Dashboards in Oracle’s Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service are an extremely powerful and intuitive tool to use during the planning and forecast process. Data visualization allows users to absorb information in new and more constructive ways, by instantly describing and viewing patterns in your operational and business activities.

(image courtesy of Oracle)

 

Dashboards give you an overview of your KPIs and let you update data assumptions directly on the dashboard.  Dashboards allow you to work with multiple forms at once.  You can change data in an input form and instantly see the immediate effects in the dashboards.

More than one dashboard can be created. As a result, different business teams can have their own relevant dashboards. For example, your east coast team could have their own set of KPIs and dashboard compared to the west coast sales team. Additionally, you can set 1 dashboard to default, and that will appear as every user’s default.

Dashboards in PBCS have 3 predefined Dashboard types. These are: Forms, Charts (choose from 12 predefined charts), and external artifacts (commentary and URL). You are able to interact with the data in the forms directly from the dashboard. Change data within the form and the dashboard updates to reflect the changes made.

With the ever increasing need for businesses to be nimble and react to to-the-minute data, dashboards allow users to see their progress and adjust their path as necessary. For instance, a business that is greatly affected by seasonality and consumer trends may find the following dashboard useful.

As you can see, corporate goals for the quarter are highlighted. We can see a form with the exact data relevant to the goals and a chart that visualizes how well the company is doing at achieving this goal. In the bottom right, we’ve included an external URL to a news source that shows relevant articles that may affect the businesses goals due to seasonality and trends.

A user is also able to enter data within the form, save it, and watch any relevant data fields change in real time. In the example above, Baseline EPS was increased to 8.30. In the updated image below, the data was submitted and the FY17 EPS chart subsequently changed.

Using a format like this, managers and users can see trends as they appear and correct any problems as they arise. Users can adjust data and see performance visualization in real time.

­­­Dashboards are a powerful and innovative tool that allows businesses to visually see their data. Leveraging dashboards can help you achieve better business results.

Questions?  Comments?  Feel free to reach us at:

Pedrum Khosravi, pkhosravi@ecapitaladvisors.com

Amy Stine, astine@ecapitaladvisors.com