Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me the truth of it all!

Detective story about mysterious underpants

No one today doubts the importance and usefulness of data visualization. But many still perceive it only as a visual and understandable report on the work done. Yes, a good dashboard is a report. But it is also an effective tool for decision-making. A well-crafted dashboard is like the magic mirror from the fairy tale of Snow White, showing the reality that cannot be seen without it. And even if sometimes one doesn’t want to see it, like the stepmother’s jealousy over Snow White, superiority over her, it is still important for successful business to understand the real state of affairs. Even if it’s not pleasing.

To make the “mirror” work, two components are needed: a quality dashboard and the ability to use it. My team and I have created an exemplary dashboard, through which I will now demonstrate how much invaluable information it holds and how to extract it. Let’s ask our “mirror” a few questions and get truthful answers. As for why and for what purpose we created this product, I discussed it in the article the Super Duper Hackathon.

We developed a management dashboard system for a clothing manufacturing holding company. The holding operates its product distribution network through four channels: marketplaces, wholesale, distribution, and own retail.

As a result of our work, we obtained a report that can answer many questions for management personnel at various levels, from the CEO to sales, marketing, and HR department managers.

And had some fun with the items!

Title page. Sitting high, seeing far.

The first page is for the first person. This is the main management dashboard for the CEO, showing key company indicators, the so-called helicopter view.

Fig.1. Cover Page.

The cover page features convenient navigation for switching between pages, relevant for sales managers and department heads (vertical panel on the left). Below, I will demonstrate how, by navigating through different levels of this system, managers can make management decisions of various levels based on the analysis of the data presented there.

The director immediately sees the overall picture and key figures. The overall picture seems quite promising — the margin is approaching 400%, revenue has grown compared to the previous year (snapshot for the selected year in the top right corner). We see the best products and how much money they brought in, the number and rating of customers. Right in front of us is the best manager and their results.

Each block on the cover page is clickable and leads to the next level of detail. You can use the menu buttons on the left, or click on a button on the block to navigate to another page. Let’s find out “How are our sales doing?” and go to the “Sales Dashboard.”

Sales Dashboard. Don’t sell what you bought for

Fig. 2. Sales Dashboard.

The Sales Dashboard (Fig. 2) provides key metrics that help keep track of the pulse and understand what is happening overall in the company.

In the first section (Fig. 3), we see that the sales situation is generally good, with the plan being exceeded, and both margin and sales have increased compared to last year. However, a red flag is evident in the significant increase in expenses (+23% from last year) and the decline in profitability (-7%).

Fig. 3. Key Indicators of the Sales Dashboard.

Let’s try to figure out if there are any issues here. Let’s start with the analysis of expenses. We see that their significant increase is built into the plan (at the moment, we have not yet spent all the planned expenses, currently at 97%). On the bar chart below (Fig. 4), it is evident that the main increase in expenses is attributed to marketing (+11%). However, with such a substantial investment in marketing, it is reasonable to expect a similar increase in sales. But they have only grown by 10%. Here we need to delve deeper — either we have spent the funds on promotion irrationally, or this is part of a long-term campaign, the results of which we will see in the future.

Fig. 4. Marketing Expenses.

Another possible reason for these indicators is planning issues. We increased expenses by 23% compared to last year, but we only planned a 1% increase in sales compared to last year. So either this is a planning department error, or again part of a long-term strategy. But we need to get to the bottom of this.

The reason for the decline in profitability is also here — we spent a lot on marketing, but did not offset these expenses with sales.

The monthly sales dynamics on the right (Fig. 5), with two multiple slices, allows for a more detailed examination of the interrelationships between the two indicators. We can not only compare planned and actual sales but also compare sales and expenses or sales and margin, compare them with last year, and look at profitability dynamics.

Fig. 5. Monthly Sales Dynamics in Different Slices.

The bottom right corner provides an overview of sales by regions (Fig. 6). The achievement/non-achievement of the plan and the approximate revenue volume (bubble size) are visually displayed. To delve deeper into the situation on the ground, click on the next button in the left menu panel and navigate to the “Regions” page.

Fig. 6. Revenue by Regions with Plan Achievement.

Regions. One person’s meat is another person’s poison

Fig. 7. Regions.

Overall, the situation with the regions looks positive (Fig. 7). Plans are being met or are close to being met (Revenue in the Southern Federal District), customer income and overall revenue are growing.

But let’s examine the situation in more detail. The slice panel in the upper right corner allows selecting one or several regions, as well as distribution channels and counterparties. Let’s look at the sales performance by regions via Marketplaces (Fig. 8) and see that all regions are meeting the plan for this channel. Let’s go further!

Fig. 8. Revenue of Regions via Marketplaces.

Let’s analyze the plan execution by customers (Fig. 9). Overall, the situation looks quite acceptable, but one customer, Tophatter, does not look so good. Let’s check it!

Fig. 9. Strange Client Tophatter.

Such situations arise as a result of the sales department’s work. Let’s navigate to their page and understand how they operate and who might be the weak link there.

The sales department: No sales, no feast

Fig.10. Sales Department.

The main block (Fig.10) provides much food for thought. Sales have increased, but that’s already known. However, our leads have significantly dropped (-21%). And we remember that marketing expenses, which should lead to lead growth, have increased significantly. It seems like this is another evidence that we didn’t handle the promotion campaign well. But the sales department — they’re doing great! Despite the decrease in the number of leads, the conversion rate, meaning the percentage of new leads converted into sales, has increased, indicating that sales managers have become more efficient. Perhaps it’s worth considering additional incentives.

Fig.11. Key Performance Indicators of the Sales Department.

The personal diagram (Fig.12) immediately shows us a clear leader (Joshua) and an outsider (Edward). The leader should be rewarded, while the outsider needs to be addressed.

Fig.12. Segmentation of Sales Managers by Plan Achievement and Revenue Volume.

By selecting the red bubble for Edward, through Detailing (bottom right corner), we will move to the personal report of this manager (Fig.13).

Fig.13. Personal Tooltip for Manager Edward

It is obvious that since August he has been consistently and seriously failing to meet the plan. It is necessary to have a conversation with him, find out the reasons, and take measures, up to dismissal.

On the Sales page, the sales funnel and the structure of the department/manager’s work by customer type are shown (Fig.14).

Fig.14. Sales Funnel and Customer Type by Department. The slice allows filtering these diagrams by any of the managers.

The sales funnel is a treasure trove of information for the HR department. Comparing each step with the next allows us to conclude what specific difficulties this manager is facing. If there is a large gap between the proposal made and the sale, it means the manager is not adept at effectively closing the sales process and convincing the client to make a purchase. Perhaps it is worth offering him an additional training course on handling objections and closing deals.

Sales Sage (Sales Manager). Personal Portfolio

Figure 15. Sales Manager.

The lowest level of sales detail is the personal page of the managers (Figure 15). This page will be useful for the sales department manager, HR department, and FTE specialists. Here you can find all the data about the manager’s work — from total sales and refund volumes to salary and bonuses.

Product Matrix. Good merchandise doesn’t gather dust

Fig.16. Product Matrix.

Understanding how we sell is important, but it’s equally crucial to understand what we sell. For this purpose, our dashboard has two pages dedicated to the Holding’s products (Product Matrix and Items).

The Product Matrix (Fig.16) provides a general overview of the assortment. The main focus is on the ABC analysis — classifying products into three categories. This is vital information for both the production planning department and the marketing department.

Group C items, which bring the lowest profit due to their low margin, may be worth removing from the assortment. Alternatively, it might be worthwhile to pay more attention to their promotion to move them into Group B. Group A items are our main source of income; they require the most attention and care. Despite selling well already, there’s a marketing strategy option to invest more in their promotion. The high margin of these products (53.7%) suggests that even moderate investment in promotion is likely to be justified and offset by sales growth.

The information on this page provides comprehensive insights for managing the assortment. With its help, the department responsible for forming the product matrix can create the perfect production plan for only those items that customers will queue up for and pay any price for.

Items. You Need Such a Cow Yourself!

Figure 17. Products.

The lowest level of detail on the product — the Goods page (Figure 17). This is a detailed dossier on each type of product. Sales, plan fulfillment, breakdown by regions, seasonal demand, and the dependence of sales on the temperature in the region.

Our leader and sales driver (Goods Matrix Page) is the evening dress (Figure 18). It has excellent indicators. But in the main month of evening dress sales — December, the plan is not fulfilled again. That is, either the planners overestimated the desire of ladies to buy a new outfit for the New Year, or the sales department was tired by the end of the year and did not complete the work.

Figure 18. Top Sales and Profit.

And looking at the dossier for insulated fur-lined shorts (Figure 17), we see that Fort Wayne, which was the leader in sales of these beautiful fur shorts just a month ago, has dropped significantly. And what good is this? We didn’t do a good job!

You could explore our interactive dashboard here: LINK!

A Tale is a lie, but in it a hint, a good fellows lesson

In the end, we explored all the pages of the dashboard, asked our “magic mirror” only a few questions, and received truthful answers. But there could be dozens, if not hundreds, of questions. I’ve only shown the tip of the iceberg. The system of cross-filtration and individual slices allows for endlessly digging into the information within the available data and finding insights for management decisions at all levels.

For our demonstration dashboard, the data was artificially generated, but experience shows that real business data is even more fascinating and holds so much interesting and yet undiscovered information that it’s truly amazing. And I assure you, within your company’s data, there will definitely be things that are quite challenging to see without the “magic mirror” of the dashboard’s evil stepmother.

So feel free to reach out, we’ll help, create, and teach.

Thank you for reading!

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