6. Research Findings and Discussion

6.2 Dashboard data analysis

Almost all of the participants indicated that dashboards should have drill down capabilities, mostly to understand the root cause of deviations. Participant 5 reported that, behind their overall dashboard, there is a fully automated and detailed report and different levels of information, all within one Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Participants 5 and 6 mentioned that information in a dashboard must be consolidated and built in layers, as opposed to having many different tools running, while participants 2 and 8 prefer that dashboards be kept simple with limited drill down capability. The detailed tools or information should remain with the employees who are responsible for a more detailed level of monitoring. In summary, most of the participants required drill down capability. The nature of the drill downs may vary between business units, depending on their preferences and requirements.

Participants suggested that historical trends should be contained in a dashboard. However, they were more enthusiastic about dashboards having predictive capabilities. Participants 2 and 3 also said that statistical analysis in a dashboard is a must. According to Participant 3, dashboards must highlight issues and look forward to the medium and long term. Ideally, dashboards should have a fault-finding capability via statistical data analysis.

"Digitisation is here. Companies are looking for solutions to do more with less. Industries are starting to have less people in teams. If dashboards are predictive and give recommendations, it will be effective". (Participant 2)

Participants also said that fault trees should be integrated with dashboards, and that the dashboard should be used as a tool to capture the intelligence and experience of employees to enable sustainable business operations.

Participant 1 provided insight into the use of dashboards among stakeholders and the reaction experienced when stakeholders are presented with their deviations. Strong reactions and responses were experienced that stemmed from the dashboard displays. Having introduced pictures and arrows, stakeholders are now reacting to the dashboards and taking corrective actions. He described the synergies between various business units across the value chain to optimise performance. Whether good or bad, stakeholders cannot hide behind the information. If there were discrepancies between stakeholders, the team discussed and adapted the parameters and associated ranges. Participant 8 said that the information in a dashboard must create dynamics in the conversation.