Track your top business metrics in a graphical display

Are your executives and managers asking you to present System i data in a compelling, graphical format? SEQUEL addresses this challenge, not only with its graphical query and reporting capabilities, but also with its executive dashboards. This article explains how you can set up SEQUEL executive dashboards that present key business metrics simply by clicking on an icon or at PC startup.

Dashboards are easy to set up, even for non-technical end users. To start the design process, select File > New > SEQUEL Dashboard to display a blank dashboard palette. Click the Insert option and select an object from the drop-down menu to add it to your dashboard. An additional prompt window allows you to browse and select objects. Once the object is inserted, you can drag it to the desired location. Here’s a look at some of the objects you can insert.

Customized company graphics
You can customize your dashboard by including your company logo or other graphics. In our Help/Express example shown at left, a company banner (A) runs across the top of the display and a photo of a carbon-fiber panel (K) is used as the background image for the dashboard.

Tip: If your dashboard will be used by multiple users, save the graphic files to a network location that’s accessible to all.

SEQUEL objects
You can add SEQUEL objects to your dashboard. Our example includes a SEQUEL view result window (E) and three additional SEQUEL graphs (F through H). Drill-down analysis actions are available for any

SEQUEL object you include. When you add a SEQUEL object, a SEQUEL prompt allows you to browse libraries on your System i and select objects. If you want to include a SEQUEL graph, select the view first and then design the graph.

Tip: You can display a graph without the view results window. To do this, first save the dashboard. When its icon appears on your desktop, right-click it and choose the Edit option from the menu to display the VPT source code in Notepad. Locate the view you are graphing. In our example, it is the DDREGON view. To hide the results, change the Hidden parameter to “Y”.

Action buttons
You can add action buttons that run other applications (in separate windows) to your dashboard. The action buttons in column B run the company’s core software applications. The action buttons in column C run common desktop applications. When you select the Insert > Action Button option, a window displays that allows you to specify the text, font, and color for the action button, as well as the directory and file name of the executable program.

Tip: To determine an application directory/file location, right-click its existing icon on your desktop and select Properties to view its attributes. Highlight and copy the Target location, then paste this value into the Action field within the Action button formatting window.

Text fields
You can add text fields to your dashboard. Like action buttons, text fields allow you to specify font, color, and background color for the text you want to include. (Our example doesn’t include a text field.)

Windows applications
You also can run other Windows applications within the dashboard. In our example, we used the Insert > Windows Object option to include a graphical clock application (D).

Browser windows
You also can run browser windows within the dashboard. The Help/Express example contains a Web page that shows local weather conditions (I) and a custom Web page (J) that runs a SEQUEL Web Interface request showing real-time truck locations in a Google map.

SEQUEL executive dashboards are a great way to show important, actionable business metrics in a compelling graphical format. And, they’re easy to set up, too!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under SEQUEL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.