Challenge Summary
Welcome to "Tsunami’s Material Supply Plant - Tableau DViz Design Concepts Challenge". In this challenge, explore design concepts for a new Data Visualization Dashboard that will be implemented on the Tableau platform.
The main goal is to design dashboards for the materials management team within the Tsunami’s manufacturing facilities. These individuals need visibility into raw materials and parts required to assemble their finished goods. We are developing separate dashboards for 2 personas (The Material Planner and Materials Manager/Lead), both are interdependent on one another. Keep in mind these personas are only responsible for inventories needed to manufacture products; finished goods production is out-of-scope.
We recommend you to start by digging into data visualization design best practices. Research and think about simple ways to provide data visualization experiences.
We are really excited to kick off this new DViz Design Concepts Challenge.
- As a part of your checkpoint submission, you must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs.
- Make sure to include a URL/comment the link to your marvelapp while uploading your submission
- Make sure all pages have the correct flow! Use correct file numbering. (00, 01, 02, 03)
- As a part of your checkpoint submission, you must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs.
- Make sure to include a URL/comment the link to your marvelapp while uploading your submission
- Make sure all pages have the correct flow! Use correct file numbering. (00, 01, 02, 03)
The main goal is to design dashboards for the materials management team within the Tsunami’s manufacturing facilities. These individuals need visibility into raw materials and parts required to assemble their finished goods. We are developing separate dashboards for 2 personas (The Material Planner and Materials Manager/Lead), both are interdependent on one another. Keep in mind these personas are only responsible for inventories needed to manufacture products; finished goods production is out-of-scope.
We recommend you to start by digging into data visualization design best practices. Research and think about simple ways to provide data visualization experiences.
We are really excited to kick off this new DViz Design Concepts Challenge.
Round 1
Submit your initial designs for a checkpoint feedback- As a part of your checkpoint submission, you must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs.
- Make sure to include a URL/comment the link to your marvelapp while uploading your submission
- Make sure all pages have the correct flow! Use correct file numbering. (00, 01, 02, 03)
Round 2
Submit your final designs with all checkpoint feedback implemented.- As a part of your checkpoint submission, you must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs.
- Make sure to include a URL/comment the link to your marvelapp while uploading your submission
- Make sure all pages have the correct flow! Use correct file numbering. (00, 01, 02, 03)
We are looking to design creative (and useful) data visualization dashboard that will make it easier for customers to see their data and take action with their data. This challenge is focused on designing dashboards for the Tableau platform.
Design Considerations
- We are looking for a simple, easy-to-use, informative, modern design.
- Try not to have too much information on your dashboard, you can make them compelling by making the visualization interactive and enable users to walk through or drill into the different insights.
- Please go through the Tableau guidelines to understand to what extent a design can be implemented in the Tableau.
- We are provided some sample data (please see forums), which you can use in your designs.
- Use color, visual comparison, and drill-down charts to highlight comparison.
- Have your designs of size: 1366 x 768px
Required Dashboard Designs
01 General Dashboard Features:
Below aspects are a common theme in all reports, please make sure it is incorporated...
- Overall think through the provided requirements for the dashboards and come up with meaningful designs for the dashboards.
- Need to think on how to layout out the filters
- Take a look at the features of tableau/look to incorporate features that you think would be useful.
A. Material Planner - Brad
01 Single Plant View
- The parts supply in the plant comes from multiple distributors. The plant is located in Gary, Indiana. (Please see the reference image and excel file to get better understanding)
Parameters
- Starting Balance: this is the inventory on hand
- Daily Demands Quantity: this is the amount of parts that is needed for each day
- Delivery Quantity: this is the amount that is delivered or will be delivered, to replenish the inventory to continue meeting the Daily Demands. Some deliveries from local distributors come in daily or once or twice a week. Other deliveries across the country don’t come in as often. If it is an international delivery it can take weeks.
- Shortage: this is how many parts short the plant is, based on the daily demand and the current inventory
Green & Red views:
Green means everything is on track and on schedule. Red means that there is a warning for a gap or potential gap.
- It is important that the Starting Balance on each of the parts in the plant meets the Daily Demands. If it is not, there should be a red indicator. The Starting Balance is dependent on deliveries, so if a delivery is delayed it will show up in the dashboard, and while the plant may be able to meet the Daily Demands in the short term, this may affect the numbers in the long term. As the days go on and the Daily Demand is not met, the Shortage number will continue to increase. Like a domino effect, one day affects the other
- Brad is most concerned with what’s going on within a 10 day time span. So even though he can see what’s going on further out, he is most concerned with that 10 day window. For each of those days in his view, he can see the parameters listed above.
- If there is a delay in the delivery schedule, it could affect fulfilling those Daily Demands if there is not enough in the current inventory. You need to show how this will affect the Starting Balance for each day. So while it may not affect meeting the demands in the near future, because there is enough in the current inventory, eventually that inventory will run out and this needs to be reflected in the dashboard. As mentioned, a red indicator would be used for those days the demand will not be met.
- In addition to changes in the delivery schedule, there can also be changes in the Daily Demand needs. So if this number increases, it is possible that the plant will not be able to meet future demands, depending on the inventory and delivery schedule. There would be a red indicator showing when this would be a problem.
- Brad should be able to manually make changes to the Daily Demand, but remember this could have an affect down the line based on future Daily Demands and the Delivery Schedule.
- Keep in mind that all of these parameters have an effect on the other parameters. There is a constant push and pull. If the delivery is delayed, that affects future inventory and increases the Shortage. If Demand increases, that also could affect inventory and Shortages. There could even be cases where both the delivery is delayed and there is an increase in Demand which would be even more critical.
Mapping System
- The dashboard should also be able to support a mapping system showing the delivery schedules.
- Tsunami receives deliveries both locally, nationally, and internationally. Parts are delivered by trucks, planes, boats, and trains.
- The main methods of delivery is by truck. But there are situations where deliveries from other countries come in by boat, and then the container is loaded onto a train, and finally reaches the Indiana plant by truck. Try and capture this and various other situations on a map. Show the different points in the delivery, like clearing customs, loading and unloading, and possible delays.
- Local/Domestic sourced parts come in 1 or 2 days a week
- International suppliers of parts are mainly located in Mexico, China, Canada, and Germany
- The mapping system should provide predictive visual alerting to show risks to delivery schedules, which will cause a shortage, based on weather, natural disasters, traffic delays, or other news events impacting transportation of inbound freight.
Filters
- Time span for dashboard views and filtering. As mentioned, Brad is most concerned with seeing within a 10 day window, but he still needs to see further out.
- 10 days is most critical
- 30 days
- 12 week view is the maximum
Total Roll-Up View
- Even though Brad is only concerned with his plant, we would also like to see a view showing an overview of all 15 plants across the United States. Parts are mostly unique to each manufacturing plant, although a few parts are shared.
B. Materials Manager/Lead - Brittany
- Every month Brittany does her inventory accounting work by looking over the quantity and costs associated with parts inventory at her plant. This gives her the financial outlook for the month going forward. Her job is to forecast the plant’s Profit Plan monthly. She is only concerned with her plant in Gary, Indiana.
These are the buckets and indicators that she needs to see on her dashboard to create her monthly Profit Plan. She needs to be able to input the money spent on each of these categories to calculate her Profit Plan forecast. Brittany needs to outlook her plan for the next 12 months. (Please reference the example provided)
- Component Parts: units that are made up from Raw parts
- Raw Inventory: parts used for building units and appliances (screws, valves, steel, etc)
- WIP Inventory: partially finished goods waiting for completion and eventual sale or the value of these items.
- Service Parts (Unique): an interchangeable part that is kept in an inventory and used for the repair or replacement of failed units.
- Launches: parts needed to fill the demand for new appliances being released
- Freight in Inventory Adjustment: the freight costs associated with parts inventory on-hand
- Obsolescence: Pertains to launches. Parts she holds for x-amount of years as reserves, until the finished good is no longer being manufactured, or the part can be scrapped
- MRO/Non Product: Products that are used and needed for everyday maintenance on the plant. And to maintain day to day operations of the facility
For a more detailed description of these terms. Please see the Glossary of Categories
She should be able to manually make adjustments to each of the categories. When these categories are calculated, she can get a forecast of the Raw WIP Profit Plan, but she can also see what the Actual Profit Plan numbers turned out to be, as the months go on and compare them to her predictions.
- Historical Actuals on Raw WIP is also used to predict the end of month numbers. Brittany uses this to see if she is in the ballpark with her forecasts.
Total Roll-Up View
Even though Brittany is only concerned with her plant in Gary, Indiana. She would also like to see an overview of these particular buckets across all 15 North America plants:
- Component Parts
- Raw Inventory
- WIP Inventory
- Service Parts (Unique)
- MRO/ Non Prod
- Launches
- Freight in Inventory Adjustment
She would also like to see a monthly, quarterly, and yearly view, with prior year comparison. Forecasts are built on an annual basis but adjusted quarterly & monthly.
References
Example dashboards designs that were published in the tableau
- https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery
- https://www.tableau.com/learn/webinars/design-tricks-great-dashboards
Important:
- Keep things consistent. This means all graphics styles should work together.
- All of the graphics should have a similar feel and general aesthetic appearance.
- Focus on User Experience / how the user interacts within the dashboard.
MarvelApp Prototype
- We need you to upload your screens to the Marvel App
- Please send your Marvel app request to csystic@gmail.com (Challenge Copilot)
- You MUST include your Marvel app URL in notes /comments while uploading (in your marvel app prototype, click on share and then copy the link & share it within your notes while you upload).
Target Audience
- The Material Planner and Materials Manager/Lead
Judging Criteria
- How well you plan the user experience and capture your ideas visually.
- Cleanliness of your graphics and design.
- Overall design, UI and user experience.
- Consistency across the UX/UI
Submission & Source Files
Preview Image
Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024px JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it.
Submission File
- Submit JPG/PNG for your submission files
- Submit Marvelapp as part of your submission.
Source Files
All original source files of the submitted design. Files should be created in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, or Sketch!
Final Fixes
As part of the final fixes phase, you may be asked to modify your graphics (sizes or colors) or modify overall colors. We may ask you to update your design or graphics based on checkpoint feedback.
Design Considerations
- We are looking for a simple, easy-to-use, informative, modern design.
- Try not to have too much information on your dashboard, you can make them compelling by making the visualization interactive and enable users to walk through or drill into the different insights.
- Please go through the Tableau guidelines to understand to what extent a design can be implemented in the Tableau.
- We are provided some sample data (please see forums), which you can use in your designs.
- Use color, visual comparison, and drill-down charts to highlight comparison.
- Have your designs of size: 1366 x 768px
Required Dashboard Designs
01 General Dashboard Features:
Below aspects are a common theme in all reports, please make sure it is incorporated...
- Overall think through the provided requirements for the dashboards and come up with meaningful designs for the dashboards.
- Need to think on how to layout out the filters
- Take a look at the features of tableau/look to incorporate features that you think would be useful.
A. Material Planner - Brad
01 Single Plant View
- The parts supply in the plant comes from multiple distributors. The plant is located in Gary, Indiana. (Please see the reference image and excel file to get better understanding)
Parameters
- Starting Balance: this is the inventory on hand
- Daily Demands Quantity: this is the amount of parts that is needed for each day
- Delivery Quantity: this is the amount that is delivered or will be delivered, to replenish the inventory to continue meeting the Daily Demands. Some deliveries from local distributors come in daily or once or twice a week. Other deliveries across the country don’t come in as often. If it is an international delivery it can take weeks.
- Shortage: this is how many parts short the plant is, based on the daily demand and the current inventory
Green & Red views:
Green means everything is on track and on schedule. Red means that there is a warning for a gap or potential gap.
- It is important that the Starting Balance on each of the parts in the plant meets the Daily Demands. If it is not, there should be a red indicator. The Starting Balance is dependent on deliveries, so if a delivery is delayed it will show up in the dashboard, and while the plant may be able to meet the Daily Demands in the short term, this may affect the numbers in the long term. As the days go on and the Daily Demand is not met, the Shortage number will continue to increase. Like a domino effect, one day affects the other
- Brad is most concerned with what’s going on within a 10 day time span. So even though he can see what’s going on further out, he is most concerned with that 10 day window. For each of those days in his view, he can see the parameters listed above.
- If there is a delay in the delivery schedule, it could affect fulfilling those Daily Demands if there is not enough in the current inventory. You need to show how this will affect the Starting Balance for each day. So while it may not affect meeting the demands in the near future, because there is enough in the current inventory, eventually that inventory will run out and this needs to be reflected in the dashboard. As mentioned, a red indicator would be used for those days the demand will not be met.
- In addition to changes in the delivery schedule, there can also be changes in the Daily Demand needs. So if this number increases, it is possible that the plant will not be able to meet future demands, depending on the inventory and delivery schedule. There would be a red indicator showing when this would be a problem.
- Brad should be able to manually make changes to the Daily Demand, but remember this could have an affect down the line based on future Daily Demands and the Delivery Schedule.
- Keep in mind that all of these parameters have an effect on the other parameters. There is a constant push and pull. If the delivery is delayed, that affects future inventory and increases the Shortage. If Demand increases, that also could affect inventory and Shortages. There could even be cases where both the delivery is delayed and there is an increase in Demand which would be even more critical.
Mapping System
- The dashboard should also be able to support a mapping system showing the delivery schedules.
- Tsunami receives deliveries both locally, nationally, and internationally. Parts are delivered by trucks, planes, boats, and trains.
- The main methods of delivery is by truck. But there are situations where deliveries from other countries come in by boat, and then the container is loaded onto a train, and finally reaches the Indiana plant by truck. Try and capture this and various other situations on a map. Show the different points in the delivery, like clearing customs, loading and unloading, and possible delays.
- Local/Domestic sourced parts come in 1 or 2 days a week
- International suppliers of parts are mainly located in Mexico, China, Canada, and Germany
- The mapping system should provide predictive visual alerting to show risks to delivery schedules, which will cause a shortage, based on weather, natural disasters, traffic delays, or other news events impacting transportation of inbound freight.
Filters
- Time span for dashboard views and filtering. As mentioned, Brad is most concerned with seeing within a 10 day window, but he still needs to see further out.
- 10 days is most critical
- 30 days
- 12 week view is the maximum
Total Roll-Up View
- Even though Brad is only concerned with his plant, we would also like to see a view showing an overview of all 15 plants across the United States. Parts are mostly unique to each manufacturing plant, although a few parts are shared.
B. Materials Manager/Lead - Brittany
- Every month Brittany does her inventory accounting work by looking over the quantity and costs associated with parts inventory at her plant. This gives her the financial outlook for the month going forward. Her job is to forecast the plant’s Profit Plan monthly. She is only concerned with her plant in Gary, Indiana.
These are the buckets and indicators that she needs to see on her dashboard to create her monthly Profit Plan. She needs to be able to input the money spent on each of these categories to calculate her Profit Plan forecast. Brittany needs to outlook her plan for the next 12 months. (Please reference the example provided)
- Component Parts: units that are made up from Raw parts
- Raw Inventory: parts used for building units and appliances (screws, valves, steel, etc)
- WIP Inventory: partially finished goods waiting for completion and eventual sale or the value of these items.
- Service Parts (Unique): an interchangeable part that is kept in an inventory and used for the repair or replacement of failed units.
- Launches: parts needed to fill the demand for new appliances being released
- Freight in Inventory Adjustment: the freight costs associated with parts inventory on-hand
- Obsolescence: Pertains to launches. Parts she holds for x-amount of years as reserves, until the finished good is no longer being manufactured, or the part can be scrapped
- MRO/Non Product: Products that are used and needed for everyday maintenance on the plant. And to maintain day to day operations of the facility
For a more detailed description of these terms. Please see the Glossary of Categories
She should be able to manually make adjustments to each of the categories. When these categories are calculated, she can get a forecast of the Raw WIP Profit Plan, but she can also see what the Actual Profit Plan numbers turned out to be, as the months go on and compare them to her predictions.
- Historical Actuals on Raw WIP is also used to predict the end of month numbers. Brittany uses this to see if she is in the ballpark with her forecasts.
Total Roll-Up View
Even though Brittany is only concerned with her plant in Gary, Indiana. She would also like to see an overview of these particular buckets across all 15 North America plants:
- Component Parts
- Raw Inventory
- WIP Inventory
- Service Parts (Unique)
- MRO/ Non Prod
- Launches
- Freight in Inventory Adjustment
She would also like to see a monthly, quarterly, and yearly view, with prior year comparison. Forecasts are built on an annual basis but adjusted quarterly & monthly.
References
Example dashboards designs that were published in the tableau
- https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery
- https://www.tableau.com/learn/webinars/design-tricks-great-dashboards
Important:
- Keep things consistent. This means all graphics styles should work together.
- All of the graphics should have a similar feel and general aesthetic appearance.
- Focus on User Experience / how the user interacts within the dashboard.
MarvelApp Prototype
- We need you to upload your screens to the Marvel App
- Please send your Marvel app request to csystic@gmail.com (Challenge Copilot)
- You MUST include your Marvel app URL in notes /comments while uploading (in your marvel app prototype, click on share and then copy the link & share it within your notes while you upload).
Target Audience
- The Material Planner and Materials Manager/Lead
Judging Criteria
- How well you plan the user experience and capture your ideas visually.
- Cleanliness of your graphics and design.
- Overall design, UI and user experience.
- Consistency across the UX/UI
Submission & Source Files
Preview Image
Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024px JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it.
Submission File
- Submit JPG/PNG for your submission files
- Submit Marvelapp as part of your submission.
Source Files
All original source files of the submitted design. Files should be created in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, or Sketch!
Final Fixes
As part of the final fixes phase, you may be asked to modify your graphics (sizes or colors) or modify overall colors. We may ask you to update your design or graphics based on checkpoint feedback.
Please read the challenge specification carefully and watch the forums for any questions or feedback concerning this challenge. It is important that you monitor any updates provided by the client or Studio Admins in the forums. Please post any questions you might have for the client in the forums.