Week 3 - Developing Dashboard

This week lecture has taught us about developing a dashboard. Before developing a dashboard, one will need to understand the business process, this is to enable us to understand and communicate processes to management, staff and users.

Before that, I've research what is a dashboard. A dashboard has many definitions, but it all meant more or less the same thing. According to Stephen Few (2006), a dashboard is a visual display of the most information needed to achieve one or more objectives which fits entirely on a single computer screen so it can be monitor at a glance.

The definition provided by Stephew Few has mentioned what is a dashboard and the purpose of a dashboard.

To develop a good dashboard, one will need to know the business process. And to better visualise the whole business process, a process map can be used to show a clearer view of the complexity of the processes.

So, how can we create a good process map?

According to Charles McKeever, there are 7 steps:

1. Begin with a single word that describes the process to be mapped

2. Create branches for any supporting topics of the processes off your topic

3. Continue to identify branches off the first level of branches until every branch is expanded to its smallest parts

4. Review each branch to include any gaps as you analyze the entire process map

5. Include notes to detail each part within the branches

6. Move any parts that may not have been placed in the right order

7. Regularly review the document to make certain the map still matches your business processes

It will be best to use a software to map out the process for a long-term success.

This blog elaborates about mapping a good process map by Charles Mckeever. This link here shows the meaning of the symbols and shapes for the process map.

These 2 links should give us a rough guide on creating a process map.

Reference: INFORMATION DASHBOARD DESIGN: The Effective Communication of Data by Stephen Few; O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2006)