BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SOLUTIONS — HOW TO GAUGE SUCCESS

Lengthy and dense hardcopy reports generated up to a month after the fact don't make the most effective tools for managing day-to-day operations. Managers--actually, all plant personnel--can benefit from having access to information they can act on in the moment.

Enter the "dashboard," for lack of a better term. Some vendors have embraced that classification, while others find it wanting. Business intelligence solutions is another way of thinking about the subject, but it doesn't have the same resonance.