Support Analytics Blog

Below you will find a few images from the recent copy of Information Management in regards to Analytics [source].  A little bit over a year ago, I posted about the most desirable traits of recent graduates with analytics being third.  It’s no surprise to me that if you want to be successful, get a good job, and keep a job that having powerful analytic skills will be the key.

At least a third of companies surveyed stated they have a shortage of analytic talent!

Fifty percent of them said the shortage will be more significant in 12 months!

Sixty-three percent of the companies surveyed stated they need to increase their analytic capabilities!

A little less than half of all business decisions are still made based on judgement…

As early as 2007, I stated that I really enjoy reading my DM Review periodical.  Just recently, I received a copy of Information Management, which I learned is now formerly DM Review.  I really didn’t know until receiving the magazine that the title had changed.  You can find more about this at Information Management’s web site.  What didn’t change is the great content they provide on a bi-monthly schedule.  Some of the authors and topics covered are:

• Analytics
• Business Intelligence (BI)
• Performance Management (CPM)
• Data Governance
• Data Integration
• Data Warehouse
• ETL
• Data Quality
• Enterprise Information Management (EIM)
• Master Data Management (MDM)

Besides the print edition of the magazine, Information Management also offers free: Ebooks, web seminars, white papers and newsletters around the topics above.  Check them out and let me know what you think.  If you are already a subscriber, let me know what you think.

Some of the past editions have featured:

• Stephen Few of Perceptual Edge on Information Visualization
• James Taylor on Enterprise Decision Management

Later this week I will reveal what Information Management discussed around analytics in the current issue.  Stay tuned!

One point in this video that made me happy to hear is that others realize that companies are not cutting back on analytics and technology related to better data and analysis programs.  For the last few years, I have personally seen money being moved into areas of analytics for all departments that help management understand their business better.  Another point that I want to reiterate is the improper use of the term reporting and the term analytics because they are vastly different, yet some many people use them interchangeably.

David, who pointed me to this video, asked me my thoughts on this product called NovaView by a company called Panorama.  What Panorama was able to do was integrate its technology with Google Spreadsheets.  Just by seeing the demo and checking out the web site, I am not really that impressed by the software.  The data visualization choices are limited and are candy coated just like almost every product on the market. 

What I did like about the product was that there is a free version that would accommodate roughly 90% of the users.  In the video, the interviewee says that this product is for the non-power users of Excel that need a better tool that is easy to use.  I happen to be in that power user category and know a little more than the average person about data visualization.  So my findings may not be in the majority.  Also, I did like the fact that a user can embed the visualization into a blog or web page, which can only be done in an image format with Excel.  This feature would allow people to interact with data versus just having it static.  Until I actually use the product, I can’t claim the speed of processing or ease of use.  I’m not sure it comes close to a product like Tableau, but it is free and integrated with Google.

It seems that many folks are figuring out much quicker what Microsoft is taking so long – the need to collaborate on spreadsheets and post on the web.

Here are some links to the company and its tools.

Panorama

NovaView Analytics

NovaView Dashboard

Google Gadget – Panorama

Thank you to David for the link!

What do you think?

As you may have noticed (unless feed reading) there have been some layout changes to the Support Analytics blog. During the design phase, I did a little research on layouts, which prompted me to write this post. There is much documentation and research that shows most people scan pages or screens in the form of the letter “F” for FAST. Simply put, readers start in the upper left corner and scans across to the right. The difference between online/computer literacy and classic hardcopy reading, is that the reader looks less to the right as they make their way down the page. As the source states,

At the top, users read all the way across, but as they proceed their descent quickens and horizontal sight contracts, with a slowdown around the middle of the page. Near the bottom, eyes move almost vertically, the lower-right corner of the page largely ignored. It happens quickly, too.

So what does this all mean in terms of dashboard design.  It means that just about every dashboard I’ve seen has not been created or optimized for the reader.  I don’t care about the company’s logo, probably the most overused and inefficient object in the whole dashboard.  The logo should be minimized and placed in the lower right corner if included at all.  When creating dashboards, I always put the most important metrics or KPIs for the company in the upper left corner.  When location and “real estate” are so valuable, don’t waste it with a logo or [cringe] image/junk.

Other suggestions:

• Less is almost always better to an extent – but utilize space like it’s Boardwalk & Park Place.
• Save the images for your photo album
• 3 C’s
  • Color – Use a single color for charts except for data points that you want to stand out.  For example, use a light hue for all of the bars except the current month if using a bar chart.
  • Consistency – Use a common theme for charts and graphs that compliment each other.
  • Clarity – Have a goal and purpose in mind from the start.  Don’t try to add everything, just include what’s important.
• Pretty – If you’re trying to “pretty-up” the dashboard, reread this post and pick up a copy of Information Dashboard Design.

Understanding effective dashboard design will start you on a path to superior analytics.

Recommended:

Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few

Francisco, on the XLCubed blog, announced last week that BonaVista Systems is teaming up with Stephen Few of Perceptual Edge to develop a new Excel add-in product called Excel Chart Tamer. 

Chart Tamer will do the following:

Limit the library of chart types to those that really work, thereby reducing the complexity of choosing appropriate charts

• Revise the formatting defaults of the charts to present data clearly
• Restrict chart formatting options to those that really work
• Revise the color palette to encourage the effective use of color in charts
• Provide a new interface for selecting the appropriate chart type, which will guide the user to an effective choice based on the nature of the data and purpose of the chart

Chart Tamer will work with all versions of Excel from Excel 2000 on. (source)

This is excellent news and really made my week.  Bringing the expertise of Stephen together with a company that understands data visualization and analytics using add-in products for Excel is definitely the way to go.  It’s too bad Business Objects hasn’t caught on to this outlandish and intricate concept.  Sorry, I hate to digress…  If Excel Chart Tamer is anything like MicroCharts by BonaVista Systems, I think it will be a huge success.  According to Francisco, they are expecting to have a beta version available in late October.  Stay tuned!

If you didn’t know already, I am a big fan of the DM Review publication that comes out monthly.  It covers mostly business intelligence, data management, analytics and data warehousing to name a few more popular topics.

In the September issue, there was a pretty good article by Greg Todd of Accenture called: Analytics has Become the Darling of High Performers and can be found by clicking here.  I didn’t think it was too earth shattering because I’ve already read Tom Davenport’s: Competing on Analytics, which was cited a few times in the article.

Here is an excerpt about the DM Review publication that describes its goals.

DM Review, www.dmreview.com, delivers market-leading insight through interviews, articles and columns written by the best consultants, hands-on practitioners and technology solution leaders the industry has to offer. Editorial focus is on business intelligence, performance management, analytics, integration and enterprise data warehousing as well as emerging areas that include business process management and technology architectures. Our audience is almost evenly divided between business and IT executives. DM Review has been providing thought leadership for more than 18 years. Source

Recently, Stephen Few of Perceptual edge wrote a great article on Information Visualization, which can be found here.  Other industry leading experts, like James Taylor, co-author of Smart [Enough] Systems, is a frequent contributor to DM Review.

What industry or popular publications do you read relating to your field?

Support Analytics reads DM Review, Business Monthly (local), WSJ, and BusinessWeek to name a few.

Below is a chart that I would not recommend trying to copy for a few reasons.  First, using the little person icon instead of a bar chart distorts the data and adds to the confusion of the chart. 

Next, the sort also adds to the confusion.  The chart is sorted by change in the number of jobs from the previous year and in ascending order.  I would probably have created the chart so the sort was the percentage of people in each sector and in descending order.  Visually, this would have made the chart more organized.  Optimally, in an interactive version, there would be a sort button to toggle between the change in number and percent of jobs.

Finally, I would have dropped the ,000 and just noted that the changes are in thousands.  Better yet, I may have stuck with percentages all around by going with the percentage change in jobs from the previous year.

Source: BusinessWeek, September 8th Issue

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.

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.

I just can’t seem to help myself when it comes to sharing beauties like the pie chart below with my readers.  The pie chart was found here.  Yes, it’s colorful.  Yes, it’s an example of pimping your chart.  And finally, yes, it’s extremely ineffective.  Just recreating this chart accurately was nearly impossible because of the small slices that are not even visible.

It takes entirely too long to go from legend to chart, legend to chart, legend to chart, (you get the point) to cross reference the two.  A simple bar/column chart would have been a much better choice.

Here is my version that took me longer to figure out which values referenced which slice percentages than creating the actual chart.

Suggested Reading:

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition

Visualizing Data

Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

Creating More Effective Graphs