DATA 4100 Data
Visualisation Software
How to run a Data Visualisation
Project
Lesson 8
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2
Learning Objectives
1 Assess the role of a data visualisation analyst
2 Investigate the planning and execution (structuring) of a
data visualization project
3 Discuss how to advise on the economic feasibility of a
data visualization project
4 Evaluate and advise data visualisation dashboards
5 Examine and advise on potential security and ethical risks
associated with a data visualisation project
This Topic’s Big Idea
“ My best advice is to not start in PowerPoint. Presentation tools force
you to think through information linearly, and you really need to start by
thinking of the whole instead of the individual lines. “
- Nancy Duarte
https://www.infragistics.com/help/reportplus/ios/sales-creating-sales-dashboard
Data Visualisation Analyst: Job
Descriptions
View the two specific & one general job description below in
preparation for Activity 1.
1. Alinta Energy: Data Visualisation Analyst
2. Vicinity Property Group: Data Analytics and Visualisation
Specialist
General job description at Target Jobs with links to graduate
vacancies: Data Visualisation Analyst
NOTE: Update this slide before this lecture runs, because
the SEEK.com job links only last at most 30 days.
Activity 1: Data Visualisation Analyst
• Form small groups,
• After reviewing the two job descriptions,
A. please outline what technical skills are required for a Data
Visualisation Analyst.
B. please outline what soft skills are required in order to successfully
perform as a Data Visualisation Analyst.
• Question: According to you which are the two most important skills that
a professional must have in order to become a Data Visualisation
Analyst?
What is a Funnel in Business?
https://www.scheffey.com/blog/why-the-right-message-at-the-right-time-is-critical-to-success/
1) Strangers
2) Prospects
3) Leads
4) Customers
5) Promoters
A Sales Funnel is a visual representation that describes the
buying process and steps followed by a potential customer
toward the purchase of a specific service or product.
Activity 2: A day in the life of a Data
Visualisation Analyst contd….
Watch business case 1 & 2 in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Ab6BBiMKs
Business Case 1: Marketing Funnel → from minute 5:15 to
17:15
Business Case 2: Sales Product Dashboard → from minute
17:35 to 31:54
Answer the questions on the next slide
Activity 2: A day in the life of a Data
Visualisation Analyst contd….
A. What role does a Data Analyst play within an organization (according to the
video)?
B. What are the three main activities that are typically performed by a Data
Visualisation Analyst?
C. What is a Sales Funnel? Why is it considered one of the most important
tools for management within any Sales & Marketing Department?
D. How will Management leverage the information provided by the Funnel to
support their decision making?
E. List the most important factor that a Data Visualisation Analyst has to take
into consideration before creating a new visualization tool
Activity 3: Abacus Software (background)
• Abacus software is a start-up and its main product is a “Robo Advice”
Software.
• In order to generate leads for its sales team the company has an
extremely aggressive marketing strategy focused on targeted digital
advertising (Financial Planners are the target customer).
• According to Abacus Sales Funnel only 15% of its leads actually
become a customers, with an average sales cycle of 30 days.
• The cost for Abacus to attract 100 new leads, through its digital
marketing strategy, is $1000 AUD and the average selling price (ASP)
per customer is $10.000 AUD per year.
Activity 3: Abacus Software
Form Groups and answer the following questions.
A. On the 1 March 2019 the Abacus Sales Funnel shows 2000 new active
leads. What would be the forecast that the Sales Manager presents to
the CEO for March end? (Both in terms of new customers and
revenues)
B. The Sales Target for March was AUD $4 Million, how much more money
Abacus should have invested in its Digital Advertising Campaign?
I. Who should take responsibility (blame) for this, the Sales or
Marketing Manager?
C. Do you think that a Sales Dashboard with a real time Sales Funnel
would have been beneficial for the Sales Manager? Why?
How to structure a data visualisation
project
What is a Project Scope?
PMBOK® defines Project Scope as the “The work that needs to be
accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified
features and functions.”
➢ Parameters that define the Scope of a Project:
o Project Objectives: e.g. developing a new real time data analytics
dashboard
o Goals: e.g. improve forecasting accuracy for the Sales Managers
o Sub-Phases: e.g. planning, testing, monitoring, etc.
o Tasks: e.g. collect requirements from stakeholders
o Resources: e.g. IT Staff
o Budget: e.g. $ to be invested
o Schedule: e.g. timeline
https://www.tableaufit.com/designing-data-driven-applications-tableau-scope/
Scope Management Processes
Process
Collect Requirements
Define Scope
Create WBS*
Validate Scope
Control Scope
Key Deliverables
Requirements Document
Project Scope Statement
WBS, WBS Dictionary
Acceptance Deliverables
Change Requests
*WBS = Work breakdown structure (see notes and next slide)
Scope Management: Important Documents
❑ Project Charter: identify the reasons and benefits of a specific project.
This document also outlines the main requirements, objectives,
stakeholders, constraints and budget.
❑Work Breakdown Structure: A deliverable-oriented hierarchical
decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to
accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
(PMBOK)
❑ Stakeholder Register: is a document that identifies people, groups and
organisations which are affected by a project, and their impact on the
project.
Data Visualisation Scope Management:
Collecting Requirements – Sample Checklist
1. Which organisational needs have to be satisfied and how
we convert them to measurable objectives?
2. Which are the most important Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) that have to be displayed?
3. What are the main comparisons that have to be visualised?
4. Is there something you need to see over time?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Redjet Business case
Some technical terms used in the case study over the next few slides:
• Software as a Service (SaaS) companies host applications and make them
available over the internet
• Managed Services Providers (MSPs) remotely manage a customer’s IT
infrastructure
• Vice President of Sales (VP) is a leader of a sales team and directs the
team so that they meet and exceed sales revenues. Example, the VP of
Sales is responsible for both the New Business Acquisitions and the
Account Manager (A.M) Team.
• Board of directors (BoD) a group who determine a company’s vision
• Customer relationship management (CRM) is about managing the
relationship between a business and customers
Redjet Business Case (background)
• Redjet is a Saas Multinational which serves thousands of MSPs
worldwide. The company has a broad portfolio of solutions due to
the intense M&A campaign conducted over the last five years.
The company has more than a thousand employees (40% of
these work in the Sales Department.)
• The current customer base generates 85% of the total revenues
for the business which was $AUD 100 Million for FY19.
• The BoD were aiming to exponentially increase revenue by
upselling and cross-selling these rebranded applications to the
large customer base. The A.M Team, under the direction of the
VP of Sales, is responsible not only for Up-Selling & Cross-selling
solutions to the current accounts but also retaining these.
Redjet Business Case: Issues 1
• According to a recent report, the VP of Sales noticed that the A.M Team
has not been able to achieve both their KPIs and revenue targets for the
last three quarters.
• The A.M Team Lead has blamed the current CRM system, suggesting
that it is unable to support the A.Ms in achieving their goals.
• One of the A.Ms issues is that they
I. have hundreds of customers each (500+)
II. are unable to easily identify their most valuable customers, and
III. are having difficulty tracking their interactions with those customers.
• Consequently, the A.Ms are wasting most of their time using Excel keep
track of the above.
Redjet Business Case: Issues 2
• The A.M Team Lead says that the poor revenue results have been
▪ caused by a loss of productivity (which has an estimated impact of 7% of the
total revenues under management) and
▪ causing high turnover within the team (with an estimated impact of 3% of the
total revenues under management).
• The A.Ms KPIs are:
▪ Accounts coverage of at least 80% (they need to contact at least 80% of their
accounts per Quarter)
▪ High value customers ($ amount) have to be contacted at least once per week
▪ 97% Customer retention
• As a possible solution the Team Lead has advised the VP of Sales to implement a
new data visualization tool in order to help the A.M Team meet their KPIs and
consequently improve the revenue for the business.
• The VP has asked the Team Lead to estimate the feasibility of the project and return
on the investment. The Team Lead will also be in charge for managing the project.
Redjet Return on Investment (ROI)
Estimation
Question: According to the information that have been given to you, can
the project manager can achieve a positive ROI?
Solution:
• Loss of Productivity (impact on the revenues in $) =>
(100Million*0.85)= $ 85 Million, (7%*85Million)= $ 5.95 Million
• Retention Loss (impact on the revenues in $) => (100Million*0.85)
= $ 85 Million, (3%*85Million)= $ 2.55 Million
• Total Return (if project is successful) => $ 5.95 + $ 2.55 = $ 8.5 Million
ROI (1)= 8.5/2= 425%
ROI (2)= 8.5/4= 212%
Redjet Team Leader Choices
• According to the team lead, if the project is successful, they can
increase revenue (as per estimated previously) and have a positive
return on investment.
• The Team Leader has two options:
1. Run the project by using internal resources and the current
business information systems, with a budgeted cost of 2 million
dollars.
2. Outsource the project to a specialized data visualization company,
with a budgeted cost of 4 million dollars.
Activity 4: Your Instructions
Q1. Based on the information in the Redjet case study, please
identify the project scope (goals & objectives).
Q2. Identify the project sponsor and the project manager.
Q3. Considering the ROI estimation, and factors from previous
workshops, should the team leader outsource the project or not?
Why?
Q4: (MCQ)The project scope statement furnishes the basis for:
a. providing information to the accounting department
b. elaborating a strategic plan
c. a defined set of accepted criteria upon which the project will be carried on
d. The original project budget and schedule
Stakeholder management
Identifying the Stakeholders:
o Who will have an impact on the project or be affected by the outcome.
o Different stages of a project lifecycle may have a different set of
Stakeholders
➢ Project Stakeholder Management involves:
o Identifying stakeholders
o Creating a stakeholder register
o Assessing the expectations of each stakeholder
o Customising the communication channel for each group of Stakeholders
o Developing Strategies to engage stakeholders in the decision making
process
Understanding the Audience
Understanding the Audience
• The success of the project depends on understanding the end user of a
Data Visualisation tool
• Think about the skills (and training) of the end users as you design the
visualisation tool
➢ Considerations:
o How familiar is the audience with the specific visualisation diagrams
and/or statistical models that will be displayed?
o Who will be the main user of the new data visualisation dashboard?
o What functional department or industry?
o What KPIs does the user want to see?
Activity 5: Redjet Business Case
A. Based on the information that have been provided to you,
I. please identify the macrostages of the project lifecycle.
II. please identify the different stakeholders that will be involved in
each and the different stages. Who is the main decision maker in
each of these stages?
B. Is the project manager the same person as the project sponsor?
C. What tools can be used by the Data Analyst in order to collect the
requirements and gain more insight regarding the audience?
Activity 6: Redjet Business Case
A. Based on the information that have been provided to you, please
identify the main Key Performance Indicators that have to be
visualized.
B. According to you, who would be the main user of the new visualization
tool?
C. According to you, how familiar would be the audience of the project
with statistical measures and technical parameters?
D. Match the parameters below with the appropriate Department?
a) R-squared 1) Marketing Department
b) Plant Utilisation Rate 2) Finance Department
c) Up-time 3) I.T Department
d) Q score 4) Manufacturing
Understand the data to be visualised
Understanding the data that has to be visualised
• Before starting a Data Visualisation Project, understand what data you
require (collection/access method)
• Understand the relationship between data sets.
▪ (Especially if stored in different locations)
➢ Considerations:
o Is the data a time series, cross-section, spatiotemporal, high-
dimensional, etc.?
o Is the data from a single source or multiple sources within the
business?
o Do we need any data external to the business?
Deciding which visual is best for the
business users
Deciding which visual is best for the business users:
The main factors affecting the decision
• Audience,
• Requirements and
• Data
• Considerations regarding Dashboards:
Remember that a dashboard
• allows you to manage the most important business information within a
single pane of glass.
• helps users to keep track of specific KPIs and make data driven
decisions.
What type of Dashboard?
Strategic Dashboard: is typically used
in Board Meetings and is essential for
monitoring the alignment of specific
KPIs with the long term company
strategy.
Operational Dashboard: is used for
monitoring a company’s activity within
a specific functional department or
business unit. Typically they are based
on real-time data and actioned
immediately by the user.
Tactical Dashboard: is similar to the
analytical dashboard, however it is
focused on the monitoring and analysis
of processes.
Analytical Dashboard: presents a
large number of variables and big data.
Mostly relies on historical data, and
used to identify trends and forecasting.
Types of dashboard
Match the Dashboards
A)
C)
B)
Activity 7: Redjet Business Case
A. Based on the Redjet case study, please identify what type of
dashboard the data analyst should select.
B. According to you and the knowledge acquired throughout the course,
what type of charts should the data analyst include in the new
dashboard?
– Please select one of the charts listed below:
Funnel Chart (B) Gantt Chart (C) Bar Chart (D) Tree Diagram
– Why do you think this specific chart would be beneficial in solving the
problem? What information will be visualized and how can that improve
productivity?
C. Please identify the main Key Performance Indicators that have to be
visualised by the Redjet analyst.
Ethics in Visualization
❑ The data visualisation field faces significant ethical
challenges
❑ Data visualization offers many opportunities for providing
misleading information to users
❑ Professional and organisations must have specific ethical
requirements
❑ Visualisation has a significant influence on how people,
businesses and governments make decisions.
Misleading Data Visualisation Techniques
Pandey (2015) argued that deception with regard to visualisation
happens at two different levels:
1) chart level, the chart is interpreted incorrectly
2) message level, the message is interpreted incorrectly.
Pandey (2015) also grouped misleading data visualisation
techniques in two macro categories:
1. Message Reversal: persuade audience to interpret the facts
incorrectly
2. Message Exaggeration/Understatement: the way facts are
presented is exaggerated (for instance truncated axis, area as
quantity)
Example1: Ethics in Visualization
Message Exaggeration – Truncated Axis
Example 2: Ethics in Visualization
Message Exaggeration – Area as Quantity
Example 3: Ethics in Visualization
Message Reversal – Inverted Axis
Activity 8: Guidelines for Data Ethics
Cairo (2014) outlines some important guidelines to follow in
order to reduce the risk of providing misleading information
when creating visualisation tools.
Watch the video below and discuss:
Practicing Good Ethics in Data Visualisation

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