Thursday, July 2. 2009USA Federal Government’s Dashboards – Reporting, Managing or Improving?Trackbacks
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Fortunately I don't believe one can be too optimistic. I agree that government initiatives such as these are great stepping stones to what is to come with the latter phases of maturity. The question is how long before they get there? I remember, during my early involvement with business intelligence in the private sector, the tools had much to do with "bells and whistles". The focus then was less on gaining true intelligence from the data and more on the look and feel of the tool itself. If the government really wants to give the citizens of this country a good look at program performance, funded with their dollars, they will try endlessly to avoid this potential landmine and quickly get to intelligent analytical design practices. I am excited to watch their progress and hope this ultimate executive sponsorship (critical to any project success) in the current administration helps ignite the growing industry of performance management waiting to explode.
Steven,
Thanks for your perspective. From you comment, it appears you are a seasoned veteran, like me. Admittedly, I am a bit jaded by the lack of progress of senior management in many areas. But I do get inspired by the energy and passion of the youth. And due to Internet and other factors, the newer generations are unlike what has been seen before. Let's see if they follow the guidance in your comment. You mentioned "intelligent analytical design practices" as a being important. Educate me. What is this? Any examples? I hope you (and anyone reading) had a happy and safe 4th of July celebration. I thank you for your response and welcome the idea of further explaining what I have learned of intelligent analytical design.
Anything and everything I have learned about intelligent analytical design has come from the works of Edward Tufte and Stephen Few, to properly credit those individuals and expose my limited knowledge on the topic. The concepts they speak of regarding intelligent analytical design pertain to creating visual analysis that stay clear of clutter, distraction, and is thoughtful of the audience to be informed from it. An example might be the proper use of scale in a chart. Often we'll be given the opportunity to examine a dramatic time series with a steep slope, left-to-right, and bottom-to-top. At first glance one might believe that the measure truly has increased dramatically over the time frame in question. However, further investigation may reveal that the Y-axis ranges from 80% to 100%, versus the normal 0% - 100%. The numbers do not disclose false information. However the design provides the potential for misinterpretation; the magnitude of change is distorted at the onset. In a sense, the design cuts short the reader’s ability to ask the appropriate second question and further investigate the real event taking place. This is only one example and it is a simple one. The more experience professionals on the subject (mentioned above) provide many more in their literary works, of which I highly recommend. These concepts are by no means the only point of view on the subject of analytical design. However they are worth consideration when attempting to convey a message, communicate your findings, or tell the story of your own discovery through analysis. I are eyes can be the most powerful tools for analysis, provided we give them the opportunity in what we place in front of them. |
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Gary Cokins, CPIM is Global Product Marketing Manager for Performance Management at SAS, the world’s leader in business intelligence, and analytical software. He is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author. Read more.
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