There are a variety of dashboard products on the market, with a variety of features to consider for a dashboard deployment. A successful dashboard deployment heavily depends on the features within its supporting software. The software features to consider may be divided into the following major categories:
- End-user experience
- User management
- Drill-down
- Reporting
- Data connectivity
- Visualization
- Collaboration
- System requirements
The following section describes in detail what may be expected of the software features in each of the previously outlined categories:
End-user Experience
The dashboard software must provide a user-friendly and intuitive interface for all levels of users. The user base within organizations would vary widely in their level of computer savvy and in their software learning temperament. Therefore, a dashboard software program must be extremely intuitive. Some of the key characteristics in this area would include the following:
- Intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) Web-based Performance
- Web-bases
- Performance
Intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI)
The intuitive GUI, should display visual elements such as icons, and right click windows.
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Web based
The dashboard must be accessible through the Web (either within an intranet or extranet) by authorized users accessing through any of the leading Web browsers (e.g., Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape).
Performance
Dashboard performance refers to the user experience in terms of the response time required for loading a dashboard. It is important to assess the anticipated level of peak traffic for the planned deployment in order to establish a comparative benchmark.
User Management
Dashboard software should provide management of user group and hierarchies, privilege domain, and content domain. The software should also facilitate effective security implementation and personalization. Some characteristics in the area of user management include:
- Personalization framework
- User privilege framework
- Dashboard grouping
- Metrics grouping
Personalization Framework
The dashboard software must provide an efficient way for the dashboard experience to be personalized. There are two types of personalization to consider: (1) user driven and (2) template driven.
User-driven personalization means that each user should have the capacity to exercise limited control over the layout of the dashboard and help determine the metrics and alerts that will be displayed.
Template-driven personalization refers to the capacity of the dashboard software to filter the data based on the user's profile, while simultaneously displaying the dashboard generated from a single template.
User Privilege Framework
An effective dashboard software program must have an administrative component that facilitates the management of user roles, privileges, and groups. The different roles and restrictions permitted within the software must be evaluated against the specific requirements of the organization.
Dashboard Grouping
The dashboard software must allow dashboard groups to be created in such a way that a group of users (using a privilege framework) may be assigned a group of dashboards.
Metrics Grouping
Metrics grouping is a software feature that helps in security management. If a group of users needs to be denied access to a certain set of metrics, those metrics may be grouped, and access to the metric group may be restricted.
Drill-down
Drill-down is an essential characteristic of a dashboard software program in that it helps the user perform self-guided analysis. With drill-down capabilities, clicking on a visual indicator on the dashboard will lead to a more detailed level of information that more fully explains the visual indicator. Some of the key characteristics in the area of drill-down are as follows:
- Context
- Multilevel drill-down
Context
There are typically two types of drill-down links simple link, and (2) context link. A simple link leads to a destination chart or report that may be retrieved by clicking on the linked visual display in the dashboard. A context link presents the destination chart or report with intelligence, based on the context of the drill-down. If the software does not provide context drill-down, then the destination chart will present data for all states.
Multilevel Drill-Down
An effective dashboard framework must facilitate multiple levels of drill-down. The user should be able to further drill down into that chart or report to arrive at the next chart or report.
Example of a dashboard drill-down path
Reporting
A dashboard is not inherently a reporting solution, but it should serve as gateway into a reporting system that meets the organizational needs. A user should be able to sort a report by the different data fields contained in the report. The sorting should be intuitive and also allow for ascending and descending sorts. The reporting framework must also allow for data filtering, whereby users may get a subset of the report based on selected criterion and data value on the report.
Data Connectivity
The dashboard software's data connectivity features should align with the specific organizational requirements. Some of the key characteristics in the area of data connectivity include:
- Multiple data source connectivity
- Real-time connectivity
- Standard database support
Multiple Data Source Connectivity
In some cases an organization may need to pull data from disparate data sources into a single dashboard. This would demand that the dashboard software has the capability of pulling data from the disparate sources available within the information biosphere of the organization.
Dashboards should be able to draw data from a variety of data sources
Real-Time Connectivity
The dashboard software should be able to pull data live from any standard data source. If the data values in the specific data source serving the dashboard change, those changes must be reflected in the dashboard. However, this does not assume that the data source will contain live transactional data. The point is that the dashboard software must be able to serve the most current data available within the data sources that are directly feeding the information to the dashboard.
Standard Database Support
The standard databases currently include relational databases such as IBM's DB2, Oracle, Microsoft's SQL Server, Open Source MySQL, and multidimensional databases such as Hyperion's Essbase, MicroStrategy's DSS/Server, and Oracle's Express. The dashboard software must support the specific databases and the versions that will serve as data sources for the dashboard deployment. Moreover, the software must have the ability to accept tables, views and stored procedures as data sources from the databases.
Visualization
Good visualization can be the difference between information overload and information insight. Commonly used graphs (charts) are one example of visualization. In the context of dashboard visualization, visual intelligence is key and can be defined as the capability of software to provide better insight through intelligently highlighting relevant areas and values on the dashboard in response to a user's cursor movement. Intelligent presentation improves the user's ability to extract information from data. An effective dashboard, therefore, must deploy techniques to help filter the right information to the user through the funnel of visual intelligence to help the user avoid the sensation of information overload.
Collaboration
Collaboration extends the dashboard's role from a passive information interface to an active enterprise management console. It transforms the dashboard into a hub of information exchange, task delegation, workflow management, and decision making. The main component in collaboration is the discussion forum, an application that allows a thread of communication among several users. The dashboard software may provide a discussion forum integrated with one or more of its components. The forum can be integrated with alerts, charts, reports, and individual dashboards.
System Requirements
The IT environment within the organization must support the dashboard software's system requirements. If the dashboard software does not work within the systems infrastructure of the organization, this is another criteria warranting elimination. Some of the key areas requiring evaluation are as follows:
- Operating system
- Application server
Operating System
Some of the major operating systems on the server side that are part of the current IT environment are Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, UNIX, and Linux. The dashboard software must also support the versions of these operating systems that are supported within the organization.
Application Server
As with the operating system, the application server requirements for the dashboard software must fall within the domain of supportable application servers within the organization. Some of the popular application servers are Windows 2000 and 2003, IBM Websphere, BEA Weblogic, and Apache Tomcat, to name a few. There must also be a match between the version of the application server on both sides-the dashboard software requirements must also match what is supported within the organization.