Building A Dashboard Data System

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Building A Dashboard Data System

• A Work in Progress

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Initial Planning Steps

• Chose Credible Data Sources
• Gather Data
• Verify Numbers
• Start with a Design in Mind
• Choose Data Launch Platform

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Phase I Prototype
Mrs. Dawn Wood, graduate assistant to Strategic
Research and Analysis, gathered data and
definitions from available resources such as the
VSU Data Warehouse, USG1-2-3 and NSSE websites
and spent hours studying technical manuals for
Visual Basic software.
An initial dashboard was built using Excel and
macros. As with the later version of our gauge
project, target values were programmed in so that
the cell color was either red, yellow or green.
Red reflected values below target, yellow was
within range and green was on or above benchmark
values. The team met weekly until the first
iteration of the project was complete.
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Phase II User Input
University Cabinet members were presented with
the prototype and asked for input on content.
Their ideas were implemented only if they were
quantifiable and easily lent themselves to target
measurement. Strategic Indicators were
included for each business area in this version
of the project.
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Phase III Enterprise Application Systems

• With the addition of a computer programmer in
  Strategic Research and Analysis, the project
  changed to take advantage of the Enterprise
  Application Systems already in place at VSU.
• A group of programmers began work in earnest on
  building gauges for the identified indicators
  using Oracle Discoverer. Programming team
  members included Brian Haugabrook, Ralph Gosnell
  of Information Technology and Barbara Tucker from
  Strategic Research Analysis.
• The group continued on the established meeting
  schedule. Changes to the design and layout of
  information were made as the project expanded
  weekly.

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Discoverer Portal Gauges
The Discoverer gauge was visually more
interesting than a color coded spreadsheet but we
were limited in our ability to control title and
gauge information placement. The Discoverer
system was also strangely fond of using k in
the numbers that appeared on the gauge itself.
Members of the programming team were certain that
a more flexible gauge was out there we just had
to find it
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Enter HTML DB
Members of the team liked this version of the
dial sweep gauge in HTML DB. We felt that it gave
a better visual approach to displaying the data.
With the small amount of actual code at the
top we could render a scaled vector graphic that
pleased even the most discerning eye on our team.

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Flexible Features of HTML DB
Upper and lower benchmarks can be coded into the
gauge so that current university system goals are
reflected in the image. Additionally, font
sizes and placement for all attributes of the
gauge as well as color and opacity of the dial
sweep can all be controlled in the coding
process. An SVG image is created by using
algorithms to render the gauge. It takes up less
storage space than a JPEG image and indicators
are calculated on-the-fly.
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Features of VSUs Dashboard Data System
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Help Links to Definitions for Indicators
Since definition means everything when querying
a database, we included links to a page with
corresponding definitions at the bottom of each
gauge.
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Easy Access to Trend Data
Dashboard gauges are, purposefully, only current
data. Trend data are on a Detail link that
appears underneath some gauges. The link takes
the user to a worksheet and/or graph under the
Reports tab. Most worksheets can be pivoted for
any of the data indicators on the drill down list
and for different year ranges.
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Access to Program Review Data
The data in the enterprise application system
will be made available to Department Heads on a
secured access basis. The responsible party will
have access only to data associated with his or
her program. This will allow ease of access to
necessary data to answer those pesky Program
Review questions.
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Future Goals

• Add Strategic Indicators for all Business Areas
  of VSU
• Customized Views of Data
• User Defined Querying Capability
• Tied in with Luminis