Dashboards have become a powerful tool for Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) professionals to share insight. When designed correctly, they deliver a clear message on what’s working and what’s not, and the actions to take to fix the issue. Technology now enables us to create dashboards in minutes, allowing us to share information in ways we could never before. The big question has moved from “How do we create dashboards?” to “How do we harness this powerful tool to drive business behavior?”

3. CFOs frequently find themselves walking a
tightrope between their traditional roles as
financial steward and guardian of corporate
assets and the newer demands of
stakeholders for them to become strategic
advisors and active business partners.
Gary Simon (Linkedin.com: UK’s top 10 business
leaders in 2015)

4. …The nub of the problem is a profound lack of
time and, worse still, not even enough
time to invest in the activities that would
break the mold
Gary Simon (Linkedin.com: UK’s top 10 business
leaders in 2015)

5. Over 33% senior finance professionals said their organization’s decisions
relied too much on gut feel rather than hard data
Over 51% don’t spend enough time on business partnering
33% of CFOs are struggling to make the best use of technology
available to them
66% CFOs admit they have too little time to spend on innovation and
process improvements
66% CFOs believe an inability to master the variety and volume of new
business data is a serious threat
The Future of the Finance Function Survey 2016 (FSN survey)

6. 1. ACTIVE PARTNERSHIPS
2. PROACTIVE RESOLUTIONS
3. INSIGHT DRIVEN STRATEGY
CHANGING THE GAME TO WIN
=

7. Business
Insight
Generation
Strategic
Support
Value
Creation
Data3.
Strategy1.2.
© FP&A Strategy Consulting LLC
.
ACTIVE
PARTNERSHIPS
PROACTIVE
RESOLUTIONS
INSIGHT
DRIVEN
STRATEGY

10. “The rate at which we're generating data is
rapidly outpacing our ability to analyze it,”
Professor Patrick Wolfe, Executive Director of the University College of London’s Big
Data Institute

11. Known Knowns Known
Unknowns
Unknown
Unknowns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPe1OiKQ
uk
Looking beyond Known Knowns - guycuthbert.com • by Guy Cuthbert • February 3,
2013
.
Description Know or accessible data Data that needs context and continually
changes. Questions that have answers
with a caveat: “This month it’s...”
Data/Patterns that are unknown to the
point that we are not looking for them
Example Sales for last month Who are our most-profitable Customer Insight uncovered accidentally whilst
looking for something quite different
Reporting Standard Reports &
Dashboards
Visual Analytics which highlights insight Pattern uncovered were never explored
because it went against conventional
thinking
Value Low (Vanity)/Medium
(Actionable) – (Automated
reporting)
High – builds insight Highly valuable, and could have significant
impact
Reporting Insight Golden Nuggets
Looking beyond Known Knowns - guycuthbert.com • by Guy Cuthbert • February 3, 2013

12. DATA

13. Master Data Implemented
BI Tool and Dashboards
Adoption that drives Behavior
Change the game
Value
Maturity
Aggregation:
Single Source
for all financial
and operation
data brought
onto a single
platform -
acquiring data
only from trusted
source systems
Accuracy:
Standardized Data
Dimensions and Rules
consistently applied to
all data to create a
single source of trusted
data. Data is validated
and offline manipulation
are brought into the
system
Access:
User Friendly
BI Tool to
allow secure
access to all
data in a
single platform
for all users
Actionable:
Automated
driver based
metrics aligned
to your strategy
to drive
business
behavior
Accountability:
Next Generation of Predictive
& Analytical - driving
ownership
Foundational Data Acquisition & Database Build
Master Data Implemented
BI Tool and Dashboards
Adoption that drives Behavior
Change the game

14. 1. Simplify
2. Design Thinking
3. Take Action
4. Tell a story

15. “The ability to
simplify means to
eliminate the
unnecessary so
that the
necessary may
speak.”
- Hans Hofmann

16. 1. Focus on Key Metrics (3-4 max)
2. Reduce the noise
3. Align to your strategy

17. Reducing the Data Ink Ratio: Example
http://darkhorseanalytics.com/blog/ based in work by Edward Tufte
.

18. 1. Diagnosis
What is the challenge
2. Guiding Policy
Overall approach to
overcoming or coping with the
obstacle in the diagnosis
3. Coherent Actions
Designed to carry out the
guiding principle

19. Business Strategy: Become the leader by unit market share in our main product lines at Organic
Market, which will position us for long term growth, while continuing strong relationships with our
partners and customers

20. Above Average
Below Average

22. Fred CCO:
As the commercial officer, my objectives are to drive growth in the
company. I would like to understand what’s holding us back: we need
analytics to answer the questions of ‘why” and be able to uncover new
opportunities. I feel that I don’t have the data at my finger tips and
even a simple request can take days to answer because people don’t
have access to the data, extraction tools, processing and analysis
tools, pivot tables etc. We are also focused on shipments which I
believe is a crude measure of demand. What I really want to know is
what was consumed (our brand/others), why, where and when was it
consumed.
I would also like a standardized dashboard, similar to Yahoo Finance
where all the data is in the same format and you can compare one
company to another.

23. Action is the
foundational
key to all
success
– Pablo
Picasso

24. Vanity metrics
Measurements that give “the rosiest picture possible” but do not accurately
reflect the key drivers of a business. Numbers or stats that look good on paper,
but don’t really mean anything important.
Actionable metrics
A metric that can lead to informed business decisions and subsequent action
that helps drive the mission and vision.
“Vanity metrics are dangerous” Eric
Ries author of the Lean Startup

27. Paid Growth: Investing in
strategic products to
drive market share
Organic Growers: Gain
understanding of growth,
to see how it could apply
to other products
Under Invested: Decision
to invest less than the
competition for non
strategic products
Dead Ducks: Stop
spending money on
these products

30. • Drive growth
• Predicting change
• Focused on what’s next
The Black Swan – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

31. For blogs – link in at:
www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmyersw
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