Performance Dashboard Design

The participants indicated that the dashboard content should consist of the KPIs of the business, which ties perfectly into the organisation's strategy. Dashboards must highlight areas of concern, and enable the user to make good decisions. Most participants stressed that data in the dashboard must be reliable and accurate.

"If information is inaccurate, you will lose your audience in a day and you will never regain them". (Participant 5)

Most of the participants prefer information in the form of day averages. Participant 5 explained that daily averages are sufficient, and provide the business unit with around 30 opportunities every month to evaluate their performance and to take action to correct the situation. Participant 1 stated that 30- and 90-day averages were identified as reasonable statistical figures that represent the stability of the business, and can be used as the baseline. Participant 8 added that dashboards should contain leading and lagging indicators, and participant 4 added that dashboards must contain the ranges and targets for parameters. The importance of translating information into aggregated values that can be related to the organisation's strategic activities was discussed by participants 5 and 8. In terms of 'relevant' information, participant 5 said that every number in a dashboard must have a relationship or baseline, and emphasised that, when deciding what parameters to include in a dashboard, one must ensure that they speak the same language as those who must act. Expanding further on dashboard content, participant 3 described a dashboard that included the monetary aspect of how much the business was losing due to non-optimal operation. Participants 1, 3, 6, and 8 reinforced the importance of collaboration and engagement between stakeholders. The process described by these participants indicates a positive alignment among stakeholders to create a business enablement tool.