Deck 4: Business Reporting, Visual Analytics, and Business Performance Management

Question 1

The balanced scorecard is a type of report that is based solely on financial metrics.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

When telling a story during a presentation, it is best to avoid describing hurdles that your character must overcome, to avoid souring the mood.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A Six Sigma deployment can be deemed effective even if the number of defects are not reduced to 3.4 defects per million.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

With key performance indicators, driver KPIs have a significant effect on outcome KPIs, but the reverse is not necessarily true.

Question 5

There are basic chart types and specialized chart types. A Gantt chart is a specialized chart type.

Question 6

The BPM development cycle is essentially a one-shot process where the requirement is to get it right the first time.

Question 7

Information density is a key characteristic of performance dashboards.

Question 8

Google Maps has set new standards for data visualization with its intuitive Web mapping software.

Question 9

The data storage component of a business reporting system builds the various reports and hosts them for, or disseminates them to users. It also provides notification, annotation, collaboration, and other services.

Question 10

With the balanced scorecard approach, the entire focus is on measuring and managing specific financial goals based on the organization's strategy.

Question 11

The best key performance indicators are derived independently from the company's strategic goals to enable developers to "think outside of the box."

Question 12

The main difference between service level agreements and key performance indicators is the audience.

Question 13

In the Dallas Cowboys case study, the focus was on using data analytics to decide which players would play every week.

Question 14

For best results when deploying visual analytics environments, focus only on power users and management to get the best return on your investment.

Question 15

The dashboard for the WebFOCUS BI platform in the Travel and Transport case study required client side software to operate.

Question 16

Visualization differs from traditional charts and graphs in complexity of data sets and use of multiple dimensions and measures.

Question 17

In the FEMA case study, the BureauNet software was the primary reason behind the increased speed and relevance of the reports FEMA employees received.

Question 18

The WebFOCUS BI platform in the Travel and Transport case study decreased clients' reliance on the IT function when seeking system reports.

Question 19

One comparison typically made when data is presented in business intelligence systems is a comparison against historical values.

Question 20

Data is the contextualization of information, that is, information set in context.

Question 21

What is the management feature of a dashboard?

A) operational data that identify what actions to take to resolve a problem
B) summarized dimensional data to analyze the root cause of problems
C) summarized dimensional data to monitor key performance metrics
D) graphical, abstracted data to monitor key performance metrics

Question 22

Which type of visualization tool can be very helpful when the intention is to show relative proportions of dollars per department allocated by a university administration?

A) heat map
B) bullet
C) pie chart
D) bubble chart

Question 23

What is the fundamental challenge of dashboard design?

A) ensuring that users across the organization have access to it
B) ensuring that the organization has the appropriate hardware onsite to support it
C) ensuring that the organization has access to the latest web browsers
D) ensuring that the required information is shown clearly on a single screen

Question 24

Which type of question does visual analytics seeks to answer?

A) Why did it happen?
B) What happened yesterday?
C) What is happening today?
D) When did it happen?

Question 25

Which of the following is LEAST related to data/information visualization?

A) information graphics
B) scientific visualization
C) statistical graphics
D) graphic artwork

Question 26

When you tell a story in a presentation, all of the following are true EXCEPT

A) a story should make sense and order out of a lot of background noise.
B) a well-told story should have no need for subsequent discussion.
C) stories and their lessons should be easy to remember.
D) the outcome and reasons for it should be clear at the end of your story.

Question 27

Which kind of chart is described as an enhanced variant of a scatter plot?

A) heat map
B) bullet
C) pie chart
D) bubble chart

Question 28

The Internet emerged as a new medium for visualization and brought all the following EXCEPT

A) worldwide digital distribution of visualization.
B) immersive environments for consuming data.
C) new forms of computation of business logic.
D) new graphics displays through PC displays.

Question 29

Contextual metadata for a dashboard includes all the following EXCEPT

A) whether any high-value transactions that would skew the overall trends were rejected as a part of the loading process.
B) which operating system is running the dashboard server software.
C) whether the dashboard is presenting "fresh" or "stale" information.
D) when the data warehouse was last refreshed.

Question 30

Benefits of the latest visual analytics tools, such as SAS Visual Analytics, include all of the following EXCEPT

A) mobile platforms such as the iPhone are supported by these products.
B) it is easier to spot useful patterns and trends in the data.
C) they explore massive amounts of data in hours, not days.
D) there is less demand on IT departments for reports.

Question 31

All of the following statements about balanced scorecards and dashboards are true EXCEPT

A) scorecards are less preferred at operational and tactical levels.
B) dashboards would be the preferred choice to monitor production quality.
C) scorecards are best for real-time tracking of a marketing campaign.
D) scorecards are preferred for tracking the achievement of strategic goals.

Question 32

For those executives who do not have the time to go through lengthy reports, the best alternative is the

A) last page of the report.
B) raw data that informed the report.
C) executive summary.
D) charts in the report.

Question 33

Which component of a reporting system contains steps detailing how recorded transactions are converted into metrics, scorecards, and dashboards?

A) data supply
B) business logic
C) extract, transform and load
D) assurance

Question 34

Why is a performance management system superior to a performance measurement system?

A) because performance measurement systems are only in their infancy
B) because measurement automatically leads to problem solution
C) because performance management systems cost more
D) because measurement alone has little use without action

Question 35

Which type of visualization tool can be very helpful when a data set contains location data?

A) bar chart
B) geographic map
C) highlight table
D) tree map

Question 36

Kaplan and Norton developed a report that presents an integrated view of success in the organization called

A) metric management reports.
B) balanced scorecard-type reports.
C) dashboard-type reports.
D) visual reports.

Question 37

All of the following are true about external reports between businesses and the government EXCEPT

A) they can include tax and compliance reporting.
B) they can be filed nationally or internationally.
C) they are standardized for the most part to reduce the regulatory burden.
D) their primary focus is government.

Question 38

What is Six Sigma?

A) a letter in the Greek alphabet that statisticians use to measure process variability
B) a methodology aimed at reducing the number of defects in a business process
C) a methodology aimed at reducing the amount of variability in a business process
D) a methodology aimed at measuring the amount of variability in a business process

Question 39

Dashboards can be presented at all the following levels EXCEPT

A) the visual dashboard level.
B) the static report level.
C) the visual cube level.
D) the self-service cube level.

Question 40

Why is the customer perspective important in the balanced scorecard methodology?

A) because dissatisfied customers will eventually hurt the bottom line
B) because customers should always be included in any design methodology
C) because customers understand best how the firm's internal processes should work
D) because companies need customer input into the design of the balanced scorecard

Question 41

________ charts or network diagrams show precedence relationships among the project activities/tasks.

Question 42

In the Delta Lloyd Group case study, the ________ is the stage of the reporting process in which consolidated figures are cited, formatted, and described to form the final text of the report.

Question 43

________ management reports are used to manage business performance through outcome-oriented metrics in many organizations.

Question 44

Dashboards present visual displays of important information that are consolidated and arranged on a single ________.

Question 45

With a dashboard, information on sources of the data being presented, the quality and currency of underlying data provide contextual ________ for users.

Question 46

Performance dashboards enable ________ operations that allow the users to view underlying data sources and obtain more detail.

Question 47

Typical charts, graphs, and other visual elements used in visualization-based applications usually involve ________ dimensions.

Question 48

A(n) ________ is a communication artifact, concerning business matters, prepared with the specific intention of relaying information in a presentable form.

Question 49

A strategically aligned metric is also known as a key ________.

Question 50

With dashboards, the layer of information that uses graphical, abstracted data to keep tabs on key performance metrics is the ________ layer.

Question 51

In the Mace case study, the IBM Cognos software enabled the rapid creation of integrated reports across 60 countries, replacing a large and complex ________.

Question 52

In the Blastrac case study, Tableau analytics software was used to replace massive ________ that were loaded with data from multiple ERP systems.

Question 53

________ are typically used together with other charts and graphs, as opposed to by themselves, and show postal codes, country names, etc.

Question 54

The ________ perspective of the organization suggested by the balanced scorecard focuses on business processes and how well they are running.

Question 55

In the Saudi Telecom company case study, information ________ software allowed managers to see trends and correct issues before they became problems.

Question 56

Business performance management comprises a ________ set of processes that link strategy to execution with the goal of optimizing business performance.

Question 57

Visual analytics is widely regarded as the combination of visualization and ________ analytics.

Question 58

Travel and Transport created an online BI self-service system that allowed ________ to access information directly.

Question 59

There are only a few categories of business report: informal, ________, and short.

Question 60

________ charts are useful in displaying nominal data or numerical data that splits nicely
into different categories so you can quickly see comparative results and trends.

Question 61

List five types of specialized charts and graphs.

Question 62

What are the three nonfinancial objectives of the balanced scorecard?

Question 63

According to Eckerson (2006), a well-known expert on BI dashboards, what are the three layers of information of a dashboard?

Question 64

List and describe the three major categories of business reports.

Question 65

List and describe five distinguishing features of key performance indicators.

Question 66

What are the four processes that define a closed-loop BPM cycle?

Question 67

What are the basic ingredients of a good collection of performance measures?

Question 68

In the Expedia case study, what three steps were taken to convert drivers of departmental performance into a scorecard?

Question 69

Six Sigma rests on a simple performance improvement model known as DMAIC. What are the steps involved?

Question 70

List five best practices of dashboard design.