Lessons Learned About Dashboards

This is the continuation of a transcript of a presentation by Stu Worman from Indiana University at an IT conference for unversity IT professionals.

Some things that you might want to keep in mind. You need to look at what your key performance indicators are. You’ll make mistakes. That’s ok. Just start. That’s what I always tell the managers that work for me. We’ll figure out what makes a difference and what doesn’t. Don’t worry about that. Let’s just start. Let’s start with what we have and we’ll figure that out later.

The dashboard is going to really improve the ability for you to respond quickly to changes in your school and know what is going on. Sometimes you will be surprised. Sometimes you will not know that something is happening, and that you need to check this out.

The trends are approximately the same in each academic year. That has really surprised me. I have just been shocked at that. Often the trends are reflected in multiple organizations. And the last lesson, we need to use the technology that we have to help us with our technology business.

Case Study: Enhancing Campus Project Management with Dashboards at State University

State University is a large public university with a diverse and expanding campus, covering over 50 buildings and supporting a student population of 30,000. In recent years, the university has undertaken multiple campus expansion and renovation projects to support its academic, residential, and extracurricular facilities. Managing these projects has historically been challenging due to the complexity, volume, and diversity of data involved in each project phase—from planning and funding allocation to execution and final inspection.

To address these challenges, the university decided to implement a dashboard-based management system. The goal was to create a comprehensive, data-driven approach to monitor and streamline its building projects, ensuring efficiency, transparency, and effective use of resources.

Problem Statement

Before implementing the dashboard solution, project managers faced several key issues:

1. Data Fragmentation: Information related to each project was scattered across various departments and systems, including budgeting, facilities, procurement, and contractors. This fragmentation made it difficult to maintain a centralized view of progress and financials.

2. Delayed Decision-Making: Without real-time updates, decision-makers relied on periodic reporting, which often involved manual data consolidation. This lag resulted in delayed responses to critical project issues, such as cost overruns or delays.

3. Lack of Transparency: Stakeholders, including university executives and department heads, needed a way to view up-to-date information on project statuses without relying solely on meetings and emails.

4. Risk Management: Identifying and managing potential risks was challenging, as there was no system in place to quickly detect anomalies in project timelines or budgets.

Solution: A Unified Dashboard Platform

After assessing several vendors, the university selected a dashboard solution that could integrate with their existing data sources. The chosen platform supported real-time data integration, visualization, and analytics, which allowed the university to unify information across departments and streamline project monitoring. The implementation focused on three primary components:

1. Project Tracking Dashboards: These dashboards provided real-time information on project timelines, progress milestones, and status updates. They allowed project managers to track tasks, identify delays, and adjust schedules as needed.

2. Budget and Financial Dashboards: These dashboards pulled in data from the university's financial systems to monitor budget allocations, expenditures, and cost forecasts. Financial metrics were tracked against original budget estimates to identify potential overruns early.

3. Risk and Compliance Dashboards: By aggregating data on safety protocols, contractor compliance, and project timelines, these dashboards helped identify risks and ensure projects adhered to regulatory standards.

Implementation Process

The implementation was a collaborative effort involving the university's IT department, facilities management, project management office (PMO), and finance. The process unfolded in three main phases:

1. Data Integration: The IT team integrated data sources, including project management software, financial systems, and procurement records, into a centralized database. This allowed for automatic data pulls, reducing manual input and errors.

2. Dashboard Design and Customization: Working with project managers and stakeholders, the dashboard team customized views based on user roles. High-level executives saw summaries and KPIs, while project managers had access to more detailed views.

3. Training and Rollout: The university provided training sessions for different user groups, ensuring they could effectively navigate the dashboards, set up alerts, and customize views as needed. This phase also included the creation of user manuals and dedicated support channels.

Results

Since the implementation of the dashboard solution, the university has observed several significant improvements:

1. Improved Project Visibility and Efficiency: Project managers now have a real-time view of all ongoing projects, allowing them to spot delays and address bottlenecks immediately. For instance, when a contractor experienced a delay in receiving materials, the project manager was able to quickly adjust other schedules to minimize downtime.

2. Enhanced Financial Oversight: The financial dashboards have enabled the finance team to track budget status closely and issue early alerts on potential overspending. In one instance, this helped the university avoid a 10% cost overrun by adjusting project plans in real-time.

3. Faster Decision-Making: With access to real-time data, senior administrators could make decisions faster, cutting the time for key approvals by nearly 30%. This allowed for quicker responses to emerging needs and smoother progression through project phases.

4. Increased Stakeholder Transparency: Stakeholders now have an easily accessible view of project updates and can make informed inquiries or requests for additional information. This has led to higher satisfaction among department heads, as they can better align their activities with campus projects.

5. Proactive Risk Management: Risk dashboards helped the PMO identify and mitigate risks, such as contract delays or compliance issues, before they escalated. As a result, the university has seen a decrease in regulatory violations and costly delays.

Lessons Learned

1. Data Quality is Key: The university learned the importance of clean, standardized data, as inconsistent data entry initially led to errors in the dashboards. Ensuring accurate data integration from all systems was a priority.

2. Stakeholder Buy-In Matters: Engaging all relevant departments from the outset helped ensure the dashboards met users' needs and encouraged adoption.

3. Customization for Different Roles: Customizable views were crucial for different users, ensuring that each group had relevant data without overwhelming detail.

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