CONFIGURABLE METRIC GROUPS

• US 20080163066A1
• Filed: 05/09/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Barrera, Cristobal R., Kolhatkar, Madhuri, O'Kelley, Anna M., Nowakowski, David, Jacot, Kimberly, Cheng, Anthony H., Liu, Lujiang, Gu, Yu-Feng, Jamison, Todd F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,161,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A dashboard application can enable a user to quickly view data (and, in a particular aspect, data from one or more business applications) in an efficient manner. The dashboard application can be used to view data about one or metrics that reflect the performance of a business, as derived from data maintained (perhaps in an associated data store) by the business application(s). In an aspect, a user can select two or more metrics to be displayed on a summary page and/or can invoke a detail page to view detailed information about one of the two or more metrics.

Claims

1. A method of presenting data to a user, the method comprising:

providing a communication component in communication with a business application, the communication component being configured to obtain data from the business application;

displaying a dashboard application for a user, the dashboard application comprising a plurality of visible components, the plurality of visible components comprising a first visible component and a second visible component;

providing a first input mechanism for the user to identify a first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

receiving, from the user and via the first input mechanism, an identification of the first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

providing a second input mechanism for the user to identify a second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

receiving, from the user and via the second input mechanism, an identification of the second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

obtaining, from a data store maintained by the business application, a first set of data pertaining to the first metric;

displaying information about the first metric with the first visible component;

obtaining, from a data store maintained by the business application, a second set of data pertaining to the second metric; and

displaying information about the second metric with the second visible component.

2. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the first visible component comprises a first frame on a web page, and wherein the second visible component comprises a second frame on the web page.

3. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the first visible component comprises a first window, and wherein the second visible component comprises a second window.

4. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the first visible component comprises a first portlet on a web page, and wherein the second visible component comprises a second portlet on the web page.

5. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the first visible component comprises an input mechanism that is configured to be selected by the user to invoke a third visible component that provides a detailed display of the first set of data.

6. A method as recited by claim 5, wherein a first web page comprises the first and second visible components, and wherein a second web page comprises the third visible component.

7. A method as recited by claim 6, wherein invoking the third visible component comprises transmitting the second web page to a web browser for display to the user.

8. A method as recited by claim 5, wherein the first set of data comprises a plurality of records, each of the plurality of records comprising a plurality of data elements, wherein each data element in a record has a corresponding dimension, the method further comprising:

displaying, for a user, a list of available dimensions;

providing a second input mechanism to allow the user to select one or more dimensions for categorizing the plurality of records;

receiving, from the user and via the second input mechanism, an identification of a first set of one or more dimensions by which the plurality of records are to be categorized;

providing a third input mechanism to allow the user to select one or more dimensions for filtering the first set of data;

receiving, from the user and via the third input mechanism, an identification of a second set of one or more dimensions by which the plurality of records are be filtered;

generating a display hierarchy for displaying the first set of data in the third visible component, based on the second set of dimensions; and

displaying, for the user, a representation of the display hierarchy.

9. A method as recited by claim 1, further comprising providing a third interface for the user to specify a spatial arrangement of the first visible component and the second visible component.

10. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the first and second interfaces are incorporated within a metric grouping interface that allows the user to create a metric group of two or metrics that should be displayed together.

11. A method as recited by claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, from the user and via the metric grouping interface, an identification of a first metric group, the first metric group comprising one or more metrics; and

receiving, from the user and via the metric grouping interface, an identification of a second metric group, the second metric group comprising one or more metrics.

12. A method as recited by claim 11, further comprising:

providing a third interface for the user to select a metric group as a default metric group;

receiving input, from the user and via the third interface; and

based on the input, setting one of the metric groups as the default metric group, such that, upon initialization of the dashboard application, information about the one or more metrics in the default metric group will be displayed.

13. A method as recited by claim 11, further comprising:

providing a third interface for the user to select a metric group to be displayed; and

receiving input, from the user and via the third interface, identifying the first metric group; and

based on the input received via the third interface, displaying information about the metrics in the first metric group;

wherein the first metric group comprises the first metric and the second metric, such that displaying information about the metrics in the first metric group comprises the displaying information about the first metric with the first visible component and the displaying information about the second metric with the second visible component.

14. A method as recited by claim 1, further comprising:

providing a third interface for the user to identify a first display mode for the first visible component; and

providing a fourth interface for the user to identify a second display mode for the second visible component;

wherein displaying information about the first metric comprises displaying information according to the first display mode and displaying information about the second metric comprises displaying information according to the second display mode.

15. A method as recited by claim 14, wherein the first display mode comprises a display style selected from the group consisting of a bar chart, a pie chart, a line plot, and a data table, and wherein the second display mode comprises a display style selected from the group consisting of a bar chart, a pie chart, a line plot, and a data table.

16. A method as recited by claim 1, wherein the dashboard application is implemented as a portlet on a web page comprising information other than the dashboard application.

17. A system, comprising:

means for providing a communication component in communication with a business application, the communication component being configured to obtain data from the business application;

means for displaying a dashboard application for a user, the dashboard application comprising a plurality of visible components, the plurality of visible components comprising a first visible component and a second visible component;

means for providing a first interface for a user to identify a first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

means for receiving, from the user and via the first interface, an identification of the first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

means for providing a second interface for the user to identify a second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

means for receiving, from the user and via the second interface, an identification of the second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

means for obtaining, from a data store maintained by the business application, a first set of data pertaining to the first metric;

means for displaying information about the first metric with the first visible component;

means for obtaining, from a data store maintained by the business application, a second set of data pertaining to the second metric; and

means for displaying information about the second metric with the second visible component.

18. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface; and

a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions executable by the processor, the set of instructions comprising;

instructions to provide a communication component in communication with a business application, the communication component being configured to obtain data from the business application;

instructions to display a dashboard application for a user, the dashboard application comprising a plurality of visible components, the plurality of visible components comprising a first visible component and a second visible component;

instructions to provide a first interface for a user to identify a first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

instructions to receive, from the user and via the first interface, an identification of the first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

instructions to provide a second interface for the user to identify a second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

instructions to receive, from the user and via the second interface, an identification of the second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

instructions to obtain, from a data store maintained by the business application, a first set of data pertaining to the first metric;

instructions to display information about the first metric with the first visible component;

instructions to obtain, from a data store maintained by the business application, a second set of data pertaining to the second metric; and

instructions to display information about the second metric with the second visible component.

19. A computer system as recited by claim 18, wherein the computer system comprises a server computer, the server computer being in communication with a client computer, and wherein the instructions to display the information about the first and second metrics comprise instructions to transmit information to the client computer for displaying the first and second visible components, and wherein the instructions to provide the first and second interfaces comprise instructions to provide the first and second interfaces on the client computer.

20. A computer system as recited by claim 19, wherein the server computer comprises a web server and the client computer comprises a web browser, and wherein the first and second visible components, and the first and second interfaces, are provided by the web server to the web browser.

21. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions executable by one or more processors, the set of instructions comprising:

instructions to provide a communication component in communication with a business application, the communication component being configured to obtain data from the business application;

instructions to display a dashboard application for a user, the dashboard application comprising a plurality of visible components, the plurality of visible components comprising a first visible component and a second visible component;

instructions to provide a first interface for a user to identify a first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

instructions to receive, from the user and via the first interface, an identification of the first metric to be displayed by the first visible component;

instructions to provide a second interface for the user to identify a second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

instructions to receive, from the user and via the second interface, an identification of the second metric to be displayed by the second visible component;

instructions to obtain, from a data store maintained by the business application, a first set of data pertaining to the first metric;

instructions to display information about the first metric with the first visible component;

instructions to obtain, from a data store maintained by the business application, a second set of data pertaining to the second metric; and

instructions to display information about the second metric with the second visible component.