18

Using the Dashboard

Application

18-1
 Chapter Overview
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the HP Business Availability Center
Dashboard. This chapter explains how to use the Dashboard application to monitor the
health of business services and applications from the point of view of the consumers of
those services.

Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

• Identify the views and reports provided by BAC Dashboard.

• Monitor the performance of CIs and SLAs by using Dashboard views and reports.

18-2 Chapter Overview

 Using Dashboard Application

Figure 18-1 Dashboard Applications

BAC Dashboard provides a consolidated view of the current operational status of your
organization’s IT environment. At the top level, Dashboard provides an integrated view
of critical applications and business processes of the organization. As a business user or
as an operations user, you can use Dashboard to further drill down into the applications
and business processes and view the performance of the related CIs.

After the drill-down views are configured, these can be structured by data centers,
technology clusters, geographical locations, business services and so on. To do this,
select an appropriate view in View Explorer. Please note that the View Explorer has two
modes, Browse & Search

From the top menu bar, select APPLICATIONS >DASHBOARD to open Dashboard.

Using Dashboard Application 18-3

 Dashboard Tabs

Figure 18-2 Dashboard Tabs

Dashboard provides different methods to view the status of an organization’s IT

environment from various perspectives, such as availability, performance, and system.
The following tabs in Dashboard enable you to use the different methods:

• Top View: Provides a top-down view of the health of the applications and business
processes in an organization within an interactive applet.

• Console: Enables you to view the operational status of applications and business
processes in a tabular format, and generate reports to view the trend of performance
data over time.

• Filters: Enables you to use a filter criterion to view the operational status for
specific segments or components of the organization.

• Geographical Map: Enables you to view the operational status of applications and
business processes at various geographical locations.

18-4 Dashboard Tabs

 • Custom Map: Enables you to view the operational status of components on a
custom diagram, such as a building or a campus.

• Topology Map: Enables you to view the status of CIs in the currently selected
view.

• Reports: Enables you to view various Dashboard reports, such as CI STATUS

ALERTS, KPIs OVER TIME and SLAs SUMMARY.

Dashboard Tabs 18-5

 Top View Tab

Figure 18-3 Top View Tab

The TOP VIEW tab in Dashboard enables you to gain a big-picture perspective of
business availability for both the end-user and system KPIs within a single, interactive
graphical interface.

By presenting an integrated, single view of applications and business processes, the

TOP VIEW tab enables you to:

• Determine the overall health of the business processes in the organization.

• Assess how a performance issue affects the availability of any business process or
application.

• Identify the problem areas in a business process.

18-6 Top View Tab

 By default, the TOP VIEW tab displays the bottom hierarchy in which the parent CI is
displayed in the center of the page. The child CIs appear below the parent CI. You can
change the layout of the hierarchy to top, left, right, or radial.

In the TOP VIEW tab, a bar represents a CI and the color of the CI bar indicates the
current operational status of the CI. The lines joining the CIs define how the CIs in a
view are related to each other. The KPIs associated with a CI are displayed as icons
under the corresponding CI bar. The color of a KPI indicates the status of a CI. For
example, if the color of a KPI is green, it indicates that the measurement for the KPI falls
within the threshold defined for the OK objective.

Upon placing the cursor over a CI bar, a tooltip displaying the details of the KPIs
attached to the CI appears.

To view the top-down representation of CIs in a view:

1. In the DASHBOARD interface, click the TOP VIEW tab.

2. In VIEW EXPLORER, from the VIEW list, select the required view.

By default, the TOP VIEW tab displays four levels of CIs in a view. You can
manipulate the display of CIs in the TOP VIEW tab to identify the root cause of a
problem in a business process. To modify the display of CIs in the TOP VIEW tab,
right-click a CI bar and select any one of the following options:

• View In Console: To view the child CIs of the selected CI in the CONSOLE tab.

• Expand to Problem: To expand the branches of the tree until a CI with status as
critical or major is encountered. You also use this option to collapse the non
problematic branches of the tree.

• Expand More Levels: To expand the levels below the selected CI. You use this
option to view the levels below a CI and identify the problematic CI.

• Set/unset Acknowledgement: To set or clear the acknowledgment for the selected

CI. You set the acknowledgment option to keep a record of the performance
problems acknowledged by users. You add details of an acknowledgment in the
ADD DETAILS section of the SET/UNSET ACKNOWLEDGMENT window.

• Acknowledgement Details: To display the acknowledgment information for the

selected CI.

Top View Tab 18-7

 Manipulating Top View
The TOP VIEW tab enables you to manipulate the visual representation of the top view
of a business. To manipulate the display in the TOP VIEW tab, you can:

• Move a particular CI bar to the center of the top view by clicking the CI bar.

• Expand or collapse the branches of a CI bar by clicking the expand (+) or collapse
(-) symbols displayed at the bottom right corner of the CI bar.

• Move and rotate the CI bar around any point by clicking and dragging it in a
specific direction.

• Increase or decrease the gap between the CI bars by holding down the ALT key on
the keyboard and dragging a CI bar towards another CI bar.

• View the hidden CI bars in a view by clicking at the end of the CI bars.

18-8 Manipulating Top View

 Console Tab

Figure 18-4 Console Tab

The CONSOLE TAB displays the status of the CIs in the active view in a tabular
format. The NAME column in the CONSOLE tab displays the group CIs and monitor
CIs that belong to the active view.

The tab displays the KPIs applicable to the CIs in separate columns. These columns
display colored indicators to represent the status, trend and history of the KPIs for CIs in
the active view. On placing the cursor over an indicator for a KPI, a tooltip displaying
the details of the KPI appears.

The ACK column in the CONSOLE tab displays the acknowledgement status for the
CIs.

Note: A hyphen marked for a CI in a KPI column indicates that the KPI is not applicable
for the CI.

Console Tab 18-9

Working with the Console Tab

Figure 18-5 Working with Console Tabs

To display the tabular representation of the status of CIs in a view:

1. In the DASHBOARD interface, click the CONSOLE tab.

2. In VIEW EXPLORER, from the VIEW list, select the required view.

The top level in the CONSOLE tab displays the status of the top-level CIs in the active
view. You can expand or collapse all CIs in the active view by clicking the EXPAND
ALL or COLLAPSE ALL buttons, respectively.

In the CONSOLE tab, a CI name is displayed as a drill-down link if the CI has a child
CI. By default, you can view two levels down from the current level of CIs by clicking
the drill-down link for a CI.

18-10 Working with the Console Tab

 Viewing Real-time Changes to CI Properties
The CONSOLE tab enables you to monitor the real-time changes that occur in the
properties of CIs. Change icons displayed between the name of the CI and the down
arrow indicate the changes to CI properties.

Note: The change icons appear for a CI only if the MONITOR CHANGES option for a
CI is set in CI TYPE MANAGER. By default, the number of CIs that can be monitored
for change is 20. You can customize this number.

The change icon is represented by a specific icon, depending on the following

conditions:

• When at least one change-monitored property of the CI changes, the change icon is
represented by a left-pointing arrow and star.

• When at least one change-monitored property of the child CI changes, the change
icon is represented by a down-pointing arrow and star.

• When at least one change-monitored property of the CI and at least one change
monitored property of the child CI changes, the change icon is represented by both
left-pointing and down-pointing arrows and star.

By default, change icons appear for 24 hours after a change occurs. BAC monitors 20
CIs and their child CIs at a time.

Viewing Real-time Changes to CI Properties 18-11

Managing SLAs Using the Console Tab

Figure 18-6 Managing SLAs in the Console Tab

The POINT OF NO RETURN (Pnr) KPI enables you to view how well actual service
levels compare with your goals. When the PNR KPI is defined for a CI, a bar is
displayed in Dashboard that indicates the time duration for which the CI can be
unavailable before the SLA is in breach of contract.

The PNR KPI bar in the Console tab enables you to identify the SLAs that are
problematic. The color of the PNR KPI bar indicates if the status of the SLA is OK,
warning, minor, major, or critical.

Note: The PNR KPI is of significant use to the Operations team, which monitors
applications round the clock. This KPI enables the Operations team to prioritize the
alerts or events that need to be responded to first.

18-12 Managing SLAs Using the Console Tab

 Filters Tab

Figure 18-7 Filters Tab

The FILTERS tab displays the operational status of a filtered list of CIs in a non
hierarchical format. The list of CIs displayed depends on the subtree that you select in
View Explorer.

Filtering the CIs helps you focus on the performance of specific CIs. For example, you
can use the FILTERS tab to view the status of monitor CIs only. You can also use the
tab to identify the CIs that have a critical operational status.

In the FILTERS tab, from the ACTIVE FILTERS list, you select an active filter to set
the type of filter that you want to apply on the CIs in the active view. You can also apply
a quick filter to filter the CIs based on the KPI status.

The FILTERS tab provides information for CIs in the following fields:

• Name: Displays the names of CIs.

• KPIs: Displays colored indicators depicting the current operational status of each
CI. In addition, the column displays indicators to show the trend of the KPI and the

Filters Tab 18-13

 history of the CI. A DETAILS tooltip for each indicator provides information
regarding the calculation method in use for the KPI.

• Held Status Since: Displays the time when the KPI status changed to the current
status.

• ACK: Displays an icon that represents the CI acknowledgment status.

You can use the FILTERS tab to:

• Use a predefined filter.

• Create a new filter.

• Customize a user-defined filter.

• Delete a filter.

• Use a quick filter.

18-14 Filters Tab

 Using a Predefined Filter

Figure 18-8 Predefined Filters

The ACTIVE FILTERS list in the FILTERS tab displays all predefined and user-
defined filters that are available. Predefined filters are global filters available to all users.
You cannot modify these filters. BAC provides the following predefined filters:

• Global: Show All: Enables you to view the status of all CIs that belong to the
subtree selected in View Explorer.

• Global: Show Errors: Enables you to view the CIs whose KPIs have a critical
status.

• Global: Show Errors - Monitors Only: Enables you to view monitor CIs whose
KPIs have a critical status.

• Global: Show Errors And Warnings: Enables you to view CIs whose KPIs have a
minor, major, or critical status.

• Global: Show Monitors Only: Enables you to view the status of all monitor CIs.

• Global: Show PNR: Enables you to view the status of the CIs that have a PNR KPI
attached to them.

Using a Predefined Filter 18-15

Creating a New Filter

Figure 18-9 Create New Filter

You can create new filters or customize existing filters. You create a new filter when
you want to set different criteria for filtering CIs. For example, you can create a filter to
display the monitor CIs that have the AVAILABILITY KPI attached to them, as shown
in.

To create a new filter:

1. In the FILTERS tab, click the ACTIVE FILTERS link. The

DEFINING/EDITING FILTERS window appears.

2. Click NEW. The FILTER NAME window appears.

3. In the PLEASE ENTER A NAME FOR THE FILTER field, type a name for the
new filter, and click OK to save the filter to the ACTIVE FILTERS list.

4. Set the VISIBILITY option as:

18-16 Creating a New Filter

 – Private: To create a private filter. Private filters are available only to the users
who created the filters.

– Public: To create a public filter. Public filters are available to all users.

Note: You can view the VISIBILITY option only when you have permissions to
set or modify it.

5. In the DEFINE FILTER section, check the check box for each KPI status type that
you want to include in the filter.

6. From the FILTER BY CI TYPE list, select one of the following options:

– All: To include all types of CIs.

– All Excluding Monitors: To include all types of CIs except monitor CIs.

– Monitors Only: To include all monitor CIs and exclude all other types of CIs.

7. From the FILTER BY CHANGE list, select one of the following options to filter
the CIs that are set to be monitored for changes in real-time:

– Ignore Configuration Changes: To display all CIs.

– Only Changed Configuration Items: To display the CIs whose configuration

changed.

– Exclude Changed Configuration Items: To display the CIs whose

configuration did not change.

8. From the ACKNOWLEDGED list, select one of the following options:

– All: To display all CIs regardless of acknowledgement.

– Yes: To display the acknowledged CIs.

– No: To display the non acknowledged CIs.

9. Click OK to save the settings you made for the new filter.

Creating a New Filter 18-17

Customizing a Filter

Figure 18-10 Customizing Filters

You can customize the existing user-defined filters to suit your requirements. To
customize an existing filter:

1. In the FILTERS tab, click the ACTIVE FILTERS link. The

DEFINING/EDITING FILTERS window appears.

2. From the SELECT A FILTER list, select the filter that you want to modify.

3. Modify the required filter settings for the selected filter.

4. Click OK to save the changes you made to the filter.

18-18 Customizing a Filter

 Deleting a Filter

Figure 18-11 Deleting Filters

You can delete the user-defined filters that you do not require. To delete a filter:

1. In the FILTERS tab, click the ACTIVE FILTERS link. The

DEFINING/EDITING FILTERS window appears.

2. From the SELECT A FILTER list, select the name of the filter that you want to
delete.

Note: You can only delete the user-defined filters that you created.

3. Click DELETE. Click OK to confirm the deletion of the filter.

4. Click OK to close the DEFINING/EDITING FILTERS window.

Deleting a Filter 18-19

Using Quick Filter

Figure 18-12 Using Quick Filter

After you select a filter to display the CIs in a subtree, you can further refine the filter
criteria by using the quick filter option. The quick filter option enables you to display
CIs whose KPIs have one of the selected statuses.

Quick filter is a temporary filter that persists until you log off, or until you change its
selection of statuses, or until you select another filter. To filter CIs using the quick filter
option:

1. In the FILTERS tab, in the QUICK FILTER BY STATUSES bar, check the
statuses to display CIs whose KPIs match the statuses that you selected.

2. From the options list in the status bar, select any one of the following options:

– All: To display all CIs that match the selected KPI statuses (this is the default).

– All excluding monitors: To exclude all monitor CIs from the filtered list.

– Monitors only: To display monitor CIs that have the selected KPI statuses.

3. Click APPLY. The filtered list of CIs appears in the FILTERS tab.

18-20 Using Quick Filter

 Reports Tab

Figure 18-13 Reports Tab

The REPORTS tab enables you to generate various reports to analyze the performance
of CIs and KPIs over a period of time. The REPORTS tab enables you to view the
following reports:

• Configuration Item Status Alerts: Lists the CI status alerts that are triggered in a
specific period of time.

• KPIs Over Time: Displays the status or value, over a specific period of time, for
selected CIs and KPIs.

• Raw Data Over Time: Displays raw data over a specific period of time for selected
CIs in a graph or tabular format.

• Report Repository: Displays Dashboard, SLM, or EUM reports and enables you to
send the reports to other users. The reports include data valid at the time of saving
the report.

Reports Tab 18-21

KPIs Over Time Report

Figure 18-14 KPIs Over Time Report

The KPIS OVER TIME report displays the details for selected CIs and KPIs over a
specific period in a graphical or tabular format. You use the KPIS OVER TIME report
to analyze the status of a CI over a period of time to identify the nature of a problem. For
example, you generate a KPIS OVER TIME report for a CI to identify the period of
time when the CI is critical and to identify the child CIs that affect the status of the CI.

You use the DRILL TO INFLUENCING CHILDREN button to display status

information about the child CIs that contribute to the KPI status of the selected CI. You
use the DRILL TO INFLUENCED PARENTS button to display status information
about the parents of the CI whose status is influenced by the KPI status of the selected
CI.

The KPIs OVER TIME reports are of the following two types:

• KPIs Over Time report with status data: Displays data about the persistent status
based KPIs in a graphical or tabular format.

Note: A KPI is persistent if you save KPI data over time for a CI.

• KPIs OVER TIME report with value data: Displays data about the value-based
KPIs in a graphical or tabular format.

18-22 KPIs Over Time Report

 Generating KPIs Over Time Reports

Figure 18-15 Generating KPIs Over Time Report

You can filter KPIs OVER TIME reports by CIs and KPIs. To generate a KPIs OVER
TIME report filtered by CIs and KPIs:

1. In the REPORTS tab main menu, click KPIs OVER TIME.

Note: Alternatively, you can open the KPIs OVER TIME page in Dashboard by right
clicking a CI in View Explorer, and selecting GO TO REPORT > KPIs OVER TIME.
You can also open a KPIs OVER TIME REPORT from the TOP VIEW tab.

2. On the KPIs OVER TIME page, click the CONFIGURATION ITEMS link. The
CONFIGURATION ITEMS dialog box appears.

3. From the VIEW list, select an appropriate view.

4. Check the CIs that you want to view in the report and click OK to save the
selection.

Generating KPIs Over Time Reports 18-23

 5. On the KPIs OVER TIME page, click the KPIs link. The KPIs dialog box
appears.

6. Check the KPIs that you want to view in the report and click OK to save the
selection.

7. On the KPIs OVER TIME page, for REPORT TYPE, select:

a) STATUSES to generate a KPIs OVER TIME report with status data.

b) VALUES to generate a KPIs OVER TIME report with value data.

8. Click GENERATE to generate the report.

9. Click the VIEW AS GRAPH tab to view the report as a graph, or click the VIEW
AS TABLE tab to view the report as a table.

18-24 Generating KPIs Over Time Reports

 Chapter 18 Review Exercises
mINSTRUCTOR NOTES: Please go through these verbally with the class – ask the students
individually or as a group, as you see fit.

1. Which tab in Dashboard Application enables you to represent the real-time status of
CIs on a network diagram?
mAnswer: Custom Map.
2. In order to generate a KPIs Over Time report for a CI, you must do this first.
mAnswer: go to Applications>Dashboard>KPI tab and check the “Save KPI data over time for
this CI” box for the CI.

3. Which property of a KPI should you edit to change the filter criteria for sample data?
mAnswer: Selector.

Chapter 18 Review Exercises 18-25

Hands On Lab
Create a Dashboard Filter
In this lab you will create a custom Dashboard Filter for your OnlineBanking profile.

1. Open BAC and go to APPLICATIONS > DASHBOARD > FILTERS.

2. Click ACTIVE FILTERS: to open the DEFINING/EDITING FILTERS popup.

3. Click NEW and name your filter <your name> Filter.

4. Use these selections to create your filter:

– Visibility: Private

– Define Filter: all Statuses of all the KPIs for your Profile except for OK

– Filter by CI Type: All

– Filter by Change: Exclude changed CIs

– Acknowledged: All

5. View your new filter – what do you see and why?

6. Edit your filter so that it now includes the Status OK FOR LOGIN – view the filter
and note the change from before.

End of Lab

18-26 Hands On Lab

 Chapter Summary
The key points in this chapter are as follows:

• Dashboard enables you to view various reports, such as Configuration Item Status
Alerts, KPIs Over Time and SLAs Summary.

• The KPIs Over Time report displays the status or value of the selected CIs and KPIs
over a specific period of time in a tabular or graphical format.

Chapter Summary 18-27

18-28 Chapter Summary