Data, Dashboards, and Decisions!

I am currently reading a book called "How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business" by Douglas W. Hubbard (see www.howtomeasureanything.com).  The premise of the book (at least what I have read so far) is that just about anything can be measured (one of the chapters is even titled "Yes, I Mean Anything").  During my reading last night, I came across a section on the use of dashboards.  The section starts with the sentence, "The difficulty in connecting measurements to decisions seems to start at the highest levels."  Dashboards can be extremely useful and effective ("Executive Dashboards: What they are and why every business needs one") - however, dashboards, as they are frequently used, often represent a wasted resource.  A dashboard is exactly what it sounds like it would be - it is a visual representation of data that allows managers to easily get a "snapshot" view of organizational performance.  There are a number of similar tools that are used in business - for example, there are a number of publications on a specific type of dashboard called a "balance scorecard", popularized by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton at the Harvard Business School.  Regardless of the name used, these tools are all different iterations of the same concept - a management information or decision support system that is used by managers and leaders to execute the organization's goals and objectives.  In order to be useful, a dashboard needs to be simple, succinct (in terms of minimizing distractions and keeping the number of key performance indicators (KPIs) to a minimum), and easily understood.  Data is often graphically displayed, frequently in the form of a dial or gauge that you would see on an automobile dashboard.  There are a number of types of key performance indicators that can be shown, including process measures, outcome measures, and balancing measures as well as leading measures (used for prediction) and lagging measures (used to evaluate success or failure post hoc).  One of the most important issues to consider when constructing a dashboard is what performance indicators or metrics to include - Hubbard is very clear in this regard.  If a particular metric or performance indicator is not being utilized to make decisions, then there is likely not a need to spend the time, energy, and resources to (1) collect that data (which can often be labor-intensive) and (2) include that measure on the dashboard.  I think that health care organizations frequently fall into the trap of overcollecting data that is not used to make important and meaningful decisions.  In this era of "Big Data", there is a tendency to collect and analyze data that is never really used.  The most effective dashboards are the ones that are used to analyze the organization's performance and MAKE DECISIONS!