Month: July 2011
BlinkCharts, what they are and why you need them
A bog standard Excel chart/graph Most people just use the default graphs on Excel, perhaps with a colour change or two. Who says that Microsoft knows how much detail to put on your graphs? The default graphs (or charts, if you speak Microsoft English) are jam-packed with clutter. Why should you care? Every piece of…
Are your Management Information team on “mission impossible”?
It’s a tough and thankless job producing MI for corporations. Expectations are sky-high (you can thank Star Trek for that) and many departments deliver in spite of huge technical and logistical issues – perversely making their own lives even harder. Being so operationally focussed, it’s rare to have a chance to develop the internal-consulting skills…
Are your KPI reports a mess? A half day report-design course.
Do you wish you could glance at a simple report or dashboard and instantly grasp the key opportunities for your business? Dashboards have become increasingly popular in recent years, but many don’t deliver their full potential. If they don’t deliver instantly what the user needs, then the chances are they will never be used again.…
Do You Work for an Idiot?
Here is a process improvement idea for you. It is called “poke yoke”. I am told that that is Japanese for “making things easy to get right and difficult to get wrong”. It is a rather grand name for what my old boss used to call “idiot proofing”. Let me give you an example: think…