Business Dashboards

Chris Carter is the founder of a variety website that aggregates news on politics, business, entertainment, and local interests. In order to generate content for these sections, Carter usually has to invest significant amounts of capital. In addition, he also spends considerable sums on marketing. The primary revenue stream for Carter’s website is derived from pay-per-click advertising, which pays him a flat rate every time someone clicks an advertisement on his website. Carter is currently failing to make a profit, despite consistent increases in traffic and ad revenue. Being unable to operate a loss for any longer, what action should Carter take to ensure profitability at the monthly level?

After reviewing the dashboard for Carter’s operation found in this week’s Resources, you should address the situation and develop your response, by addressing all of the following:

• At least two potential options for ensuring profitability at the monthly level, with a list of pros and cons of each.
• Recommendations for additional data that might have been useful in making your decisions.
• A critique of the current dashboard.

• List problems with the current dashboard
• List your recommendations for a more effective dashboard
• Explain why your dashboard would help facilitate the decisions and recommendations you made in items 1 and 2.

References:

Few, S. (2012). Show me the number: Designing tables and graphs to enlighten. Oakland, CA: Analytics Press.
In Chapter 8, you are introduced to the structural components of a table and you will examine the best practices for table design. Chapter 9 focuses on designing graphs that easily communicate even complex information.

Ballou, B., Heitger, D. L., & Donnell, L. (2010). Creating effective dashboards: How companies can improve executive decision making and board oversight. Strategic Finance, 91(9), 27-32.

Bremser, W. G., & Wagner, W.P. (2013). Developing dashboards for performance management. The CPA Journal, 83(7), 62-67.
Retrieved from the Business Source Complete database.

Gonick, L., & Smith, W. (2015). The cartoon guide to statistics. New York, NY: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Gray, P. (2010). Competitive intelligence. Business Intelligence Journal, 15 (4), 31–37.

Retrieved from the Business Source Complete database.