Many artists feel that art doesn’t just belong in a museum. It should also be where people are – in living rooms, in cafes, on the street, in city squares, or wherever else they congregate. Similarly [...]

Statistical distribution wasn’t exactly a hot conversation topic a few years back. Yet in Germany, it was almost omnipresent – at least as soon as we opened our wallets. A portrait of Carl Friedrich [...]

As data analysts, we also appreciate the value of repetition – at least in the form of small multiples, a term coined by Edward Tufte, one of the leading data visualization experts. Tufte, who considers [...]

Apparently, producing and communicating current material and appropriate messages can be challenging – as far as content and technical aspects are concerned. As BI users, we rarely lack current data [...]

In Business Intelligence, we are also passionate about numbers. Fortunately, however, we can remain a bit more reserved because DeltaMaster does the counting for us. In this edition of clicks! we will [...]

As a PC worker, you probably already spend a good chunk of your day searching for things. If someone asks you to analyze the numbers on a few customers, products, etc., you have to rummage through masses [...]

In our seminars and presentations, we often make a case for logarithmic scales because they are the only way to make percentage changes comparable. We often feel, though, that our words are met with skepticism [...]

When the ancient Babylonians invented the number 0, they turned ‘nothing’ into something tangible. Giving ‘nothing’ a name and face was a fundamental requirement for progress. After all, our numerical [...]

Using graphical tables, we can show and even measure what is different in a very simple, elegant way. And with DeltaMaster we can choose from many different visualization options including difference [...]

Back in a February 2007 blog entry on “Me, Myself and BI”, Dr. Nicolas Bissantz explained why he hopes that OLAP is a 10 year workaround. Although it is still too early to take stock, you can at [...]

In Bella’s new book “Bella consults – 75 rules for better visualization”, rule #38 is: Make your message clear. And in this edition of clicks! we want to follow that rule to a tee. Our message [...]

When people talk about ‘long-term means’, they almost always are referring to weather data. In most cases, however, they are not talking about means in their true sense but rather variances or extremes [...]

Fortunately with management reports, your color schemes can be even more reserved. Most times, you only need two: a good and a bad color. This way, your reports are incredibly easy to understand. And [...]

OLAP applications deal with lots of sums and even more parts. Views, filters, rankings, or limitations affect the whole in many dimensions and on different levels. And it soon it becomes difficult to [...]

We interpret motion as a sign of life – which could explain our fascination for machines. And culture has constantly reinterpreted the machine. Throughout DeltaMaster’s development, we sometimes let [...]

Some headlines even make headlines. Back in April 2005, for example, a major German tabloid graced its front page story with the title: “We are the Pope!” Certainly, there is a lot askew in a headline [...]

What substantial advantage should new presentation techniques have over traditional ones? One option would be interactivity. The content of a printed slide doesn’t change. A computer screen displayed [...]

When it comes to reporting, several factors – including language, numbers and visualizations – all come into play. Reports, however, shouldn’t serve as a guinea pig for testing the latest effects [...]

If someone asked you for a quote on statistics, you probably wouldn’t have to think long and hard to come up with something. And even though these sayings aren’t always true, the fact is that statistics [...]

In Bavaria, where DeltaMaster is developed, we say ‘Servus!’ as a friendly way to greet or say goodbye to someone. What many people today don’t realize, however, is that this term stems from the [...]

Sometimes people use a derogatory tone when they talk or write about textbook knowledge. We, on the other hand, feel that a good textbook can offer very useful advice. In the case of visualization, you [...]

Mr View says, “I determine what this report reports.” – “I beg to differ, I can handle my views on my own. After all, I have my own axis definition!” Mr Report contradicts. With this imaginary [...]

Even though we advocate paper reports every now and then, we understand that it is almost impossible to imagine day-to-day business without e-mail anymore. For many, e-mail has become the most important [...]

There are certain words in a foreign language that are just difficult to translate. The German word “schadenfreude,” for example, simply has no punchy English equivalent. Most people, therefore, prefer [...]

To celebrate special occasions, most restaurants go to great stakes to plan and prepare a tantalizing, multi-course dinner. The biggest challenge, however, occurs when guests order à la carte or, in [...]

Thinking and design belong together. If creating a comparison is the challenge at hand, then the chart should do exactly this. The principles of analytic design are the principles of reasoning about evidence [...]

There are certain times each year when not much really happens in the world – and, accordingly, there is very little to report. Unfortunately, however, most newspapers are published every day and if [...]