Designing a product cost dashboard for the decision support of managers
Airikkala, Erika (2024)
2024
Tietojohtamisen DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Information and Knowledge Management
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2024-10-02
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202409068573
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202409068573
Tiivistelmä
The amount of data in the world has grown enormously and dashboards have been shown to improve the decision-making abilities of managers in this era of big data.. Managers are often left with reports full of information that is somehow hard to read and absorb. The information needs to be turned into insight for the managers to make informative decisions based on them. Since they often have no extra time or expertise on any specific subjects, the visualization should be carefully considered.
In this Master’s thesis, dashboards were researched from the viewpoints of data and visuali zation. The research was conducted as a case study in the research paradigm of a design science research, resulting in a process of making an artifact. The formed artifact is a product cost-related dashboard that is intended to help the managers of a target organization in their decision-making by providing the most essential information about product- or portfolio-specific costs.
The research is divided into two: the theory and the empirical section. In the theory section, the theoretical base for the research is made as well as research gap is acknowledged. The theory section is divided into three different chapters. The chapters include information about dash boards and product costs, general reporting and visualization of dashboards, and creating a dash board for the management. The theoretical section helps create a deep understanding of the research subject and supports the results of the empirical section. In the empirical section, an artifact was made based on interviews that were conducted within the target organization and the theory part.
The artifact that was made during the research provides a concrete solution for the target organization on how to utilize the cost-related data in the decision-making process. It offers a dashboard that is both easy to use and provides only the most relevant information with links to more in-depth reports. Even though the artifact was designed for the management, also other groups within the organization can utilize it in their work.
In this Master’s thesis, dashboards were researched from the viewpoints of data and visuali zation. The research was conducted as a case study in the research paradigm of a design science research, resulting in a process of making an artifact. The formed artifact is a product cost-related dashboard that is intended to help the managers of a target organization in their decision-making by providing the most essential information about product- or portfolio-specific costs.
The research is divided into two: the theory and the empirical section. In the theory section, the theoretical base for the research is made as well as research gap is acknowledged. The theory section is divided into three different chapters. The chapters include information about dash boards and product costs, general reporting and visualization of dashboards, and creating a dash board for the management. The theoretical section helps create a deep understanding of the research subject and supports the results of the empirical section. In the empirical section, an artifact was made based on interviews that were conducted within the target organization and the theory part.
The artifact that was made during the research provides a concrete solution for the target organization on how to utilize the cost-related data in the decision-making process. It offers a dashboard that is both easy to use and provides only the most relevant information with links to more in-depth reports. Even though the artifact was designed for the management, also other groups within the organization can utilize it in their work.