Dashboard for dynamic display of distributed transaction data

• US 9,646,276 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2013
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AppDynamics, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rea, Sean, Angeles, Joseph, Keeney, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US13/975,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20150058092A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

An interface is provided for a user to create a custom dashboard for providing application performance data. The dashboard may be created from one or more widgets, such as graphs, charts, and other display components, and each widget may be individually configured with parameters. The dashboard may be configured to display data for one or more particular transactions, transaction types, or transactions that meet specified criteria. Once created, the dashboard may be shared through a website URL, e-mail, or other method.

Claims

1. A method for providing a custom dashboard to display runtime data associated with a distributed business transaction performed by a system of machines or nodes connected over a network, the method comprising:

monitoring the distributed business transaction performed by the system of machines or nodes connected over the network;

receiving the runtime data collected from the system of machines or nodes, the runtime data indicative of a performance of the monitored distributed business transaction;

providing a dashboard interface by a server to a remote device for configuring the custom dashboard for displaying the collected runtime data indicative of the performance of the monitored distributed business transaction associated with the system of machines or nodes connected over the network;

providing through the dashboard interface, a choice to select from one of predetermined categories of metrics and custom defined categories of metrics in the collected runtime data;

receiving a selection from the provided choice of predetermined categories of metrics and custom defined categories of metrics;

receiving an input which specifies a filter for displaying metrics associated with the selected category including a number of and sort order of the metrics;

dynamically displaying, through the dashboard interface, the custom dashboard that includes the filter specified number of the metrics and in the filter specified sort order, wherein the metrics displayed in the custom dashboard are selected from the collected runtime data dynamically at the time the custom dashboard is displayed so as to be up-to-date at the time the custom dashboard is displayed; and

applying the filter dynamically each time the custom dashboard is displayed to reselect the metrics dynamically each time the custom dashboard is displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter identifies a performance threshold for the metrics in the collected runtime data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom dashboard is shared using a retractable token to change or revoke access to the custom dashboard.

4. The method of claim 1, including receiving an input indicating a selection of one or more widgets available for displaying the custom dashboard on the dashboard interface.

5. The method of claim 4, including receiving an input indicating a physical display location and size of the one or more widgets on the custom dashboard.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the metrics include overall application performance data, business transaction performance data, node health transaction performance data, node health for hardware data, node health for JMX data, error rates data, or hardware metrics data associated with the monitored distributed business transaction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter specifies a predetermined number of top or bottom of the metrics that meet specific criteria.

8. The method of claim 1, including:

receiving a selection of baseline data information; and

determining whether to include baseline data and what baseline data to include in the displayed customer dashboard responsive to the received selection of baseline information.

9. A computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform operations for providing a custom dashboard to display runtime data associated with a distributed business transaction performed by a system of machines or nodes connected over a network, the method comprising:

monitoring the distributed business transaction performed by the system of machines or nodes connected over the network;

receiving the runtime data collected from the system of machines or nodes, the runtime data indicative of a performance of the monitored distributed business transaction;

providing a dashboard interface by a server to a remote device for configuring the custom dashboard for displaying the collected runtime data indicative of the performance of the monitored distributed business transaction associated with the system of machines or nodes connected over the network;

providing through the dashboard interface, a choice to select from one of predetermined categories of metrics and custom defined categories of metrics in the collected runtime data;

receiving a selection from the provided choice of predetermined categories of metrics and custom defined categories of metrics;

receiving an input which specifies a filter for displaying metrics associated with the selected category including a number of and sort order of the metrics;

dynamically displaying, through the dashboard interface, the custom dashboard that includes the filter specified number of the metrics and in the filter specified sort order, wherein the metrics displayed in the custom dashboard are selected from the collected runtime data dynamically at the time the custom dashboard is displayed so as to be up-to-date at the time the custom dashboard is displayed; and

applying the filter dynamically each time the custom dashboard is displayed to reselect the metrics dynamically each time the custom dashboard is displayed.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the filter identifies a performance threshold for the metrics in the runtime data.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the custom dashboard is shared using a retractable token to change or revoke access to the custom dashboard.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the filter specifies a predetermined number of top or bottom of the metrics that meet specific criteria.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, the method including:

receiving a selection of baseline data information; and

determining whether to include baseline data and what baseline data to include in the displayed customer dashboard responsive to the received selection of baseline information.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method including receiving an input indicating a selection of one or more widgets available for displaying the custom dashboard on the dashboard interface.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, the method including receiving an input indicating a physical display location and size of the one or more widgets on the custom dashboard.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the metrics include overall application performance data, business transaction performance data, node health transaction performance data, node health for hardware data, node health for JMX data, error rates data, or hardware metrics data associated with the distributed business transaction.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the custom dashboard is dynamically updated as the business transaction is updated.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method including:

receiving a selection of a metric sub-category for the selected category; and

displaying the customer dashboard to include metrics that are within the selected metric category and metric sub-category.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method including:

receiving a request to display the custom dashboard after the dashboard is saved; and

dynamically displaying the custom dashboard to show updated metrics that satisfy the filter.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

receiving a selection to provide a series of data in the custom dashboard in a graphical format; and

reporting the performance data for the distributed transaction that is within specified entities in a graphical format.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the method including automatically providing a standard report of the runtime data separate from the custom dashboard.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the filter specifies a predetermined number of top or bottom of the metrics that meet specific criteria.

23. A system for providing a custom dashboard to display runtime data associated with a distributed business transaction performed by a system of machines or nodes connected over a network, the system comprising:

a server including a memory and a processor; and

one or more modules stored in the memory and executed by the processor to perform operations including;

monitor the distributed business transaction performed by the system of machines or nodes connected over the network;

receive the runtime data collected from the system of machines or nodes, the runtime data indicative of a performance of the distributed business transaction;

provide a dashboard interface by a server to a remote device for configuring the custom dashboard for displaying the collected runtime data indicative of the performance of the monitored distributed business transaction associated with the system of machines or nodes connected over the network;

provide through the dashboard interface, a choice to select from one of predetermined categories of metrics and custom defined categories of metrics in the collected runtime data;

receive a selection from the provided choice of predetermined categories of metrics and custom defined categories of metrics;

receive an input which specifies a filter for displaying metrics associated with the selected category including a number of and sort order of the metrics;

dynamically display, through the dashboard interface, the custom dashboard that includes the filter specified number of the metrics and in the filter specified sort order, wherein the metrics displayed in the custom dashboard are selected from the collected runtime data dynamically at the time the custom report is displayed so as to be up-to-date at the time the custom report is provided; and

apply the filter dynamically each time the custom dashboard is displayed to reselect the metrics dynamically each time the custom dashboard is displayed.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the filter identifies a performance threshold for the metrics in the runtime data.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the custom dashboard is shared using a retractable token to change or revoke access to the custom dashboard.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more modules stored in the memory and executed by the processor are configured to perform operations including receiving an input indicating a selection of one or more widgets available for displaying the custom dashboard on the dashboard interface.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more modules stored in the memory and executed by the processor are configured to perform operations including receiving an input indicating a physical display location and size of the one or more widgets on the custom dashboard.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the metrics include overall application performance data, business transaction performance data, node health transaction performance data, node health for hardware data, node health for JMX data, error rates data, or hardware metrics data associated with the monitored distributed business transaction.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the filter specifies a predetermined number of top or bottom of the metrics that meet specific criteria.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more modules stored in the memory and executed by the processor are configured to perform operations including:

receive a selection of baseline data information; and

determine whether to include baseline data and what baseline data to include in the customer dashboard responsive to the received selection of baseline information.

31. The system of claim 23, wherein the custom dashboard is dynamically updated as the monitored business transaction is updated.

32. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more modules are executable to perform operations including:

receive a selection of a metric sub-category for the selected category; and

display the customer dashboard to include metrics that are within the selected metric category and metric sub-category.

33. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more modules are executable to perform operations including:

receive a request to display the custom dashboard after the dashboard is saved; and

dynamically display the custom dashboard to show updated metrics that satisfy the filter.

34. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more modules are executable to perform operations including:

receive a selection to provide a series of data in the custom dashboard in a graphical format; and

report performance data for the monitored business transaction that is within specified entities in a graphical format.

35. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more modules are executable to perform operations including automatically provide a standard report of the runtime data separate from the custom dashboard.

36. The system of claim 23, wherein the filter specifies a predetermined number of top or bottom of the metrics that meet specific criteria.