The Big Book of Dashboards

Chapter 23 Measuring Claims across Multiple Measures and Dimensions

Workers' compensation dashboard.

Dashboard designer: Jonathan Effgen

Organization: CoEnterprise (http://www.coenterprise.com)

Scenario

Big Picture

You work for a very large multinational conglomerate and are tasked with understanding workers' compensation injury claims occurring in the United States. You need to grasp both safety and cost issues.

The data is overwhelming. Even a simple question, such as “Where do the most injury claims occur?,” becomes two-pronged, as it can be answered by both where in the country and where on the human body most injuries occur.

There are four major metrics to understand—(1) number of cases, (2) claim amount, (3) the average claim amount, and (4) the average recovery time—and there are at least a half dozen ways you want to cut the data, including where on the body, where in the country, what type of injury (e.g., laceration versus strain), and when during the year the claims were filed. You decide to build a single, exploratory dashboard that helps you and others get a handle on the data.

Specifics

You need to:

• See and understand workers' compensation data by four key performance metrics:
  1. the total dollar amount incurred,
  2. the average dollar amount incurred,
  3. the number of cases, and
  4. the average recovery time (in weeks).
• Know when during the year these claims were filed. ...