A Call for Mobile Dashboards

Leveraging channel promotions and rebates to automate manual processes

Last year a client came to us with a need to provide partners with a mobile dashboard. The ask was to replace the current process of manually developed spreadsheet reporting, with automation and a mobile optimized web dashboard. In the fast paced, content hungry, immediate world of tech, partners need to see their rebates on the go.

Working together with our client, we were able to identify the process being utilized to manually populate spreadsheets with data, automate the process of loading updated sales, and apply those sales to calculations of formulas and earned benefits. The client was also then able to display those results in a dashboard with spreadsheet export functionality for robust reporting capabilities.

During our exploration and discovery, the following requirements were determined:

1. Ability to load Point-of-Sales (POS) data through auto-updated back end formulas for each partner that contractually qualified for quarterly and yearly basis benefits.
2. Leverage existing solution channel promotions (channelPromotions) to load promotional displays and be included in the overall yearly benefits for each partner.
3. Utilize smart device (phone or tablet) to allow the client and their partners to see their dashboard data.
4. Support the ability to export to spreadsheets, and report data that had historically been manually created.

During the implementation processes we determined that the client could leverage channel incentives (channelRebates) to load updated POS data combined with data from channel promotions (channelPromotions). Each time the scenarios were recalculated a refresh of formulas and loyalty benefits would be updated and displayed on the dashboard.

Reporting and analytics on the go

An additional requirement that was developed, was the ability to allow the client and their partners to utilize a smart device (phone or tablet) to display an optimized view of the data and download the historic spreadsheet report as needed. This brought about aesthetic considerations to ensure the site was attractive on a computer monitor as well as on any smart device. We solicited partner feedback on color blocking with time periods and use of color and font to highlight totals, and then implemented final updates.

As the program utilizing this mobile dashboard continues to grow we look forward into analytics that show us how partners are preferring to log in -- via an old-fashioned laptop, or are partners really doing business now on mobile devices? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments of this post!