What is IBCS®?
The amount of data available grows daily, but the turnaround time for making decisions becomes shorter and shorter. Despite the use of data visualizations, most reports and presentations lack the underlying message. The visual representations are also not uniform on the reports, which means that it still takes a lot of time to fathom a report and to develop it.
International Business Communication Standards (IBCS®) is a practical proposal for the conceptual, visual and semantic design for reporting and performance. IBCS® ensures uniform standards that are understandable for everyone, such as sheet music, road signs and construction drawings. In addition, the uniformity also offers advantages for the development and management of management reports and dashboards. Modular building blocks are available through standardization, which significantly reduces construction time and costs.
Business communication complies with IBCS if it corresponds to the seven rules of the HICHERT®SUCCESS formula:
SAY – CONVEY A MESSAGE SAY covers all aspects of conveying messages to the recipients of reports and presentations.
Conveying messages means that reports and presentations, both as a whole as well as within their individual components, intend to say something to the recipients. Messages in this sense can be determinations, explanations, clarifications, recommendations, and other forms of statements.
UNIFY – APPLY SEMANTIC NOTATION UNIFY covers all aspects of applying semantic notation in reports and presentations.
Applying semantic notation means that reports and presentations follow this governing principle: Similar content should be visualized in a similar manner; what looks the same should also mean the same. On the flip side: If the content is not the same, it should not look the same.
In many specialized disciplines such as engineering, music, and architecture, semantic notation standards are a matter of course. The world of business communication lacks such notation standards, one of the main reasons management reports are sometimes hard to understand. For example, no common agreement on the meaning of various style elements such as titles, line markers, axes, highlighting indicators, etc. used in business charts exists yet.
CONDENSE – INCREASE INFORMATION DENSITY
CONDENSE covers all aspects of increasing information density in reports and presentations.
Increasing information density means that all reports and presentations include all information that is necessary to understand the respective message on one page.
CHECK – ENSURE VISUAL INTEGRITY
CHECK covers all aspects of ensuring visual integrity in reports and presentations.
Ensuring visual integrity means that reports and presentations present information in the most truthful and the most easily understood way by avoiding misleading visuals.
EXPRESS – CHOOSE PROPER VISUALIZATION
EXPRESS covers all aspects of choosing the proper visualization in reports and presentations.
Proper visualization means that reports and presentations contain charts and tables, which convey the desired message along with the underlying facts as quickly as possible.
SIMPLIFY – AVOID CLUTTER
SIMPLIFY covers all aspects of avoiding clutter in reports and presentations.
Avoiding clutter means that reports and presentations avoid all components and characteristics, which are too complicated, redundant, distracting or merely decorative.
STRUCTURE – ORGANIZE CONTENT
STRUCTURE covers all aspects of organizing the content of reports and presentations.
Organizing the content means that reports and presentations follow a logical structure forming a convincing storyline.
More information about IBCS can be found on the website of the IBCS-institute.
The IBCS® standard has already proven its added value at various companies. Large companies have adopted the standard and use it to report and present more efficiently.
IBCS® implementation
JUGO is the only IBCS® certified company in the Benelux. As a certified IBCS® service provider, JUGO is able to implement the IBCS® standards in practical projects. We take care of the development, support and rollout of the IBCS® concept. It is our mission to make your information even more profitable for your organization.
IBCS® is a concept idea and software independent, which allows it to be integrated into your existing reporting software, such as: SAP Design Studio, SAP Webi, QlikView, QlikSense and Excel. Various add-ons are available for this.
JUGO has partnerships with IBCS® certified software providers such as: Graphomate, KS Quadrat and HI-CHART. Together with our partners we can offer a complete solution in the field of IBCS®.
IBCS® reports
JUGO employs certified IBCS consultants, these consultants are able to improve your current reports and dashboards or to develop new reports based on the IBCS standards.
The JUGO consultants have passed the IBCS® certification process to the IBCS® Institute. Every year, IBCS consultants are obliged to do a re-certification to keep up with the latest developments of IBCS®, which means that quality is guaranteed by the IBCS® Institute. That is why our consultants are optimally able to apply the IBCS® principles within your reports.
IBCS® training
JUGO, in collaboration with the IBCS® institute, organizes seminars, workshops and in-house training courses in both Dutch and English.
In addition, JUGO offers hands-on workshops where IBCS®-certified software is set to work and participants can build independent reports within a day’s part. There are workshops for SAP BO Design Studio, Webi, Qlikview and Qliksense.
More information about the trainings / workshops and possibilities can be found on the training page. Or contact us for more information and the possibilities for customized training.
Are you interested and want to know more about IBCS? Sign yourself up for the unique Dutch-language IBCS® seminar in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
