Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business
by Wayne W. Eckerson
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Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780471778639
ISBN: 047177863X
Label: John Wiley & Sons
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 301
Publication Date: 2006-01
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Studio: John Wiley & Sons
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: How to use information to energize your goals and strategy.
Comment: Modern corporations collect vast amounts of data. Unfortunately, they too often mistake having massive amounts of data for having useful and actionable information. They are not the same thing. Even when a company knows how to transform data into usable information, there are still steps left to take that that information and make it accessible and usable throughout the organization in a manageable and coordinated way.
Wayne Eckerson explains how to use performance dashboards to display information on screens that help people do their job, understand where they are against the company's strategic objectives and goals, and give them the ability to drill down into the data as required by their job. These screens should be designed to be simple to read and understand (he says they should be designed with for a 12 year old), but empowering for their users.
There are three broad types of performance dashboards: Operational, Tactical, and Strategic. These must be handled differently, and I think the author does a great job in explaining how you should implement these. Each type gets a case study of a company that shows the reasons and methods for the implementation.
This book is for more for technical types, but it should also be looked at by the business types involved with driving and supporting such an initiative. I also appreciated Eckerson's emphasis on the a thaw between the usual tensions between the IT and Business teams.
A helpful and useful book.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Insightful material on Performance Dashboards
Comment: Overall this is a great book, which is extremely well presented... A key point to take home is, that dashboards are not just fancy displays with graphs/ RYG lights, but a set of applications to monitor, measure and manage business performance, with a solid business intelligence and integration infrastructure.... Also, author's point of views on different types of dashboards (strategic, tactical and operational), and the types of audience for each of these types, and their analysis requirements were very insightful.. This coupled with BI maturity model that the author presents, is an invaluable guide for organizations to assess their current state, and provide the roadmap for thier performance management needs... Three detailed case studies have been presented to explain three types of dashboards.
A lot of tricks and tips throughout the book... Strongly recommend this book...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quo vadis?
Comment:
For purposes of discussion, pretend that your organization is a vehicle within which you and your associates travel en route to a series of destinations; for example, various stages of progressively improved operational efficiency and progressively increased profitability. One key question arises: How well is your vehicle performing?
The three "dashboards" (i.e. operational, tactical, and strategic) that Wayne Eckerson offers in this volume can help to answer that question. "The monitoring application conveys critical information at a glance using timely and relevant data, usually with graphical elements; the analysis application lets users analyze and explore performance data across multiple dimensions and at different levels of detail to get at the root cause of problems and issues; the management application fosters communication among executives, managers, and staff and gives executives continuous feedback across a range of critical activities, enabling them to `steer' their organizations in the right direction."
The ultimate success of the cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system which Eckerson discusses in this book depends on several factors: sufficient leadership and resources at all levels of implementation, correct and consistent application of the right metrics, a compelling graphical user interface, and contingency planning which ensures user adoption while driving the organizational changes.
I especially appreciate Eckerson's provision of three mini case studies that illustrate how -- in real-world situations - the three performance "dashboards" can achieve the desired objectives. Specifically, those that are operational (Quicken Loans, Inc., pages 127-141), those which are tactical (International Truck and Engine Corp., pages 143-158), and those which are strategic (Hewlett Packard Co., pages 159-177). I also appreciate the material provided in Part Three (Critical Success Factors: Tips from the Trenches) as Eckerson correlates various multilayered applications built on business intelligence and data integration infrastructure that enables any organization (regardless of size or nature) to measure, monitor, and manage business performance more effectively.
All executives recognize the importance of accurate and consistent measurement of what really matters. Obviously, the "what" varies (sometimes significantly) from one organization to another. In my opinion, the three performance "dashboards" that Eckerson recommends can be of substantial benefit, whatever the given "what" may be but if - and only if - the aforementioned success factors are present. To repeat, they are: sufficient leadership and resources at all levels of implementation, correct and consistent application of the right metrics, a compelling graphical user interface, and contingency planning which ensures user adoption while driving the organizational changes.
This book is by no means an "easy read" but it will generously reward those who absorb and digest its material with appropriate care. Then what? He fully understands how difficult it is to ensure adoption by others, and, to manage performance effectively throughout the given enterprise. In the final chapter, Eckerson notes that performance dashboards can easily backfire and cause performance to decline or stall instead of climb. He then identifies what he characterizes as eight cardinal sins " that can turn a performance dashboard into a performance quagmire." How to avoid them? Eckerson offers nine strategies to ensure adoption and eight strategies to manage performance.
I highly recommend this brilliant book as well as Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement. Both are eminently worthy of thoughtful and rigorous consideration. However, that said, I also offer a caveat expressed by Peter Drucker in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." Invoking again the "vehicle" metaphor introduced in the first paragraph of this brief commentary, I presume to suggest that if you and your companions don't know where you are going, "any road will get you there."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Performance Dashboards
Comment: The first two-thirds of the book were extremely disappointing and added very little value to the understanding of how to create effective dashboards. Instead, the author spent far too much time discussing IT concepts and buzzwords such as datamarts, multidimensional databases, operational data stores and OLAP tools. Much of the book reads as a platform for why one needs to invest in IT to help manage your business performance. It wasn't until the final third of the book that some useful concepts were explored regarding how a non-IT person should go about developing a solid performance dashboard.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must read for keen Performance Management specialists and Managers
Comment: The book delivered exactly what I have expected from it. It provides clear picture about how Performance Dashboards work. It is very well structured, blends theory with experience and targets keen developers and users.
When I purchased the book, I was asked to put forward a proposal for a comprehensive Performance Management system. I really benefited from the systematic approach used to build such system.
It recommend it for anyone who is implementing performance management system, or even business process management systems which also provides performance dashboards of the automated processes.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: How to use information to energize your goals and strategy.
Comment: Modern corporations collect vast amounts of data. Unfortunately, they too often mistake having massive amounts of data for having useful and actionable information. They are not the same thing. Even when a company knows how to transform data into usable information, there are still steps left to take that that information and make it accessible and usable throughout the organization in a manageable and coordinated way.
Wayne Eckerson explains how to use performance dashboards to display information on screens that help people do their job, understand where they are against the company's strategic objectives and goals, and give them the ability to drill down into the data as required by their job. These screens should be designed to be simple to read and understand (he says they should be designed with for a 12 year old), but empowering for their users.
There are three broad types of performance dashboards: Operational, Tactical, and Strategic. These must be handled differently, and I think the author does a great job in explaining how you should implement these. Each type gets a case study of a company that shows the reasons and methods for the implementation.
This book is for more for technical types, but it should also be looked at by the business types involved with driving and supporting such an initiative. I also appreciated Eckerson's emphasis on the a thaw between the usual tensions between the IT and Business teams.
A helpful and useful book.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Customer Rating:
Summary: Insightful material on Performance Dashboards
Comment: Overall this is a great book, which is extremely well presented... A key point to take home is, that dashboards are not just fancy displays with graphs/ RYG lights, but a set of applications to monitor, measure and manage business performance, with a solid business intelligence and integration infrastructure.... Also, author's point of views on different types of dashboards (strategic, tactical and operational), and the types of audience for each of these types, and their analysis requirements were very insightful.. This coupled with BI maturity model that the author presents, is an invaluable guide for organizations to assess their current state, and provide the roadmap for thier performance management needs... Three detailed case studies have been presented to explain three types of dashboards.
A lot of tricks and tips throughout the book... Strongly recommend this book...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quo vadis?
Comment:
For purposes of discussion, pretend that your organization is a vehicle within which you and your associates travel en route to a series of destinations; for example, various stages of progressively improved operational efficiency and progressively increased profitability. One key question arises: How well is your vehicle performing?
The three "dashboards" (i.e. operational, tactical, and strategic) that Wayne Eckerson offers in this volume can help to answer that question. "The monitoring application conveys critical information at a glance using timely and relevant data, usually with graphical elements; the analysis application lets users analyze and explore performance data across multiple dimensions and at different levels of detail to get at the root cause of problems and issues; the management application fosters communication among executives, managers, and staff and gives executives continuous feedback across a range of critical activities, enabling them to `steer' their organizations in the right direction."
The ultimate success of the cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system which Eckerson discusses in this book depends on several factors: sufficient leadership and resources at all levels of implementation, correct and consistent application of the right metrics, a compelling graphical user interface, and contingency planning which ensures user adoption while driving the organizational changes.
I especially appreciate Eckerson's provision of three mini case studies that illustrate how -- in real-world situations - the three performance "dashboards" can achieve the desired objectives. Specifically, those that are operational (Quicken Loans, Inc., pages 127-141), those which are tactical (International Truck and Engine Corp., pages 143-158), and those which are strategic (Hewlett Packard Co., pages 159-177). I also appreciate the material provided in Part Three (Critical Success Factors: Tips from the Trenches) as Eckerson correlates various multilayered applications built on business intelligence and data integration infrastructure that enables any organization (regardless of size or nature) to measure, monitor, and manage business performance more effectively.
All executives recognize the importance of accurate and consistent measurement of what really matters. Obviously, the "what" varies (sometimes significantly) from one organization to another. In my opinion, the three performance "dashboards" that Eckerson recommends can be of substantial benefit, whatever the given "what" may be but if - and only if - the aforementioned success factors are present. To repeat, they are: sufficient leadership and resources at all levels of implementation, correct and consistent application of the right metrics, a compelling graphical user interface, and contingency planning which ensures user adoption while driving the organizational changes.
This book is by no means an "easy read" but it will generously reward those who absorb and digest its material with appropriate care. Then what? He fully understands how difficult it is to ensure adoption by others, and, to manage performance effectively throughout the given enterprise. In the final chapter, Eckerson notes that performance dashboards can easily backfire and cause performance to decline or stall instead of climb. He then identifies what he characterizes as eight cardinal sins " that can turn a performance dashboard into a performance quagmire." How to avoid them? Eckerson offers nine strategies to ensure adoption and eight strategies to manage performance.
I highly recommend this brilliant book as well as Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement. Both are eminently worthy of thoughtful and rigorous consideration. However, that said, I also offer a caveat expressed by Peter Drucker in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." Invoking again the "vehicle" metaphor introduced in the first paragraph of this brief commentary, I presume to suggest that if you and your companions don't know where you are going, "any road will get you there."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Performance Dashboards
Comment: The first two-thirds of the book were extremely disappointing and added very little value to the understanding of how to create effective dashboards. Instead, the author spent far too much time discussing IT concepts and buzzwords such as datamarts, multidimensional databases, operational data stores and OLAP tools. Much of the book reads as a platform for why one needs to invest in IT to help manage your business performance. It wasn't until the final third of the book that some useful concepts were explored regarding how a non-IT person should go about developing a solid performance dashboard.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must read for keen Performance Management specialists and Managers
Comment: The book delivered exactly what I have expected from it. It provides clear picture about how Performance Dashboards work. It is very well structured, blends theory with experience and targets keen developers and users.
When I purchased the book, I was asked to put forward a proposal for a comprehensive Performance Management system. I really benefited from the systematic approach used to build such system.
It recommend it for anyone who is implementing performance management system, or even business process management systems which also provides performance dashboards of the automated processes.
Tips, techniques, and trends on how to use dashboard technology to optimize business performance
Business performance management is a hot new management discipline that delivers tremendous value when supported by information technology. Through case studies and industry research, this book shows how leading companies are using performance dashboards to execute strategy, optimize business processes, and improve performance.
Wayne W. Eckerson (Hingham, MA) is the Director of Research for The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), the leading association of business intelligence and data warehousing professionals worldwide that provide high-quality, in-depth education, training, and research. He is a columnist for SearchCIO.com, DM Review, Application Development Trends, the Business Intelligence Journal, and TDWI Case Studies & Solution.
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