Overview of the workspace

The IBM® Control Center workspace provides an area where users can interact with content through widgets. The content can be used to analyze data.

You access the workspace from the web console in one of the following ways:
  • Click Analyze > Group workspace, or click Analyze > Personal workspace.
  • Click Analyze > Dashboard. From the dashboard, click Group workspace or Personal workspace.
Which workspace you are able to access depends on the permission your administrator assigns to you. The workspace permissions are Group, Personal, Administer, and None.

To configure a workspace in IBM Cognos Connections, select Tools > IBM Cognos Connection from the IBM Control Center console.

The information available in the workspaces is based on the permissions that are assigned to a user's role: administer, personal, or group. The two types of workspaces available, based on your permissions, are a personal workspace or a group workspace. The following are the descriptions of the workspaces:

A personal workspace is for one IBM Control Center user, and any changes that are made in a personal workspace do not affect another user's workspace. When a user accesses a personal workspace for the first time, instructions display that describe how to use the workspace. Users can customize their personal workspace to meet their needs. For example, they can customize a widget's appearance by changing the widget title, display type, filtering, and sorting. Users can add, remove, or rename tabs in the workspace to meet their personal preferences. Any changes that are made to the workspace remain from session to session.

A group workspace is for one IBM Control Center role. All users in the same role view the same group workspace. Users cannot customize their group workspace. A group workspace has a default pre-populated screen with pre-existing widgets that an administrator imports for the users. Users are allowed to sort, filter, and drill up and down, but the workspace reverts to the default view at the next session. The administrator creates the workspaces and chooses the widgets that are available for the users with a group workspace.

Four widgets are provided with IBM Control Center V6.0 to provide information about your servers. The widgets are accessed from the content pane under Public Folders > IBM Control Center Widgets. The following widgets are provided in the group and personal workspaces:

  • Volume of Files over Time: Displays the volume of file transfers for specific servers that you have permission to view over time. You can filter which servers to view and select a specific time range.

  • Size of Files over Time: Displays the size of file transfers for specific servers that you have permission to view over time. You can filter which servers to view and select a specific time range.

  • Active Alerts by Category: Provides a graphical representation of active alerts that can be filtered by server type and category.

  • Sterling Connect:Direct® FASP usage widget: Provides a graphical representation of how select Sterling Connect:Direct servers are optimizing the use of the FASP protocol with comparisons of throughput averages of transfers and the number of file transfers.

An administrator can create widgets for the workspace that are not provided with IBM Control Center V6.0. An administrator must have knowledge of IBM Cognos Report Studio to create the widgets. In a widget you can click Actions Menu > Export To to export the widgets to the following file formats: PDF, Excel, CSV, or XML to save the information or email to another user.

The group workspace that is provided with IBM Control Center has two default tabs: Activities and GRC. The File Activities tab contains the Size of Files over Time widget and the Volume of Files over Time widget. The GRC tab contains the Active Alerts by Category widget. The personal workspace that is provided IBM Control Center has two default tabs: Tab 1 and Activities. Tab 1 displays instructions to use the workspace. The File Activities tab contains the Size of Files over Time widget and Volume of Files over Time widget. An administrator or a user with the personal permission can change the tab labels. For more information, see Tabbed workspace overview.

You can complete the following actions from the workspace:
  • Click the Save icon to save your personal workspace. You cannot save a group workspace that you have permission to view. Only the administrator that created the group workspace can save it.
  • Click the Print icon to print the entire workspace.
  • Click the Refresh icon to refresh the workspace to receive current data.

While in the IBM Control Center web console Personal workspace or Group workspace, go to Help > Display workspace instructions to access the workspace instructions, or go to Help > Workspace Guide to learn more about the workspace.