Dashboards are a valuable tool for decision support systems and provide many benefits to individuals and organizations. In order to achieve a competitive advantage, DSS must provide support to managers as they work to achieve corporate goals and enable managers to compare results to establish company goals and identify problem areas and opportunities for improvement. In order for the information and support provided through decision support systems to be useful, it must be relevant and timely and this is where dashboards provide an advantage.
Dashboards can provide all of the relevant information for any particular manager on a single screen in real-time. [1] Dashboards can be customized for each individual so that only information relevant to them and their decision making is displayed. While upper level executives may need to see overall company information, departmental managers only need to see information specific to their department. Dashboards customization allows each user to see the level of information pertinent to them so executives aren’t bombarded with too much information and departmental managers aren’t presented with too little information.
Dashboards are also driven by real-time data which allows the users to see what’s happening now and react quicker. [2] In the past, managers and executives had to wait for monthly reports to see what was going on in the organization but dashboards now allow information for decision making to be communicated in real-time. Decision making can now be more pro-active instead of reactive which provides a huge competitive advantage.
Another advantage dashboards create is the ability to see detail when necessary. [3] If a manager notices that expenses are rapidly increasing, they can use the dashboard to drill down the information into more detail. Being able to drill down into more detailed information would allow the manager or executive to see which specific area of expenses are increasing and allow them to make an effective decision on cutting costs or justifying the cost. One example of a dashboard used as a decision support system is the Moodle dashboard. If you login to Ramapo’s Moodle, in the upper right hand corner you will see a link to My Dashboard. This link allows the logged in user to see information relevant to them at Ramapo such as upcoming events and their current courses, their activity and their grades.
Users can edit the page to filter certain information so that everything being displayed is of the most relevance to them and their needs. [4] By using this dashboard, students are able to see all of their assignments and quizzes that are coming due on one page. This information can help the student decide which assignments and quizzes are a priority. Dashboards are a creative and valuable DSS tool that has many advantages to individuals in both personal and businesses functions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “Franchise Dashboards for SMEs to Store Business Information.” dMine Business Intelligence. 16 Oct 2010. Web 27 July 2011.
.
[2] “4 Advantages to Dashboards.” Refocusing Technology. 3 March 2009. Web. 27 July 2011. < http://www.refocusingtechnology.com/2009/03/03/4-adv-dashboard/>.
[3] “4 Advantages to Dashboards.” Refocusing Technology. 3 March 2009. Web. 27 July 2011. < http://www.refocusingtechnology.com/2009/03/03/4-adv-dashboard/>.
[4] “My Moodle.” Moodle.org. 10 July 2011. Web. 27 July 2011. .
