The requirements of the monitoring tools are straightforward — empower everyone in the organization, at all levels, with the ability to identify actionable information, analyze trends, execute and act on alerts, and provide appropriate and timely feedback to the responsible party. This, of course, begs the question of what are the appropriate tools for the different types of data actualization and analysis?
When thinking about all of the tools that assist us in monitoring the business and proactively taking action, the Dashboard is the first that comes to mind. Not unlike the Dashboard in your car that alerts you about issues that have, or are about to happen, the difference between your Corporate Dashboard and your vehicle's Dashboard is that you are typically the only one who needs to monitor and act on the information received from your vehicle's Dashboard.
The Corporate Dashboard is significantly different in this regard. While you are monitoring events that may significantly change how others will function, and potentially the future operating performance of the organization, you are most likely one of many individuals who will, or should see, the same information. This is quite significant, as an organization must operate from a single version of the truth. Responsible individuals with access to the same activity or set of metrics must see the same information and be able alert others, or provide appropriate feedback.
Dashboards
nalyze the Past
Monitor the Present
Plan the Future
According to Forrester Research, "Business Intelligence (BI) solutions have a long history of serving strategic decision-making, but less of a history with tactical decision-making. The next evolution is toward operational decision-making, which is a challenge because of the short time period — down to minutes and seconds — in which a decision must be made and acted on.”
