Key Features of Business Intelligence Dashboard

Introduction  

As data generation and consumption continue to soar, Business Intelligence (BI) has become more relevant in this digital world. With the data generation of more than 2.5 quintillion bytes daily, the significance of Big Data and Data Analytics can be recognized. Most business organizations are motivated to transform into data-driven companies irrespective of their size. It is estimated that data-driven businesses are five times more likely to make informed, accurate, and faster business decisions. BI helps businesses at all levels to gain a competitive edge over rivals through a data-driven decision-making process (DDDM).  

BI is the technological process and a sophisticated infrastructure that is used in data visualization and data analytics. The Business intelligence dashboard collects, stores, displays and interprets the raw data thereby converting the cluttered and unorganized data into actionable information. BI dashboard converts highly complex data into understandable information through visually attractive data charts, maps, graphs, tables, and more.  

What Is Business Intelligence Dashboard? 

A Business intelligence dashboard (BI) or data dashboard is the main integral component in any BI software or BI tool like Power BI, Tableau, etc. Besides other crucial software applications, self-service BI features, comprehensive platforms, and more, the BI dashboard is the data analysis and visualization tool that turns any raw data into useful business insights. BI dashboards show the status of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other vital business metrics through visually appealing data infographics. The unified view of data trends of KPIs along with significant business factors allows the users to think strategically and practice better decision-making. BI dashboarding is the trending BI tool that will be adopted by 33% of large-sized businesses by 2023, whereas the self-service BI is vital for 60% of R&D activities and relevant departments.  

BI dashboard, which is known for its interactive and visually attractive data infographics, also includes a more customizable interface allowing the top level of customization for every user. BI dashboards include personalized dashboard templates, departmental and functional dashboards, navigation features, icon libraries, widgets, and more for easy and real-time data customization. BI along with data and Business Analytics, work together to find the underlying patterns and predict future data trends. BI is evolving with time to include more advanced procedures and activities that help increase business performance. These advanced BI processes comprise benchmarking, querying, data mining and visualization, statistical analysis, and other important processes. These BI dashboards are designed either in a traditional or modern BI way. BI analyst creates data visualization dashboard, and in some cases, data analyst or other BI team members work on them. However, most organizations follow the self-service BI approach, which doesn’t require the involvement of professional IT teams.  

Features Of Business Intelligence Dashboard 

To provide the best understanding and smart decision-making to various shareholders, including business management, it is most important that these features of Business Intelligence are interpreted correctly. Having a better understanding of these BI dashboard key features further helps in understanding the working of a typical BI dashboard. These BI dashboards come with a set of customizable features allowing every user to create the right dashboards with correct combinations for increased value and impact. Here are some of the key features of Business Intelligence that will help you better comprehend the BI dashboards and their working:  

Data Visualization with Customizable Charts  

As already mentioned, the BI dashboard is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. With the availability of various types of data visualizations, the desired data can be monitored and configured for displaying a variety of business metrics and Data Analytics on a single screen. The particular business organization should focus on its business needs and objectives to arrive at the right BI tool that fully harnesses the data. Customization is an important feature to consider before opting for the specific BI tool.  

Data Filters  

For easy and quick data customization, data filters come to the rescue. These filters create the sub-dashboards within the main BI dashboard for a more focused view. A variety of data filters like date, region, time, geographical location, department, currency, revenue, products, and other settings allow different views of data within the main dashboard.  

Data filters solve the hassle of creating whole new dashboards and come in handy for any organization. Different filters for data comparisons can be applied effortlessly. 

Drill-Downs and Drill-Throughs  

Although they seem similar, drill-downs are used to view specific KPI or business parameters while drill-throughs are used to view the additional or different set of metrics relevant to the specific KPI.  

Data Tables and Chart Zoom  

Data tables present the information in a tabular form containing a variety of color codings and other graphical options to highlight significant points and events. Either to highlight a profit or loss, color coding is used accordingly. Chart zoom is yet another useful feature that allows users to easily view the data in the smallest part of time possible by zooming on the relevant chart.  

Intuitive Query Builder  

Various BI tools and dashboards are equipped with query builders where business teams can join together in one place. This unified query builder allows the teams to build queries and obtain answers within no time.  

Forecasting  

BI dashboards use advanced mathematical concepts to interpret historical data and forecast future trends. This further helps in understanding the graph and behavior of a particular KPI or set of KPIs, especially in significant events such as new product launches, sales graphs in a specific season of time, etc.  

Text Boxes oo 

Aiming to provide a clear understanding of the BI dashboard, the text boxes and pop-up tooltips explain the data on screen or display additional information about data analytics results.  

Real-Time Updates  

For including the effect of daily or weekly business metrics on the present BI dashboard, real-time updates are the way. By activating the automatic updates, the data visualization dashboard can be the latest updated version always. 

Business Intelligence Dashboard Best Practices 

The full potential of the BI dashboard can be experienced only when it is used in the right way. Using the relevant features of BI with the right dashboard type by following the best practices will provide the best data visualization possible. A well-designed BI dashboard is essential for any company since it seamlessly displays a variety of components and business metrics at the same time that provides actionable data analysis for informed decision-making. Let’s take a look at best practices of BI dashboard that are to be followed and are extremely helpful in designing simple yet effective dashboards:  

• Considering the targeted audience for the best-designed dashboard  
• Simple presentation with effective results  
• Choosing the right and suitable BI dashboard  
• Identifying and reporting the significant KPIs  
• Designing the interactive and collaborative dashboards 

• Clutter-free and best color combination dashboards  
• Keeping the BI dashboards up to date for informed decision-making  
• Using the best possible data filters whenever needed  
• Knowing different types of data visualizations and dashboards along with the clear knowledge of using the suitable one in the right situation 

Benefits Of Business Intelligence Dashboard 

With the increased number of organizations aiming to transform into data-driven forces, it is evident that BI dashboards are the critical technological tools that are most needed. Businesses can derive the maximum value possible from big data, data warehouses, and more by implementing well-designed BI dashboards. The power of interactive BI dashboards is stronger than that of static reports, boring spreadsheets, and tables. The business performance, along with other business benefits, can be increased drastically when these BI dashboards are used in the right way. Some of the important benefits of BI dashboards are as follows:  

• Accurate, informed, and faster decision-making process by following DDDM  
• Interactive data results in better understanding and strategic planning  
• Different dashboard types for a variety of targeted audiences  
• Presentation of in-depth data in simple interactive dashboards which unskilled users can easily understand 

• Identifying and preventing the major business bottlenecks  
• Increased business performance and efficiency  
• Less wastage of resources and effective usage of labor  
• Forecasting trends and patterns  
• Real-time business insights and updates  

• Increased business teams performance and alignment  
• Customisable data dashboards according to the specific business needs  

While the benefits outweigh the drawbacks of BI dashboards, these drawbacks are to be considered and possibly to be reduced while implementing and maintaining the BI dashboards to arrive at well-designed and engaging dashboards.  

• Fully cluttered and unappealing dashboards  
• Not using the dashboards in the right way and purpose  

• Presenting too much information than needed  
• Not including the key data to be reported  
• Giving irrelevant data leads to inaccurate decisions 

Examples Of Business Intelligence Dashboard 

Nowadays,  Business Intelligence dashboards are increasing their prevalence in the IT space. A well-designed and interactive BI dashboard offers informed decision-making capability whenever a user wants to visualize a highly complex data set. The majority of organizations are implementing various operational and functional BI dashboards at both individual department level and whole entity level. Some of the famous BI dashboard tools include Power BI, Tableau, Zoho, etc. The Power BI dashboard designs change according to the specific department and business purpose. Here are some of the common examples of Power BI dashboards and their applications in the real-life business world.  

Finance  

To achieve the cost-controlling and cost-cutting measures, these finance dashboards are used in a simple yet effective way. The finance team uses these dashboards to analyze project procurements, cost control measures, minimize risk, increase profits, etc.  

Sales And Marketing  

Designed based on relevant and significant KPIs, sales and marketing dashboards are used by a wide range of users, including corporate executives, sales and marketing teams, managers, etc. The sale dashboard compares the estimated or budgeted sales with actual sales to identify potential bottlenecks. Likewise, a marketing dashboard includes various marketing metrics like costs, lead generation, etc.  

Human Resources  

An overall idea regarding the entity’s workforce, salary trends, demographics, employee turnover ratio, the cost to the company, training programs, and many more are given by the HR dashboards.  

Operational Dashboards 

Day-to-day business operations and processes are tracked down for monitoring and controlling purposes. Operational dashboards report the data on daily business processes such as plant output, power consumption, depreciation, etc. These help in acting as a checklist for daily operational goals and in preventing potential bottlenecks.  

Significant Dashboards  

There are various dashboard types and designs which may vary based on the type of entity. However, here are common significant dashboards used widely across major industries that are inclusive but not restricted: 

• IT Dashboards  
• Project Dashboards 
• Supply Chain Dashboards  
• Management Dashboards  
• Logistics Dashboards  

• Employee Performance Dashboards  
• Customer Service Team Dashboards  

Conclusion  

A post-covid effect on most businesses is evident given the latest emerging technology trends. It is estimated that 7 out of 10 businesses identify data as a very important resource and to be harnessed in the right way with suitable BI tools. BI dashboards are the ultimate technological tools for data visualization, analytics, and mining. The revolution of BI tools combined with Big Data and Data Analytics is highly anticipated. Considering the ever-increasing demand for BI tools and dashboards, the demand for BI professionals with relevant knowledge and skills is increasing exponentially. Did you know? More than 40% of IT professionals need upskilling to be relevant in the market. Gain in-demand skills and be a future leader by joining UNext Jigsaw for Business Analytics Course and other in-demand courses. Redefine your career with UNext Jigsaw now!