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Designing a Navigation and Structure Model for the "BSM Dashboard" - BSM Solution Development Series and Demo Development

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Abstract

Designing a Navigation and Structure Model for the "BSM Dashboard" - BSM Solution Development Series and Demo Development

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Continuing our blog series on developing a BSM Solution and the “BSM Dashboard”, the next critical aspect is designing how the target end user (LoB Application Owner) will interact with the "BSM Dashboard". When I talk about “BSM Dashboard” interactions these are the designed actions we expect the target end user to take when they are engaged with the dashboard, interpreting the content, making decisions and taking action(s). 

Interaction activities are discussed in the BSM Solution Methodology and are outputs from the BSM Solution Workshop. We want to have a well thought out flow within the BSM Solution that enables the target end user to enter, move around and exit in the easiest way possible in accordance with our designed dashboard use cases. We never want to allow the target end user to end up in an area where the content presented doesn't support the overall BSM Solution design. Be very aware of the default actions, menus, etc. within TBSM/TIP/WebGUI, etc. These often lead to much confusion for the target end user. If they don't need to see it - don't show it!

During the BSM Solution Workshop we learned that the LoB Application Owner was likely to take the following actions from the top level dashboard:

  • When Online Order Performance for a specific geography is in an abnormal state, the LoB Application owner will launch a more detailed Online Order Performance dashboard relative to each of the six geographies.
  • When a technology health problem exists, the LoB Application owner will launch a more detailed health page associated with that technology area and datacenter location.
  • The LoB Application owner will launch an on-demand scenario associated with key application support areas such as open trouble tickets within the service desk product on an as needed basis.

Reviewing our "BSM Dashboard" design below we see our target navigation areas and target drill down dashboard (DDD) pages.

 image

Based upon this Navigation Model design, we can identify the following key requirements for our Structure Model to allow for our expected operation. We'll also have some other elements in the Structure Model that don't play an operational role in our key navigation flows.

  • An Online Order Performance instance for each of the six geographies
  • An instance for each of the key application technologies in each datacenter location
  • An instance for each of the quick launch on-demand scenarios

Note the section highlighted in red above. This is an area where we do not want any navigation interactions to occur. Remember, anything you place on the custom canvas dashboard will have some sort of default interaction associated with it. We must take specific actions to override any default navigation that may occur if the LoB Application owner clicked on a metric indicator.

One technique I often use is mind mapping to capture key design information during the BSM Solution workshop. I use a free mind mapping program called Freelane (http://freeplane.sourceforge.net) as well as similar apps on my iPad. In the picture below you can see the benefit of the mind map for organizing key components of the BSM Solution and associated "BSM Dashboards", drill down dashboards, navigation model, structure model and behavior models.

image 
 

We have enough information to now begin to lay our foundational structure model within TBSM using the new Business Service Composer (BSC) capability. In the next blog post we'll step through part one of using the BSC to build our static resources.

Over the next few posts I will describe the process for designing and implementing the following key components of the BSM Solution and the "BSM Dashboard".

  • Creating a structure model using the Business Service Composer (BSC) to underpin the required content collection, behavior and navigation models.
  • Creating touch points and links to associate dynamic technology infrastructure resources to the structure model using Business Service Composer (BSC) policies.
  • Creating the "BSM Dashboard" using custom canvas technology.
  • Creating a view, page and portlet and catalog for the "BSM Dashboard"
  • Creating a more detailed dashboard for an area of the application.
  • Creating an "Availability Landing Page"
  • Creating navigation flows from one dashboard to another.

I look forward to hearing from you!

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ibm11276282