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Taking an Information Design Approach to Enterprise Dashboards
While rooting through my collection of thousands of screenshots of enterprise dashboards, I came across a printout of an excellent article on designing executive dashboards that I hadn’t read since 2003. I forgot how excellent it was. It took an information architecture approach that I thought really spot on.
As the author states:
The application of information design - Information Design teaches us that, in order to have the greatest impact and benefit, information must be relevant, clear and memorable. This provides an excellent framework for approaching the design problem of an executive dashboard.
He goes on to explore each area. I won’t repeat the information here. I’ll let you read it for yourself. I found a pdf on the web of the article itself - Executive Dashboards: An Information Design Approach.
Of value is also the exploration of the needs and wants of the executive using the dashboard:
In order to design a successful executive dashboard, we need to see the world through the eyes of an executive at a major corporation. Their job is a complicated one. Consider that they:
- Ultimately preside over many hundreds or thousands of employees and various business units and processes
- Regularly track key performance indicators and make major decisions that have varying degrees of impact on people in particular and the world in general
- Almost by definition are not able to have deep, intimate, granular knowledge of all vital data and information within their sphere of influence
- Must make decisions based on a cross-analysis of data and information that the people reporting to them may not be required or able to do themselves
- Are required to move quickly and decisively, setting strong leadership - particularly important in today’s fast-moving digital world
The role of the executive dashboard is to proactively anticipate and make easily available the data and information most important to the executive’s thought process and decision making in order to create broad efficiency and improve the quality of the decisions being made.
An excellent resource that withstands the test of the last few years. All enterprise dashboarders should go read it now.
Tags: Enteprise Dashboards, Information Architecture and Enterprise Dashboards, Enterprise Dashboard Article, Executive Dashboard Design
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