Dashboard technology is in a state of flux, and increasingly the design is geared toward enterprise use. Some businesses are now using dashboards rather than corporate Intranets, writes Jenn Webb at O'ReillyRadar. 

Dashboards designed for integration in an enterprise are also becoming more user friendly, Webb writes. Google Analytics, for example, allows the creation of multiple dashboards so that different employees within an organization can access the information most pertinent to them. Dashboards can be created based on a variety of rules, such as department or interest.

The secret to an effective dashboard, according to Ken Hilburn, a vice president with Juice Analytics, is the inclusion of three levels of data: High-level key indicators; dimensions and measures that provide context for the indicators; and detailed information for further analysis and discussion.

The ability to communicate the analysis is also vital. "You want to have the ability to socialize [the data]," Hilburn says. "You want to be able to take a snapshot or annotate it, or be able to ask people what they think and communicate back and forth."

For more:
- see Jenn Webb's post at O'Reilly Radar

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The dawn of the communications dashboard