SEMANTIC NOTATION OF BASIC MEASURES
We would like to share some considerations on the semantic notation of basic measures (UN 3.1 Unify
measures) in order to start a discussion on this open field. This is a new discussion and it is probably
too early to include this topic in IBCS® version 1.1.
A semantic notation concept for basic measures must be the base for a notation concept for ratios
which is not defined yet.
1
Status quo
IBCS® version 1.0 already mentions three classifications (“cuts”) of measures:
+ Value measures and volume measures
+ Flow measures and stock measures
+ Measures of positive, negative, and neutral impact
Value and volume: If it helps to distinguish value measures (measured in currencies) from volume
measures (measured in physical units), IBCS® suggests to use rectangular shapes for values and
rounded shapes for volumes. However, the adoption of this suggestion on the side of IBCS® Certified
Software vendors and IBCS® users is very low.
And here is the reason for this as we think: Distinguishing value measures from volume measures
alone is not enough to really “see” specific measures – it needs a more specific notation.
Flow and stock: In his 2016 Warsaw session Rolf suggested to use lines and areas for stock
measures if it is helpful to distinguish them from flow measures. Again here: There was no
overwhelming support of this concept.
In a comment on UN 3.1 Rolf further developed the idea to using trapezoid shapes for stocks. Also
here, the feedback was not positive at all and Rolf now also thinks that this is going in the wrong
direction and withdraws this suggestion.
And here our reasoning is the same as with values and volumes: not specific enough to really “see”
concrete measures.
2
Need for a semantic notation of basic measures
Will readers of reports, participants in slide presentations, and users of interactive dashboards
benefit from a semantic notation for the different measures? Sure they will, but it must be a
consistent concept, easy to understand and memorize - and it must be a well accepted standard.
There must be one concept only – not only within one organization but hopefully only one
“worldwide”…
In music, architecture, engineering, cartography, and many other disciplines specific visual notation
concepts are used worldwide for many years – with great benefits for all its users. Nothings exists
like this in business communication yet – and this is what IBCS wants to deliver: Not only for
scenarios, time periods, etc. but for the business measures which is probably the most important
dimension.
3
Developing a visual language for specific measures
When creating visualizations for specific measures, we could be creative and design different visual
expressions for sales, inventory, headcount, and some other important basic measures – similar to
the letters of an alphabet. However, the “semantic distance” of some measures is small (e.g. cash
inflow vs. cash outflow) whereas the semantic distance of other measures is big (e.g. sales vs.
headcount).
Pattern recognition would be much easier if similar measures would look similar. So we suggest to
create visualizations for the three cuts mentioned above, combine them, and add further
distinguishing features making them looking unique for groups of measures resp. even specific
measures. This procedure leads to a systematic development of a visual language for the
identification of specific measures.
Positive, negative, and neutral impact: Andrej Lapajne made the following suggestion in his 2015
Amsterdam session dealing with waterfall charts: “Good” contributions should be shown lighter, “bad”
ones darker. However, it has been criticized that gray shades already indicate previous periods and
are used in stacked columns and bars. Using this concept we must agree on at least four different
shades of gray. And this suggestions lacks a consistent solution for neutral contributions, too.
4
What is new?
What we have learnt from the status quo: It in not sufficient to use a visual concept for the three
separate “cuts” mentioned above. This does not help to understand things much better.
But all of us would benefit dramatically if we could detect directly a group of measures (e.g. sales) or
even a specific measure (e.g. export sales) – instead of its classifications only.
However, these cuts are very helpful when it comes to develop a visual language for specific
measures. And this is what we have done here: For each “cut” we suggest a consistent visual
language which allows to identify not only the twenty or so most important basic measures but
leaves it up to the user to build more specific measures for his or her specific needs.
In summary: There is no accepted semantic notation for a practical classification of basic measures
yet.
Rolf Hichert and Jürgen Faisst
2017-01-17
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Value
So far, we use rectangular
shapes for value measures
(sales, profit, etc. measured in
currencies)…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Value
Volume
So far, we use rectangular
shapes for value measures
(sales, profit, etc. measured in
currencies)…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
…and round shapes for
volume measures
(shipments, headcount, etc.
measured in physical units)
Value
Volume
Flow
Could‘t we use „open“ (or
unfilled) icons for flow
measures…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Could‘t we use „open“ (or
unfilled) icons for flow
measures…
Value
Flow
Could‘t we use „open“ (or
unfilled) icons for flow
measures…
Volume
Stock
…and closed (or filled) icons
for stock measures
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Could‘t we use „open“ (or
unfilled) icons for flow
measures…
Stock
…and closed (or filled) icons
for stock measures
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
…and these are icons for
good, bad, and neutral value
measures…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
…and these are icons for
good, bad, and neutral value
measures…
Attention: This is not green,
red, and gray used for good,
bad, and neutral variances…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
…and these are icons for
good, bad, and neutral value
measures…
Attention: This is not green,
red, and gray used for good,
bad, and neutral variances…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
…but for symbols of good,
bad, an neutral measures!
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
…and these are icons for
good, bad, and neutral value
measures…
Attention: This is not green,
red, and gray used for good,
bad, and neutral variances…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
…and these are icons for
good, bad, and neutral
volume measures…
…but for symbols of good,
bad, an neutral measures!
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Stock value measures can be
the average of a time period…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
..or from the begin of a time
period…
Stock value measures can be
the average of a time period…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
..or from the begin of a time
period…
Stock value measures can be
the average of a time period…
..or from the end of a time
period…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
…and these stock value
measures can be good, bad or
neutral…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
… as well as stock volume
measures
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
This is our concept for the
icons in a scenario of actual
data…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
This is our concept for the
icons in a scenario of past
(previous) data…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
This is our concept for the
icons in a scenario of future
(plan) data…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Now we want to identify
specific measures…
Stock
Neutral
Good
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
These icons identify two
important groups of flow value
measures:
Sales and cost
Sales $
Cost
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Sales #
Sales input #
These icons identify two
important groups of flow value
measures:
Sales and cost
…and the respective groups
of flow volume measures:
Unit sales – and perhaps the
„unit input“ for these sales
Sales $
Cost
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Sales #
Sales input #
These icons identify two
important groups of flow value
measures:
Sales and cost
…and the respective groups
of flow volume measures:
Unit sales – and perhaps the
„unit input“ for these sales
Sales $
Cost
May be, different types of
sales and cost measure are
necessary…?
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Profit
Loss
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Sales #
Sales input #
…and here another „pair“
of important flow value
measures:
Profit and loss
Sales $
Cost
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Looking at cash, we need
to distiguish both flow and
stock values…
Cash inflow Cash outflow
Cash avg.
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Cash begin
Looking at cash, we need
to distiguish both flow and
stock values…
Cash inflow Cash outflow
Cash avg.
Cash end
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
…whereas the stock
values can be averages
or measured at the begin
or end of a time period
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Some more icons for
important basic measure
follow…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Stock out $
Stock out $
Stock avg $
Stock avg $
Stock avg $
Stock end $
Stock end $
Stock end $
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Neutral
Stock begin # Stock begin # Stock begin #
Stock begin $ Stock begin $ Stock begin $
Stock in $
Good
Stock in #
Stock out #
Stock out #
Stock avg #
Stock avg #
Stock avg #
Stock end #
Stock end #
Stock end #
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Order vol. $
Order vol. $
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Neutral
Good
Order vol. #
Order vol. $
Orders in $ Orders canc. $
Stock
Orders in # Orders canc. #
Order vol. #
Order vol. #
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Capital begin
Debt begin
Capital avg
Debt avg
Capital end
Debt end
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Receiv. begin Payables begin
Reveiv. avg
Payables avg
Receiv. end
Payables end
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Market size $
Market size $
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Neutral
Market size #
Market size $
Market size $
Good
Market size #
Market size #
Market size #
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Hires #
Good
Neutral
Neutral
Headcount #
FTE begin #
Headcount #
FTE avg #
Headcount #
FTE end #
Leaves #
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
And here are some typical
applications…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Without visual support
from icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
With visual
support from
icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
The final position
is not fix yet
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Without visual support
from icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
With visual
support from
icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
The final position
is not fix yet
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
The final position
is not fix yet
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Without visual support
from icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
With visual
support from
icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
The final position
is not fix yet
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Without visual support
from icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
With visual
support from
icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
The final position
is not fix yet
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Without visual support
from icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Without visual support
from icons…
With visual
support from
icons…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
The final position
is not fix yet
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Good news
With this concept different types of
icons might be used for special
purposes.
E.g. in tables, texts, line charts…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Here are some examples of icons
for specific measures…
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Profit
Loss
Sales $
Cost
Stock
Neutral
Good
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Sales #
Sales input #
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Stock out $
Stock out $
Stock avg $
Stock avg $
Stock avg $
Stock end $
Stock end $
Stock end $
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Neutral
Stock begin # Stock begin # Stock begin #
Stock begin $ Stock begin $ Stock begin $
Stock in $
Good
Stock in #
Stock out #
Stock out #
Stock avg #
Stock avg #
Stock avg #
Stock end #
Stock end #
Stock end #
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Market size $
Market size $
Market size $
Market size $
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Market size #
Market size #
Market size #
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Neutral
Neutral
Headcount #
FTE begin #
Headcount #
FTE avg #
Headcount #
FTE end #
Hires #
Leaves #
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Neutral
Neutral
Headcount #
FTE begin #
Headcount #
FTE avg #
Headcount #
FTE end #
Hires #
Leaves #
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Cash begin
Cash inflow Cash outflow
Cash avg.
Cash end
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Receiv. begin Payables begin
Reveiv. avg
Payables avg
Receiv. end
Payables end
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Capital begin
Debt begin
Capital avg
Debt avg
Capital end
Debt end
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Neutral
Value
Volume
Flow
Good
Bad
Stock
Neutral
Good
Bad
Flow
Neutral
Good
Bad
Order vol. $
Order vol. $
© 2017 IBCS Association. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.
Neutral
Good
Order vol. #
Order vol. $
Orders in $ Orders canc. $
Stock
Orders in # Orders canc. #
Order vol. #
Order vol. #
Bad
Neutral