Visual Intelligence: Microsoft Tools and Techniques for Visualizing Data

Part III

Visual Analytics in Practice

In this part

• Chapter 10: Scorecards and Indicators
• Chapter 11: Timelines
• Chapter 12: Comparison Visuals
• Chapter 13: Slice and Dice: Ad-hoc Analytics
• Chapter 14: Relationship Analysis
• Chapter 15: Embedded Visualizations
• Chapter 16: Other Visualizations

Chapter 10

Scorecards and Indicators

A scorecard can be thought of as the business version of a school report card: it’s a summary of how the business has performed over the last period, shown as numbers for key performance areas (KPAs), which are aggregated from key performance indicators (KPIs). A KPI is loosely similar to the subjects on a school report card, but generally a scorecard’s KPIs have graphical indicators and interactive capabilities (unlike a school report card).

Scorecards have been popularized in recent years through the widespread adoption of Performance Management. Starting in the management consultancy McKinsey & Company in the 1930s, Performance Management as a discipline advocates building a measurable strategy to grow a business and identifying key performance indicators to measure various aspects of the business. Key performance indicators, roll up into key performance areas, and these are put together in a visual way in a scorecard, typically using “robot” indicators of red, yellow, and green to indicate whether targets are being met. On the Microsoft platform, Business Scorecard Manager evolved into PerformancePoint as the tool of choice for displaying these scorecards ...