Many companies have financial metrics and operational metrics, but struggle to link operational performance to financial performance. A large, global manufacturing company had been challenged to unify the operational and financial perspectives of their business. We worked closely with their leadership through our design process.


Below is one particular screen for analysis of different customers and suppliers:

How Axis Group Helped

The screen follows a common left to right, top to bottom layout with common filters and selections on the left. The top view enables a clear, prioritized snapshot view of suppliers performance, supply manager performance, and account rep performance. Embedded are a few options to customize the chart including a supplier filter and rank by (volume or gross margin).



The far-right trend lines enable quick analysis of performance over time, while the bottom heat map provides insights into notably concerning variances in volume by supplier. The bright red indicates a major negative variance and is quickly recognizable. Finally, the bubble chart allows users to easily determine outliers by multiple variables.

Summarized Points:

• Red is a commonly understood and easy way to grab attention, highlighting areas of concern
• Having multiple, small line charts is much easier to read than superimposing multiple lines on a single chart
• Bubble charts enable easy identification of patterns across multiple dimensions, as well as outliers

The Contributors:

Liza George has a Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Georgia Tech with a background in architecture. She enjoys all forms of design, from buildings to screens. Liza likes reading, kickboxing and playing video games in her free time.

Alex studied both Computer Science and Operations Management at Georgia Tech. A certified Project Manager, he oversees complex engagements for various Axis Group clients. Alex’s free time is spent chasing his young daughters around the house and headbanging to heavy metal.