If you want to present data in a way that it can be understood easily, two of the best ways to do so would be diagrams and graphs. Both of these can be used to present data in a raw format or after it has been cleaned up and processed in some way. While there are lots of different ways you can use diagrams and graphs to present data, this article will focus on why they are both so important in various fields and applications.
Diagrams Make it Easier to Expand Ideas
Diagrams are an essential part of the brainstorming process in lots of organizations because they make it easy to hash out and expand ideas. All you need is a whiteboard or a diagram maker and an initial idea. You can then connect this main idea to other tangential ideas you have and keep expanding until you have great ideas that are useful and that you can use for your purposes.
A good diagram maker can also allow different people to add their ideas to the diagram in a collaborative fashion. This is especially true for an online diagram maker that allows for brainstorming sessions no matter where people are located in the world, and where numerous ideas are developed and need to be refined to end up with one or just a few ideas or solutions to a challenge, problem or issue.
They Make Information Extraction Easier
Diagrams and graphs are also very useful at the beginning of projects where scopes have already been defined and there is a need to understand business processes. They also come in handy when trying to decide which processes would be best for completing a project. In both of these instances, data that is presented in a diagram or graph is easier for stakeholders to understand and can help with the extraction of relevant data when needed.
They Help Fill Gaps in Data
A common challenge for businesses, analysis, and other stakeholders is not knowing what data is missing when they are looking at raw data. The reason is that this data is jumbled up and thus it is not easy to know what data you have and what you are missing. When data is presented on a diagram or graph, it becomes easier to see where there is a gap in the data received and processed.
A business can then focus on acquiring the data it needs. Such gaps can also point out inadequacies in data collection processes and scope and thus help businesses craft a strategy for dealing with these inadequacies and plugging any existing gaps.
Planning and Estimation
Case model and context diagrams are primarily used to understand the scope and requirements of a project before everyone involved gets into the details. By allowing you to have a better understanding of scope and requirements, diagrams are an important tool in planning and estimations as they give you a better idea of the size and complexity of a project or process.
Additionally, an understanding of project scope makes it easier to gather the right and necessary requirements that are needed to complete projects.
They Bring out Hidden Facts and Relationships
When working with data, the first things to do would be to classify it and tabulate this data. However, some facts can get hidden when doing this and this is why at this stage, it can be difficult to understand everything you need to about this data.
Diagrammatic and graphical data presentation both help bring out these hidden facts. Additionally, they make it easier to see relationships between different sets and subsets of data. These relationships can be incredibly helpful in making the data useful. For example, a graph can help you see the relationship between increasing your advertisement spend and changes in the number of customers acquired at each budget point.
They Make Data Easier to Understand
Diagrams and graphs make it easier for everyone involved to understand data. Even when data has been cleaned up, classified and tabulated, it can be difficult to know what you are looking at unless you were invoked in the collection of that data. If a diagram or graph is well made and designed, looking at it for a few seconds is often enough to understand what that data is, even if you might not be able to understand its implications, uses and everything else about it.
Diagrams and graphs are also very attractive compared to raw or tabulated data. This is why a lot of magazines, newspapers and websites use diagrams and data when explaining certain facts or discussing certain subjects.
Diagrams and Graphs are Universally Accepted
While there are various ways of presenting and representing data, diagrams and graphs are universally accepted due to their in-built features like readability and ease of understanding. Almost all fields from education, to business, administration, and science use diagrams because everyone in these fields understands what they are and how they can be used.
Diagrams and Graphs Make Comparisons Easier
It is almost impossible to compare two sets of data if they are presented in some forms like tables. However, this data gets easier to compare when it is presented in a graph or diagram. Additionally, graphs and diagrams make it easier to see trends over time which can be useful in various ways.
Diagrams and graphs are perhaps two of the most popular ways to present data. The benefits they offer are what make them so important in numerous areas and fields.
