The document discusses tile-based navigation and analytics as a solution for business users to intuitively analyze and explore complex quantitative data without needing extensive technical training. It describes how information tiles can densely display multiple dimensions of data and how dynamically rendering tiles in structured sets allows intuitive decision tree-style navigation through hierarchies of data. Tiles represent discrete pieces of information and metadata that compartmentalize and structure large amounts of data in a simple and consistent way for business users to navigate.

1. Tile-based Navigation and Analytics
A front-end solution for both navigating and analyzing complex quantitative data using information-dense tiles
May, 2012
A USER EXPERIENCE SERIES WHITEPAPER By DAN WILCOMB | Axis Information Architect
Today’s dashboard environments suffer from a chronic shortcoming –
functional business users cannot easily interact with complex information.
Common solutions lack a method of presenting and allowing navigation of
sophisticated quantitative data in a consistent and intuitive manner.
www.axistechnologyllc.com Boston | Dallas | Charlotte | New York
Existing solutions typically fall victim to one
of two failings: either they separate
information from navigation and over-
engineer the application, or they integrate
the navigation but fail to provide guidance
and context.
Billed as user-friendly “sophisticated”
analysis tools, the interfaces are often little
more than neutered renditions of the power
user toolset rather than a solution built from
the ground up to support the target user
community. A functional business user
requires extensive training to use the tool
properly, and seldom carries that training
beyond the classroom into practical use.

Dashboard and portal environments are increasingly directing sophisticated information to
business-level users. At the intersection of pre-canned executive reporting and ad-hoc
analytics is a lack of tools that allow business users to intuitively conduct analysis and
exploration without detailed technical knowledge of a complicated analytics toolset. The
resulting lack of enthusiasm and sustained adoption by the business community has
marginalized the potential power of executive information systems
Introduction
Current Solutions
Microstrategy
More often than not, office assistants
become experts by necessity, and then
spend the majority of their time in the tool
developing reports for the group originally
targeted as the primary user community.
This shift eliminates one of the greatest
potential benefits of business analytics – the
ability for those tasked with business goals
to easily conduct the analysis that informs
and enables their strategies.
The point is not that the functionality of these tools is insufficient – quite the
contrary. The functionality is too broad and complex, resulting from a generalized
product design effort that starts with a power user application and retools it for a
lower denominator. What is lacking is a simple, consistent, and highly
customizable paradigm for representing and navigating information in a way that
is intuitive to functional business users with little or no need for formal training.
Cognos

2. Tile-based Navigation and Analytics
A USER EXPERIENCE SERIES WHITEPAPER By DAN WILCOMB | Axis Information Architect
…for navigating and analyzing complex quantitative data
www.axistechnologyllc.com Boston | Dallas | Charlotte | New York
 Introducing Information Tiles
Tiles are a clean method of displaying a
primary piece of information with additional
metadata readily available to the user. In
this example, Total Revenue is the primary
metric. Visible metadata includes planned
revenue, actual revenue, variance in dollars,
variance as a percentage, direction of
variance and degree of variance (color).
Containing over 4 dimensions of data in a
space as small as 50 pixels², tiles are
concise, descriptive, information dense, and
visually simplified.
Metric title
Plan variance as
absolute value and
percentage
Plan and actual
values for context
Direction of
variance (ADA
compliant)
Direction and
degree of variance
(color gradient)
 Use of Tiles to represent and navigate complex data structures
Tiles themselves are nothing extraordinary, nor are they an entirely novel concept. Tile-based
information is not uncommon in dashboard environments that lend themselves to
compartmentalized data. Their unrealized value becomes evident when they are rendered
dynamically in structured sets, a powerful example of which is the representation and navigation
of complex, multi-hierarchical relationships. The following sequence of dashboard screens
demonstrates the power of structured tile sets.
“Flip tile” navigation
for contextual detail
By expanding the tile, components
in the top layer of each supporting
hierarchy are visible – also rendered
as tiles. Users can easily and
intuitively scan through the
supporting hierarchies and decide
how to proceed based on the
context and additional information
provided. This is effectively a form
of decision-tree analytics.
The paradigm is simple: a tile
contains a discreet piece of
quantitative data, supported by
multiple hierarchies. In this case, a
total revenue number can be broken
down by geography, business unit,
customer segment, or account
activity.

3. Tile-based Navigation and Analytics
A USER EXPERIENCE SERIES WHITEPAPER By DAN WILCOMB | Axis Information Architect
…for navigating and analyzing complex quantitative data
www.axistechnologyllc.com Boston | Dallas | Charlotte | New York
Clicking on a supporting tile
adds it to an enhanced
breadcrumb at the top of the
view, and places all supporting
hierarchies in the new context
of the selected tile. Notice that
the context of the current view
stays persistent in the
breadcrumb, as does the return
path back up the decision tree.
In the given example, the scope
of the inquiry has been
narrowed by selecting a
geographic region, and then a
market within that region. The
other three hierarchies remain
unchanged – except that they
are now additives to the
selected market. The
geographic axis, however, has
narrowed to display offices
within the market, keeping the
dimension viable and in context,
allowing further analysis along
any of the supporting
hierarchies.
 Use of Tiles to represent and navigate complex data structures
…continued from page 2

4. Tile-based Navigation and Analytics
A USER EXPERIENCE SERIES WHITEPAPER By DAN WILCOMB | Axis Information Architect
…for navigating and analyzing complex quantitative data
www.axistechnologyllc.com Boston | Dallas | Charlotte | New York
OLAP analytics solution, the largest hurdles to overcome lie not in the supporting
technology, but in the highly ordered information, rationalized business logic, and
structured metadata needed for broad sets of detailed, drill-through analytics.
The concept of tile-based navigation and analysis warrants serious consideration when
delivering large amounts of structured data to a functional level user community.
The use of tiles to represent discreet pieces of information in dashboard environments is a
concept that has been traditionally underutilized. The power lies in using a single paradigm
to both compartmentalize and structure information with visible context and high information
density, allowing easy decision-tree navigation that would otherwise be too complicated for a
functional level user. The ability for the same visual paradigm to compartmentalize
functionality and metadata at the tile level is equally powerful.
While no packaged implementations exist, custom development is a simple matter in any
number of languages and technologies, although they are most feasible using custom UI
code on top of existing business intelligence and application server APIs. As is true with any
In Closing
 Tile Functionality
An additional benefit of tiles in structured
sets is the ability to view detailed
information and establish system behaviors
at any level in the data structure, from the
highest point (e.g., total revenue) to the
lowest (e.g., individual sales).
Methods of accessing additional data and
functionality for each tile are variable based
on implementation and usability
considerations. In basic client-server
models, a mouse click can return a detail
window. In rich environments such as Flex
or Lazlo, a mouseover, click, or area drag
may flip and/or magnify a tile. The example
to the right would be a typical action result
in either traditional or RIA environments.
In addition to charts and detailed data
supporting the tile metric, the “backside” of
the tile contains links to relevant static
reports and documents, relevant news and
systems, contact information for the metric
including e-mail and contact list access, and
print functionality.
The backside of the example tile also
provides customized subscription options for
alerts and notifications based on system or
user-defined tolerances (such as min/max
slider selection) as well as alert preferences.
Example of an expanded or “flipped” tile
showing additional information and functionality