Don’t Cram and Jam

There is so much data available and so many pretty charts that you can make but do you really need to see all of them? Do you really need to see all of them on the first page? Don’t cram and jam all of the charts on the same page. Below are some items to think about to stop the cram and jam from happening:

• Go through the data and determine which charts you and your organization believe would provide the most value.
• Determine which charts provide the most actionable data.
• Determine which charts provide the trending information you want to see
• Story board the dashboard first to determine the placement of the most critical charts first
• Line up the relevant charts together
• Allow the user the ability to enable or disable data to be shown on the chart
• Before you publish your dashboard think ask yourself: Did I K.I.S.S?

Example of a TQP chart that allows the user to select/deselect what items to be shown on the chart, which allows the data to be visible and allows the user to focus on key items.