncated)...
Provost Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-07-24):
For those Dashboard Spy readers out there who may be unfamiliar with the finer points of titles within the world of academia, “Provost” is usually the senior academic administrator. Think of him or her as the “Chief Academic Officer” of the university or college. The provost would report to the “CEO” of the college, usually [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Provost Dashboard", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/07/24/provost-dashboard/" });
Flex Dashboard Tracks Olympics Medal Results
(Indexed 2008-07-23):
Dashboard Topic: Olympic DashboardThe dashboard design paradigm will be making frequent appearances on the public stage from now until the end of the year. I’m thinking in particular of two events that drive heavy news coverage:2008 Summer Olympics2008 Presidential ElectionI’m confident that we’ll be seeing quite a few data visualizations based on business intelligence dashboard [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Flex Dashboard Tracks Olympics Medal Results", url: "http://www.en...(truncated)...
4 BI Worst Practices
(Indexed 2008-07-17):
Business Intelligence Worst Practices as listed inthe Information Builders white paper, Worst Practices in Business Intelligence | Why BI Applications Succeed Where BI Tools Fail:Assuming the Average Business User Has the Know-How or Time to Use BI ToolsAllowing Excel to Become the Default BI “Platform”Assuming a Data Warehouse Will Solve All Information Access and DeliveryRequirementsSelecting [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "4 BI Worst Practices", url: "http://www.enterprise-...(truncated)...
2008 Best Excel Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-07-16):
Excel dashboards submitted as candidates for the best 2008Excel dashboard design contest run by BonaVista Systems have been evaluated.Wade Stokesis the winner of the best excel dashboard with his entry ofthis International Bank Dashboard. Click on the dashboard screenshot to enlarge the image and you’ll see a dashboard that make efficient use of screen real [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "2008 Best Excel Dashboard", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/07/16/best-excel-dashboar...(truncated)...
Performance Benchmarking Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-07-14):
Topic: PerformanceBenchmarking Dashboard Example: Medical Practice Costs Dashboard.Executive Dashboards display metrics from across an enterprise. We, as business managers and information technology professionals, work hard at compiling, cleaning and delivering the correct data from sources distribution across corporate systems and data stores. Of course, you say, “That’s what we’re trying to accomplish with our enterprise [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Performance Benchmark...(truncated)...
Heat Maps for Data Visualization
(Indexed 2008-07-08):
Dashboard Spy readers will recall that we have discussed the use of heat map techiques for data visualization. We looked at Google Eye Tracking heatmaps for marketing optimization and the ever popular heat maps for stock market dashboards. We even looked at this ridiculously simple size and color sensitive heatmap dashboard.Today we look at how [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Heat Maps for Data Visualization", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/07/08/heat-maps-fo...(truncated)... }...(truncated)...
Xcelsius 2008 Dashboard - Gas Price Data
(Indexed 2008-07-01):
Flash-based dashboards provide great interaction between the user and the data. Technologies such as Xcelsius easily allow us dashboard designers to mix view (read only) modes with what-if analysismodes. In today’s dashboard example by Ryan Goodman of the Interactive Data Visualization Blog, we see this to great effect.I’ve always liked Xcelsius for dashboarding and the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Xcelsius 2008 Dashboard - Gas Price Data", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard....(truncated)...
Small Business Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-06-30):
Several readers of Dashboards By Example have reminded me that the objective of the blog, as the name suggests, is to show actual examples of dashboards. It’s nice to see the cutting edge visualizations and hear about the theories behind software usability, but they want to see more real business dashboards from the trenches. “Let’s [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Small Business Dashboards", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/06/30/small-busine...(truncated)... })...(truncated)...
The Horizon Graph
(Indexed 2008-06-19):
When a new information visualization technique is invented, it’s interesting news. The ones that are worthwhile find themselves in our mental toolboxes and eventually on our dashboards. Sparklines, bullet graphs, treemaps come to mind as recent inventions of note.When a new infomation visualization technique comes out and is lauded by Stephen Few, however, then it [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Horizon Graph", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/06/19/the-horizon-graph/" ...(truncated)...
Who is on your list of Dashboard Experts?
(Indexed 2008-06-17):
The design, implementation and maintenance of business dashboards spans a range of disciplines. Because dashboard design truely sits at the junction of business and technology, these disciplines are often not the areas of expertise found in the typical dashboard application team. A dashboard project is a learning process for team members encountering new subjects. Wading [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Who is on your list of Dashboard Experts?", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/0...(truncated)...
Flex Dashboard at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
(Indexed 2008-06-16):
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,aka the “Boston Fed”, is one of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks that make up the central banking system of the United States. Headquarteredin Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston Fed serves the First Reserve District (a grouping of 6 New England states).Enough of playing tour guide - what does the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Flex Dashboard at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/06/16/flex-dash...(truncated)...
4 Principles for Dashboard Gauges
(Indexed 2008-06-13):
In a recent Dashboards by Example post titled Dashboard Eye Candy, we poked fun at the usage of big honking dashboard gauges. Like them or not, however, they do indeed have their place on business intelligence applications.One of the example gauges used in the article came from the folks at Perpetuum Software, maker of .NET [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "4 Principles for Dashboard Gauges", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/06/13/dashboard-ga...(truncated)... });
Flash Dashboard Example - Information Visualization about Oil Production
(Indexed 2008-06-10):
Flash-powered dashboards continue to accelerate in their adoption. By the way, I use the term “Flash-based Dashboards” to include all swf-based dashboard technologies such as Adobe FLEX, Business Objects Crystal Xcelsius, etc - anything that requires Flash formats such as swf/flv. Flash technology has made big inroads in video media delivery and is building huge [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Flash Dashboard Example - Information Visualization about Oil Production", url: "http://w...(truncated)...
Making Dashboards More Productive - Google Analytics Dashboard Case Study
(Indexed 2008-06-02):
In making the ROI case for any IT project or application development project, we like to talk about the productivity that the new system will bring. The usual case was to count up how many hours a task or workflow takes if done manually and compare it to the drastically reduced number of hours it [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Making Dashboards More Productive - Google Analytics Dashboard Case Study", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/06/02/more-product...(truncated)... });
Dashboard Eye Candy
(Indexed 2008-05-29):
Yes, I know that good information visualization practice and dashboard design calls for effective use of screen real estate with clear and simple devices such as sparklines and bullet graphs. Easy to read and interpret, these charts, combined with a monotone color scheme (after all, we have to keep the mind on the data and [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Dashboard Eye Candy", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/29/dashboard-eye-candy/" });
So Where are the Excel 2007 Dashboards?
(Indexed 2008-05-23):
Are less dashboards being built using Excel 2007 than I thought? The recent post about customizing the Ribbon navigation panel elements for Excel 2007 dashboards brought out a couple of comments from Dashboard Spy readers that basically said that Office 2007 upgrades were not yet in sight for them. Yes, it’s true that there’s a [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "So Where are the Excel 2007 Dashboards?", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/23/excel-2007-d...(truncated)......(truncated)...
Customizing Ribbon Buttons for Excel 2007 Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-05-22):
Building a dashboard with Excel 2007? Don’t forget to make use of the Excel 2007 ribbon. You can add your own custom tabs and buttons to the Excel ribbon using XML or RibbonX code. Thanks to Mike Alexander, author of Excel 2007 Dashboards & Reports For Dummies, there is a freeware Custom Button Builder for [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Customizing Ribbon Buttons for Excel 2007 Dashboards", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/22/excel-custom...(truncated)... });
First Spreadsheet Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-05-21):
In the past, we’ve noted that the first computer-based business dashboard was generated by a computer named LEO. It printed out a dashboard report showing payroll statistics for the Lyons Tea Shops in the 1940s. The computer was room-sized and contained over 3000 vacuum tubes. For the full story, see the book A Computer Called [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "First Spreadsheet Dashboard", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/21/first-spread...(truncated)... });
Dashboard or Scorecard
(Indexed 2008-05-14):
A couple of Dashboard Spy readers and I were going back and forth about some of the various terms used to describe these dashboardy things that we do. There are plenty of terms used interchangeably: Dashboard Reports, Executive Dashboards, Scorecards, Balanced Scorecards, Enterprise Dashboards, Digital Dashboards, Business Cockpits, Dashboard Widgets, Desktop Dashboards, Information Dashboard, Performance [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Dashboard or Scorecard", url: "http://www.enterprise-dash...(truncated)...
Management Transparency through Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-05-09):
Unless we’re careful, we dashboard designers may fall into the trap of becoming ivory tower theorists. Isolated from the nitty gritty of real life, we would be unable to tie our dashboards to the real wants and needs of our users. How so? Well, in designing a dashboard, we explore several fields that rely heavily [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Management Transparency through Dashboards", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/09/management-t...(truncated)... });
The Square Pie Chart
(Indexed 2008-05-06):
Do you have pie chart graphs on your business dashboard? Everyone loves the pie chart. Business users love to casually use (and abuse) it as it’s the first graph that comes to mind. And as for you data visualization experts out there among the Dashboard Spy readers, admit it - you just love to hate [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Square Pie Chart", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/06/the-square-pie-chart/" });
The Future of Excel Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-05-05):
In past Dashboard Spy posts, we’ve discussed the growing importance of Microsoft Excel as a serious business intelligence dashboard tool. Because of its ubiquity and role as lingua franca between business units in the enterprise, the recent expansion of Excel’s dashboard capabilities has an importance to us BI dashboarders for years to come. Of particular [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Future of Excel Dashboards", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/05/05/the-future...(truncated)...
Subway System Operational Management Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-05-02):
“Actual KPIs and metrics from real business cases! Real operations dashboards - That’s what we want examples of.” says a long-time reader of The Dashboard Spy who reminded me that I’ve gotten away from showing the nitty gritty details of business intelligence dashboards. She said that it’s all well and good that I’ve been pointing [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Subway System Operational Management Dashboard", url: "http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/2008/0...(truncated)...
Microsoft Silverlight for Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-04-28):
Continuing our examination of cutting-edge business dashboards using RIA (Rich Internet Application) technologies, we now look at the state of the art of Microsoft Silverlight dashboards. Never heard of a Silverlight dashboard? Well, it’s no wonder. By comparison, business intelligence dashboards using Flash, Flex, AJAX and other RIA approaches are commonplace. Working silverlight dashboards, however, [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Microsoft Silverlight for Dashboards", url: "http://www...(truncated)...
2008 Election Dashboard using Adobe Flex
(Indexed 2008-04-24):
We’ve highlighted some 2008 election dashboards in past posts on Dashboards By Example and have seen some pretty nifty work. Let’s continue that theme and look at an Adobe Flex dashboard coded by a long time Dashboard Spy reader and fellow BI blogger, Doug Marttila from forestandthetrees.com fame.As you may know, Flex 3, the latest [...]
The Uber Art of Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-04-11):
The “art of dashboards”? Sounds trite and a stretch, but let the Dashboard Spy explain. We’ve heard it said that art is the expression of ideas, right? That it is a form of communication between people. One in which the artist understands and uses to his or her advantage the sensibilities of the audience to [...]
The Unavoidable Dashboard - Driving KPI Adoption and Performance Management from the Desktop
(Indexed 2008-04-07):
Dashboard Spy readers know that I have one particular worry that always keeps me up during a business intelligence dashboard project. What if I built a dashboard and no one cared? I mean that literally. What if the only ones who ever visited the dashboard, or clicked on the data drilldowns, or looked at the [...]
World’s Easiest Dashboard?
(Indexed 2008-03-26):
Here at The Dashboard Spy, we’ve been keenly tracking the increasing adoption by business intelligence applications, dashboards, and database reporting tools of RIA (Rich Internet Application) technologies. The promise of RIA to provide enriched user interaction and the concurrent trend towards usability and user-centric design bodes well for intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces for business applications in [...]
When a Dashboard Goes Red
(Indexed 2008-03-13):
Dashboard Design Topic: Using Colors for Business Dashboard AlertsYou hear about a problem so you log on to your business dashboard looking for red alerts among your KPIs and metrics. Not an uncommon use case, right? Your dashboard should clearly alert you to the conditions most requiring attention. Well, let’s spend this post talking about [...]
Do-It-Yourself-Dashboards-Alive-and-Well
(Indexed 2008-03-10):
Dashboard Topic: Excel Dashboards - A Report from the Trenches.Every once in a while, I get a submission of a business dashboard from a Dashboard Spy reader that makes me stop and really think about what dashboarding really is. I’m not trying to get philosophical on you, but we all live in a day and [...]
Citywide Performance Reporting Dashboard for NYC
(Indexed 2008-03-09):
Dashboard Topic: Municipal Performance Management DashboardsA city as large as New York City certainly has a large task ahead of it when it comes to reporting performance. Of course, city officials can produce key performance metrics (KPIs), that’s not the problem. In fact, thousands of such metrics flood the city management offices every day. The [...]
Drag and Drop Dashboard Configuration
(Indexed 2008-03-08):
Business Intelligence Dashboards show a smorgashboard of metrics and KPIs. Business users can peruse a range of statistics and pick out areas that warrant attention. Sometimes the metrics span across various business areas (common among CEO Dashboards), but more commonly, users can configure their metrics. There may be a “configure reports” or similarly named button [...]
PerformancePoint Server Dashboards - BI or BS?
(Indexed 2008-03-07):
Dashboards at any price? We take as gospel the value of Business Intelligence. No one doubts the value of actionable intelligence or the guidance that a good decision support system brings. We let the fat cats up top dictate a direction and we hustle to implement a business intelligence system. We check the Gartner BI [...]
8 Steps Towards a CIO Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-03-06):
CIO Dashboards can wind up helping or hindering the management of an IT organization. On the whole however, a CIO Dashboard project is well worth doing if you do it right. That’s basically the summary of a great article from Information Week titled Hunting the Elusive CIO Dashboard. The article stresses the importance of selecting [...]
Sparkline Generator for your Dashboard Graphs
(Indexed 2008-03-05):
Sparklines and dashboards are perfect together because they both embrace the “more information in less space” approach. In the past, we’ve featured the use of sparklines on some very innovative business intelligence interfaces, including this award-winning dashboard. Thankfully, we are seeing more business intelligence reporting and charting products offer sparklines as a graphing option. For [...]
CapitalOne CardLab Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-03-04):
The Digital Dashboardas a design paradigm has now reached the public consciousness. The digital dashboard is ready for prime time. How do I know? I happened to come across a television commercial today that actually featured a digital dashboard! CapitalOne is running a series of spots to promote their CardLab service where you can create [...]
Google Sites Dashboards - Project Management Dashboard Example
(Indexed 2008-03-01):
Is Google planning to become a viable choice for business dashboards? Google has just made available a compelling, no cost, product of great interest to the business intelligence dashboard community. Google Sites is a “suite of products for improving communication and collaboration”. It’s basically a wiki-type of Web 2.0 application that has several page layouts [...]
Mobile BI Dashboards from Business Objects
(Indexed 2008-02-28):
Dashboards by Example recently focused on mobile business intelligence dashboards with the post on Cognos Mobile Dashboards. We looked at Cognos Report access via Window Mobile, RIM Blackberry and Symbian devices. Today we continue our examination of the state of the art in Mobile BI by looking at how Business Objects offers mobile access to [...]
2008 BI Magic Quadrant Diagram
(Indexed 2008-02-25):
The recently released 2008 Gartner BI Magic Quadrant analysis focuses on the consolidation that is underway in the BI reporting and dashboarding space. The diagram below seems straight-forward, but you must realize that with the speed of acquisitions in our space, it was already obsolete when released. The Gartner analysis missed the late breaking news [...]
Cognos Mobile Dashboards & Scorecards
(Indexed 2008-02-24):
The idea of “Business Intelligence On the Go” relies squarely on the business dashboard. The ability to convey big ideas in a small space makes the dashboard, specifically the small portlets or widgets contained in dashboards, the perfect vehicle to provide business metrics to people on the go. The problem has been the platforms that [...]
9 Rules for Using Color in Business Intelligence Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-02-21):
A truly effective business dashboard makes good use of color to display business intelligence in an easily understood manner. Color theory and the cognitive effects of color are subjects close to the hearts of visual artists, but seldom appreciated by BI practitioners. Many a time have a come across business dashboards, data charts and other [...]
Best Political Dashboard of 2008
(Indexed 2008-02-14):
An unofficial poll by The Dashboard Spy of this election’s crop of political dashboards shows that Yahoo’s entry, Election 08 Political Dashboard, is the run-away winner. Based on a flash interface, the UI uses typically slick effects such as mouseovers. A nice design incorporating tabs, panesand popups makes this dashboard intuitive to use. The real [...]
Klipfolio Enterprise Desktop Dashboards - Sales Dashboard Example
(Indexed 2008-02-12):
Lately we’ve been discussing the Principle of Placement, one of the rules underlying business intelligence dashboard design. Remember the post about the 3Rulesof Dashboarding in which we discussed the great article in CIOToday - The End Game for BusinessIntelligence. We’ve focused on various incarnations of getting at-a-glance dashboard information out of the browser and client [...]
Mashup Dashboards with Websphere Portal and Google Gadgets
(Indexed 2008-02-06):
Since we’ve been talking about the design ofBusiness Intelligence Dashboards and the influence of Web 2.0, I want to make sure to stress that Web 2.o is NOT about the shiny look of the big buttons. Web 2.0 is not about what the page looks like. Yes, we studied some examples of a common design [...]
Balanced Scorecard Meets Web 2.0
(Indexed 2008-02-04):
As mentioned in the Dashboard Spy post “Evolution of Dashboard Design Aesthetics“, there has been a trend of business intelligence dashboards and Balanced Scorecard Designsadopting the Web 2.0 look. Recently we’ve seen a lot of positive feedback on Web 2.0 inspired designs such as the Museum Dashboard. Web 2.0 design elements include the reflection of [...]
Optimizing BI Dashboard Data Tables
(Indexed 2008-01-30):
Business Intelligence Dashboards are often lavishly illustrated with bar graphs, pie charts and other graphics of metrics and KPIs. However, as you know, the plain old data table often makes an appearance on our dashboard interfaces.How do we make these data tables intuitive to read?Take a look at our post on the main Dashboard Spy [...]
Dashboard Desktop Business Widgets for the Salesforce
(Indexed 2008-01-29):
Enterprise Dashboard Topic: Where to place the executive dashboard - in the browser (rich internet application), in a fat client (.NET windows software) or on the PC desktop itself (Desktop Widget)?In a recent Dashboard Spy discussion, we looked at some BI Desktop Widgets from the dashboarding lab over at Business Objects. This is a very [...]
Excel 2007 Dashboards are NOT for Dummies
(Indexed 2008-01-28):
Dashboard Spy readers know how much I am convinced that Microsoft Excel 2007 will be leading a new wave of dashboards across the corporate world. The new version ofMS Excel is built from the ground up with tools for dashboarding. Remember this UI designer sketch I featured in a past post (How Microsoft Designed Excel [...]
175 Top Data Visualization Resources
(Indexed 2008-01-24):
Dashboard Spy readers are constantly sending me links to their favorite dashboarding, business intelligence and data visualization resources. I’ve been meaning to compile a Dashboard Spy Favorites List of these valuable sites, but have been holding off until I accumulate a large enough list. Imagine my delight when I came across the post 175+ Data [...]
Dashboard Implementation Process Improvement
(Indexed 2008-01-22):
Over at the main Dashboard Spy site, we featured a look at the topic of performance improvement in general and the role of performance dashboards in particular. Among other things, we looked at the following diagram from the process improvement and operational performance gurus over at mydials.com.In this dashboarding forum, I wanted to show how [...]
Lazy Man Guide to Dashboards
(Indexed 2008-01-17):
Dashboard Topic: A quick 2 page brief that effectively serves as a “lazy man’s guide” to dashboarding courtesy of the U.S. Navy IT Department.For a while now, I’ve noticed that The Dashboard Spy is avidly read by military IT staffers. Our log files show plenty of interest from .mil domains. Let’s hope it’s because our [...]
Oracle JD Edwards Plant Management Dashboard
(Indexed 2008-01-13):
Dashboard Topic: Operational Management Dashboards, Manufacturing Plant DashboardThanks goes to the Dashboard Spy Reader who sent me the link to the pdf from Oracle titled Plant Manager’s Dashboard. This really helps out another Dashboard Spy reader who was recently assigned to a manufacturing plant analytics project.The Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Plant Management Dashboard leverages data [...]
3 Rules of Dashboarding
(Indexed 2008-01-10):
In the past, The Dashboard Spy has reported on various “Rules of Dashboards”. As best practices evolve in this space, we see articles promoting the latest set of rules to follow. We are happy to track and collect them for you. Let’s take a look at the latest such advice.According to a recent article in [...]
Architecting FLEX Dashboards with Cairngorm Design Patterns
(Indexed 2008-01-10):
Here is a quick post for the Dashboard Spy reader who contacted me about the FLEX2 dashboard project they are working on. I look forward to displaying your dashboards in this forum. Here is the dashboard code example we spoke about using the Cairngorm microarchitecture.Cairngorm is an architecture or design pattern framework for RIA [...]
A Museum Dashboard
(Indexed 2007-12-07):
Why does The Dashboard Spy think this museum dashboard so important?Click on the dashboard screenshot to find out:As you see, this is a business intelligence dashboard in use at an art museum to track metrics such as visitor statistics and social media metrics. It’s a real “opening of the kimono” for the museum constituents. Talk [...]
Business Intelligence Dashboard Widgets
(Indexed 2007-11-27):
Newcomers to the Business Intelligence Dashboard space sometimes get caught up in the nomenclature of the topic. In fact, even regular practioners have trouble with the terms. What exactly makes something an enterprise dashboard, an executive dashboard, a business scorecard, a performance measurement summary, a BI application, or an enterprise reporting system? As you’ve [...]
Overwatch Dashboard for Situation Awareness
(Indexed 2007-11-15):
Dashboard Spy readers will have to forgive the obvious cliche when it comes to selecting spy agency dashboards to highlight on this forum. Several posts ago, we featured a very interesting situation awareness and security threat management system created by some former Isreali Air Force members that drew some interest in this dashboarding community. So, [...]
Dashboard Examples using Oracle Portal
(Indexed 2007-11-13):
“I have a hard time telling what a dashboard is these days. For example, what’s the difference between a portal and a dashboard? Even the terms are the same - “Portlet”, for example, is used in both paradigms to describe a little container of like subject matter.”This recent comment by a Dashboard Spy reader rings [...]
The 5 Billion Dollar Dashboard
(Indexed 2007-11-12):
How much would you pay for a dashboard?Dashboard Spy readers have heard me saying that Dashboards will become the ubiquitous face of Business Intelligence. Now, I’m more sure than ever.IBM announced today a $5 billion bid for Cognos, the enterprise reporting company, whose executive dashboards I’ve featured on this blog. Of course, Cognos is not [...]
Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Hard to Skin?
(Indexed 2007-11-10):
SharePoint Dashboard designers used to struggle quite a bit when using the earlier versions of Microsoft Sharepoint for their projects. While SharePoint offered collaboration and document management functionality quite easily, it was not a simple matter to customize the look and feel.It was hoped that the latest version SharePoint 2007 would be much easier to [...]
Sparklines in Business Scorecard Manager and PerformancePoint Server Dashboards
(Indexed 2007-11-09):
Dashboard designers, actually information visualization gurus in particular, love the use of sparklines, those little trendlines created by Edward Tufte. But popular dashboarding packages have not caught up with the designer demand for sparkline graphing and so when dashboard practitioners experiment with the integration of specialty products such as MicroCharts into major offerrings such as [...]
Situation Awareness and Incident Management Dashboards
(Indexed 2007-11-08):
Dashboard Spy readers are everywhere - even within groups of ex-military. Thanks for these exciting dashboard screenshots from Isreal!Dashboards add a lot of value to Situation Awareness and Incident Management systems. We are now seeing them appear more and more. Traditionally, security incident type systems are based on video only, but now the latest technologies [...]
Red Green Yellow Indicator Icons Used at Google
(Indexed 2007-11-07):
A Dashboard Spy reader liberated these little red/green/yellow color icons. He says that they are used by Google for various state indicators. Just thought I’d pass them along.And this is an animated gif with the balls moving around in a “please wait” type of holding pattern.Tags: Dashboard Icons, Red/Green/Yellow Indicators
The Dashboard Spy Theme Song
(Indexed 2007-11-07):
Dashboard Spy readers know that I’m always trying to push the envelope when it comes to publishing dashboard examples and business intelligence commentary and news. By posting on the web his massive collection of business dashboards and KPIs, the Dashboard Spy has opened the door for BI interface designers and developers to see what each [...]