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Dashboards are the interfaces by which users encounter the numbers and graphics that are important to them. It's important that they be concise so that needed information can be found quickly. The making of effective dashboards is an art and science which has been the subject of several books.

The typical complaint is that dashboards often provide more flash, dazzle and eye-candy entertainment than useful information. One author coined the term "dancing bear dashboards" to describe them. Cute displays lose their sparkle in a few days. An effective dashboard usefully summarizes real information. Simplicity is much preferred. The real goal of a dashboard is to communicate.

The first challenge in designing an effective dashboard is to get the right information on it. The information has to fit the viewer's function. Sales staff may need a different information set than service managers, although all staff may find some kinds of information useful. The second challenge is to find ways to fit needed information on a single screen or easily managed sets of screens so the user can see what they need to see quickly. The third challenge is to get the information in a way that tells a story at a glance.

Time dependent information in graphical form, designed to show progress or trends on key performance indicators, are very popular components of many dashboards. These graphs can be very confusing when data points are graphed in rough form. In order to smooth out confusing random variation, the data should be subjected to running averages to show the trends before the data is presented.

Often data presentation has to enable the user to "drill down" into a graphed average to view its components or view regions of data points to analyze a trend or state of affairs in detail. Dashboards should also contain necessary warnings or caution signals. Deadlines and timelines should be included in easy to understand formats.

Many times the most useful information is best presented simple tabular format. Often dashboards can integrate all or parts of the information employees use every day, like contact lists or time tables. These tables should be kept up to date and accessible. The end-user should be able to correct or modify the tabular information as they need to.

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