User Guide
The user guide will step by step introduce you in how to make effective use of the product to improve your day-to-day operations as well as strategic thinking. Performance Dashboards are unique in the way they actually can connect business strategy with the execution. While reading this documentation you should constantly keep in mind that these are mere examples of how to use this powerful product.
We will constantly update the Examples section with good examples of performance dashboard usage with our product. If you have some good examples that you would like to contribute for the benefit of others, don't hesitate to contact us at info@dspanel.com.
Business User
As a business user you'll be expected to be able to utilize ready-made performance dashboards. To many this is quite self-explanatory, however by looking into the different sections in this chapter you'll probably be able to find some nice ways of working even more effectively understanding and acting in your business. To learn more about creating your own dashboards refer to the Advanced Business User part of the user guide.
| Chapter | Description |
|---|---|
| Main Menu | Using Main Menu option user will get the complete details of all main menus of the Performance Canvas application. There are two sections in the home page: 1.Navigation section: where three very important links are available Admin Console, Designer and Documentations & Help. 2.Client section having different folders like My Canvases, My Analyses, My Viewpoints and My Annotations. |
| Web Canvas usage | PBN has a very powerful web interface which makes it possible to use performance dashboards and canvases directly from any web browser. This chapter will teach you how to drill into and understand data in a dashboard. |
| Microsoft SharePoint™ canvas | Microsoft SharePoint™ is a very powerful tool for creating Intranet, Extranet and Internet Portals. Used together with PBN it can be used in the familiar Microsoft SharePoint™ environment. This chapter will explain the basics in using the product in a Microsoft SharePoint™ environment. |
| Using a Performance Canvas in a Mobile device | If you're one of many business professionals today using your phone, BlackBerry or smartphone to access your email and company data while on the road an important feature of this product is the automated publishing of mobile dashboards. Here we will introduce you how to access and find your performance canvas information using your mobile device. |
| Using Text Search to find the right Canvas | Using text search you will be able to find a specfic performance dashboard or scorecard using the familiar way of working preferred by internet users. If your organization uses Microsoft Enterprise Search™, a Google™ search appliance or any other way of indexing your company data the Performance dashboards in this product can be made a part of this. |
Advanced Business User
An advanced business user will create your own dashboards and scorecards using the system set up by your Business Intelligence Professional. As you think about how to use performance canvases in your organization don't forget that there are many types of performance dashboards: Strategic, Tactical and Operational and that they in themselves often contain different levels or sub-canvases. To make it easy for you to expand your horizon we've collected some useful links to Performance Dashboard reading.
| Chapter | Description |
|---|---|
| Creating a new Canvas | In this section you will learn how to create a new canvas to respond to new and changing business need using only business terminology. You will also learn how to change an existing canvas. Learning how to create a new Performance Canvas and change it is easy and fun. Mastering creating Performance Canvases, Dashboards and Scorecards is complex as complex as the underlying business! |
BI Professional
As a BI professional your responsibility is to set up the system, configure the appropriate Gems and Slicers for your or your clients organization business. The philosophy of PBN is that each Gem and Slicer should correspond to a business term within the organization, making it easy for an Advanced Business user to utilize the product to create their own dasboards and scorecards without leaving their domain terminology.
| Chapter | Description |
|---|---|
| Defining a slicer | In defining a slicer you will understand how to create a slicer based on a dimension hierarchy, a level or one or more dimension members. |
| Defining a gem | Here you will learn how to create a new gem, the cornerstone of analysis for business users. Creating a gem involves two steps: first defining the information in the gem, and then defining the display and functionality of the gem. |
IT Setup & Administration
As a IT professional you are responsible for technically setting up, configuring and maintaining the system. This section will walk you through the basic tasks of PBN system adminstration.
| Chapter | Description |
|---|---|
| Installation | This section will step-by-step guide you in getting PBN installed and running in your IT environment. |
| Configuration | Configuration of the system involves connecting to different types of datasources, the approval process for gems and slicers and other IT system setup related tasks. |
| Maintaining the system | Even though PBN is designed to require almost no maintenance proper handling of the running system is needed. This section will walk you through the basics of understanding logs, backing up and restoring the system. |
| SharePoint setup | Microsoft SharePoint is a fantastic platform for creating composite applications using PBN. This section will explain the basics of setting up SharePoint to work with PBN. |
| Security setup | Security is a key concern in any BI system. Regardless if you use Microsoft Active Directory™ or basic NTLM authentication you'll find the basic information on how to set it up here. |
| Search setup | PBN has advanced functionality providing business users with the possibility of using familiar tools such as Micrsoft Enterprise Search™ or Google OneBox™ to find relevant performance dashboards using normal, internet-style text search. There is even a text search engine included in the product. This section will guide you through setting up search to work in your IT environment. |
| Mobile setup | Publishing a performance dashboard for mobile use is very easy using PBN. This section will teach you how to set up your IT environment to make your business users benefit from this functionality. |
Related documents
| see also → |
|---|
| Reference documentation |
| Online training |