About

A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.

This definition from Stephen Few gets to the heart of how dashboards display information. Unlike full analytical applications, dashboards show summary data and sometimes provide points of entry for exploring it in more detail.

Basecamp project management dashboard   Mint.com personal finance dashboard   State of Washington Transportation Improvement Board performance management dashboard

As dashboards have become pervasive in all sorts of situations, from project management to personal finances to government programs, we need to pay special attention to the user experience. In three words, a dashboard provides a good user experience if it is:

  • useful,
  • usable, and
  • desirable.

User experience design is not a new field. It has been applied to physical products, like the electronics and appliances you use at home, as well as to software applications. In all cases, the three pillars of useful, usable, and desirable are the defining characteristics of a good user experience.

This blog is about applying user experience design principles to the design of dashboards, with a particular focus on Xcelsius software.


About the Author

My name is Natasha Lloyd and I work at SAP on the Xcelsius product team as an interaction designer. My educational background is in computer science and technical communication, with a focus on computer graphics and information visualization. In the past, I have also worked on SAP BusinessObjects Text Analysis. My work involves gathering product requirements, designing and prototyping the user interface, and usability testing the design of the application with the goal of making it useful, usable, and desirable.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or compliments. You can also find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and my personal blog, natasha’s corner.

This blog only contains my personal views, thoughts and opinions. It is not endorsed by SAP nor does it constitute any official communication of SAP.

About Xcelsius

Xcelsius software illuminates your business by providing consolidated views of key metrics, so you can answer your business questions at-a-glance. Interact with your data like never before with what-if scenarios and other visual components – and use your data to make informed decisions.

Read more on the official Xcelsius product page.