IT Management Dashboard

The dashboard is an effective method to show IT value,The dashboard is also a good tool to provide input to the decision maker such as IT leaders and managers. Further, it encourages the IT departments to create their own marketing plan for dealing with their different 'customers inside and outside of the organization.
IT dashboard helps to create a degree of abstractness in presentations: It enables executives have their say in a meeting or make an effective decision. Essential information in a management dashboard usually includes:1) Well selected Metrics and performance data2) IT Departmental P & L3) Employee Turnover/ Attrition percentage4) Key challenges and relevant data5) Top accomplishments for strategy execution 6) Any deviations in schedule cost with reasons7) Observed business benefits/outcomes8) Key risks and critical issues with mitigation steps9) Any important decision that needs to be taken including budgetary approvals, approvals for schedule extension, approvals for additional resources, etc.
IT value to the business can be categorized in a number of ways: A dashboard is a tool to visualize Key Performance Indicators and as such it certainly a must to show the metrics of the values and the effectiveness of the measured department -IT, or the measured activity produces. -A: Improving Speed/Agility (Speed to Market, ability to change etc)-B: Improving Revenue (enable the business to gain market share)                                        -C: Customer Acquisition/Retention (optimize end customer experience...) -D: Lowering Risk (reduces business system downtime, create business continuity) -E: Lowering Cost (reduces the cost of the current business process, improve margins, freeing up capital for new ventures, etc).
There are at least three target audiences who are interested in IT value presentation: IT staff, IT management, and business leadership. Each has a different focus. It is a very good idea to make IT metrics transparent to the varying departments - to visualize the progress and also to evaluate if the KPIs being used are the same as the ones they use to describe IT activity. Also, make sure to involve the key stakeholders in the development of the scorecard they will be presented, and strive to minimize the overall number of metrics to share the logical process flow. The intuitive visualization is also important factors in make execution dashboard more effective. And there are four main purposes for IT metrics and IT management dashboard:-A: Provide transparency into IT,-B: Aid setting direction for IT,-C: Drive performance of IT-D: Communicate the business value of IT.  
A well-designed dashboard is an effective management tool to enable business leaders to make a better decision.An effective IT management dashboard should be brief enough to keep focusing on the most strategic business initiatives and the most fundamental IT functionality as well; to present relevant KPIs and metric information to make decisions and act on them; to have an intuitive graphical display that is well laid-out and easy to navigate. It is an effective management tool to present IT value and help IT leaders to capture IT oversight, set priority, and make effective decisions.
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