Drive your business with dashboards

(1)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

Drive your business with dashboards

The Director’s information guide from panintelligence

A picture paints a thousand words

‘Dashboards’ are certainly creating a buzz right now. But what exactly are they – and more importantly, what can they bring to your business? In fact, most of us are familiar with dashboards already. Apple Macs for example are packed with ‘widgets’ – a type of dashboard. If you’ve ever used Excel to ‘chart’ your data – well that’s a dashboard too. In fact, any software application that consolidates information held from multiple sources, and presents it in one place, pretty much qualifies a dashboard.

But, what we’re talking about here is a management information system (MIS) that draws data from across your business (typically held within a fully integrated finance system but potentially being drawn from multiple data sources across the business) and translates it into visual formats such as charts, graphs, gauges and speedo dials. This makes information quick and easy to understand – like the dash in a car.

A brief history

Dashboards have been growing in popularity at a phenomenal rate over the last decade with solutions ranging from large (and complex) business intelligence systems to simple software add-ins. Most dashboards started life in the 70s as in-house applications and thanks to the boom of web technology, have evolved into the sophisticated management information systems they are today.

Interactive software

The focus of this guide is to tell you more about the benefits of these broad-based dashboard applications. This type of software needs to be capable of providing a truly interactive picture of your changing business activity so that you can spot trends, and measure how your company is performing against predetermined goals (or key performance indicators - KPIs).

Who are dashboards for?

Everyone! It’s easy to see dashboards as an executive toy but their use goes far beyond impressing the board with pretty pictures (although they are good for that, too). For FDs, they are the perfect day-to-day complement to the monthly routine of board pack reporting and the collation of business-critical data. For staff, it enables team members to see how they fit into their organisational structure and to monitor their own personal development against specified targets. For decision-makers (such as line managers)

dashboards provide fast access to needed facts and information that, due to a lack of knowledge or quite simply a lack of time, might otherwise wait in ITs queue of things to do.

What should I look for?

(2)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Accessibility

This is about making information as easy to get hold of as possible. Bear in mind that a good percentage of your likely audience are unlikely to be tied to the same desk every day. Instead, they will attend many offsite meetings, are rarely seen without their laptop or smartphone and have a strong tendency to work after hours. Choosing a web-based solution will give these people the flexibility they need to view information when they need it, 24/7. This technology also ensures fast, user-friendly access for everyone else, too.

Scope

Secondly, consider your scope. For dashboards to be really useful, they need to represent the widest possible picture of your business. While it’s tempting to focus solely on (for example) sales figures, doing so will limit the dashboard’s potential. Ultimately, an efficient business has a finance system integrated to all other relevant areas of the organisation. This creates a ‘single view of the truth’ and a dashboard should be no different. An MD for example, would then be able to view all areas of his/her business within a single tabbed screen, with one-click access to all relevant KPIs and drill down to more detailed information. You can literally chart any area of your organisation that generates data – a good vendor will work closely with you to identify which are the most critical. Here are just a few examples to get you started:

 HR (daily absence report, appraisals complete/pending, recruitment spend by department)

 Customer service (call status, fault fixing, outstanding calls by product)

 Sales (orders received, top ten customers, active sites, customers on stop)

 Finance (core revenue reports e.g. revenue vs. budget, turnover by office, debtor pile by age, cash and

bank balances) projections and forecasts with actual versus budgets and re-forecasts.

 Marketing (lead generation by month, enquiries per day, meetings booked, budget spend)

 Project management (milestone vs. project hours)

To summarise: when choosing dashboard software, it’s important to focus on the business as a whole. Choosing a web-based solution will maximise its use to the broadest range of people and ensuring that you can pull data from multiple databases will give you the broadest picture of all your operational activity.You should be getting a good idea of the business benefits by now. But before we give you our top seven, let’s take a quick look at how dashboards work – and what this means for traditional reporting.

Top down vs. bottom up

In this section, we focus on how dashboards work – more specifically, how they manage the flow of information around your business and the advantages over traditional reporting methods.

(3)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

In a top-down approach - as utilised by dashboards - the flow of data can follow ‘organisational chains of responsibility’. This means that managers at all levels within the organisation can access the very bottom rung of data on a ‘self-service’ basis. Using drill paths, you can explore where that attention should be directed. This leads to a much faster, more responsible approach to reporting and enables people at every level to action any issues pertinent to them. In addition, KPI dashboard software is designed to achieve a number of goals in one place, which standard reports alone cannot do. For example, you have the ability to:

 View reports via charts and tables

 Narrow your reporting scope (via drill-down)

 Narrow the view of data to specific intervals using ‘time sliders’

 See ‘new’ views of data which cannot be seen anywhere except via the integration achieved with a

dashboard.

In conclusion - while it’s hard to imagine a time when traditional reports don’t have a place, it’s clear that dashboards have a powerful role to play in enhancing the reporting experience. You can see some of the advantages of dashboards in the table below.

Advantages of dashboard vs. standard reports

Standard reports Dashboard reports

Scope Draws from standard

database

Can draw from any number of databases including flat files

Accessibility Via desktop (dependent on

your software)

Via web, anywhere, any browser

Drill down No drill down; new criteria

needs new report

Ability to narrow reporting scope dynamically without leaving the screen. No logical limit to the depth applied and different chart styles available for each of the levels, including tables and forms

Scalability Viewing potentially limited

to individual user licences

Viewing by a wider audience including publishing direct to the internet or an intranet

Look & feel Traditional top-down

reports; rows and columns

Graphical presentation e.g. interactive charts and graphs but with option to drill down to tables and forms

Flexibility Ability for user to re-define

reporting criteria based on reporting tool used; on most occasions, new reports will need to be written each time

(4)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Charts & KPI indicators

The visual aspect of dashboards is what makes them so different to other types of reporting. In this section, we give you a good idea of some of the types of charts/KPI indicators you can expect to see and what purposes they serve.

The glance panel

The glance panel enables quick review of trends and current facts by providing you with a stock market style view of your key performance indicators. In this example we can see:-

 The description of the KPI

 The trend – a tick shows whether the value has increased or decreased over this period; the colour

indicates whether the direction of movement is desirable

 The ‘value’ of the movement since the KPI was last measured

 Actuals – shows the KPIs value when it was last sampled, with a colour to show the target colour

The speedometer dial

(5)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Bar chart

Use these for displaying data relating to categories, such as regions, departments, products etc. Bar charts are also useful to compare the values of one or more measures and should enable you to include a legend if you need to compare the measure against two dimensions.

Stacked bar chart

Use when you need to display multiple instances of a whole in its parts, while maintaining the overall focus.

Horizontal bar chart

(6)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Combined chart

This popular chart format enables you to combine monthly values with a trend line, invaluable when observing how a value is changing over time.

Pie & doughnut charts

An old favourite, pie charts are good at expressing a value’s representation as a part of a whole. Doughnuts work in exactly the same way.

(7)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Waterfall chart

Useful for displaying ‘the journey’ of data from one point in time to another.

Funnel chart

The classic view for a sales pipeline.

Cylinder chart

(8)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Drill paths

We already know that a ‘top-down’ approach gives us far more flexibility than a traditional report – but how much exactly? Take a simple bar chart with four blocks. By drilling-down just three times, you will be

presented with charts displaying no less than 16 sets of different data. Drilling four times gives you access to 64 outcomes. In real life, this means you can quickly go from top-level views to the granular detail in an instant.

Take your sales pipeline as a real-life example of how this works. One chart could show all sales activity broken down into your relevant categories such as costs submitted, preferred supplier, right down to verbal order and order placed. You could then drill into any of these areas, finding out whether the interest is from an existing customer or a prospect, what product they are interested in, who the sales person is; right down to detail about the customer/prospects’ name and order value.

Drill paths are a powerful dashboard feature, making it very easy for you to demystify complex data very quickly. When choosing dashboard software, ensure that you can drill through all chart blocks and data points. You should also make sure that the drill path is easy to create.

Data tables

Having drilled into the charts, you should be able to view detailed information in tables that are easy to read. You should also have the flexibility to view data tables at any point from the top down and you should also be able to drill down from data in a table to further charts in graphical format. Check that you can easily export this information into Microsoft Excel for further manipulation for example in pivot tables.

Top seven purchase factors

We’ve looked over the history, technology, advantages and key functionality available in today’s dashboard solutions. Now, here are our top seven business benefits.

1. View key data 24:7

If you work from home, are always in meetings or on the move, then dashboards could be the answer to your prayers. Choose a multiplatform web-based solution compatible across all browsers and you’ll be able to view meaningful data anytime, anywhere in the world.

2. Get a complete view

(9)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

3. Make better informed decisions using real-time information

Dashboards condense huge amounts of complex information into intuitive formats, making it easy to grasp complex relationships that might otherwise remain buried. And because the information is real time (when you view a chart you are viewing the data as it exists precisely at the time you selected that chart), you have a live picture at your fingertips – essential for good decision-making.

4. Review and improve performance

Good dashboard software lets you track KPIs over time using an in-built scheduler. You specify when and how you want to track any measure and what comparisons you wish to draw to determine trends, and the system will show you, at-a-glance, whether performance is improving/declining, and how quickly this is changing.

5. Reduce burden on IT

With your personalised set of dashboard reports, you could have the information you’re looking for in the time it takes to email your request to your IT department. This saves waiting, reduces internal pile-ups and increases efficiency – not to mention your reputation as a doer!

6. Motivate your staff

Dashboard software provides a framework for team working, enabling your staff to see how they play a part in achieving business goals. For example, teams can be allocated specific KPIs (sales of a specific product, marketing leads) and theirprogress monitored via a ‘KPI tree’. Nodes within the tree are fully configurable to your chosen structure, representing for example, employees, teams and departments.

7. Support key stakeholders

It’s easy to share critical data with colleagues, stakeholders and customers. Dashboard charts can be opened up to intranets, extranets and public web sites to allow anyone to view the chart without needing to log in. This provides you with an ideal way to engage with a wider audience, for example, a dashboard chart showing a rolling total of outstanding calls could be used to back-up your customer service pledge. Charities, for example, might choose to let stakeholders track income by source from affiliates around the

(10)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Functionality checklist

Convinced? We’ve put together some of the key functions to look for when selecting a dashboard solution below.

Key functions

Area Functionality

Collaboration Ability for user to send message to another dashboard

user when interesting data is observed. Easily send charts and KPIs directly from the dashboard to other users.

KPIs Stock market and speedometer style views.

Auto-refresh to your specified schedule.

‘Spark-line’ to observe KPI value over time. Organisational chart with drill-down to show performance atl all levels of your business

Charts Chart library clearly showing which charts the user has

access to.

Ability to see the numbers behind any chart. 360 degree drill-through to underlying detail. Export to Excel.

Availability of multiple chart formats (bar, line, pie etc.). Link to external reports

Security Integrated within the dashboard. Ability to set logons with

different access permissions at different levels within your organisation to allow everything from creation and design to ‘view only’.

Connectivity Easy connections to flat files and multiple databases.

Technical Platforms and browser agnostic. E.g. MAC/PC/Linux and

any browser on each of these platforms. Viewable by compatible mobile devices e.g. smartphones, iPad, netbooks and tablets.

Configuration Ability for users to define their own data views.

And finally...

(11)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

Golden rules for good dashboarding

 Keep it simple! Identify the KPIs you consider most critical and concentrate on those initially.

 Make it pertinent – sounds obvious but you can chart almost anything so give this careful thought.

 Listen to what people want – keeping it simple means refining and re-refining information until you’ve

got the essence of what it is people need. Ask line managers what areas of reporting they find most difficult. Is it a contender for a new chart?

 Be prepared to involve the techies – getting meaningful ‘now’ data can mean calling on the skills of your

MIS department. They’ve got the access to databases and networking/data aggregation skills that you need, so ensure you build their time into your project plan.

 Make it accurate – if your viewers ever find an error in their dashboard charts, then this may lead to a

lack of confidence in your data – which means you may as well confine your efforts to the bin.

 Make it timely – your viewers need to know the information they’re viewing is correct as of ‘now’ – a

system that operates in real-time is a must.

 Make time for your new users – because it’s so much easier to ask for a piece of information than

getting it yourself, encouraging people to look at dashboards can be an uphill struggle. However,

providing clear instructions will help win over your staff. We suggest that you start by taking screenshots of your new dashboards and email everyone who has access to them. Announce the availability; tell them how to get to it and include in your email a screenshot of what they’ll find when they get there.

 Be persistent – however easy a dashboard is to find, it can still be difficult to get people to use them

regularly. Ask for feedback on the charts, and if you don’t get any, follow them up and ask what they thought. You almost need to embarrass them into looking! Once they get into the habit, we pretty much guarantee they’ll be hooked.

 Check, check and check again – don’t be tempted to rush out with your shiny new charts. If you need to

build some more data over time to make the chart more relevant before publishing, then do so.

Want to see it in action?

Call panintelligence on Tel: +44 (0)113 251 3455 to arrange a demonstration.

Who we are

panintelligence is a trading style of pancredit systems ltd. Founded in 1988, pancredit is a UK based software company that specialises in the development and marketing of software products and related services to lenders and their intermediaries. pancredit was the first company to launch an integrated lending solution based on a relational database (1990), was an early adopter of XML (1999), has had a fully web service enabled product set since 2005 and has several years of experience of Rich Internet Application development.

(12)

Refreshingly Simple Business Intelligence

+44 (0)113 251 3455

www.panintelligence.com

The Dashboard was originally developed as a new module for pancredit’s core loan administration software, although it quickly became apparent that the benefits of the technology could be adopted and applied across any application. The level of interest and uptake from outside of pancredit’s traditional markets has given rise to the need for its own identity and website, hence panintelligence was born.

The panintelligence team operates as a separate business intelligence arm within pancredit, although they benefit from pancredit’s infrastructure and the financial backing of Shackleton Ventures who specialise in technology markets.

Further information

We hope that you’ve found this paper of interest. For more information about panintelligence dashboard software visit www.panintelligence.com