How Do You Manage the Fact That Different People Will Need Different Versions of a Single Dashboard, Different Access to Data?

This is a continuation of a transcript of a Webinar hosted by InetSoft entitled "Designing a Good Dashboard." The speaker is Mark Flaherty, CMO at InetSoft.

Mark Flaherty (MF): This is extremely common. An operational person on the front line will need to see a certain granularity of data, and then his manager wants to see what he is doing. His manager wants to see what all the employees are doing. Can you make one dashboard that handles all of these needs or do they end up being discrete?

In some cases, it is best if they are discrete. You definitely have your general dashboard that many different types of people will use. But for the dashboard to be really effective, you really need to give capabilities focused on the individual person or at least role.

Do you need to take into account different skill levels for dashboard users?

That’s a pretty tough question. Yes, it can depend on the end user that actually will be using the dashboard. You may need to tailor the dashboard to their particular skill set. For example, for many business users, you probably want to keep it simple. But for the line manager working in a manufacturing company, you might want to have more information at their finger tips because that is what they are used to. So in general, I would say that the concept of a general layout doesn’t really work. You really need a dashboard designed for specific roles and sometimes for a specific person.

 
 

You definitely try to generalize to specific audiences when you can, but for some of the most effective dashboards, it has to be made to work for a particular person. But if you think about data mashup, this is a very powerful concept where users can pick and choose which visualizations or which KPI matter to them, and now they can just create their own dashboard on the fly. That kind of self-service BI is very powerful.

Going back to the senior executive, they are usually more interested in the scorecard type of dashboard. They want to see where they are standing on the major goals in their organization, performance management, essentially. But for somebody who working in the daily operations, they probably want to see more details, see more trends, things like that.

Differences Between A Dashboard Deigned For An Executive Vs A Frontline Worker

The design of a dashboard for an executive compared to one for a frontline worker differs in multiple ways due to their distinct roles, responsibilities, and information needs. Here are some key differences:

1. Level of Detail

• Executive Dashboard: High-level, strategic view. Executives need summarized insights, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and trend analysis that give them a snapshot of the organization's overall health or specific projects. Dashboards for executives focus on aggregating data rather than granular details. They're interested in metrics that impact decision-making, such as revenue, profit margins, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, etc.
  • Example: Sales growth trends, company-wide performance metrics, financial summaries.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: More detailed and operational. Frontline workers require actionable, day-to-day data. Their dashboards need real-time or near-real-time data to help with immediate tasks. It includes more granular, task-specific metrics that directly influence their job responsibilities.
  • Example: Daily task progress, equipment efficiency, real-time inventory levels, number of customers served.

2. Focus and Objectives

• Executive Dashboard: Strategic and long-term. Executives are focused on broader organizational goals and outcomes. Their dashboards are designed to help them spot trends, make high-level decisions, and evaluate performance across departments.
  • Example: How are different departments performing over the quarter? Are we hitting our annual targets? What is our overall customer satisfaction score?
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: Tactical and short-term. Frontline workers need dashboards that help them perform their tasks efficiently and make real-time adjustments. The focus is on immediate operational efficiency rather than long-term planning.
  • Example: How many orders need to be processed today? What is the machine downtime rate? Which tasks are behind schedule?

3. Data Presentation

• Executive Dashboard: Simple, visually appealing, and often summarized through charts, graphs, and KPIs. Executives don't have the time to sift through dense data, so visuals are key for highlighting patterns and exceptions quickly. Dashboards may include comparisons, such as year-over-year performance or predictive forecasts.
  • Example: Bar charts showing quarterly revenue by region, line graphs illustrating customer growth over the past five years.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: More detailed, with real-time or near-real-time updates, and may include alerts or notifications. Frontline workers need clarity on specific tasks or metrics relevant to their role, and it may not need as much visual polish—accuracy and timeliness matter more.
  • Example: Tables showing order statuses, gauges showing equipment performance, color-coded alerts for tasks needing immediate attention.

4. Frequency of Use

• Executive Dashboard: Viewed periodically. Executives may check their dashboards on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis depending on the strategic cycles they follow. Dashboards are often consulted before meetings or major decisions.
  • Example: Before a quarterly board meeting or after a major product launch.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: Accessed frequently, sometimes multiple times per day, as frontline workers rely on dashboards to monitor ongoing operations. Their dashboards are continuously refreshed to provide the most up-to-date information.
  • Example: A worker monitoring live sales or real-time production output.

5. Interactivity and Customization

• Executive Dashboard: Often less interactive but customizable at a higher level. Executives prefer concise views but may need options to drill down into specific data if something catches their eye. They may also have filters for viewing data from different departments or time periods.
  • Example: Ability to switch between global performance metrics and country-specific ones or drill down from annual to quarterly figures.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: Highly interactive and role-specific. Frontline workers may need dashboards with real-time alerts, task-specific details, or dynamic elements like forms for data input. The dashboard may have more features allowing workers to respond immediately to the information they receive.
  • Example: Buttons to update task status, real-time graphs that change as data is processed, or forms to submit new orders or issues.

6. Device Compatibility

• Executive Dashboard: Designed for larger screens (laptops or tablets) but often needs mobile compatibility since executives may need to check dashboards while on the go. These dashboards should be optimized for both desktop and mobile views.
  • Example: A CEO accessing the company's performance metrics while traveling.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: Designed primarily for mobile devices, tablets, or workstations that are accessible in the worker's environment. The design needs to be simple, intuitive, and easy to navigate in a fast-paced work environment.
  • Example: A worker using a mobile app to check inventory or log completed tasks on the shop floor.

7. Time Sensitivity

• Executive Dashboard: Often historical or future-looking. While executives may appreciate real-time data, the emphasis is usually on analyzing past trends, projections, and future strategies.
  • Example: A dashboard showing sales projections for the next quarter based on past trends.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: Time-sensitive, with a need for real-time or near-real-time information. These dashboards are designed to reflect the current state of operations and alert workers to immediate needs or problems.
  • Example: A worker monitoring machine health and getting alerted if a system goes down.

8. User Roles and Permissions

• Executive Dashboard: Broader access to multiple departments' data. Executives typically have permissions to view high-level, organization-wide data and often sensitive financial or strategic information.
  • Example: A CFO viewing financial performance across all departments.
• Frontline Worker Dashboard: More limited access. Workers only see data relevant to their specific tasks or department. They likely won't need visibility into strategic or financial data.
  • Example: A warehouse worker accessing inventory data and tracking shipments but not viewing company-wide sales figures.

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