Employing User-Centered Design to Accelerate the Construction of a Business Intelligence Dashboard

Abstract

Providing real-time data to decision makers has become a key component in the management of complex systems. The most common visualization for this type of data is the electronic dashboard, which, like the instrument panel on an airplane, displays critical data in a well-designed, easily understood, manner. The challenge for designers of such systems today is not just to find a way to effectively communicate information to decision makers, but to do so in an environment that demands an ever more rapid development cycle. The intent of this paper is to review several studies and present a hypothetical project with an eye toward uncovering just how user-centered design can afford a designer an opportunity to develop such an intranet dashboard at an accelerated pace.