The Milestone Bubble Schedule
My main reason to use data analytics is to visualize things that can be otherwise difficult to see. In this post I want to show one small custom visual that helped me manage multiple deadlines in a single view.
The Excitement of Data
Every now and then I'm reminded why I got interested in data in the first place! In this post, I want to highlight a quick example of how data can help in firmwide project management of deadlines.
For me, the main benefit of data analytics has always been that it helps me see things that otherwise I might find difficult to grasp. The ability to leverage data processing - and especially Power BI’s data visualization - was a game changer when I wanted to track workload across multiple offices, with numerous teams and a dizzying array of projects.
The Milestone Bubble Chart displays all the deadlines in the firm, and colors them by type (design, CA or report).
A Comprehensive Schedule Visual
A great deal of operations data is stored in data tables, but that data can be hard to comprehend in its raw form. Take project workload for example, showing upcoming deadlines, or who's working on what. It can be difficult to see the big picture and the individual detail together, particularly when projects number in the hundreds, or even thousands. But with the help of custom data visualizations, we can often create what we want.
I’ve always sought to have a comprehensive Gantt-type chart view of projects, so that I could understand the overall workload in the firm, as well as upcoming deadlines and their features. I wanted to know big deadlines from small ones, who the team is, what kind of deadline it is, and all in one drill-down visual.
I have found a lot of the out-of-the-box Gantt chart offerings to be pretty disappointing, so I started to explore some of the customization possibilities in Power BI to see what I could do. In this case I used a visual called Deneb, which is fully customizable, (though it comes with a hefty learning curve).
The main issue with the standard Microsoft Gantt chart is that it is clunky to arrange multiple deadlines on a single line, which is a common scenario with design projects. The result is a very long chart, which can make it all difficult to track. While there are other visuals available, some paid, these also tend to be best suited to a small number of deadlines.
Another drawback is that the Gantt chart is limited in the information it can display about deadlines next tto the data mark. You often get to display one data field, when you may ideally want to see multiple data points. Using Deneb, we are able to create a more layered, but clearer picture of what I was looking for and in a very customizable way.
Solving the Problem
The image below is the result of the first generation of the visual the milestone bubble chart. Like a Gantt chart, the deadlines are arranged sequentially, but not in hierarchy format as is often the case. In this visual, I can show the project as a single line, with each deadline in sequence along that line.
I was also able to display multiple key data points about each deadline - deadline type, whether it’s design or construction for example, and also if it’s a big milestone or a small submission.
The bubble size reflects the size of the project, which gives some indication of whether the project is a large deadline or just a smaller submission or report-type deadline. The number of budget hours for the phase is shown next to the bubble, as well as the project name and the deadline type.
It is also possible to leverage other data wizardry to show additional data for each deadline when you mouse over. For instance, I can create a tooltip that, when moused over, will show project staffing, phase budget and any other information I choose to include.
Each milestone data point has multiple pieces of data that show Project Name, Budget hours, and milestone Type and Date.
It is a succinct way to understand all the impending deadlines, and it's completely filterable by clicking on a certain PM's name. In fact, when the project first comes up it looks like a train wreck, but it starts to take shape when filtered down to certain PMs or time frames.
Visualizing Latent Processes
The single biggest hurdle in operations is often being able to see what’s going on in a large organization, but custom visuals provide a refreshing new way to visualize processes. The reason customizability is energizing is because it demonstrates the real benefit of leveraging data tools to help in firm wide operations.
Using Deneb can a pretty involved affair, and some of the finer aspects, such as tooltips can lose stability from version to version. But overall it’s a great addition to the operations data toolset. If you want to learn the basics of Deneb I recommend starting with the the following series of videos.