INTRODUCTION – Business Intelligence Visualizations
This very broad course takes participants over all the foundation aspects of Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards. The course emphasizes how BI dashboards differ from other data analytic dashboards. The course begins with an in-depth peeling into the main elements that drive BI dashboards: what they are, how they are designed, and where they feature in the whole data analysis network. Participants will now know what makes BI dashboards unique and be able to unlock their potential as user-friendly and action-oriented data-driven insight tools.
Central in course education will be dynamic visualization as an essential ingredient for addressing crucial business questions. Learning will include principles of developing visual displays that do not merely demystify tricky data but that commit to bending their shapes with business changes. These dynamic visualization dynamics will empower learners to have the know-how of designing such dashboards that transform the mere static display of data into exceptionally responsive, user-oriented portals for relevant analysis.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze BI Visualizations: Learn more about how BI visuals answer specific business questions and analyze the gains and pains in designing these different approaches.
- Design Mockups: Produce low-fid mock-ups in order to take your best structure for planning BI visualization at this stage.
- Explore Dashboard Tools: Have some hands-on experience creating and customizing a variety of building and dashboarding tools.
- Answer Business Questions: Build dashboards that clearly articulate and accurately represent the organizational question.
- Communicate Insights: Communicate the messages and interpretation from the dashboard with numbers.
- Plan and Build Dashboards: Produce very detailed plans and mockups for building dynamic and functional da.
PRACTICE QUIZ: TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: DATA VISUALIZATIONS AND DASHBOARDS
1. A business intelligence professional wants to answer ongoing business questions, and these answers are likely to change over time. Therefore, they choose to use dynamic visualizations in their dashboard. In this situation, what is the primary benefit of dynamic visualizations?
- They are interactive. (CORRECT)
- They are printed.
- They are constant.
- They are static.
Correct: Dynamic viewing is, in fact, an interactive tool that develops over time and allows BI specialists to evaluate information and make analyses in connection with answering important ongoing questions in business.
2. What is the primary goal of the stories told by dashboards?
- To provide important information about what’s currently happening (CORRECT)
- To display raw data as comprehensively as possible
- To gather and present all available data about a single metric
- To provide important information about what previously happened
Correct: The dashboards give stories in ways that tell how they mainly give meaning to live critical activities and trends.
3. Who typically uses business intelligence tools in order to make informed decisions?
- Customers
- Business intelligence professionals
- Stakeholders (CORRECT)
- Data governance professionals
Correct: Business intelligence tools are relied upon by stakeholders to make wise and well-informed data decisions.
PRACTICE QUIZ: TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: PLANNING A DASHBOARD
1. What is the term for a simple draft of a visualization that is used when planning a dashboard?
- Summary table
- Low-fidelity mockup (CORRECT)
- Gauge chart
- Data model
Correct: A low-fidelity mockup is the most basic early draft of a visualization used during the planning stage of a dashboard-or any other such tool-for outlining its structure and design.
2. Fill in the blank: If a business intelligence professional creates a dashboard without considering the _____, there is likely to be an audience problem.
- Time period
- Users (CORRECT)
- Hardware
- Software
Correct: An audience problem may arise if a business intelligence person builds a dashboard without thought being given to the end-users of that dashboard; the dashboard will not meet the needs or expectations of those users.
3. A business intelligence team collects and prepares data for a presentation to stakeholders. Then, they consider available visualization tools, as well as the team’s user interfaces and workstreams. In this situation, what is the primary purpose of the visualization tools?
- To represent and communicate data insights (CORRECT)
- To critique business needs
- To confirm that the data is compatible
- To evaluate dashboard progress
Correct: Transforms data into visual interpretation, presents that easy-to-interpret view on a dashboard, so that users can quickly analyze the data and make wise decisions.
QUIZ: MODULE 1 CHALLENGE
1. Which of the following statements correctly describes business intelligence visualizations? Select all that apply.
- The data used in business intelligence visualizations is static.
- The data used in business intelligence visualizations continuously updates in order to lend new insights. (CORRECT)
- Business intelligence visualizations are built, designed, and maintained over time. (CORRECT)
- Business intelligence visualizations are dynamic. (CORRECT)
2. Fill in the blank: Business intelligence professionals constantly improve their dashboards in order to enable users to _____ on their own.
- Maintain datasets
- Build dashboards
- Troubleshoot data transfer
- Interpret data (CORRECT)
3. What are some key benefits of sharing a low-fidelity mockup with dashboard users? Select all that apply.
- Create better static reports
- Avoid potential errors (CORRECT)
- Find and rectify incorrect assumptions (CORRECT)
- Enhance collaboration and get feedback (CORRECT)
4. A dashboard is running slowly because it tracks and features more data than necessary. What type of problem is occurring?
- Data problem (CORRECT)
- Visualization problem
- Tool problem
- Audience problem
5. A company’s server keeps crashing because too many people are editing the same visualization. What type of problem is this company experiencing?
- Visualization problem
- Tool problem (CORRECT)
- Data problem
- Audience problem
6. A dashboard includes metrics that are irrelevant to users. What type of problem needs to be fixed?
- Visualization problem
- Tool problem
- Data problem
- Audience problem (CORRECT)
7. Fill in the blank: One strategy to avoid _____ problems involves considering the needs of different team members when building a single dashboard for multiple users.
- Audience (CORRECT)
- Maturity
- Data
- Tool
8. What steps do business intelligence professionals take when empowering users to interpret dashboard data on their own? Select all that apply.
- Analyze the data and present findings
- Determine what the dashboard needs to do (CORRECT)
- Maintain and improve the dashboard (CORRECT)
- Build the appropriate tool (CORRECT)
9. A business intelligence professional is collaborating with dashboard users in order to find and rectify incorrect assumptions. What tool will enable them to improve this process?
- Data visualization
- Data storytelling
- Low-fidelity mockup (CORRECT)
- Hypothesis testing
10. Which of the following issues are examples of tool problems? Select all that apply.
- A dashboard is ineffective because it includes incorrect datasets.
- A server crashes because too many people are editing the same visualization. (CORRECT)
- Systems are overwhelmed because of the volume of metrics being tracked. (CORRECT)
- The wrong software or hardware was selected for the project. (CORRECT)
11. Which of the following statements correctly describe data analytics and business intelligence visualizations? Select all that apply.
- Data analytics visualizations are used to monitor data that is relevant to an ongoing business question.
- Business intelligence visualizations are used to represent data that is relevant to a single business decision.
- Business intelligence visualizations are used to monitor data that is relevant to an ongoing business question. (CORRECT)
- Data analytics visualizations are used to represent data that is relevant to a single business question. (CORRECT)
12. A business intelligence professional discovers that the dashboard they created is missing critical information that stakeholders need. What type of problem is occurring?
- Audience problem
- Visualization problem
- Data problem (CORRECT)
- Tool problem
13. Which of the following issues are examples of audience problems? Select all that apply.
- The business intelligence team selected a software that is not approved by their company.
- Necessary dashboard data is inaccessible and therefore cannot be imported.
- A dashboard includes private information that users are not permitted to access. (CORRECT)
- A dashboard includes metrics that are irrelevant to users. (CORRECT)
14. Fill in the blank: One strategy to avoid data problems involves planning how dashboard data will be _____ and accessed.
- Cleaned
- Analyzed
- Imported (CORRECT)
- Filtered
15. Which of the following statements correctly describe data analytics and business intelligence visualizations? Select all that apply.
- Stakeholders use the insights from business intelligence visualizations to make a single business decision.
- Stakeholders use the insights from data analytics visualizations to make decisions both now and in the future.
- Stakeholders use the insights from data analytics visualizations to make a single business decision. (CORRECT)
- Stakeholders use the insights from business intelligence visualizations to make decisions both now and in the future. (CORRECT)
16. In order to empower stakeholders, a business intelligence professional determines what their dashboard needs to do. What other steps are taken to help dashboard users interpret data on their own? Select all that apply.
- Analyze dashboard data and present findings
- Maintain the dashboard (CORRECT)
- Improve the dashboard (CORRECT)
- Build the appropriate dashboard tool (CORRECT)
17. At what point in the dashboard-iteration process do business intelligence professionals create low-fidelity mockups?
- During the visualization design process
- During the planning and evaluation stages (CORRECT)
- During data analysis
- During data transfer
18. A company’s systems are overwhelmed because of the volume of metrics being tracked by their dashboards. What type of problem is this company experiencing?
- Data problem
- Audience problem
- Tool problem (CORRECT)
- Visualization problem
19. Which of the following statements correctly describe data analytics and business intelligence visualizations? Select all that apply.
- Data analytics visualizations are used to monitor data that is relevant to an ongoing business question.
- Business intelligence visualizations are used to represent data that is relevant to a single business decision.
- Business intelligence visualizations are used to monitor data that is relevant to an ongoing business question. (CORRECT)
- Data analytics visualizations are used to represent data that is relevant to a single business question. (CORRECT)
20. Why might a business intelligence professional choose to use a dynamic visualization in a dashboard?
- They want data in the visualization to remain constant.
- They want the visualization to shift from general to more specific information.
- They want the visualization to be interactive or change over time. (CORRECT)
- They want the visualization to be annotated.
Correct: A business intelligence professional might choose to use a dynamic visualization if they want it to be interactive or change over time.
21. A company’s servers are overwhelmed because they are being used to track too many key performance indicators. What type of problem is this company experiencing?
- Tool problem (CORRECT)
- Data problem
- Security problem
- Audience problem
Correct: This organization is facing a problem with the tool, that is a dashboard problem with some hardware or software, interfering with the functioning or performance of the dashboard.
CONCLUSION – Business Intelligence Visualizations
This course is a thorough introduction to the concepts and the application of Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards. What the course will ensure for a student is that he has gained complete know-how on how BI dashboards have differentiated themselves for the purposes of data analytics for the effective deployment of such tools. Deep visualizations have prepared students to develop dashboards that would open up for counterpoint with static views in an interactive environment for the analysis of complex data.
One of the most significant lessons taken from the course is the understanding that interactivity with the dashboard is an advantage for the stakeholder. The rounded-out skills achieved around interactivity now allow users to engage with data more fruitfully for parenting discussions around revealing insights, testing hypotheses, and guiding decisions. Upon completing the course, students are ready to create eye-catching BI dashboards and will also be able to support dynamic interactivity to effect powerful data-oriented decision-making in their institutions.