{"id":2326,"date":"2016-11-08T10:07:05","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-intelligence\/?p=2326"},"modified":"2016-11-08T10:07:05","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:07:05","slug":"the-one-size-fits-all-business-dashboard-fits-nobody-how-to-avoid-this-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-intelligence\/the-one-size-fits-all-business-dashboard-fits-nobody-how-to-avoid-this-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"The One-Size-Fits-All Business Dashboard Fits Nobody: How to Avoid this Mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

By Mychelle Mollot, CMO Klipfolio<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The use of business dashboards for companies who want greater visibility and to monitor the health of their organizations is growing more popular and necessary today. But how should dashboards be used in order to really support a company\u2019s growth and success?<\/p>\n

Before a company can get the most out of a business dashboard, it must be designed according to the company\u2019s goals and objectives. One of the most common mistakes that companies make is trying to build a one-size-fits-all dashboard which ends up being a one-size-fits-nobody. This approach tends to be a result of teams beginning their dashboard projects by asking data-centric questions like:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What data is available?<\/li>\n
  2. What data is important enough to put in the dashboard?<\/li>\n
  3. What are the best ways to visualize each type of data?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This line of thinking typically yields a dashboard that\u2019s designed around the data, and not around how that data might be used, or who might be using it. These types of dashboards usually end up being abandoned within a few weeks. When the actual dashboard-building process begins, the builders usually find themselves trying to put a very large amount of information onto what now seems like a very small display. Consequently, the only way to get all that information onto a single dashboard is to add a lot of filters, selectors, tabs, drill-down links and other user controls. This results in only small portions of the data being displayed on the screen at any one time.<\/p>\n

    So what dashboard design steps should you take to avoid this?<\/p>\n

    The solution to these issues is to create one dashboard for each role within the target audience. With a one-dashboard-per-role approach, the need for filters, tabs, selectors, extensive drill-downs is minimized, and it becomes much easier to get all of the relevant information onto a single at-a-glance display. Here’s how to do it:<\/p>\n

    Step 1:<\/strong> Figure out who your dashboards need to service<\/p>\n

    For example, in a marketing department, this might include the following:<\/p>\n