Many business intelligence (BI) graphs are too complex for the average user and do not reflect real world scenarios.
This is according to David Ives, IS Partners' director, who was short-listed for the 2010 ITWeb IT Personality of the Year.
Ives will be showing delegates new ways of visualising data during the ITWeb BI Summit and Awards, to be held at Vodaworld, Midrand, on 22 and 23 February.
“There are innovative ways of visualising data which are becoming accepted norms - the ability to surface interpretation, graphics, data and subjective assessments all in one view is becoming accepted,” says Ives.
Ives points out that as business cultures change, social networks, such as Facebook, are playing a bigger role in BI strategies within a company.
Knowledge is critical
“It still remains that, without the person viewing the data, having context and knowledge, BI could be lost.
“There are great new visualisations but if the viewer does not know the concept of relative contribution or context of the business problem they are trying to solve, the visualisation is rendered useless.”
ITWeb's Business Intelligence Summit 2011
More information about the ITWeb's Business Intelligence Summit and Excellence Awards 2011, which takes place on 22 - 23 February at Vodaworld in Midrand, is available online here.
According to Ives, info graphics are meant to assist people with the interpretation of information, helping them to view intended outcomes, take appropriate action and interpret information graphically.
“Infography is also useful when looking at items that are relative to other items. Typically, we take data out of context; therefore, the interpretation leads to incorrect assumptions and interpretation.”
Solving business problems
“We need to have more than simple examples and tests done in real corporate challenges to understand the appropriate application of these new techniques, so we do not waste too much time and money on the theoretical application of design principles.”
There are tools like the Tobii Eye Tracker, which could be used to determine the usefulness of the infographs and how quickly they enable interpretation, says Ives.
The device gives feedback by tracking the eye pattern and response times to questions asked to determine how fast visualisations are interpreted.
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