How We Improved Business Efficiency by Enhancing Data Accessibility
Two of the most interesting modules in the Paperchase redesign project were the Dashboard and Reports modules, which highlighted the importance of data visualization and accessibility.
As Paperchase handles all of the financial transactions for their clients, they have a wealth of information that they translate into — quite literally — hundreds of business reports. However, when we started to interview users about these modules while preparing to redesign them, we found that most users rarely, if ever, made use of these resources, for the simple reason that they found them way too inaccessible.
You see, the reports module was, at the time, simply a giant index of every conceivable report that could be generated from the vast amounts of data being processed by Paperchase for any given client, and the Dashboard module was similarly overwhelming, involving several tabs of intricate charts and graphs that scrolled on and on, seemingly with no end in sight.
Whenever we spoke to users about the information contained within these modules, however, they all said the same thing — “oh yes that information would be very useful to us”. Very frequently, they didn’t even realise that this information was available on the platform they had been using this whole time. It was clear to us that there was a huge chasm between our users and the data they needed, and we set about trying to bridge this gap with UX.
Reports
Firstly, we tackled the Reports module. This module was essentially a huge repository of spreadsheets, listed by the hundreds. However, in our research, we found that only a bare handful of these reports were useful to clients on a regular basis, while the others would be useful in very specific circumstances.
Keeping this in mind, we designed a system where the most important reports are presented upfront, categorised under three different tabs that allow the users to easily access the information they’re looking for. All the other reports were stored under a fourth tab labeled “more”, where reports were neatly categorised for easy discoverability, and users could even pin favourites for quick access.
Dashboard
The dashboard module was similar to the Reports module in terms of the data it drew from — however, the focus of this module was to give users the ability to monitor the day-to-day operations of their business, and to allow them to analyse discrepancies as and when they occur.
The existing design offered a number of graphs and charts, separated into tabs according to their category. However, gaining any insight at all into the day-to-day business operations was a time-consuming process, as the users would have to scroll through all the tabs, mentally filtering out less important data while scanning the page for the information they needed. Unsurprisingly, very few of the busy restauranteers we spoke to had the time to do this; as a result, the module lay unused.
We conducted extensive interviews with managers, executives, and chefs, to understand what information is the most important to each of their roles. We then came up with a three-tiered approach to the dashboard design.
The first tier was a single-page operational dashboard that provided an overview of all the information the user needed to know, customised to their respective roles and requirements. Managers, for instance, would see their sales overview, the cost of goods sold, labour costs, and the spread of sales categories, while chefs would see price variances for their ingredients, among other details.
Each of these categories could be clicked on, leading the user to a more detailed analytical dashboard specific to that category. Users could add filters and compare data in order to gain a better understanding around a specific anomaly they may have noticed at the previous level.
Each of the graphs on the second-tier dashboard contained a link to the report from which they drew their data. These formed the third level of detail that could optionally be explored, should the user ever need to.
These changes brought both the Reports and Dashboard modules to life, performing extremely well in user testing exercises. Users across the board expressed satisfaction with the newfound ease of access to useful information, and the ability to track their day-to-day operations at a glance.
A data-driven approach is vital to the performance of most businesses. However, analysing this data to gain useful insights shouldn’t (and needn’t) be a draining and time-consuming task. Intelligently designed reports and dashboards can allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of your business without having to pore over giant spreadsheets in addition to all your other professional responsibilities. Good design allows people to work smarter, and get the most out of their data.
