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DATA VISUALIZATION & ANALYTIC

DECISION MAKING

TARA HOLLAND, SAS CANADA

MAY 2013

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DATA

VISUALIZATION WHY NOW?

The Rise of the Data Scientist

“Big Data”

Comfort with Technology

Mobile Devices/Tablet

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DATA

VISUALIZATION TODAY WE WILL COVER…

Visualization hot spots

Common pitfalls and

best practice

Levels analytic maturity

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VISUALIZATION HOT SPOTS

HOW TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE TECHNIQUES

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Why do pictures work?

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FOUR PLACES TO

INJECT

VISUALIZATION

ACROSS THE ANALYTICS LIFECYCLE

IDENTIFY/

FORMULATE

PROBLEM

DATA

PREPARATION

DATA

EXPLORATION

TRANSFORM

& SELECT

BUILD

MODEL

VALIDATE

MODEL

DEPLOY

MODEL

EVALUATE

MONITOR

RESULTS

Exchange

Ideas

Build

Understanding

Find

Insights

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EXCHANGE IDEAS GET PEOPLE LOOKING AT THINGS THE

SAME WAY

THE NEED TO START ON

THE SAME PAGE

Data Visualization,

when done right, will

communicate

information clearly

and effectively

through graphics.

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INCREASE

UNDERSTANDING

TESTING ASSUMPTIONS & FORMULATING THE RIGHT

QUESTION

Moving beyond the

anecdotal use of

data and finding the

information.

“If we need a short suggestion of what exploratory data

analysis is, I would suggest that

• It is an attitude AND

• A flexibility AND

• Some graph paper (or transparencies, or both).

No catalogue of techniques can convey a willingness to look

for what can be seen, whether or not anticipated.”

- John Wilder Tukey

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BUILD

UNDERSTANDING

BUILDING THE UNDERSTANDING AND

BUY IN FOR THE ANALYTICS RESULTS

PICTURES ARE MORE

ENGAGING THAN

EQUATIONS

“Individual

commitment to a group

effort – that is what

makes a team work, a

company work, a

society work, a

civilization work.”

- Vince Lombardi

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COMMON PITFALLS & BEST PRACTICES

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COMMON PITFALLS

& BEST PRACTICE #1 TRAFFIC LIGHTING

• Traffic Light pitfalls:

• Problem colours

• Does not show full picture of variance

• Order of items can make it tough to find problems

• Annotation of Good & Bad

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#1 TRAFFIC LIGHTING

• Showing information that conforms to or falls below

a certain threshold

• Gradient of colours and size of bar gives more

information

• Ordering based on intended action/priority

A BETTER ALTERNATIVE COMMON PITFALLS

& BEST PRACTICE

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COMMON PITFALLS

& BEST PRACTICE #2 BAR CHARTS

Bar charts can convey information clearly but there

are presentation practices which can make them

unintuitive

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COMMON PITFALLS

& BEST PRACTICE #2 BAR CHARTS

• Most constant variable at the bottom or right

• Ordered in ascending or descending manner

• Don’t include colour unless it conveys meaning

• Keep text outside to avoid scaling issues

A BETTER ALTERNATIVE

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COMMON PITFALLS

& BEST PRACTICE #2 PIE CHARTS

Though the use of pie charts is rampant, they are

one of the most controversial chart types and are

accused of obscuring information rather than

conveying it clearly.

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COMMON PITFALLS

& BEST PRACTICE #2 PIE CHARTS

• No more than 7 slices

• Avoid 3D and label values

• Bar or line charts should be used for comparison

A BETTER ALTERNATIVE

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LEVEL OF SOPHISTICATION

MAPPED TO ANALYTIC MATURITY

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COMPLEXITY NEEDS

TO BUILD OVER TIME IMAGINE SEEING THIS ON DAY ONE

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BEYOND BAR

CHARTS THE NEXT LEVEL OF ANALYTIC VISUALS PHASE 1

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BEYOND BAR

CHARTS THE NEXT LEVEL OF ANALYTIC VISUALS PHASE 2

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TO LEARN MORE ONLINE RESOURCES PROVIDE MANY REUSABLE

EXAMPLES

Visit these websites and blogs

datavisualization.ch

flowingdata.com

informationisbeautiful.net

visualcomplexity.com

Reference material

from these sites

was used in this

presentation

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TO LEARN MORE SAS VISUAL ANALYTICS

Upcoming SAS Visual Analytics Webinars

June 13 (Public Sector)

June 26 (Healthcare)

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