In computer information systems, a dashboard is a type of graphical user interface which often provides at-a-glance views of data relevant to a particular objective or process through a combination of visualizations and summary information. In other usage, "dashboard" is another name for "progress report" or "report" and is considered a form of data visualization.
The dashboard is often accessible by a web browser and is typically linked to regularly updating data sources. Dashboards are often interactive and facilitate users to explore the data themselves, usually by clicking into elements to view more detailed information.
The term dashboard originates from the automobile dashboard where drivers monitor the major functions at a glance via the instrument panel.
History The idea of digital dashboards followed the study of decision support systems in the 1970s. Early predecessors of the modern business dashboard were first developed in the 1980s in the form of Executive Information Systems (EISs). Due to problems primarily with data refreshing and handling, it was soon realized that the approach wasn't practical as information was often incomplete, unreliable, and spread across too many disparate sources. Thus, EISs hibernated until the 1990s when the information age quickened pace and data warehousing, and online analytical processing (OLAP) allowed dashboards to function adequately. Despite the availability of enabling technologies, the dashboard use didn't become popular until later in that decade, with the rise of key performance indicators (KPIs), and the introduction of Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton's balanced scorecard. In the late 1990s, Microsoft promoted a concept known as the Digital Nervous System and "digital dashboards" were described as being one leg of that concept. Today, the use of dashboards forms an important part of Business Performance Management (BPM). Initially dashboards were used for monitoring purposes, now with the advancement of technology, dashboards are being used for more analytical purposes. The use of dashboards has now been incorporating; scenario analysis, drill down capabilities, and presentation format flexibility.
Benefits Digital dashboards allow managers to monitor the contribution of the various departments in their organization. In addition, they enable “rolling up” of information to present a consolidated view across an organization. To gauge exactly how well an organization is performing overall, digital dashboards allow you to capture and report specific data points from each department within the organization, thus providing a "snapshot" of performance.
Benefits of using digital dashboards include: Visual presentation of performance measures Ability to identify and correct negative trends Measure efficiencies/inefficiencies Ability to generate detailed reports showing new trends Ability to make more informed decisions based on collected business intelligence
Dashboards offers a holistic view of the entire business as it gives the manager a bird's eye view into the performance of sales, data inventory, web traffic, social media analytics and other associated data that is visually presented on a single dashboard. Dashboards lead to better management of marketing/financial strategies as a dashboard for the display of marketing data makes the process of marketing easier and more reliable as compared to doing it manually. Web analytics play a crucial role in shaping the marketing strategy of many businesses. Dashboards also facilitate for better tracking of sales and financial reporting as the data is more precise and in one area. Lastly, dashboards offer for better customer service through monitoring because they keep both the managers and the clients updated on the project progress through automated emails and notifications.
Align strategies and organizational goals Gain total visibility of all systems instantly Quick identification of data outliers and correlations Consolidated reporting into one location Available on mobile devices to quickly access metrics
Classification Dashboards can be broken down according to role and are either strategic, analytical, operational, or informational.Stephen Few, Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data (O'Reilly, 2006) Dashboards are the 3rd step on the information ladder, demonstrating the conversion of data to increasingly valuable insights.
Strategic dashboards support managers at any level in an organization and provide the quick overview that decision-makers need to monitor the health and opportunities of the business. Dashboards of this type focus on high-level measures of performance and forecasts. Strategic dashboards benefit from static snapshots of data (daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly) that are not constantly changing from one moment to the next.
Dashboards for analytical purposes often include more context, comparisons, and history, along with subtler performance evaluators. In addition, analytical dashboards typically support interactions with the data, such as drilling down into the underlying details. Dashboards for monitoring operations are often designed differently from those that support strategic decision making or data analysis and often require monitoring of activities and events that are constantly changing and might require attention and response at a moment's notice.
Types of dashboards
Digital dashboards may be laid out to track the flows inherent in the business processes that they monitor. Graphically, users may see the high-level processes and then drill down into low-level data. This level of detail is often buried deep within the corporate enterprise and otherwise unavailable to the senior executives.
Three main types of digital dashboards dominate the market today: desktop software applications, web-browser-based applications, and desktop applications are also known as desktop widgets. The last are driven by a widget engine.
Both Desktop and Browser-based providers enable the distribution of dashboards via a web browser. An example of the latter is web-based-browser Asana, which helps teams orchestrate their work, from daily tasks to strategic cross-functional initiatives. With it, teams can manage everything from company objectives to digital transformation to product launches and marketing campaigns.
Specialized dashboards may track all corporate functions. Examples include human resources, recruiting, sales, operations, security, information technology, project management, customer relationship management, digital marketing and many more departmental dashboards. For a smaller organization like a startup a compact startup scorecard dashboard tracks important activities across lot of domains ranging from social media to sales.
Digital dashboard projects involve business units as the driver and the information technology department as the enabler. Therefore, the success of dashboard projects depends on the relevancy/importance of information provided within the dashboard. This includes the metrics chosen to monitor and the timeliness of the data forming those metrics; data must be up to date and accurate.
Key performance indicators, balanced scorecards, and sales performance figures are some of the content appropriate on business dashboards.
Performance Dashboards Dashboards involve the combination of visual and functional features. This combination of features helps improve cognition and interpretation. A performance dashboard sits at the intersection of two powerful disciplines: business intelligence and performance management. Therefore, there are different users who could use these dashboards for different reasons. For example, a level of workers could look at monitoring inventory while those in more managerial roles can look at lagging measure. Then executives could utilize the dashboard to evaluate strategic performance against objectives.
Dashboards and scorecards Balanced scorecards and dashboards have been linked together as if they were interchangeable. However, although both visually display critical information, the difference is in the format: Scorecards can open the quality of an operation while dashboards provide calculated direction. A balanced scorecard has what they called a "prescriptive" format. It should always contain these components: Perspectives – group Objectives – verb-noun phrases pulled from a strategy plan Measures – also called metric or key performance indicators (KPIs) Spotlight indicators – red, yellow, or green symbols that provide an at-a-glance view of a measure's performance. Each of these sections ensures that a Balanced Scorecard is essentially connected to the businesses critical strategic needs.
The design of a dashboard is more loosely defined. Dashboards are usually a series of graphics, charts, gauges and other visual indicators that can be monitored and interpreted. Even when there is a strategic link, on a dashboard, it may not be noticed as such since objectives are not normally present on dashboards. However, dashboards can be customized to link their graphs and charts to strategic objectives.ZSL Inc., Dashboards Vs Scorecards – An Insight ZSL Inc. (2006)
Design
Digital dashboard technology is available "out-of-the-box" from many software providers. Some companies, however, continue to do in-house development and maintenance of dashboard applications. For example, GE Aviation has developed a proprietary software/portal called "Digital Cockpit" to monitor the trends in the aircraft spare parts business.
Good dashboard design practices take into account and address the following:
the medium it is designed for (desktop, laptop, mobile, tablet) use of visuals over the tabular presentation of data bar charts: to visualize one or more series of data line charts: to track changes in several dependent data sets over a period of time sparklines: to show the trend in a single data set scorecards: to monitor KPIs and trends use of legends anytime more than one color or shape is present on a graph spatial arrangement: place your most important view on the top left (if the language is written left to right) then arrange the following views in a Z pattern with the most important information following the top-to-bottom, left-to-right pattern use colorblind friendly palettes with color used consistently and only where necessary
A good information design will clearly communicate key information to users and makes supporting information easily accessible.Stacey Barr, 7 Small Business Dashboard Design Dos and Don'ts (Barr, 2010)
Assessing the quality of dashboards There are a few key elements to a good dashboard:.Victoria Hetherington, Dashboard Demystified: What is a Dashboard? (Hetherington, 2009) Simple, communicates easily Minimum distractions...it could cause confusion Supports organized business with meaning and useful data Applies human visual perception to visual presentation of information It can be accessed easily by its intended audience A research-based framework for Business Intelligence dashboard design suggests that "cross-visual interactivity" is the most impactful of all features.
Dashboard software
Dashboards serve as a visual representation for a company to monitor progress and trends, not only among themselves but against other companies as well. Dashboards and visualizations contain data that is updated in real time. For example, if the underlying data in an Excel spreadsheet were to change, so would the visualization.
Power BI