Whether you refer to them as dashboards, data visualizations, graphs, charts, or scorecards, they’re ubiquitous.  This is most likely because dashboards are the top priority regarding software investments that executives are seeking, based on Gartner’s survey on Financial Executive International CFO Technology.  Because it feels like we are constantly in the fast lane in the business world, data analytics that are easily digested and quickly accessible are pretty valuable.  We are proud to report that dashboards deliver exactly that: graphs, scorecards, and charts showcase trajectories, opportunities, and challenges through data and key performance indicators (KPIs) to best manage a project, a department or division, or even your entire Professional Services organization.

Dashboards of all varieties are everywhere, whether you’re checking how much gas you have in the tank, monitoring your credit card expenses, or even reviewing the activity analysis of your Google account.  Business Intelligence (BI) data visualizations provide similar data trend insight as these daily life examples do, so you can make more informed decisions for your Professional Services organization.  BI dashboards differentiate themselves by their interactive and adaptable analytical nature, so you can clearly understand the health of your company.  Most BI dashboards come with drill-down and drill-to functionality built right into the product, so you can look at specific target data to make better decisions.  Now that we’ve made it clear why data visualizations are so prevalent in the business world, let’s zoom in on the features and functionalities that can upgrade your Acumatica processes into more accessible, dynamic dashboards.

Data visualizations can utilize information from multiple sources.  If you have to have real-time analyses, particularly for financials, you can use the native Acumatica dashboard functionality.  Live analytics are preferred for professionals who need up-to-date financials – or smaller organizations that are happy with basic accounting system data visualizations, without the resources to maintain a BI data store, like a data warehouse or an online analytical processing (OLAP) cube.  On the other hand, larger Professional Services organizations usually need more than just financial information – and a quicker, more powerful performance for their dashboards – which can be challenging to achieve with a live Acumatica data visualization.

BI data store integrations enable bigger Professional Services companies to produce operational and financial data visualizations without slowing down the Acumatica server when querying data for real-time analyses.  If your team has several Acumatica users who might be pulling data that is a substantial amount or even simultaneously, a BI data store usually delivers a higher performance.  You will first have to first replicate your data to the cube or warehouse, but it will likely still be faster, depending on the size of your data query.  One of Martin & Associate’s favorite aspects of a BI data store is that you can store other types of data in one space, such as clients, projects, consultants, types of service, etc.  Some third party software vendors also focus on flexibility and hybridity when building their software, so you can choose how you’d like to integrate your data.

To continue learning more about Acumatica dashboards for Professional Services, read the rest of this article here.