Summary of Custom Dashboard Projects Completed by Derek Caldwell

Custom Dashboards Portfolio by Derek Caldwell

More career info at www.DerekCaldwell.com pictured above

http://www.DerekCaldwell.com/

Calpine SLA Dashboard – Summary Screen – All blue links were drill down detail links to supporting data. All colored circles were displayed based on KPI threshold parameters set on management page.

Calpine SLA Dashboard – SLA Details Screen using KPI's & VBA Conditional Formatting via ODBC BMC Remedy Database – Before Excel 2007

Calpine SLA Dashboard – Management Sheet to allow thresholds, rules, KPI's & “What if” scenarios to be managed.

Excel 2007 XYZ Widget Company – It was a case study to demonstrate the features within the new Excel 2007 Conditional Formatting tools that allow KPI's to be displayed without needing VBA or macros. It was also a demonstration of my skillset at that time.

Excel Dashboard Design & Conversion to Fusion Charts Web Based Dashboard

Fusion Charts

Click here to view demo

Awards Received Demo of Mgmt Dashboard

http://www.fusioncharts.com/demos/business/management-dashboard/view/Default.asp#start





The long & detailed description of this project is below. The short version (link to working demo) is here. Password protected so please email me for demo.

I was hired by a Houston based investment company, Core Capital Management Research, to improve upon an existing Excel dashboard that displayed various investments, allocations and their subsequent risk & reward data points. The client had gotten to the point where they had several worksheets and some graphs. They wanted something that they could take into a sales presentation and show to potential clients. What they had wasn't working for what they envisioned. There were constant issues with clients sending/receiving the Excel file and opening it thus experiencing VBA error messages, formatting inconsistencies & Excel version conflicts. Ultimately they wanted something that could be hands free and seen anywhere.

To get Core Capital Management USA up and running fast while thinking ahead for their future I determined the best course of action was a 2 phase dashboard process.

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http://www.ccmrusa.com/


Phase 1 - I first created a working dashboard using Excel 2010 based on existing graphs, interviews with end users and requirements gathering tasks typically done for SDLC project although smaller in scale. The data was all static thereby making the pivot tables that were feeding the dashboard graphs very fast versus most dashboards that pull data from a database via queries, etc..To design the visual part of the dashboard I used "proven" methods such as clearly labeled titles, contrasting colors, etc... The bulk of the work was spent on making the dashboard as dynamic as it could be for certain elements. While the data being displayed was static the variables, formulas and "what-if's" needed to be available to change by the end user easily. So rather than hard coding those items into the macro's I created a separate worksheet for those items to be managed by the end user while the VBA was controlling it all behind the scenes. The VBA was also commented in a way that made sense to both a end user and a programmer. In summary. the client was very happy with the Excel dashboard and after making changes to get it to final completion I was able to prepare for phase 2. - To the right is a screenshot of what it looked like at this phase.

(continued...)


Phase 1 - I first created a working dashboard using Excel 2010 based on existing graphs, interviews with end users and requirements gathering tasks typically done for SDLC project although smaller in scale. The data was all static thereby making the pivot tables that were feeding the dashboard graphs very fast versus most dashboards that pull data from a database via queries, etc..To design the visual part of the dashboard I used "proven" methods such as clearly labeled titles, contrasting colors, etc... The bulk of the work was spent on making the dashboard as dynamic as it could be for certain elements. While the data being displayed was static the variables, formulas and "what-if's" needed to be available to change by the end user easily. So rather than hard coding those items into the macro's I created a separate worksheet for those items to be managed by the end user while the VBA was controlling it all behind the scenes. The VBA was also commented in a way that made sense to both a end user and a programmer. In summary. the client was very happy with the Excel dashboard and after making changes to get it to final completion I was able to prepare for phase 2. - To the right is a screenshot of what it looked like at this phase.

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Phase 2 - Knowing the traveling durations, prospect meeting environments and other useful requirements I determined that a web based solution made the most sense. The suggestion to use the web based tool was communicated to the client explaining that all compatibility issues, version issues, VBA/macro error messages, etc.. would be resolved simply by choosing a tool that could be used whose only requirement was a browser. A live internet connection wasn't even needed. The software I used to convert the Excel dashboard into a web based tool was Fusion Charts. It is arguably the best charting & graphing software in the market. The amount of customization that can be done are almost limitless and the drill down details for charts is unlimited meaning it is the perfect tool for dashboards. I simply converted the data from the Excel dashboard into a XML file. Then I created the charts and graphs that were appropriate and most comparable to the Excel dashboard. I made the changes needed to using standard html and JavaScript. The final stage was creating a structured folder with all of the files named properly and uploading to the clients website. In summary, the client went from having a few broken graphs in Excel to a web based Java/Flash animated drill down dashboard accessible from the web and view-able on computers, phones and tablets. The client was extremely happy and satisfied. To the right is a breakdown of the dashboard.

A working version of this project can be found here - http://www.ccmrusa.com/ However, this is proprietary data so please contact me so I can provide you a temp password to view. Or you can view the demo shown earlier to see the features of Fusion Charts. Email me at [email protected]

Custom Dashboards Portfolio by Derek CaldwellFor any questions please visit my website.

More career info at www.DerekCaldwell.com pictured above

http://www.DerekCaldwell.com/

Career

Summary of Custom Dashboard Projects Completed by Derek Caldwell