DSA Insights

There is a new page on the Support Analytics website called ProSourcing.  Also, the Solutions page has now been changed to be called Consulting.  In addition, there are a few new quick links under the image on all of the pages to easily navigate to the blog or blog subscription page.

The main reason for this change is because Support Analytics now has two distinct capabilities: Analytics Consulting and Analytics ProSourcing.

ProSourcing is simply the outsourcing of data analyses to Support Analytics.  One of the recurring themes that we have experienced in the past is companies not having the resources or knowledge to perform analytics at the level it is needed.  Another situation that warrants ProSourcing is when a key knowledge expert leaves the company without training anyone or leaving adequate documentation on how analytic functions were completed.

There are some other reasons that we have decided to provide this service to our clients, which can be found on the ProSourcing page.

Check it out and feel free to provide feedback!

Source

Recently, CNET featured a video on Aaron Koblin whose name I had never heard before a few viral videos hit.  Aaron is an artist/designer/researcher focused on creating and visualizing human systems.  Many of Aaron’s visualizations are just stunning as you can see in the image above.  One of his most well-known works is the flight pattern simulation shown in the video below.  I have also included some other popular videos regarding Aaron.  Enjoy!

Flight Pattern Video

Sheep Video

Ten Thousand Cents

Radio Head - House of Cards

Check out the video on CNET by clicking on the image below.

To see Aaron’s portfolio, click here.

Just last week, I was reminded of the scene from The Christmas Story where the father (Darren McGavin) finally gets his "contest prize" delivered to the house.  There was so much excitement and mystery about what he had won.  Well, I shared that same type of excitement when the big brown truck delivered my copy of Excel Basics to Blackbelt: An Accelerated Guide to Decision Support Designs directly from the publisher.  This book, which reminds of a college text book, just hit the book stores on July 7th.  There are a few Excel books that I wouldn’t do without, but this book is different from the ones in my library.  This book explores the opportunities in Excel for decision support instead of Excel functions.  Throughout my career, I have created many decision support spreadsheets that helped management make more informed decisions.  I think this book will help build upon that résumé and explore new ideas or design methods.

As I get into the book, I will be sure to share my thoughts here on DSA Insights.  Some sections that caught my attention upon a quick flip through the pages were:

4.1 Value of Data Visualization

4.3 Visualizing Constraints

6.0 The Analytics of Optimization

7.0 Complex Optimization

10.0 Visualizing Complex Analytical Dynamics

Note: there is no payment or quid pro quo arrangement for these comments or review.

Instead of calling them pie charts, we’ll just call them donut (doughnut) charts and make them magically delicious.  Wrong.  These two charts, which appeared in the July 14th issue of BusinessWeek, are some of the worst charts I’ve seen in a while.  Note: in the print version, the legend doesn’t cover up the actual chart.  I’m not sure why this wasn’t fixed in the online graphic. 

There have been many articles and blog posts written on the ineffectiveness of pie charts, so I won’t belabor the point more.  For more information about why pie charts (donut charts with the center filled in) are not a good data visualization option, see the links below.  There’s no point in saying the same thing in a different way.  The timing of this post is good being that Seth Godin recently created a lot of stir about bar charts, which led to more pie chart discussions.

Related books:

Creating More Effective Graphs by Naomi B. Robbins

Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten by Stephen Few

Related links on discussion of Bar and Pie charts:

DSA Insights

Jon Peltier

Peltier Technical Services

Jorge Camoes - Charts

Juice Analytics Original

Juice Analytics

Stephen Few

Edward Tufte

Junk Charts

Note: the first pie chart is credited to William Playfair roughly 200 years ago.

In the world of technology and software, since when does a release happen ahead of schedule?  Not often.  Well, WordPress has version 2.6 available for download about a month ahead of schedule.  The upgrade was pretty painless except for one minor issue.  For some reason, the maintenance mode plug-in needed to be deleted to run the upgrade from my browser.

This video describes the new features for WordPress 2.6.  One of the best new features is the image caption feature to help with citing sources or describing the image.

As with the last upgrade back in May, please let me know (using this form) if you find any bugs with this blog.  Who knows, there may just be a prize involved!

Related:

• To download WordPress 2.6 click here
• To get detailed upgrade instructions click here
• WordPress For Dummies, Lisa Sabin-Wilson at Amazon.com

Occasionally, here at Support Analytics, we like to share an experience with you in an effort to pass on some valuable [hopefully] insights.  This is a real story that actually happened a few weeks ago. 

I answered the phone to find a sales person on the other end asking to speak with the head of household, which was my first clue there was going to be a sales pitch coming.  I’m not sure what kept me on the phone because the only thing the caller usually hears at that point is the click of me hanging up.  Reluctantly, I said this was the head of the household (my wife may disagree, but that’s for another post).

After that response, it all became a blur.  The woman talked so fast and word-for-word from a script about how now was the best time to get replacement windows and their company was the best … blah, blah, blah.  I tried to get a quick, “not interested” reply in, but she was so fast in talking, I couldn’t get a word in.  I really wasn’t interested because I just purchased new windows six months ago.  Finally, I tried to interrupt with a, “Miss”, but she wasn’t even fazed.  She kept up at a blinding speed apparently in the “zone”.  Getting annoyed, I said again and louder, “MISS”, which again went unanswered.  Finally, I was really annoyed and just said “STOP” in the phone.  She seemed to be taken back a bit and stopped her tirade.  I informed her that I just bought new windows and was not interested.  Click!

Here is where the lesson comes into play.

If this woman had been nice, spoke in conversation or just a polite manner, I may have shared with her that everyone on our street is probably in the market for new windows because of all the houses are 20 years old with poor initial windows installed.  Also, I may have given her the names of probably five neighbors that I knew were interested in windows.  At almost $20k each, I guess that one call was a missed $100k opportunity for that sales person. 

If she merely asked nicely if I was interested and spoke in a civil manner, I may have shared this information with her.  Those sales probably would have made her year’s quota or at least a nice bonus. 

My guess is that she gets paid by the number of calls she makes or the amount of time she keeps someone on the line, which is a BIG mistake.  Compensation should be based on value and not an arbitrary number that may promote bad behaviors such as this one.  If all else fails, just be nice because it can go a long way.

This video is a little long, but Hans does an excellent job presenting statistical data.  It’s worth the time to watch, trust me.

Happy Independence Day / 4th of July!  Not only is today a great day to celebrate our independence, but it’s also my wife’s birthday.  Happy Birthday!  I hope you take some time and relax from the norm and do something fun!  We will be celebrating the 4th on our new deck with a family cookout and cocktails!

Have a happy and safe 4th and enjoy your long weekend!

The graphic above is a pretty good example of an effective dashboard in my humble opinion.  It doesn’t use a lot of space, yet shows an abundance of data to compare the companies.  Also, notice the sector segmentation using color and columns.  Great job BusinessWeek!

Can you tell me what’s missing with the graphic above?  It has to be the analyst in me, but the first thing I noticed is what’s wasn’t there in this graphic.  Click here to get the answer!

Here is the key to the boxes above. 

This graphic above is another great example of a dashboard type display showing sales and R&D.  I would have thought that Apple spends more on R&D as a percentage of sales than just 3.3%.

Source: www.businessweek.com

Below is a line graph showing how the top companies performed compared to the S&P Global and S&P 500 index.  I prefer no legends and adding the description to each line.

With gasoline prices increasing so much lately, I have noticed a dramatic increase in the data/info visualizations related to them.  Here are some that I hope you will find useful.  The first two charts below were found at Gasbuddy and show the average price of gasoline mashed up in a map similar to Google maps.  The second map shows the gas stations and gas prices local to Support Analytics in Columbia, MD.  If I was impacted more from the increase in gas prices, I might use this to shop around for the lowest price per gallon.  Being that I drive about a mile a day and my wife has a government issued vehicle, it wouldn’t affect me unless gas prices were $100 per gallon, which isn’t likely.

Source: www.gasbuddy.com

Source: www.gasbuddy.com

Here is a visual of what makes up the price for gas in 2004, when the average price was $1.85 per gallon versus 2008 where we are now paying roughly $4.03 per gallon on average.  Looking back at the first chart above, you can see how your state/city compares to other states and the national average.  If you live in California or the left coast, I hope you own a Prius.  One fact that I would have expected to see below is a dramatic increase in the distribution cost of gas between 2004 and 2008, which actually decreased.  Seems like there should be an almost perfect correlation between distribution costs and the price of gas, right?  Maybe the impact is hidden due to the category being both distribution and marketing.

Source: www.thebiblog.com

Below are three charts which originated in the NY Times.  The map shows the average price of gas per gallon in a format that I think is much better than the Gasbuddy one above.  Again, if you live in California, I really feel for you.  In the second graphic below, there is a nice timeline dating back to 1920 and going through 2007.  The third line graph highlights the last 18 years of the second chart.  They also do a nice job of highlighting the significant events along the line graph.

Source: www.nytimes.com and viewed at www.flowingdata.com

The last section contains a few graphics that I found in BusinessWeek.  I’ve said before that I do not like pie charts unless you really just want to show how two parts make up the whole.  Even still, a bar chart would take up less space.  The data in the pie refers to a survey asking, does the increase in gas prices have an impact on travel plans of those who are planning a trip by automobile?  Maybe a better question would have been, does the increase in gas prices impact you putting off a vacation or not traveling at all.  I think the results would be much different.

Source: www.businessweek.com

This graphic, which I really like, shows the increase in round trip cost by car and by SUV for various city-to-city travel.  Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s the total cost because it’s only the incremental difference.

Source: www.businessweek.com

The next bar chart highlights that the overall cost of traveling has increased by 5.1% over the past five years (bar in black).

Average annual percentage increase in prices since 2003:

Source: www.businessweek.com

This last column chart illustrate the percentage change in gasoline consumption from the previous year.  We are down quite a bit from this time last year; a 4% swing, as you might expect.

Source: www.businessweek.com

Do you have any gasoline related charts, graphs or visualizations to share?