DASHBOARD COLLABORATOR

• US 20140136489A1
• Filed: 11/29/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: LI, Zi Qin, ZHANG, Jinming, CHEN, Chunsen
• Granted Patent: US 10,013,667 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/691
• 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 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

Described herein is a technology for designing a dashboard. In some embodiments, first and second dashboards are provided. Conflict analysis on the first and second dashboard is performed. The conflicts are resolved if any conflicts are detected. The first and second dashboards are merged to form a merged dashboard if no conflicts are detected or after resolving the conflicts.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of designing a dashboard comprising:

providing first and second dashboards;

performing conflict analysis on the first and second dashboards;

if any conflicts are detected, resolving the conflicts; and

merging the first and second dashboards to form a merged dashboard if no conflicts are detected or after resolving the conflicts.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first dashboard includes first dashboard metadata and first dashboard data; and

the second dashboard includes second dashboard metadata and second dashboard data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second dashboards are contained in first and second dashboard files, wherein:

the first dashboard file includes a first dashboard metadata file containing the first dashboard metadata and a first dashboard data file containing the first dashboard data; and

the second dashboard file includes a second dashboard metadata file containing the second dashboard metadata and a second dashboard data file containing the second dashboard data.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein metadata files are in .xml format files and data files are in xldoc format files.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein conflict analysis comprises:

comparing the first and second dashboard metadata files to determine if there are any metadata conflicts;

resolving the metadata conflicts if detected;

merging the metadata of the first and second dashboard metadata files after resolving the metadata conflicts or if there are no metadata conflicts;

comparing the first and second dashboard data files to determine if there are any data conflicts;

resolving the data conflicts if detected; and

merging the data of the first and second dashboard data files after resolving the data conflicts or if there are no data conflicts.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first and second metadata files are compared prior to comparing the first and second dashboard data files.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the resolving conflicts comprises an automatic mode of conflict resolution or a manual mode of conflict resolution.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the metadata conflicts are resolved in a manual mode and the data conflicts are resolved in the manual mode or an automatic mode.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein a user may select whether data conflicts are resolved in the manual or the automatic mode.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein data conflicts are effectively resolved in the manual mode if there are metadata conflicts, regardless of whether the user has selected the automatic or manual mode.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the metadata conflicts are resolved by:

requesting the user to select a dashboard from the first or second dashboard to be a base dashboard, wherein a non-selected dashboard from the first or second dashboard is a non-base dashboard;

metadata which are not in conflict are used; and

for metadata which are in conflict, the metadata of the base dashboard is used and the metadata of the non-base dashboard is not used.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein;

the metadata of the base dashboard is copied into a merged metadata file;

the metadata of the non-base dashboard which are not in conflict are copied into the merged metadata file; and

the metadata of the non-base dashboard which are in conflict are not copied into the merged metadata file.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein data conflict resolution in the automatic mode comprises:

determining if there are data conflicts between the first and second dashboard data files;

merging the data of the first and second dashboard data files into a merged dashboard data file if no data conflicts are detected; and

merging and updating binding of data from the first and second dashboard data files into the merge dashboard data file if data conflicts are detected.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein data conflicts resolution in the manual mode comprises:

requesting the user to select a dashboard from the first or second dashboard to be a base dashboard, wherein a non-selected dashboard from the first or second dashboard is a non-base dashboard;

data of the base dashboard are used in the merged dashboard; and

for data which are in conflict, the data of the base dashboard is used and the data of the non-base dashboard is not used.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein:

data of the base dashboard are merged into a merged dashboard data file;

data of the non-base dashboard which are in conflict are copied into the merged dashboard data file but are not used.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program code, the program code executable by a computer to:

select first and second dashboards;

perform conflict analysis on the first and second dashboards;

if any conflicts are detected, resolve the conflicts; and

merge the first and second dashboards to form a merged dashboard if no conflicts are detected or after resolving the conflicts.

17. A system for designing dashboards comprising:

a data source for storing dashboard files of dashboards; and

a processor that implements a dashboard design module, wherein the processor is configured to execute processing including;

selecting first and second source dashboard files of first and second dashboards from the data source;

performing conflict analysis on the first and second dashboards;

if any conflicts are detected, resolving the conflicts; and

merging the first and second dashboards to form a merged dashboard if no conflicts are detected or after resolving the conflicts.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the first dashboard file includes a first dashboard metadata file containing a first dashboard metadata and a first dashboard data file containing a first dashboard data; and

the second dashboard file includes a second dashboard metadata file containing a second dashboard metadata and a second dashboard data file containing a second dashboard data.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the conflict analysis comprises:

comparing the first and second metadata files to determine if there are any metadata conflicts;

resolving the metadata conflicts if detected;

merging the metadata of the first and second dashboard metadata file after resolving the metadata conflicts or if there are no metadata conflicts;

comparing the data files of the first and second dashboard data files to determine if there are any data conflicts;

resolving the data conflicts if detected; and

merging the data of the first and second dashboard data files after resolving the data conflicts or if there are no data conflicts.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the resolving conflicts comprises an automatic mode of conflict resolution or a manual mode of conflict resolution.