Week10 Prep and Week9 Summary

Here are some important things for preparing for the 10^th week:

Exam

Please come to the class held on 10/27 to take an in-person exam.
Please read the study guide and prepare your questions if you have any for the review summary session held on 10/25.
The exam format is the same as exam 1.

Please feel free to let me know if you need any accommodations or have questions.

Also, I will move the next virtual office hour from Monday (10/24) to Wednesday (10/26), aiming to help you prepare for your second exam.

Week 9 key takeaways

Indicators: are variables that measure (indicate) a business-relevant value.
KPIs: the critical (key) indicators of progress toward an intended result. KPIs help focus attention on what matters most. It can measure whether equipment, process, team, individual or organization is performing at an adequate level.
KPI Criteria: SMART
- Specific purpose for the business
- Measurable
- Achievable by the organization
- Relevant to success
- Time-phased
KPIs can go wrong
- The “tyranny of success”: The difference between success and failure in non-profits is not clearly defined
- What can you do to avoid it?
  - Use multiple KPIs as a measure, not just one
  - Be sure to use all of the SMART criteria
Scorecards
- A scorecard measures performance against several goals (KPIs).
- Often used to compare different products in terms of relevant dimensions.
- A neutral comparison needs to define a specific use case and choose the dimensions and their weightings accordingly.
- One item is superior to others, then choose the dimensions that put the preferred item on top.

Dashboards
- Multiple perspectives to the data rather than just one scorecard
- A well-designed dashboard can provide a powerful overview of a phenomenon
- Dashboards are often interactive
  - customize visualizations
  - drill-deeper into the data.
- Dashboards are not easy to design
- Recommendations for better data discovery using dashboards
  - Link KPIs to detailed views
  - Create dynamic reports
  - Give users an ‘information scent’

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