The Dashboard Spy

It came to my attention that some Dashboard Spy readers forget that the dashboard screenshots appear under a different url: www.enterprise-dashboard.com, where I maintain Dashboard Examples Volume 1.  I apologize to the faithful reader who recently emailed me saying that while he enjoys the commentary and related materials that appear on this main site (dashboardspy.com), he wants to see more dashboard screens.

Well, in the spirit of helpful navigation, here is a recap of the recent dashboards that have been posted to Dashboard Examples Volume 1.

Hospital Bed Management Dashboard System with Excel Dashboard Download:

In-flight Project Status Dashboard done in Xcelsius:

Security Operations Center Dashboard (a look at an upcoming product):

Marketing Campaign Dashboard in SharePoint

Business Objects Crystal Xcelsius Dashboard:

So go on over, bookmark the site, and you won’t miss anymore dashboards.

Dashboard Topic: Using PowerPoint as a Dashboard for your presention.

Dashboard Spy readers know how I like to take the long route to get to my point, so let’s discuss a little background material first, shall we? Let’s start with a quick discussion of dashboard design. A portlet-heavy dashboard home page is a design pattern commonly used by dashboard designers. Here is a screenshot of a typical dashboard page to show you what I mean. This particular dashboard is a sample done in Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer 10g, but the technology or dashboard software is not important. I’m showing just as an example of a dashboard page that is composed of a series of portlets. Take a look:

Very straight-forward as a design pattern, isn’t it? Simply a banner, a navigation unit (in this case, horizontal tabs), followed by a grouping of small windows that contain graphics. Each of those portlet windows contains a business metric or KPI that pertains to a specific business concern, call it a separate topic or business idea if you will.

Presenting a series of such portlet windows is a powerful user-centered navigation pattern as it allows for the dashboard user to pick a topic of interest and drill down to explore the details of that area.

Here is a simplified reprsentation of the dashboard page: (more…)

Dashboard Spy readers will remember that I like to provide faithful readers a glimpse now and then at the full text of the business intelligence dashboarding articles that I come across while doing my research for the Dashboard Spy blog. What’s the big deal you may ask - I can just find those business intelligence articles myself on the web.

Well, actually, Dashboard Spy readers have found, now and then, these news articles can indeed be a big deal. I tend to do my BI research on some big-name, high-cost databases such as l*xisNex*s and F@ctiv@. The beauty of these databases is that the include sources not commonly found on the general web.

Today I will share 3 business intelligence articles of note:

1. Big-end tools for small fry - BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE - SPECIAL REPORT
2. Website gathers project resources - BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE - SPECIAL REPORT
3. IDC Reports on BI Sales; Which Vendors Are Hot, Which Are Not?

Enjoy reading these business intelligence news articles.

On a more personal note, welcome back from your vacations and long weekends. We’ll all buckle down together now on our dashboard projects and business intelligence applications. Work hard and enjoy!

Here are the articles:

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