Designing for Executive Decision-Making
The L2 Executive Monitoring One-Pager project was scoped to address a critical organizational challenge within the Technology and Governance domain: providing senior leadership with an efficient and consolidated view of IT risk, security posture, and compliance maturity.
objective
streamlining IT risk & security posture into a single page for
L2 governance
Move past fragmented, technical reports and create a high-fidelity tool that clearly articulates the status of critical Risk Areas (e.g., Disaster Recovery, Cyber, Data Privacy) and immediately highlights systemic failures, compliance issues, and the required strategic investment (the "Solution").
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Audience: L2 Executive Leadership (C-suite, SVPs, VPs of major departments) overseeing Technology, Risk, and Compliance.
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Goal: Enable rapid, data-driven decisions on critical IT security risks, resource allocation for maturity gaps, and compliance enforcement.
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Deliverable: Interactive, single-page digital dashboard/report design utilizing a risk-centric matrix.
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Discipline: UX Design, Information Architecture, Data Visualization.
challenge
siloed risk data &
undefined maturity
Before this dashboard, executive updates on IT risk suffered from three major problems:
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Siloed Risk Reporting: Data for areas like Cloud Compliance, Cyber Security, and IT Asset Inventory were managed by separate teams, resulting in inconsistent status reporting and a lack of holistic risk context.
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Vague Maturity Assessment: Leadership had no standardized, visual mechanism to understand the Maturity level (e.g., Initial, Managed, Optimized) of key risk areas, hindering strategic planning for security investment.
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Action Paralysis: Reports described risks (like lack of Backup & Restore coverage) but rarely translated those concerns into clear, prescriptive executive actions, leading to Decision Lag on critical security issues.
solution
unified, action-oriented risk matrix (1-pager)
The solution was a highly condensed, matrix-structured dashboard built around a core principle: Risk Identification -> Posture Assessment -> Actionable Ownership.
1. Information Architecture for Strategic Oversight
I structured the dashboard as a highly scannable, data-dense matrix (like the image provided) to serve as a single pane of glass for IT Governance:
2. Prioritizing the "Issue-Impact-Resolution" (I-S-R) Framework
The central design challenge was translating status colors into an actionable agenda item. The supporting data structure for the matrix required every RED status to trigger the I-S-R documentation:
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​Before (Ineffective): "Training & Awareness is Red/Yellow."
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After (I-S-R Focused UX):
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ISSUE: Low compliance for mandatory Cyber Policy Training across 40% of L2/L3 leaders.
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IMPACT: Increased regulatory exposure and risk of human-factor breach, estimated $1.5M penalty risk.
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RESOLUTION: Approve Q2 budget for new gamified training module.
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3. Data Visualization and Cognitive Efficiency
I designed the visual elements to reduce cognitive load and prevent misinterpretation:
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Consistent Risk Color Schema (RAG): Used a universally consistent Red (Critical), Yellow (Monitor), Green (Healthy) status for both Compliance icons and Maturity clusters, allowing for rapid scanning across 15+ areas.
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Iconography for Status: Employed clear checkmark (Good) or question mark (Unknown/In Review) icons to quickly distinguish verified compliance from areas needing review.
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Density vs. Readability: The tabular, matrix format allowed high data density while maintaining scannability for executives focused solely on identifying the RED rows needing immediate inte
results &
impact
Accelerated Decision Cycles and Posture Improvement
The adoption of the L2 Monitoring Dashboard significantly improved the focus of IT governance meetings and accelerated decision-making regarding risk mitigation and capability investments.
This project successfully transformed reactive, fragmented risk reporting into a proactive, high-impact governance tool, directly strengthening the organization's security and compliance posture.
