Start Where You Are
In Lab E, you built an Analytic Product. But a product is only impactful if it is embedded into the workflow of a human being. High-impact analytics require Storyboarding—the process of mapping out the Use Case and Key Work Tasks before a single chart is created.
Identifying the Use Case
A dashboard for increasing monthly per-customer revenue doesn't exist in a vacuum; it belongs to a specific business cadence. Storyboarding ensures the data is ready when the decisions are being made.
Example: The Monthly Sales Strategy Meeting
- Pre-Meeting (Preparation): The Store Manager uses a "Performance" storyboard view to identify which store locations or film categories (e.g., Action vs. Horror) are underperforming11. This allows them to walk into the meeting with a clear agenda rather than searching for answers in real-time.
- During the Meeting (Collaboration): The dashboard is projected on a screen. Executives use filters to "drill down" into specific customer segments to test hypotheses—such as whether a dip in revenue is tied to a specific demographic or a lack of new releases.
- Post-Meeting (Accountability): The dashboard becomes the tracking mechanism for the "New Release Upsell" initiative launched during the session3. It ensures that the decisions made in the room translate into measurable results on the ledger.
The SIPOC Framework for Analytics
To ensure an analytics product is truly impactful, we use the SIPOC framework. This model helps us view the dashboard not as a static file, but as a critical gear in a larger organizational machine.
| Phase |
Description in Analytics Context |
DVD Rental Example |
| Suppliers |
The sources providing the raw data |
The MySQL database and store transaction systems |
| Inputs |
The specific tables and business rules |
rental, customer, and audited_payments |
| Process |
The Key Work Task where the data is used. |
The Monthly Sales Strategy Meeting and associated tasks. |
| Outputs |
The Analytic Product (Dashboard/Report). |
The Monthly Per-Customer Revenue Dashboard. |
| Customers |
The decision-maker who acts on the output. |
The Marketing Manager or Regional VP |
By using SIPOC, you realize that if the Process (the meeting) doesn't change based on the Output (the dashboard), the entire analytics value chain has failed.
Reflection Questions
- The "So What?" Test: If your dashboard shows that "Sci-Fi rentals are down 10%," what is the immediate work task (the Process) that follows? If there is no clear action to take, is that metric actually a "Key" performance indicator?
- Workflow Integration: Does your user have to "go out of their way" to find this data, or is it pushed to them right before their strategy session?
- The Story Arc: Every good storyboard has a beginning (the baseline), a middle (the trend/conflict), and an end (the target/resolution). Does your dashboard layout follow this logical flow?
- SIPOC Alignment: If the Supplier (the data source) changes—like the transition to the
rental_more table—how does that ripple through to the Customer (the manager)?
Practical Exercise: The Storyboard Mockup
Step 1: Define the Use Case & SIPOC
Identify one specific meeting or recurring decision-making event for the store.