OVERCOMING CHARTAPHOBIA

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1 OVERCOMING CHARTAPHOBIA Moving Your Organization Toward Interesting and Enlightening Data Viz Meagan Longoria SQL Saturday #396

2 Getting Started Slides are on my blog. Questions and comments are expected and welcome throughout the presentation. Who are you?

3 Who Am I and What Am I Doing Here? Business Intelligence Consultant with BlueGranite Organizer of SQL Saturday Kansas City October 3, 2015 Blog: LinkedIn:

4 How Many Times Have You Had To Build This? (Plain Tabular Report)

5 Or This? (Big Data)

7 What s the Big Deal? You are doing yourself and your customers (internal or external) a disservice if you always just make a table of data. Data viz is giving the user information to make a decision or perform a task. The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see. - John Tukey. Data viz can change companies and lives by enabling data-driven decisions.

8 Snow Cholera Map

9 Get the Scoop Who is your audience? (Executives? Analysts? Website users?) Helps determine needs, priorities, and level of detail What metrics are important? What is the dimensionality? Is the report operational, analytical, or a mix of both?

10 You ll Never Guess What Happens Next What do they do with the data/information? Sometimes reports are step 1 in a process. What is next? Feed into another system? Combine with data from another system? Institutional knowledge (if x is over 25 I do this ) Borrow a page from the 5 Whys We re developers. We automate repetitive and tedious things. Can we add more value? Add predictive or prescriptive capabilities? Push alerts?

11 You ll Never Guess What Happens Next What do they do with the data/information? Sometimes Are reports you trying are to step build 1 a in report a process. or What is next? Feed dashboard into another in place system? of a Combine self-service with BI data from another system? model? Institutional knowledge (if x is over 25 I do this ) Borrow a page from the 5 Whys We re developers. We automate repetitive and tedious things. Can we add more value? Add predictive or prescriptive capabilities? Push alerts?

success criteria Understand tools, resources, timelines Validate Design Clarify and

12 Begin the Process Does it add value? Is it correct? Does it meet success criteria? Plan Get funding/approval Identify users to provide feedback Gather requirements and success criteria Understand tools, resources, timelines Validate Design Clarify and optimize data viz Demo or explain interactivity Prototype Define the data Make a bus matrix Whiteboard

13 Design: Data Definition

14 Design: Bus Matrix Beware of inferred relationships in flat data sets Think like the user in terms of relationships and business attributes

15 Design: Viz Design Documentation No long requirements docs. Life is too short and the business changes too quickly.

16 Design: Whiteboard Are you making a single chart, a report, or a dashboard? Come up with high-level ideas and place them on your canvas What specific items of information should be displayed? What does each of these items tell you, and why is that important? At what level of summary or detail should the information be expressed?

17 Design: Dashboards Which items of information are most important for achieving your objectives? What are the logical groupings that could be used to organize items of information on the dashboard? In which of these groups does each item belong? What are the most useful comparisons that will allow you to see these items of information in meaningful context? For instance, if one of the measures your dashboard displays is revenue, do you have targets or historical data that could also be displayed to make revenue more meaningful?

18 Design: Dashboards Two common thoughts on dashboard layout: Fibonnacci spiral Quadrants of importance

19 Design: Choose the Right Chart

20 Check Yourself Are the groupings of information obvious? Are the key metrics being featured adequately? Can you easily spot the items that need attention? Is enough information being displayed about the items that need attention to decide whether you must respond by taking action?

21 Prototype: Technical Items to Consider Average or minimum screen resolution/size of users Capabilities of the reporting tool Method of access (mobile?)

22 Optimize Your Data Viz Limits of working memory: 3 chunks at a time Encoding data for rapid perception using preattentive attributes Gestalt principles of visual perception

23 More Tips If you don t want to include large graphs, consider bullet graphs and sparklines to provide visual context Use enough descriptive text to provide necessary context Put supplementary information within reach Reduce information to what's essential Make the experience aesthetically pleasing

24 Color: Changing colors indicates a difference Choose appropriate and meaningful colors

25 Color palettes Categorical Sequential Diverging Light Medium Dark

26 Color palettes Categorical Sequential Diverging PLEASE STOP SCREAMING AT ME! Light Medium Dark

27 Remember This Unless you are the main user, you are not building this data viz for you. Build your data viz to provide the most to your users. Do not overpromise with your prototype and under deliver with your final product. If you ve already decided upon a technology, don t promise features (chart types, interactivity) that can t be made with it. The one true measure of success is adoption/usage.

28 Links for Further Learning Stephen Few/Perceptual Edge blog: Paul Turley - Transforming Reporting Requirements Into a Visual Masterpiece: Preattentive Features and Tasks video: Data Viz Done Right: A Sample SSRS Dashboard and Some Tips & Tricks:

29 Questions and Final Comments Feel free to contact me with questions or feedback. Meagan Longoria Business Intelligence Consultant Blog: datasavvy.wordpress.com LinkedIn: Company Website:

Reporting Services Tips for the Stephen Few Fan

Reporting Services Tips for the Stephen Few Fan Meagan Longoria August 4, 2012 Presentation Information A copy of the presentation as well as links to sources and other helpful articles is posted on Google+.