Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization - Research Proposal Example

 Construction of Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization 1. Construction of Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization In the present day world, amidst the tough competition, technological advancements and constantly shifting customer preferences, only the learning organizations stand a chance at achieving a long-term success. This is because these organizations can grow and adapt to the changes in the environment as each employee is an active, committed participant and takes decisions that help drive the organization towards its common goal (Hagen, 2011). Therefore, to succeed, learning organizations require taking good decisions at all its levels i.e. from the executives to the employees. The finest of business decisions are data driven. A learning organization has data coming from all departments, processes and employees. Business intelligence comprises of complex methods to convert organizational data into useful information and then converts this information into knowledge. Based on this knowledge the organization-wide decisions can be made after thorough analysis (Atre, 2011). Thus business intelligence improves the decision process of an organization. The top learning organizations have a deep-rooted implementation of business intelligence and analytics in their organizational design. Data mining tools such as data marts, data warehouses, dashboards, etc. mine large amounts of data to extract the useful information. These tools are used to improve the efficiency of the business intelligence processes (Nittaya and Kittisak, 2007). 1.1. Business Intelligence Dashboards Performance control is a vital aspect of organizational management. The efficiency and performance of an organization can only be increased through the cooperation of all its departments. When the organization is small, the management is straight forward and easy. Management becomes complex in large organizations comprising of numerous branches, departments and hundreds of employees. And sometimes these departments may even be located miles apart. Visiting them in person takes time. And if visited, the data becomes out-of-date by the end of the visit. The solution for management of big organizations is business intelligence dashboards which consolidate the management information for the entire company in one place. Business intelligence dashboard is an effective data visualization tool that uses metrics and the key performance indicators to display the current status of an entire organization’s performance against some predefined goals (Atre, 2011). In learning organizations, the culture is such that the information is shared and is accessible to all employees alongside the managers and executives. The employees are encouraged to try new ideas and make decisions (Hagen, 2011). So in a learning organization, the requirement of business intelligence penetrates deeper than merely the organization’s frontline i.e. the managers and executives (Gonzales, 2013). And therefore business intelligence dashboards can benefit everyone at an organization i.e. the employees too. 1.2. Constructing Usage Specific Dashboard Dashboards do not have the same role in all learning organizations. They can be customized. They can be constructed for specific executive roles e.g. CEO, CIO or they may display metrics targeting specific point of view or a department for the managers or they can give a high level as well as a detailed view of the organization’s performance based on its data which all the committed employees can gain benefit from. Based on the type of information presented by dashboards and how they are used, they can be classified into a variety of categories. However, the three most common usage types are strategic, operational and tactical (Atre, 2011; Scheps, 2013; Nooijer, 2011). Strategic dashboards are used by an organization’s board of directors, executives or high level managers (Nooijer, 2011). They use these dashboards while forming long-term goals and aligning the organization’s progress towards these strategic goals. The strategic dashboards are not required to have real-time data as the strategic decisions are usually not based on the current situations rather on the results produced over a time (Atre, 2011). These dashboards usually implement balanced scorecards (Nooijer, 2011). They initially display a general preview on the strategic goals which can then be followed by monitoring the specific key performance indicators. So the executive members can view the general information about the organization first and then can drill down to the detailed reports. In a learning organization, the top level strategic dashboard is sometimes shared with the employees as well to keep them informed and motivated to reach the company’s goal. Tactical dashboards are used by department managers and analysts while measuring the progress of the most important projects. These dashboards are used for detailed purposes such as analyzing, reviewing historical data, performing root-cause analysis, identifying issues, tracing the trend of a particular process in relation to the organization’s goals and advantages (Nooijer, 2011). The managers use these dashboards to investigate how a task affects the organization performance overall by observing how the actual results differ from the planned ones. Operational dashboards are used by frontline employees or managers who have direct dealing with the customers or production lines. They are used when monitoring or analyzing the organization’s activities in a specific area or closely related areas. The operational dashboards help monitoring those functions of an organization that require real-time attention (Scheps, 2013). The data displayed through these dashboards is very lightly summarized as these dashboards focus on monitoring real time information and act quickly according to changes. 1.3. Dashboards for Organizational Departments Some departments are common in almost all learning organizations such as manufacturing, sales, services, human resource and finance. Dashboards find their application in all of these areas providing relevant information to users so they can make well thought out decisions (Malik, 2007a; Malik, 2007b). A. Manufacturing Department A strategic dashboard designed for the executives would contain metrics related to the production. For instance, it may be used for checking product return rate. It can also be used to help in investigating the trend as to whether the rate gets lowered or stays stable. And how quickly the rate lowered. Through a tactical dashboard, the managers can install a system of check and balance. For instance, the dashboard can be used to keep a check on the quality of the product. It can further assist in setting up regular meetings for quality reviewing. The manager can view the return rates as a monthly value and then he can compare the actual rate values with the planned, target or expected rates. Through operational dashboards the products manufactured can be tracked along with the number of defects, complaints or returns in each. B. Sales Department At a strategic level, the dashboard can show the sales results (totals) and their trends or any changes across one branch or multiple branches of an organization e.g. sale comparison between different branches, total yearly sales, etc. Through the tactical dashboards, detailed ratings as well as reports can be viewed for a given product. This level of detail is important in making sales decisions. For instance, the sale of a particular shoe in Paris can be checked for the month of January. Additionally, through these dashboards, the managers can even decide the date for launching a product in the market. Or why the target sales were not met. The actual sales can be checked and then can be compared with the sales from the last month. It can be deduced whether the target sale has been met or not. The operational dashboards help monitoring those functions of an organization that require real-time attention e.g. displaying an alert if a stock is running low, listing down the top customers or grouping the sales data by sales person. They can help track the daily sales on the basis of product placement. This way the valuable shelf place can be used in the most profitable manner. C. Service Department Maintaining a good customer relation is extremely important for an organization. Through the strategic dashboards, the quality of the organization’s customer service can be determined through metrics such as the number of complaints, customer satisfaction, customer attrition, cost of service, etc. Through tactical dashboards, the department can provide vast training skills e.g. the important requirements while installing the software of a new help desk. Through the operational dashboards the managers and employees can get access to statistical information which is important to improve the department’s efficiency and thus the organization’s reputation. The dashboard can help keep a watch on the customer’s complaints e.g. the number of complaints or support calls per month, average talk/handle/call time, etc. D. Human Resource Department Strategic dashboards revolve around metrics related to the employees such as total employees per year, employee turnover, employee retention, etc. and are therefore important for the flow of an organization. For instance, action has to be taken if employee retention falls in a certain region. They can display information related to annual recruitment activity, annual health expenses, division of benefit expenses, monthly cost of staff absenteeism, payroll breakdown, etc. Tactical dashboards assist in maintaining healthy relations with the employees. They help in introducing plans that are bound to boost an employee’s morale e.g. profit sharing plan, medical insurance plan, etc. Tactical dashboards also allow employing the recruiters who help search recruits worthy of employment. They help analysing situations such as reasons for employee leaves, termination, etc. The operational dashboards give information related to employees based on different metrics such as current head count, employee satisfaction rate, retention rate, salary scale, open positions per department, etc. E. Finance Department The strategic dashboard provides a general financial view of the organization e.g. the executives can check the total debts, total loan amount, cash on hand, daily operating cost, average outstanding balances of the organization or its various departments. Tactical dashboards help managers in dealing with finances for projects such as employing extra workers for a particular project within a given budget, etc. The operational dashboards help in facilitating the finance department’s internal working e.g. outstanding cash on products, electricity, gas, fuel bills, etc. 2. Dashboard Interface Requirements Irrespective of the type of dashboard, the information displayed by them must be useful and meaningful to the members of a learning organization. Dashboards are meant to communicate information clearly, quickly and compellingly (Dundas, 2013). Usually charts and graphs are used to represent a snapshot of the organization’s current or historical situation. The designs must be simple, pleasant to look at and easy to understand and use. Any information that can create confusion must not be put on the dashboard. The first view should be a summarized version which can then be drilled down for detailed views. The metrics used must be related to the dashboard usage requirements i.e. strategic, tactical or operational. 3. Conclusion Dashboards are a step towards an efficient business intelligence. Business intelligence dashboards gather data from diverse and numerous sources and after performing complex calculations it presents for its user useful information about an organization’s current situation. They provide an opportunity to take timely actions by presenting information in the form of diagrams, pictures, charts and signals which people can easily understand compared to the columnar data format of traditional reports. Based on this consolidated view of information the best decisions can be made in all tiers of a learning organization. Dashboards help determine if an organization is currently falling short of, meeting or exceeding the key performance indicators which drive the business towards success. Dashboards must have a simple, clear and usable presentation. Their design must be flexible enough to adapt to the evolving nature of a learning organization. 4. References Cited Atre, S., 2011. The Performance Dashboard: The New Face of Business Intelligence. Accessed on 11 December 2013 < http://www.technologytransfer.eu/article/93/2011/5/The_Performance_Dashboard_The_New_Face_of_Business_Intelligence.html > Dundas, 2013. Dashboards Demystified. Accessed on 11 December 2013. < http://www.dundas.com/discover/article/dashboards-demystified/ > Gonzales, R., 2013. What does an Effective Business Intelligence (BI) Dashboard look like? Accessed 11 December 2013. < http://www.claraview.com/blog/2013-05-08/what-does-effective-business-intelligence-bi-dashboard-look > Hagen, T.M., 2011. Is your Agency a Learning Organization. Accessed on 11 December 2013. < http://www.emsworld.com/article/10450720/traits-of-learning-organizations > Malik, S. 2007b. Divisional Dashboards. Accessed on 11 December 2013. < http://www.dashboardinsight.com/articles/digital-dashboards/building-dashboards/divisional-dashboards.aspx > Malik, S., 2007a. Creating Departmental Dashboards. Accessed on 11 December 2013. < http://www.dashboardinsight.com/articles/digital-dashboards/building-dashboards/departmental-dashboards.aspx > Nittaya, K and Kittisak, K., 2007. Moving Data Mining Tools toward a Business Intelligence System. Enformatika . 2007, Vol. 19, pp. 117-122 Nooijer, H., 2011. What kind of users will use a dashboard. 2011. Accessed on 11 December 2013. < http://bifuture.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-kind-of-users-will-use-my.html > Scheps, S., 2013. Business Intelligence for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. P. 97. Read More