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A typical BI user logs into the system to take a look at key performance indicators (KPIs) , do quick data analysis and make decisions based on the findings. A dashboard comes in handy for this purpose since it allows for grouping these KPIs together on a single (web) page. BIRT 360 already allows the users to create and manage (see how) many such dashboards and now you can even define default dashboard so that they can get started quickly and be productive from the first time they login. This enhancement is available in the latest release (Version 11 SP3) of BIRT iServer. Here is a video tutorial of how an administrator can setup a default dashboard for a new user.

This new release introduces more than 40 major enhancements including DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server support for encyclopedia metadata, the ability to publish content to BIRT OnDemand using BIRT Designer Professional and new mobile support options. You can download and play with free evaluation copies of BIRT Designer Pro and BIRT iServer here.

BIRT 360 lets you link up your gadgets in the dashboard, so any changes you make to one gadget would change information displayed in other gadgets. Dashboard gadgets are based on a publisher/subscriber model, so a data selector gadget publishes the data to its subscriber gadgets when a user changes a value on the gadget, such as country selection in a list would update the sales by region chart. See this live example
A data publisher gadget can also be a subscriber at the same time which means this concept could be easily extended to create a cascading effect. For example, selecting a country would change the list of states available in a different gadget and selecting a state there would update the list of cities in a third gadget, and all of these gadgets together can link to a regional sales report.
Data in these selector gadgets can either come from either a BIRT Data Object (see my earlier blog on BIRT data object) or it could be derived from a BIRT report. When a BIRT report is added to a dashboard, the system has built-in smarts to figure out if the report has parameters, and gives you the option to present those parameters as a part of the report gadget OR in a separate data selector gadget that you could reuse to link additional gadgets.

Linking gadgets is easy and involves matching the published data field from the data selection gadget to a data field in the data visualization gadget, see how.
Gadgets on a dashboard that link to the same data object are automatically linked when a user adds a new gadget to the dashboard. Other gadgets such as imported gadgets or HTML gadgets can also link to data selection gadgets. The dashboard designer must add Javascript to these gadgets to receive and process values and events that they receive.
BIRT 360 is available as a option within BIRT iServer. Download your free evaluation copy of BIRT iServer and give it a try.

The demo environment features Actuate BIRT iServer that helps deploy, manage and distribute BIRT documents. In this demo environment you can try out a number of product features like running, browsing, viewing and scheduling reports. In addition you can also try out dashboards, interactive and ad-hoc capabilities of Interactive Viewer and BIRT Sudio. As I had mentioned in my last blog, in the last few weeks we have made several enhancements to this environment. Here is a summary of some of these changes:

• Redesigned landing page - The new landing page has a collection of examples that highlights specific product features along with links to download resources. The landing page can be accessed here: Landing Page
  
• Version upgrade - BIRT iServer has been upgraded to Actuate version 11. With this the end user interface (Information Console) also gets a facelift that can be accessed here: Demo Environment
  
• Actuate 11 Demo Pack Examples - A new folder ("Actuate 11 Demo Pack") has been added to /Public folder that you can browse and run examples from within Information Console.
  
• Personal workspace on BIRT iServer - You'll have you own personal workspace on BIRT iServer. To claim this workspace and start using demo environment please log in to your BIRT Exchange account. If you don’t have an account, start by registering on BIRT Exchange, its completely free!

Ashwini Verma