DSS – Web Analytics: Essay on Executive dashboards
Executive dashboards are rapidly becoming the new trend in the corporate society with every elite organization rushing to get their hands on this essential tool. An executive dashboard is defined as a visual representation that provides executives with fast and simplified ways to monitor their companies’ performances in actual-time. An excellent dashboard pulls information from the entire enterprise and develops reports and metrics that are easily accessible at a glance. As such, and effective executive dashboard program is designed to capture the mindset of a viewer within microseconds and spam decision makers’ minds with data for sustainable competitive advantages. My intent for writing this essay is to illustrate how to build an effective executive dashboard program with a high-end focus on the Trinity mindset.
An active executive dashboard balances a few critical aspects and qualities. These aspects include; ensuring that the program supports decision-making processes and enables users to access, sift, and analyze huge chunks of data (Kaushik, 2010). As such, this ensures that users compile information that can be useful in solving critical issues due to enhanced decisions. According to Bremser and Wagner (2013), the developer should focus on the primary objectives of the organization to ensure that only relevant information is displayed. As such, the developer should consider why the dashboard is needed to enable him or her to customize a useful program that will meet the demands of the respective organization. Besides, the dash must contain enhanced visual techniques for quicker engagements with the guests. For instance, the optical techniques might include the utilization of buttons, dials, graphs and charts, attractive colors, and strategic positioning of data on the screen to capture the guests’ attention.
There are steps to follow when establishing an effective program. As such, it is essential to understand the targeted group before embarking on the building and designing phase to ensure a useful and actionable executive dashboard (Ledford, Teixeira & Tyler, 2009). First, a pane should contain data that are specific to the selected audiences to avoid mixing of information. It is important to know whether the dashboard will be used by both the executive and the marketing teams. According to Smith (2015), the pane must have the ability to monitor the business’ financials and daily activities. Secondly, the dashboard must be strategic in the sense that it provides the typical KPIs (key performance indicators) that the given organization tracks consecutively. Thus, a good program is expected to give the executive team a high-end overview of the stability, opportunities, and risks that face the organization. Third, the data must be relevant to the targeted audience and should be grouped logically. The dashboard must be filled with only the most critical metrics to prevent deflections of focus from the intended information. Most importantly, the data provided in the panel must be refreshed regularly to ensure real-time data to the intended audience.
The Trinity mindset is based on psychological functions of the human brain; how we perceive things and our reactions towards those items. According to Kaushik (2010), the goal of the Trinity mindset is to activate the lineage of actionable insights and metrics. As such, the ideas and parameters function as the primary objectives merely because they enhance strategic differentiation. Besides, insights and metrics are catalysts to efficient decision-making processes that ensure an executive dashboard meets the ambitions that it was designed through sustainable competitive advantage. The pillars of Trinity include sustainable methods and critical individual skills; these ascertain the establishments of right organization structures and enhance organizational cultures. Thus, employing the theory of the Trinity mindset is significant in strengthening the desired outcomes of a particular dashboard. Conclusively, one can develop a useful executive dashboard by adhering to the points raised in this paper.
References
Bremser, W. G., & Wagner, W. P. (2013). Developing dashboards for performance management. The CPA Journal, 83(7), 62.
Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability and science of customer centricity. John Wiley & Sons., ISBN: 978-0-470-52939-3.
Ledford, J., Teixeira, J., & Tyler, M. (2009). Google Analytics (3rd ed., pp. 1 – 488). New Jersey: Wiley., ISBN: 978-0-470-53128-0.
Smith, N. (2015). Designing and Building Great Dashboards – 6 Golden Rules to Successful Dashboard Design. Live TV Dashboards For Businesses.