The Big R-Book

♣36♣Interactive Apps

A static, well written report, a good book, or a scientific paper have their use and value, but some things look better on screen. More importantly it also allows the user to interact with the data. For example, putting the data on a website, can with the right tools allow the user to visualize different cuts of the data, zoom in or drill down to issues of interest or move around 3D plots on the screen.

In the larger company, too many people spend their time on manually processing the same data in an electronic spreadsheet over and over again, then mail it to too many people. Typically, no one reads thoseweekly reports, butwhen asked if the report is still needed the answer is usually a confirming “yes.” Bewarned, though, this asking is dangerous. That usually triggers someone to open the file and spawn out a mail with requests: add a plot here, a summary there and of course some other breakdown of data.

Putting the dashboard online, not only allows people to “play” with the data and get more insight from the same data, but also it allows the publisher to follow up the use of the dashboard. It is also much faster: it can be updated as the data flows in and the user is not bound to weekly or monthly updates. It will take a little more time to produce it the first time, but then it will not take any human time at all to make every second an update.

Unfortunately, companies tend to use old technology (such as spreadsheet and slides) and then make the jump ...