The document discusses dashboarding and provides guidance on creating effective dashboards. It notes that dashboards can organize important information for easy interpretation, make decisions easier, and increase client confidence. Common problems with dashboards include including too much data, poor visual displays, and poor or confusing math. The document recommends that dashboards focus on visual design, include the right data on a single page with the most important information, and carefully select metrics. It also provides tips on choosing appropriate data visualizations like bar graphs, line graphs, and bullet graphs and maintaining dashboards through continuous improvement.

1. Dashboarding
Chris Sietsema
March 1, 2010

2. What We Will Discuss
• Visual Design
• Technology
• Maintaining & Delivering Value

3. Why Use Dashboards?
• Organize Important Information
…for speedy interpretation
• Make Decisions Easier
• Maintain / Increase Client Confidence

4. A Common Issue
• Are you satisfied with your current
approach to measurement?
ISITE Design
2010 Web Strategy Report
Survey of 268 Organizations

5. Not More Data.
Rather, The Right Data.

6. Three Elements
1. Visual Display

7. Three Elements
2. Single Page / Screen

8. Three Elements
3. Most Important Info

9. Dashboards Can Also Be…
• Bi-Directional
• Alert Generating
• Always On & Online

10. Common Problems

11. Too Much

12. Poor DisplayPoor Display

13. Poor or Confusing Math

14. The Human Brain

15. Short Term Memory
• One Screen, No Scrolling
7 ± 2

16. Visual Encoding
FINISHED FILES ARE
THE RESULT OF YEARS
OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

17. Visual Encoding
HOW MANY
F’S

18. Visual Encoding
FINISHED FILES ARE
THE RESULT OF YEARS
OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

19. Visual Encoding

20. Careful Balance
Pretty
INFORMATIV
E

21. The Dashboard is a Utility,
Not a Piece of Art.

22. Placement & Orientation
1 .1 .
2 ^2 ^
22
33
11

23. Creating Your Dashboard

24. What’s the Goal?
• Corporate
– What is the business objective?
– “We Need to Accomplish X”
• Personal
– How is your primary contact measured?
– “If we do Y, I get a bonus!”

25. Beware of HiPPOsBeware of HiPPOs
“Highest Paid Person’s Opinion”
Avinash Kaushik – Occam’s Razor

26. Select Metrics Carefully
Transactions
Traffic
Bounce Rate
Clickthrough Rate
Sentiment
Revenue per Recipient
AOV
Sales Revenue
Cost Per Lead
Market Share
Top 10 Products
Most Productive Keywords

27. Focus on The
Finish Line

28. Assign the Appropriate Display

29. Bar Graphs
• Multiple measure comparison
• Allows for clear visual comparison of data
• Nominal, Ordinal & Interval comparisons

30. Bar Graphs
• Stacked bars allow for contrast between parts of
a whole
• Requires less real estate than pie charts
• Example above is an ordinal comparison

31. Line Graphs
• Show historical data
• Greater detail than bar graph for timelines
• Displays movement of data

32. Bullet Graphs
• Actual vs. Target
Measurements
• Key measures can be
compared
• Saves space while
conveying the point
• Many prefer to
gauges
• http://bit.ly/bulletgraph

33. Scatter Plots
• Defines correlations between data sets
• Helps answer the question, “is there a
relationship between these values?”

34. Choose Your ToolChoose Your Tool

35. Tools
• Google Analytics Custom Reports

36. Tools
• Off the Shelf Tools

37. Tools
• Off the Shelf Tools

38. Tools
You don’t have to be a

39. Tools
• Google Charts (requires developer)

40. Final Steps
1. Create
2. Maintain
3. Get Feedback
4. Continuously Improve

41. Questions?
• Chris Sietsema
• @sietsema
• linkedin.com/in/sietsema
• 480.389.5435

42. Slide-ography
• 6 | Owl - EraPhernalia Vintage on flickr Creative Commons
• 5 | Television – dailyinvention on flickr Creative Commons
• 8 | Important Bench – Valerie Everett on flickr Creative Commons
• 10 | Sample Dashboard from Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few
• 11 | Pm5d mixing board from Yamaha Audio
• 12 | Crayon Drawing – mpclemens on flickr Creative Commons
• 13 | Sequent calculus for classical linear logic on Wikimedia Commons
• 14 | Brain – perpetualplum on flickr Creative Commons
• 20 | Scale of Justice on Wikimedia Commons
• 23 | VW Dashboard – jepoirrier on flickr Creative Commons
• 25 | Hippo – Giles Douglas on flickr Creative Commons
• 27 | Checkered Flag – tharrin on flickr Creative Commons
• 34 | Tools – denise carbonell on flickr Creative Commons
• 36 | Olympic Dashboard – iDashboards
• 37 | Product Tour Dashboards – Tableau Software
• 40 | Sample Dashboard from GilliganOnData.com