Dashboard architectures

For small projects and the early iterations of an agile BI project, a single dashboard and a few supporting reports may be sufficient. For many users, however, multiple dashboards with their own distinct reports are required. Both of these approaches, a single dashboard and multiple dashboards, are geared toward a specific stakeholder or group of consumers, such as the vice president of sales.

Although these different methodologies may meet the needs of their intended users, a potential risk is a lack of coordination across teams. For example, business units might reference distinct metrics included in their dashboard and these metrics may not be included in the dashboards of senior managers or other business units.

To promote greater consistency and coordination across groups of users, BI teams can pursue an integrated, organizational dashboard architecture. In this approach, the same metrics and KPIs considered strategic for the organization are...