So, what are the keys to building dashboards that’s useful? Developing a performance dashboard is not as difficult as one might think as long as you follow some simple guidelines.
1. Don’t just track measures that you care about; collect data that influences (directly and indirectly) your business case.
2. Provide a frame of reference. Use charts and other illustrations to compare measures to a benchmark or standard.
3. Make it visually compelling. Remember other stakeholders will want to access and use the tool. Incorporate bright colors and symmetrical shapes in the dashboard design. The goal is to ease the interpretation of complex data even for the first time user.
4. Tell a story. Create comparison that pinpoint trends and identify performance improvement opportunities.
How can you make the data more actionable? Consider the establishment of “sector managers”. These managers on your team hold clear responsibility for any one metric or a cluster of measures. This will ensure action by creating performance accountability. While it’s not practical to suggest that each manager owns the outcome for any measure, it is worthwhile to charge them with tracking trends and issues and make each responsible for identifying isolated events that may impact the larger business case.
Pretty colours tell you nothing about how your business is doing.
For measures to be useful they must relate to purpose and what matters to your customers.
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Posted by: Howard | April 09, 2009 at 07:51 AM