publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/395170
6. Better Decision-Making: One of the most important deliverables of a BI solution is to provide your decision-makers and timekeepers with the information they need to improve their performance. Better performance for individuals will lead to better performance for 7. Excellent Data Visualizations: There are two aspects to the dashboards — the content (values TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR VENDORS: • What is the design strategy behind your dashboards? • Why did you choose your particular set of data representations? • What changes will our firm be able to implement in the data representations, and how much will those changes cost? ILTA WHITE PAPER: OCTOBER 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 51 A BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE BILL OF RIGHTS: 20 CRITICAL FACTORS FOR SELECTING YOUR BI SOLUTION TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR VENDORS: • Can you send a complete set of dashboard documentation so our firm can confirm the content is supporting better decision-making? • Can you provide a list of values for targets to be set? • Are those targets set for each individual user or for the entire firm? displayed) and the presentation. The dashboards must not only display the data, they must also present the data in a way that is easy to interpret, visually stimulating and simple to navigate. Note that this can be subjective: Some users might say there is too much information, and others might say there is not enough detail. During the selection process, continuously ask yourself: • Will the majority of my users enjoy working with these dashboards and get valuable information? • Will they be able to interpret the data visualizations and take appropriate action? A key point that you need to determine is whether the quality of the data visualizations is a key focus for the vendor or an afterthought. TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR VENDORS: • How many sets of role-based dashboards does your solution offer, and what are the roles? • How are the roles assigned to users, and are there any limitations? • What "light-up" indicators are available for each role? the firm. In general, your dashboards should display both values and targets. This is referred to as "actionable intelligence." For example, if the collection realization rate is shown to be 94 percent, the user does not know if that is good or bad performance. But if 94 percent is displayed in red and shown side-by-side with the firm target of 97 percent and the firm average of 96 percent, a problem area has been clearly identified. This is the well-known KPI concept of showing a value, target, indicator and an optional trend arrow. Almost all the data displayed in the dashboards should be shown comparatively. The comparison can be to the user's individual target, the firm target, peer performance, last year's performance, etc. You have the right to learn what you can expect to get in exchange for your ongoing vendor payments.