Books on Enterprise Dashboards

The book that I am most impressed with right now is Enterprise Dashboards: Design and Best Practices for IT . Right now, it’s the only book out there dealing with issues of implementing dashboards. It’s a must read. Use the link to get a great price from Amazon. 

The other really hot dashboarding book is  Stephan Few’s book, Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. Great visuals.

The third book that everyone seems to be reading is Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business.

In the marketing space, there is a book focused on the use of marketing metrics titled Marketing Metrics: 50+ Metrics Every Executive Should Master. As the review states:

“The authors show how to use a “dashboard” of metrics to view market dynamics from multiple perspectives, to maximize accuracy, and to “triangulate” to optimal solutions. You’ll discover high-value metrics for virtually every facet of marketing: promotional strategy, advertising, and distribution; customer perceptions; market share; competitors’ power; margins and pricing; products and portfolios; customer profitability; sales forces and channels; and more. For clarity and simplicity, this book avoids advanced math: all calculations can be performed by hand, or with basic spreadsheet techniques.Marketers now recognize the importance of metrics, but few understand the breadth, depth, or power of the metrics now available to them. In Marketing Metrics, four leading researchers and consultants systematically introduce today’s most valuable marketing metrics, showing exactly how to use them to maximize marketing ROI and identify the best new opportunities for profit.”

You can also browse through these other books on marketing KPIs.

Another great book on Marketing Metrics and Dashboards is “Marketing by The Dashboard Light” by Pat LaPointe

Thanks for the tip on this book, Tom. I’ve included the editorial blurb from amazon. Cheers, The Dashboard Spy. “A marketing dashboard can be your catalyst for success and credibility. But where do you start? What do you include? And how do you ensure that the marketing dashboard will add to marketing’s accountability? Marketing by the Dashboard Light: How to Get More Insight, Foresight, and Accountability from Your Marketing Investments gives you insight into planning, design, construction and implementation of an effective marketing dashboard. And for those who already have one, Marketing by the Dashboard Light gives you the information you need to help retool and focus your dashboard for maximum effect. Features insight interviews with CMO’s from Fortune 100 companies.”

You know how sometimes you read a review and know that you are just going to love a certain book? Well, here is one such item on my reading list. The book is Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving and take a look at this Compelling review from an amazon reader:

“Among the most influential books I’ve read. I was expecting a book about quantitative methods and advanced problem solving techniques. What I got, instead, was a book that didn’t even discuss numbers until page 111 of a 221 page book, and it was lite on problem solving techniques. Although it was not what I expected it turned out to be one of those rare books that deeply influences and provides fresh perspectives. The book led me on a journey that broke the process of critical thinking into manageable steps. Among the things I learned were:

Examine key factors, such as information, attention and action within the context of a cycle of actions that begins with goals, and moves through execution, how events in the external world influence the meeting of those goals, an evaluation and refinement of goals. Then the process starts anew.

Structured methods for getting organized. The techniques given are simple, yet powerful.How to collect and critically analyze data and information, common fallacies and how to spot them. Two of my favorite parts that reinforce these are then single-page chart titled “What Scientists Say, and What They Mean”, and Chapter 20 (Uncertainty Principle and the Mass Media).

The straightforward process of numerical analysis, using relatively simple math techniques to make sense of numbers and turn them into knowledge, is priceless. What makes this part of the book valuable is that the author integrates the preceding chapters that lead you to a critical thinking mindset with common sense and techniques that are within the grasp of high school students. It looks easy, but is testimony to the author’s exceptional ability to communicate and inspire.”

Overall this book is one of my personal favorites and one that I recommend to colleagues. Another book that complements this one nicely is Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity by Jamshid Gharajedaghi.

The Edward Tufte body of work continues to be a must-have reference library for those of us in the business of business information systems.

Here are some amazon links to books on implementing Business Dashboards. 

This is a list of balanced scorecard books.