Dashboard Design

[bloggerman]

Hey

I have a dashboard requirement. Could someone guide on how do i go about interacting with business and getting/suggesting a dashboard design. Questions that i should ask, areas to poke. Generic approach until design of the dashboard

[blom0344]

Well, actually I suspect that the business would like to see a dashboard (whereas you need to build it). My preferred tactic is to build something from scratch, not trying to come up with something very well thought through. In most cases this induces a large set of propositions and the business is triggered to contemplate their own need(s)
Next, propose a fixed number of increments you will take the dashboard design through to avoid working till forever on each little detail that pops up during development.

Take into consideration that dashboards often create their own set of management requirements and users will want to navigate from high level figures/graphs to more detailed reports

[CognosPaul]

This is a difficult question to answer, as there are many different definitions of what a dashboard is. 

Ideally you should interview the users. Make sure you interview them in an area that is comfortable for them as you'll need them to open up and give you accurate answers. Prepare a list of questions in advance, but be prepared to ask follow up questions that aren't in the list.

Your questions should include what data they need to see, and on what granularity. Floor managers will probably focus on day-to-day stats, with detailed data, while executives will probably want to see monthly stats. You'll need to ask if they need to do filters, or if a static screen is sufficient. 

During the meeting besides noting down everything they say, you should also sketch out possible designs. Prompts on the side? Top? Graph here and here, crosstab here?

I recommend reading up on dashboards: Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few.

Kimball's Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit has a great explanation on how to interview business users on their needs and expectations.

[bloggerman]

Thanks. While implementing do we implement dashboard through Portals or a normal report would do?

[Prerna Chaudhary]

Hi,

There are Several ways to create Cognos 8 Dashboards: 

• A Report Studio Report containing several report objects
• A Page Portal (an icon present at the top in Cognos Connection)to organize multiple reports and other objects on one tab
• Cognos 8.4 GO Dashboard

Let me know if you need any further help.

Thanks and regards
Prerna
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pchaudhary@infocepts.com | www.infocepts.com
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[bloggerman]

Thanks!! What are the pros and cons of each and how do we figure which should be used in which scenario?

[Prerna Chaudhary]

Hi,

The type of approaches you should opt for creating dashboards again depends upon your requirements. Please find the details below:

1.   Report Studio- If your requirement is to create multiple reports (charts, lists, and crosstabs) in the same interface, then you will be able to do this only through Report Studio. The most convenient way is to open Report Studio, create a blank report, insert a table and insert the report objects .It is infact the most easiest and conventional way. You can easily create dashboards in report studios having different Cognos Object being inserted in a table. You can also take the help of Java scripting features like expand /collapse, toggling function, header locking and more to make it more interactive. We mostly prefer creating dashboards in Report Studio in our organization

2.   Cognos 8.4 GO Dashboard-is used for creating Flash based Dashboards
•   It lets you view and interact with trusted Cognos BI content through a dynamic Flash-based interface
•   Build and edit dynamic and dashboards with drag-and-drop ease
•   The most significant feature of 'Go! Dashboard' is the cost, it is not free and has to be purchased and licensed for  users

3.   Dashboard can also be created in Cognos Connection by adding the NEW PAGE and the reports or Folder. A cognos 8 Page Portal Dashboard is usually made up of Charts, Maps, Navigation Portlets to reports, lists and crosstabs. You can go with this option when mostly your requirement is to enable communication between the Portlets. Portlets can contain Cognos Viewer, HTML Items, RSS feeds, Search Portlets, Navigation Portlets, Images, Customized Portlets

Let me know if you want any additional help regarding the same.

Thanks and regards
Prerna
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pchaudhary@infocepts.com | www.infocepts.com
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[bloggerman]

Could you give me an example of communication between portlets.....
Is it that each portlet can have only one item i.e. one chart? Also, can i have rss and charts in the same portlet.

[bdbits]

We have used the Cognos Connection dashboard tools with reasonable success. The portlets display Cognos content, so whatever you put in the report is what shows up in the portlet. You can change the portlet content at runtime, and have multiple portlets on a single page, and have different tabs for even more stuff. :)  Cognos Connection is itself constructed this way and uses the same portlets, or so an IBM support guy told me. Anyway, I suggest looking through the documentation, which you can find at this link.

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/caapps/v8r4m0/topic/com.ibm.swg.im.cognos.ug_cc.8.4.0.doc/ug_cc_i_Managing_Pages.html?resultof=%22%64%61%73%68%62%6f%61%72%64%22%20

[bloggerman]

How does Business Insight figure in the scheme of things...Which should i go for among the whole lot

[Lynn]

I am working on a project that will pilot the use of Business Insight dashboards. For my client with limited developer resources we are opting to train various business users on Business Insight Advanced. They can create reports with dashboard widgets as well as the Business Insight dashboards.

The professional developer would then only be required to produce widgets that are too complex for Business Insight Advanced.

They immediately recognized that this approach puts the burden of supporting dashboard users primarily onto the business authors rather than on IT developers. I can't say there were thrilled by this prospect :)