What do business intelligence dashboards and Tinder dates have in common?

Heading off on a Tinder date, you’d be wise to style your hair, wear something smart, and think about what you want to say. Why? Because first impressions last. They can be make or break, and haunt you if you get it wrong. The same applies to building business intelligence dashboards – they need to look sharp, tell a good story, and be a joy to be around.

A typical BI application may consist of many dashboards or reports, but it’s the landing page where you set the scene, and send the user off on their journey. If you get this piece wrong your user risks being disorientated, and wandering without much direction.

Build a Qlik landing page that hits the spot. Here are the 4 key business questions I want answered on a BI landing page – along with the intended outcome.

#1.

Business Question: What happened? (focus your KPIs on the most recent/relevant period)

Intended Outcome: I know where we stand on key metrics that we use to asses the health of our business.

#2.

Business Question: How did we get here? (show trending up to today)

Intended Outcome: I know if we’re on the way up, the way down, or if this trend is cyclical/seasonal/repetitive etc.

#3.

Business Question: How are we performing against our benchmarks? (could be targets, budget, forecast, prior periods, industry benchmarks etc.)

Intended Outcome: I know if we’re we’re performing well or poorly, if we’re under or over based on the benchmark that matters (the most important/relevant benchmark will always differ from company to company, industry to industry, but remember ‘performance’ is always a relative measure).

#4.

Business Question: What are the key drivers of this trend/movement/performance (which product category, which sales territory, which week etc.)

Intended Outcome: I know what to go and investigate – I have some direction and purpose as I continue to navigate through the application.

If you can tackle these 4 business questions on your landing page your users will love you for it, and hey……you might even get a second date!