Page 104 - DCAP208_Management Support Systems

Unit 7: Business Analytics and Data Visualization

Data visualization is the presentation of data in a pictorial or graphical format. For centuries, Notes
people have depended on visual representations such as charts and maps to understand
information more easily and quickly. As more and more data is collected and analyzed, decision
makers at all levels welcome data visualization software that enables them to see analytical
results presented visually, find relevance among the millions of variables, communicate concepts
and hypotheses to others, and even predict the future.
Because of the way the human brain processes information, it is faster for people to grasp the
meaning of many data points when they are displayed in charts and graphs rather than poring
over piles of spreadsheets or reading pages and pages of reports.

Visualization tools go beyond the standard charts and graphs used in Excel spreadsheets,
displaying data in more sophisticated ways such as dials and gauges, geographic maps, time-
series charts, spark lines, heat maps, tree maps and detailed bar, pie and fever charts. Patterns,
trends and correlations that might go undetected in text-based data can be exposed and recognized
easier with data visualization software.
Visualized data is frequently displayed in business intelligence (BI) dashboards and performance
scorecards that provide users with high-level views of corporate information, metrics and Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs). The images may include interactive capabilities, enabling users
to manipulate them or drill into the data for querying and analysis. Indicators designed to alert
users when data has been updated or predefined conditions occur, can also be included.

Notes Most business intelligence software vendors embed data visualization tools into
their products, either developing the visualization technology themselves or sourcing it
from companies that specialize in visualization.

Interactive Visualization

Interactive data visualization goes a step further – moving beyond the display of static graphics
and spreadsheets to using computers and mobile devices to drill down into charts and graphs
for more details, and interactively (and immediately) changing what data you see and how it is
processed.

Importance of Data Visualization

Visualizations help people see things that were not obvious to them before. Even when data
volumes are very large, patterns can be spotted quickly and easily. Visualizations convey
information in a universal manner and make it simple to share ideas with others. It lets people
ask others, “Do you see what I see?” And it can even answer questions like “What would happen
if we made an adjustment to that area?”

Consider the manufacturing director of product reliability for an international company that
produces small vibrating cell phone motors. One of the director’s principal responsibilities is to
determine how reliable the cell phone motors will be with each year of age. If the product’s
reliability falls short of the standards set forth by the cell phone manufacturers who use the
motors, his company could lose major contracts.

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