Centralized File Management

EspressDashboard (EDAB) provides a central server-side repository that allows collaborative development and management within organizations. The Organizer interface allows developers and administrators to create, modify, and secure queries and charts. The Organizer can be launched as an application on the client or directly from the server via a Web browser. It serves both as a central repository of all EDAB files (charts, reports, dashboards, maps...), as well as a platform for developing charts. Chart developers can launch the Chart Designer from the Organizer.

In addition, within the Organizer, Administrators can setup data sources and database connections for developers. Privileges and security are also administered through the Organizer, allowing folders, charts, maps, reports, dashboards, and data to be secured.

Ad-Hoc Query & Reporting

EspressDashboard (EDAB) provides several ad hoc reporting and query features that allow users to create a wide range of queries and reports through a zero-client browser interface called the QuickDesigner. This interface allows users to make simple reports for the dashboards and offers an alternative way to make charts.

Unlike some other tools, EDAB provides a simple query interface that is geared towards business users, not high-level analysts. With these tools users can create queries, build reports and charts from any data source, and publish the results without any training.

The data view interface shields users from database complexity by allowing administrators to pre-define tables, joins, fields, and even filters creating in effect a local schema. End-users can then select (typically aliased) fields and perform ordering, sorting, filtering, and aggregation without any knowledge of the underlying database structures.

The QuickDesigner component is a zero-client browser-based ad hoc reporting and query tool that allows users to query data views and quickly turn the results into a finished report. The QuickDesigner can run reports on any data source in the Organizer and offers users a simple point and click interface to build queries.

Users can arrange, sort, and perform dynamic filtering on the data. Once users finish creating a query, the QuickDesigner provides formatting options that allow the query to be turned into a polished report.

Self-Service Dashboards

EspressDashboard is a web-based enterprise business intelligence (BI) dashboard publishing system.  It makes it easy for you to create compelling dashboard presentations.  Using any of the charts, reports, and maps deployed in the system, users can easily put together key pieces of pertinent information into an easy to read, custom, dashboard briefing.

The dashboard presentation takes all the selected reports, charts, and maps and displays them in a single page, giving users a quick snapshot of the data that is most important to them.  Common filters can be applied to all dashboard elements, allowing users to quickly "dial-in" to specific ranges of data.  Drill-down can be added to any of the dashboard items, allowing users to quickly drill into important figures for more detailed information.

Unlike many other dashboard solutions, dashboards in EspressDashboard can be created and deployed without any administrative or development overhead.  The integrated Dashboard Builder interface, provides all the tools users need to create custom dashboards in a simple thin-client, point and click environment.  Completed dashboards can be quickly published and shared with other users.

KPI Alerts

Alert is a great feature that allows you to be always on top of certain critical KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) for your organization. With the advent of smart phones and tablets, the alert feature is even more relevant and desirable, because it notifies you  and  thus allows you to take immediate action to deal with critical situations.

In a nut shell, alert is a way for the user to receive notification when certain pre-defined event happens. We get alerts in our daily life. For example, you will get a phone call from the alarm company, if your home’s alarm system detects an attempted unauthorized entry. Your favorite supermarket sends you an email when certain items go on sale. In EspressDashboard, the pre-defined event will be the value of a KPI exceeding or falling below certain desired threshold  For example, an alert will “trigger” when sales goal is below plan, inventory of a product falls below a day’s average sales, defect rate of a product exceeds 2% etc..

Interactive Maps

EspressDashboard supports interactive maps in addition to traditional reporting, adding yet another powerful dimension to data visualization/presentation, and user-experience enhancement.  Visualization of data in geographical and spatial formats can be very useful for analysis and decision support.  One can easily think of many common and diverse questions that can be answered with enhanced visualization with maps: How is my sales coverage?  Where do I get the most revenue?  What is the demographic distribution? How is my political campaign doing geographically?  What is my (global) company's human capital distribution?  Where do the visitors to my web site come from?

The other supported map format is SVG.  An SVG map, as the name implies, displays the map with SVG image.  EspressDashboard distributes several SVG image files of the continents of the world, which you can use to customize for your application. You can also use your own SVG images like floor plans, seating plans, etc.  Instead of displaying tool-tips on map points, SVG maps work with areas. You can color code areas on the map based on the range of data defined for the area of interest.  Drill-down to charts, reports, or other maps is supported in the same way as in Google maps.
You can mix and match map types for drill-down. In other words, a Google map can drill-down to another Google map or SVG map, and vice versa.

Data sources supported for both types of maps are same as those for reports, i.e. JDBC compliant databases, text files, Java classes, Excel spreadsheets, WSDL and Salesforce SOAP services, XML files, JDNI, and EBJ.

Architecture & Deployment

EspressDashboard is designed to leverage users' existing infrastructure investments. It deploys completely within Java EE application environments, with no separate server-side application processes. The following diagram illustrates the basic architecture of an EDAB deployment.

The EDAB server deploys as a servlet collection within an application server/servlet & JSP container. Other servlets/JSPs can be deployed in the server to connect to and retrieve information from the EDAB server (like file names, user information, and privilege/security information). Database buffering allows report data to be re-used (within user-supplied parameters) for faster generation.

EDAB can be deployed in a single server or in a clustered environment. When running in a cluster, a load balancer routes all incoming client requests to cluster members, while maintaining a common back-end file structure. This configuration option allows EDAB to scale to high-availability deployments with thousands of users.

Most server functions can be administered remotely, using a browser-based interface. This allows administrators to manage users/groups, and configure the server from anywhere using only a Web browser.

End to End Security Management

EspressDashboard provides a powerful security framework to handle user/group privileges as well as report page and element level security. EDAB binds privileges to report developers using an ownership model that allows security to be enforced automatically as reporting implementations grow and change.

Users can integrate custom security models and users/groups with EDAB. EDAB allows direct integration with users in LDAP systems and stored in relation databases. In addition, EDAB provides open server extensions that allow users to programmatically integrate any custom security model with the EDAB architecture. Beyond privileges, security features are fully enforced in published dashboards.

EspressView - your dashboards on mobile

Data Visualization and BI Dashboard/Reporting on iPhones, iPads, and Android devices

EspressView is a mobile application for viewing dashboards, maps, reports and charts on iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets. You can now access critical information about your organizations anytime, anywhere on-the-go in a timely and secured manner without compromise.

You can easily thumb through the list of reports and dashboards developed on EspressReport® ES or EspressDashboard®. It fully supports interactive features such as applying filters, drilldown, drill-across, sorting, and alerts.

The comprehensive end-to-end security/privilege and role-based security feature ensure that the right information is delivered to the right users at the right time.

Key Features:

• All existing reports, charts, maps, dashboards developed on EspressReport ES and EspressDashboard can be run on the iPhone, the iPad, and Android devices as is without modifications and reworks.
• Unlimited drill-down on dashboards to reports, charts, maps or to another dashboard.
• Data can be filtered dynamically via shared/global parameters on the dashboard.
• Access KPI and critical information anytime anywhere securely without taxing the wireless networks.
• Published reports, charts, maps can be viewed on iPhone, iPad, and Android essentially providing an on-the-go reporting portal.