📊 Visualization & Insights
How we transform processed data into actionable business intelligence through interactive dashboards and compelling visualizations.
🎯 Dashboard Strategy
Designing dashboards that deliver actionable insights for business decision-making
Design Principles
Our dashboard design follows these key principles to ensure maximum business impact:
- Actionable Insights: Every chart and metric should drive a business decision
- Progressive Disclosure: Start with high-level overview, drill down to details
- Context Matters: Always show current performance vs. historical baselines
- Geographic Intelligence: Leverage Chicago's community area structure
- Real-time Updates: Ensure data freshness for operational decisions
Target Audience
🏢 Small Business Owners
Understand market trends and competitive landscape in their area
🏛️ Economic Developers
Identify growth areas and target business development efforts
📊 Market Analysts
Track economic indicators and business formation trends
🧩 Dashboard Components
The building blocks that make up our comprehensive business intelligence dashboard
📈 Performance Overview
- • Total new licenses this week
- • Week-over-week change
- • 13-week trend comparison
- • Category breakdown
🏆 Top Performers
- • Top 10 community areas
- • Fastest growing categories
- • Momentum leaders
- • Geographic hotspots
🗺️ Geographic Analysis
- • Community area map
- • Regional comparisons
- • Neighborhood trends
- • Spatial patterns
📊 Trend Analysis
- • Time series charts
- • Seasonal patterns
- • Category evolution
- • Predictive indicators
🔌 Looker Studio Integration
How we connect our Google Sheets data warehouse to Looker Studio for visualization
Data Source Connection
We use Google Sheets as our data warehouse, which provides seamless integration with Looker Studio. This approach gives us:
- Real-time data refresh capabilities
- Easy data manipulation and cleaning
- Built-in version control and audit trails
- Simple sharing and collaboration
- Cost-effective storage solution
Connection Setup
# Google Sheets to Looker Studio Connection 1. Data Source Configuration: - Connect to Google Sheets - Select specific tabs (licenses_weekly, summary_latest) - Set refresh schedule (every 15 minutes) 2. Field Mapping: - week_start → Date dimension - community_area_name → Geographic dimension - category → Categorical dimension - new_licenses → Metric (Sum) - momentum_index → Metric (Average) 3. Data Refresh: - Automatic refresh from Sheets - Manual refresh option - Error handling for connection issues
🎨 Design Patterns
Proven visualization patterns that maximize insight extraction
1. KPI Cards with Context
Each key metric is displayed in a card that shows current value, change from previous period, and trend direction.
KPI Card Structure: ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ New Licenses This Week │ │ 127 │ │ ▲ +12% vs last week │ │ 📈 Trending up │ └─────────────────────────┘
2. Comparative Bar Charts
Side-by-side comparisons showing current performance vs. historical baselines.
Comparative Chart Logic: - Current week (blue bars) - 13-week average (gray bars) - Week-over-week change (green/red arrows) - Momentum indicators (color coding)
3. Geographic Heat Maps
Community area maps with color intensity representing business activity levels.
Heat Map Color Scale: 🟢 Green: High activity (>75th percentile) 🟡 Yellow: Medium activity (25th-75th percentile) 🔴 Red: Low activity (<25th percentile) ⚪ Gray: No data available
4. Time Series with Annotations
Line charts showing trends over time with key events and milestones highlighted.
Time Series Features: - 90-day rolling window - Weekly data points - Trend lines and moving averages - Event annotations (holidays, policy changes) - Interactive date range selection
🖱️ Interactive Features
How users can explore and interact with the data to find insights
Filtering & Selection
- • Date range picker (last 30/60/90 days)
- • Community area multi-select
- • Business category filter
- • Performance threshold sliders
Drill-Down Capabilities
- • Click community area for details
- • Expand category breakdowns
- • Time period zoom controls
- • Export filtered data
Cross-Chart Filtering
When a user selects a community area or category, all charts update to show related data, creating a cohesive analytical experience.
Cross-Filtering Example: 1. User clicks "Near North Side" on map 2. All charts filter to show only that area 3. Performance metrics update 4. Category breakdown shows area-specific trends 5. Time series focuses on area performance
🧠 Business Intelligence Features
Advanced analytics that provide actionable business insights
Momentum Analysis
Our momentum index identifies areas and categories that are outperforming their historical baselines, signaling potential growth opportunities.
Momentum Index Calculation: momentum = (current_performance - 13_week_average) / standard_deviation Interpretation: +2.0 to +4.0: Exceptional growth (investigate) +1.0 to +2.0: Strong growth (monitor) -0.5 to +0.5: Stable performance (baseline) -1.0 to -0.5: Declining (watch) -2.0 to -1.0: Significant decline (action needed)
Trend Detection
Automated trend detection identifies emerging patterns and alerts users to significant changes in business activity.
Trend Detection Logic: 1. Calculate 3-week moving average 2. Compare to 13-week baseline 3. Flag significant deviations (>2 std dev) 4. Categorize trends: - Emerging: Recent uptick - Sustained: Consistent growth - Declining: Decreasing activity - Volatile: High variability
Predictive Indicators
Based on historical patterns, we identify leading indicators that suggest future business activity trends.
Leading Indicators: - Building permit trends (3-6 months ahead) - CTA ridership patterns (foot traffic proxy) - Seasonal business formation patterns - Economic policy announcement impacts - Weather pattern correlations
🚀 Live Dashboard Access
Experience the Chicago SMB Market Radar dashboard in action
Ready to Explore?
The Chicago SMB Market Radar dashboard is live and ready for you to explore. See real-time business intelligence data in action.
🚀 View Live DashboardReady for the Next Chapter?
Now that we've built our visualization layer, let's see how we automate the entire pipeline for production use.