RoutePlanner Model – Support for Financial Brokers Using Visualization to Enhance Insight into Information

Abstract

This paper considers the needs of financial brokers seeking to use information visualization to transform raw data in a data warehouse into enhanced insight, so as to identify marketing opportunities and better inform their clients. We introduce a model of the visualization process, called RoutePlanner, which was developed from a theoretical perspective. RoutePlanner comprises guidelines and stages for the identification of the data to be visualized, the selection of appropriate visualization methods, and the evaluation of the visualizations. In a collaborative process with a data expert and a visualization expert, the domain experts (brokers) were oriented in the use of RoutePlanner. They evaluated each stage of RoutePlanner positively, as well as the visualization process as a whole. The selected visualizations were successful in terms of the enhanced insight they provided, and the brokers who participated in the study were able to better inform and advise their clients in financial planning sessions.