The decision dashboard
A steering screen: the indicator (definition, target, threshold, period), the three levels of decision, the reading order of a screen, the context of every figure and the difference between an indicator that helps decide and a flattering figure.
- 25 cards
- 6 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- The numbers
- Scenarios
- Understand
A few cards from the deck
Dashboard: what is it?
Show the answer
A screen that gathers a few indicators chosen for one person and one decision, readable at a glance and refreshed regularly.
It is judged by what it lets someone decide, not by how many figures it shows: whatever helps no decision is removed.
The conversion rate's indicator sheet sets a 4% target and a 3% alert threshold. This month the rate is 3.4%. How should the screen present it?
- To watch: below target, above the threshold
- Green: it stays above the 3% alert threshold
- Alert: it does not reach the 4% target that was set
- Green: it is only 0.6 points short of the target
Show the answer
To watch: below target, above the threshold
The target says what is aimed at, the threshold says when to react. Between the two, the indicator is neither good nor alarming: you watch it. Confusing target and threshold means either crying wolf or missing the drift.
For an indicator to be read without comment, it comes with a … (the value aimed at) and a … (the value from which one reacts).
Show the answer
For an indicator to be read without comment, it comes with a target (the value aimed at) and a threshold (the value from which one reacts).
Without a target, you cannot tell whether 5% is good; without a threshold, you cannot tell when to act. Both turn a figure into a signal.
Key performance indicator (KPI): what is it?
Show the answer
A numerical measure of a result that matters for a goal, defined with its formula, its period, its target and its alert threshold.
A bare figure says nothing: a 5% conversion rate is neither good nor bad until you know over which period, against which target and below which threshold you react.