Process and Productivity in Visual Analytics: Reflections on E-Discovery

Because visual analytics is not used in a vacuum, there are no cut-and-dry metrics which can accurately evaluate visual analytic tools. These tools are used inside of existing business processes, thus metrics to evaluate these tools must measure the productivity of information workers on the data-centric critical path of these business processes. In this position paper, we will argue for process-centric visual analytic metrics grounded in the concept of information worker productivity. We will place our discussion the context of legal e-discovery, the business process within which Attenex operates and within which we have demonstrated that visual analytic tools can increase productivity dramatically. After discussing how productivity metrics for visual analytics helped e-discovery, we make the argument that they can help any data-intensive business process and discuss both how to create these metrics and apply them successfully. CR