Designing Data Products - Data Fluency: Empowering Your Organization with Effective Data Communication - page 232

CONTExT: uSERS NEED TO uNDERSTAND HOW AN ALERT IS
DEFINED AND HOW IT FITS INTO THE LARGER PICTuRE

Are the parameters well defined? An alert is commonly defined
by the following factors: metric (for example, revenue), dimen-
sion (for example, time), delta (for example, month over month
change), scope (for example, Northeast region, Peanut-product
line), threshold (for example, increase or decrease of 10 percent).

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Is the timing of the alerts actionable? One client explained to us that
fluctuations in many of its metrics make monthly alerts too frequent—
it would unnecessarily alarm people when, from its perspective, no
significant trend had been established.

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Is the change statistically significant? This is of particular impor-
tance when you are measuring deltas. A doubling of traffic from a
referring site doesn't mean much when it is moving from one to two
visitors.

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COGENCY: AN ALERTING SYSTEM NEEDS TO AVOID CAuSING
uNNECESSARY ALARM WHILE DELIVERING EASY-TO-
uNDERSTAND INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACTED uPON

Can the alerts be described in simple terms that even an executive
can understand? Alerts should have a real-world meaning that users
are familiar with. If an alert is based on a complex metric, for example,
users will be confused as to the implications.

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Is the alert actionable? In the best cases, alerts should point users
to both the drivers of the alert and the actions that can address the
situation.

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Are the alerts so granular and/or frequently triggered that users
will get alert fatigue? Excessive use of alerts can undermine their
credibility. We saw this happen at one client where an IT-designed
system threw off alerts like they were going out of style. The applica-
tion went out of style the next year when users decided it was more
distracting than useful.

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