Articles > How Fast Is Your Company
Why speedometers are a death spiral for your data.Visualizing management information is one the most intriguing, yet underrated tasks in building information systems. What a shame! If judging their value were an Olympic competition and data preparation constituted the compulsories, system/report design would still comprise the bulk of the freestyle program. In other words, you need a stellar performance in both if you want to rank among the best.
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Look, boss! Maximum space with minimal |
“Artistic” components, which have grown increasingly popular in data visualization, detract from the overall performance and the real purpose of information systems. Speedometers, which appear breathtaking at a first glance, deliver zero added value in making information easier to understand. Three-dimensional business charts, in contrast, are extremely efficient - in concealing numbers, that is. In fact, by rotating a floating pie chart to a certain angle, you can disguise any market share loss to look like a bounding success. At cpOne we work with simple, effective tools to visualize business data. Using components such as MicroCharts, we can build dashboards and reports that give users a thorough overview of the business situation - without the visual overkill of a Las Vegas night skyline.
Design minimalists, we’re not alone! Edward Tufte, Stephen Few and Rolf Hichert are just a few of the global experts who offer insightful ideas and approaches on this exciting topic. Visit their Web sites for more information on literature and seminars on data visualization. And who knows? With a little training and practice, your information system – and most importantly your decision-makers – will be ready to overcome the competition!