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BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
White paper
Getting Customer Data into BMC
Dashboards for Business Service
Management using the Pod Builder
March 2012
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
Contacting BMC Software
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BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
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Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 8
About This White Paper ........................................................................................ 8
A Brief Introduction to BMC Dashboards for BSM ............................................. 8
But What about Customer Data? ............................................................................. 10
Introducing the Pod Builder ................................................................................ 10
About Calbro Services ............................................................................................ 11
Revenues ......................................................................................................... 11
Business Strategies .......................................................................................... 11
BMC Dashboards for BSM at Calbro ............................................................. 11
Case Study 1: Building pods from simple schemas and data .................................. 12
Calbro Pods and Metrics ..................................................................................... 12
Building A Pod from An Excel Spreadsheet ........................................................... 15
Copying an Excel Spreadsheet to the BMC Dashboards for BSM Installation
Folder .............................................................................................................. 16
Creating an Excel Data Source ........................................................................ 16
Creating Data Views ....................................................................................... 17
Creating the Vendor Pod ................................................................................. 20
Seeing the Vendor Pod in Action .................................................................... 28
Building a Pod from a Relational Database ............................................................ 29
Data Preparation .................................................................................................. 29
Using materialized views ................................................................................ 30
Data Preparation using SQL Views ..................................................................... 30
Creating an RDBMS Data Source ....................................................................... 31
Creating A Data View ......................................................................................... 32
Creating the Project Pod ...................................................................................... 34
Putting It All Together ........................................................................................ 39
Case Study 2: Building a pod from the BMC Remedy AR System database ......... 39
Calbro pods and metrics ...................................................................................... 39
Preparing the data ................................................................................................ 42
Creating the incident summary view ............................................................... 42
Creating the time zone information table ........................................................ 45
Creating the data source ...................................................................................... 46
Creating an RDBMS Source using BMC Remedy AR System ...................... 46
Creating the Incident Summary by Assigned Group pod .................................... 46
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
Creating the Incident Summary data view ...................................................... 47
Creating the summary chart ............................................................................ 47
Creating the breakdown chart.......................................................................... 49
Creating the grid chart ..................................................................................... 52
Finalizing and previewing the pod .................................................................. 53
Creating the Incident Monthly Trend pod ........................................................... 57
Creating the Incident Monthly Trend data view.............................................. 57
Creating the summary chart ............................................................................ 58
Creating the breakdown chart.......................................................................... 59
Creating the grid chart ..................................................................................... 61
Finalizing and previewing the pod .................................................................. 62
Creating the Incident Day of Week Trend pod ................................................... 64
Creating the Incident Day of Week Trend View ............................................. 64
Creating the pod .............................................................................................. 65
Viewing the three pods in the executive console ................................................ 65
Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 66
Appendix A: Glossary ............................................................................................. 67
Appendix B: Charts Supported By Pod Builder ...................................................... 69
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
White paper
Getting Customer Data into BMC Dashboards for Business Service Management using the Pod Builder
Introduction
About This White Paper
This white paper focuses on addressing the needs of customers who are trying to get their
data into BMC Dashboards for Business Service Management (BMC Dashboards for
BSM). It does this by providing a high-level overview of the capabilities in the Pod
Builder Tool, then utilizing the following two case studies to showcase these capabilities.
Case study 1: Building pods from simple schemas and data. Calbro Services, a typical
customer, utilizes the Pod Builder to develop a custom dashboard that shows all of their
critical business services, including in-context metrics and KPIs showing associated
planning and financial metrics.
Case study 2: Building pods from the BMC Remedy AR System Server database. Calbro
Services uses BMC Remedy AR System Server in their environment and wants to
develop a dashboard that allows them to see all of their incidents by assigned group.
This paper does not provide extensive details about the Pod Builder. For in-depth
information about Pod Builder or the BMC Dashboards for BSM product in general,
please refer to the user documentation available with the product or contact your BMC
Account Manager.
A Brief Introduction to BMC Dashboards for BSM
BMC Dashboards for BSM provides highly interactive, right-time access to key
performance metrics to help IT management optimize decisions and accelerate the
alignment of IT with business goals. It does this by linking critical IT processes into a
dashboard view that provides aggregated performance indicators within a single pane of
glass.
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
BMC Dashboards for BSM integrates cross-functional metrics from the following BMC
products:
BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
BMC Service Impact Manager
BMC Remedy Service Desk (Incident and Problem Management)
BMC Remedy Change Management
BMC Remedy Service Request Management
BMC Remedy Service Level Management
BMC Remedy Asset Management
BMC Transaction Management Application Response Time
BMC ProactiveNet Performance Manager
BMC Dashboards for BSM administrators can customize the out-of-the-box metrics
provided by BMC in standalone metric-containers called Pods. Also, end users, typically
IT executives, can mix and match pods to create their own specific dashboards. An
example of such a dashboard, showing Service Assurance metrics is shown below:
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
But What about Customer Data?
While BMC customers derive tremendous value from out-of-the-box pods shipped with
BMC Dashboards for BSM, some of them have also made significant investments into
building their own metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) and would like to see
these metrics and KPIs integrated within the same single pane of glass that BMC
Dashboards for BSM provides for BMC data. Hence, BMC developed the Pod Builder
Tool to allow customers to quickly bring this data, often residing in relational databases
and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, into BMC Dashboards for BSM.
Introducing the Pod Builder
Pod Builder is a WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) tool within the BMC
Dashboards for BSM Administrator Console. It walks the BMC Dashboards for BSM
administrator through the process of creating a custom pod by:
Defining sources of data, such as relational databases or Excel spreadsheets and
allowing BMC Dashboards for BSM administrators to aggregate and filter the
returned data.
Choosing the design of the pod including
Layout options such as side-by-side, one-up-one-down, etc.
Charts selection such as bar, column, line, or pie charts. The full list of chart types
supported by BMC Dashboards for BSM is available at the BMC Developer
Network and also in Appendix B of this paper.
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
Publishing the pod to selected roles so that only authorized users, with the
appropriate roles, would have access to the pod.
The case studies in the next sections illustrate how a typical customer (Calbro Services)
may utilize the Pod Builder.
About Calbro Services
Calbro Services, a large, global company, is headquartered in New York City and
publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has 27,000 employees
in 240 offices located in 20 countries. The following table describes Calbro Services key
business services:
Service Description
Online banking 500 ATMs in major cities
World wide web (WWW)
presence
Corporate site and online brokerage services
Discount equity brokerage Online and storefront services
Sales force automation Automated sales activities such as leads, orders, reports
and so on
Customer support Support centers in the United States, Europe, and Asia
Mass Marketing World-wide marketing campaigns aimed at making
Calbro Services a household name
Revenues
Calbro Services has revenues in excess of $18.5 billion dollars, with over $308 billion in
assets. Their online banking and discount equity brokerage services are their key revenue
generators.
Business Strategies
Already a leader in the discount equity market, Calbro Services has plans for growth in
the banking, brokerage, and financial services arena. They also want to ensure that their
investments in technology provide a good return on investment as they offer more
services and products globally. Calbro Services expects to increase their operating
revenue by increasing their gross margin 4% over the current 44%.
BMC Dashboards for BSM at Calbro
IT management at Calbro wishes to gain access to a highly interactive dashboard, which
would give them a holistic view of their critical business services in a single pane of
glass. By interacting with key performance metrics for business service management,
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
they expect to keep a close eye on their IT services and accelerate the alignment of IT
with their business goals.
Calbro plans to build a custom dashboard that shows all of their critical business services,
including in-context metrics and KPIs showing associated planning and financial metrics.
Case Study 1: Building pods from simple schemas
and data
Calbro Services wants to use the Pod Builder to develop a custom dashboard that shows
all of their critical business services, including in-context metrics and KPIs showing
associated planning and financial metrics.
Calbro Pods and Metrics
Calbro has identified the need for four pods to build their dashboard:
A pod that shows services provided by IT that are critical to the business
A pod that shows all incidents for a selected business service
A pod that shows the vendors and associated contracts for a selected business
service
A pod that shows the organizational impact of the business services (business
units and projects).
Since BMC Dashboards for BSM already ships with the first two pods, Calbro has
decided to use them in the Calbro BSM Dashboard. These are pictured below:
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Calbro has also decided to build the last two pods using the Pod Builder. These are
defined below:
1. A pod that shows the vendors and associated contracts for a selected business service
Pod Name & Description
Name: Vendor and Contract Details by Business Service
Description: This pod will show the vendors and their contracts for a selected
business service along with budgetary information.
Behavior Definition
Calbro expects this pod to be updated when a business service is selected in the
Business Services Summary pod. Hence, when an executive clicks on a business
service in the Business Services Summary pod, this pod should retrieve the vendors
that provide that business service. In addition, users should be allowed to select the
vendors to be displayed in this pod.
UI Definition
This pod will contain two charts:
A column chart showing vendors and their budgets. This chart will filter its
data to show only vendors and vendor budgets for business services selected in
the Business Service Summary pod.
A pie chart showing the breakdown of the various contracts and their impact on
the vendor budget. This chart will filter its data to show only contracts for the
vendor selected in the bar chart.
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This pod will utilize the two-column Side by Side layout in the Pod Builder.
Data Location and Definition
IT Business Analysts at Calbro publish an Excel spreadsheet that contains tables
listing business services, associated vendors, vendor contracts and budgets, updated
at a regular interval.
2. A pod that shows the organizational impact of the business services (business units
and projects).
Pod Name & Description
Name: Business Projects Impacted by Business Service
Description: This pod will show projects impacted by a selected business service,
including projects details, associated budgets, and dependent business units.
Behavior Definition
Calbro expects this pod to be updated when a business service is selected in the
Business Services Summary pod. Hence, when an executive clicks on a business
service in the Business Services Summary pod, this pod should retrieve the projects
related to that business service. In addition, users should be allowed to select the
projects to be displayed in this pod.
UI Definition
This pod will contain three charts:
A bar chart showing projects and project budgets. This chart will filter its data
to show only projects related to the business services selected in the Business
Service Summary pod.
A pie chart showing the various business units that are contributing to the
budget. This chart will filter its data to show only business units for the project
selected in the bar chart.
A grid chart showing various detailed project data. This chart will filter its data
to show only projects for the business services selected in the Business Service
Summary pod.
This pod will utilize the Two up, One down layout in the Pod Builder.
Data Location and Definition
IT Business Analysts at Calbro use a Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)
application where information on projects, budgets, associated business unit, etc. is
tracked. The schema is normalized for use within the PPM application and hence,
is not directly usable for metrics extraction.
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In the next two sections, Pod Builder will be utilized to build these two pods.
Building A Pod from An Excel Spreadsheet
As discussed previously, Calbro publishes the data for vendors and their associated
contracts in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, within the Vendor Worksheet and the
Contracts Worksheet:
Since BMC Dashboards for BSM supports Excel spreadsheets as a data source, we can
connect to this spreadsheet using the Pod Builder Tool. Before the product can access the
spreadsheet, the spreadsheet must be copied to the product installation folder.
Note: To access Excel functionality, the BMC Atrium Data Integration Layer (DIL)
component of BMC Dashboards for BSM must be installed on a Windows machine.
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Copying an Excel Spreadsheet to the BMC Dashboards for
BSM Installation Folder
BMC Dashboards for BSM looks for Excel spreadsheets in the following sub-folder of its
installation folder:
DIL\CIS\apps\dil\excel_ds
In a typical installation, this translates to:
C:\Program Files\BMC Software\BMCDashboardsForBSM\DIL\CIS\apps\dil\excel_ds
In order for BMC Dashboards for BSM to access this spreadsheet, it must be copied to
this location.
Note: To avoid manual copies, a scheduled task or cron job can be set up which can
copy the Excel spreadsheet to the BMC Dashboards for BSM installation folder.
Creating an Excel Data Source
In order to retrieve data from the Excel spreadsheet, we will create a Data Source. We’ll
do this by:
1. Logging onto the BMC Dashboards for BSM Administration Console (typically
available at the following URL:
https://<dashboards_installation_host_name>/bsmdashboards/admin).
2. Launching the Pod Builder Tool by clicking on its icon as shown below:
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3. Creating a Data Source by clicking the Data Sources button, as shown below:
4. Clicking the New Custom Data Source button, setting the Type to Excel and
giving the Data Source a name such as Calbro Vendors. After this, we’ll select
the Vendors spreadsheet from the discovered list, which was populated when we
set the Type to Excel, and save the data source, as shown below:
Creating Data Views
Excel spreadsheets are composed of one or more worksheets, analogous to tables in a
database. Now that the Data Source pointing to the Vendor spreadsheet has been created,
BMC Dashboards for BSM will need these worksheet names.
Since BMC Dashboards for BSM uses Data Views to connect to work sheets or named
ranges in Excel spreadsheets (or schema tables and views in the case of relational
databases), we’ll create two Data Views, one for each worksheet: Vendors and Contracts.
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Data Views can be created by clicking the Data Views button in the Pod Builder Tool.
We can create the two Data Views by:
1. In the Data View Management dialog, clicking New.
2. In the Name and Type page of the Configure Data View Wizard, specify Calbro
Vendors as the data view name, select Single and click Next.
3. In the Data Set page, selecting the Excel data source that was just created and
selecting the Vendor$ table.
At this point, BMC Dashboards for BSM will fetch the worksheets in this Excel
document.
4. Selecting all of its columns and specifying serviceName as the alias for the
BUSINESS_SERVICE column.
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
Note: Pods and charts in BMC Dashboards for BSM communicate with each other
via special pod events, containing key-value pairs. The key is matched to a column or
alias name in the underlying Data View and the data is filtered out by matching it to
the value for the key. Hence, in order for a chart in a pod to respond to an event from
another pod (i.e. filter its data based on a value selected in the other pod), a column
or alias name in its Data View must match a key in the pod event.
The Business Services Summary pod sends out a pod event each time the user selects
a business service. Since Calbro desires that the Vendor pod only show data relevant
to the selected business service, the Vendor pod must be set up to consume pod
events from the Business Services Summary pod.
Since this pod event contains a key called serviceName whose value is the name of
the selected business service, the Vendor data column BUSINESS_SERVICE_NAME
must match this key. Since we don’t wish to change anything in the underlying Excel
spreadsheet, we will create a Data View Alias called serviceName for this column,
thereby ensuring that when the Vendor pod receives the pod event, it will map it to
the corresponding data column in the Excel spreadsheet.
5. Repeating these steps to create another Data View named Calbro Contracts for the
Contracts spreadsheet.
Note: Since the data schema is not complex, our corresponding Data View is very
simple. As much as possible, we should prepare the data before exposing it to BMC
Dashboards for BSM since the product is focused on visualization rather than data
manipulation and transformation.
With data sources and data views set up, it’s time to create pods.
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Creating the Vendor Pod
The Pod Builder tool ships with a wizard-like Create Pod Guided Workflow which walks
an administrator through every step of the pod creation process. In this white paper, we
will only cover the steps that are relevant to our discussion. These include:
1. Launching the Create Pod Guided Workflow
2. Selecting charts and binding data from Data Views in the Pod Builder Design Panel
3. Setting up Pod Interaction options in the Pod Builder Design Panel
4. Setting up Data Preferences and Publishing the pod to the Pod Catalog
5. Setting up Role Assignments for the pod.
We will start by:
1. Clicking the Create Custom Pod button to launch the create pod guided workflow
This will bring up the “Welcome Panel” of the workflow:
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2. Next, we will click anywhere on the Welcome Panel. This will advance us to the next
screen, where we will fill in the pod name, description and select a layout. We will
select a Side by Side layout (screenshot omitted for brevity).
3. The next panel will lead us to the Pod Builder Design Panel, which is divided into
two panes, one for each chart. In the left-hand side pane, we select a column chart to
display vendors and vendor budgets.
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
4. We will now bind this column chart to the Calbro Vendors data view we created
earlier, selecting the NAME (category) and BUDGET (series) columns to bind to this
chart. We will also create UI labels for these columns by clicking on them and filling
in a text label. Finally, we will check the Data Prefs checkbox for the NAME column
to allow the end users to select the vendors displayed in this pod, as shown below:
This series of steps results in the following design screen:
BMC Software, Inc., Confidential
5. In order to fulfill Calbro’s requirement that the data in this pod be filtered by the
business service selected in the Business Service Summary pod, we will click the
Pod Interaction button in the left hand chart and make the appropriate selections in
the Pod Interaction Panel as shown below.
6. At this point, the Vendor chart in this pod is set up to receive communication from
other pods in the dashboard. We will finish designing this chart by clicking Options
to set up chart titles and X-Y axis labels (screenshot omitted for brevity).
7. Moving on to the right-hand side pane, we will select a donut chart to show the
breakdown of the various contracts and their impact on the vendor budget, and
associate the chart with the BUDGET (series) and CONTRACT (category) columns
of the Calbro Contracts data view.
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8. As per Calbro requirements, the data in this chart needs to be filtered by the selection
of the vendor in the left-hand side chart. Hence, we set up the appropriate options in
the Pod Interaction Panel as shown below:
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9. Now, let’s test the filtering behavior in the pod by selecting a vendor in the left-hand
side chart. As expected, we see the data in the donut chart on the right-hand side
filtered to show only contracts for the selected vendor, as illustrated below:
10. The next step in the Pod Builder Design Panel is to publish the pod to a custom Pod
Category, as shown below:
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11. Finally, let’s save this pod and move to the next step, which is to set the Data
Preferences.
12. In the Data Preferences Panel, we will configure the data preferences for this pod
and also, make this pod available to end users. Each of the column for which we
selected Data Prefs in the Pod Builder Design Panel is seen as a separate tab UI in
the Data Preferences Panel. The Available column contains all the unique data
values for Data Prefs column. We will move some of these values to the Selected
column to make these data values available to the end users. We will also make some
of these User Defaults, thereby making sure that this pod will use these default values
when first used by the end user. This way, we minimize the amount of configuration
required by the end user.
13. We can also preview the result so that we can gauge exactly what the end-user will
see as a result of our configurations.
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14. We will check the Make Available to Users checkbox so that it is available for end-
users.
15. Finally, permissions for this pod can be assigned so that only authorized users may
have access to it. In this case, we grant access to this pod to the “IT Director” and
“Service Delivery Manager” roles. Any users assigned these roles will now be able to
add these pods to their dashboards.
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Seeing the Vendor Pod in Action
Let’s login to the BMC Dashboards for BSM Executive Console, add the Vendor Pod to
the Calbro Dashboard and see it interact with the other Calbro Dashboard pods. When we
click on a business service tile, such as WWW Presence in the Business Services
Summary pod, we see the Incidents Details and the Vendor pod get updated to show only
those incidents and vendors that are associated with the selected business service.
In this section, we built a sophisticated pod that:
Fetched data from an Excel spreadsheet
Showed metrics in multiple charts
Filtered data according to user input
Responded to communication from other pods
Allowed data customizations from end users
Allowed default configurations so that it was ready with data at first use by end users
While Pod Builder allows further data and UI customization options, these features fall
outside the scope of this white paper and are not covered. Please refer to the product
documentation for further information on this topic.
While some pods in the customer environments will require minimal setup, other pods
may be built upon a complex data schema. In the next section, we explore a pod that
requires such an intensive data setup.
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Building a Pod from a Relational Database
Since we are now already experienced with the Pod Builder, this section will not get into
details of some of the obvious steps involved in creating the Project Pod such as
assigning roles, setting data preferences and so on.
As discovered previously, Calbro publishes the data for projects and business units in
their PPM database. As we open up and analyze the database, we realize that the schema
is normalized for use within the PPM application and hence, is not directly usable for
metrics extraction. The schema diagram is shown below:
Data Preparation
Preparing the data before exposing it to the Pod Builder is necessary since the Pod
Builder tool is designed for the visualization of data rather than the aggregation or
manipulation of large volumes of data. To prepare the data before using it with the Pod
Builder tool, you should perform the following tasks that are relevant, in the order
specified so that you create a subset of your data:
1. Filter the data.
2. Aggregate the data.
3. Transform epoch integer fields to date/timestamp fields.
4. Perform enumerated value translations.
Note: BMC recommends that you not use the FN_ADJUSTED_DATE stored procedure
(delivered with the BMC Analytics for BSM product) to prepare your data. Using this
stored procedure will result in data incorrectly formatted for the BMC Dashboards for
BSM product.
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Since Pod Builder only supports the creation of one Data View per relational table, SQL
View or Excel worksheet, we must prepare the data for consumption by the Pod Builder
by creating SQL Views on top of this normalized schema.
Using materialized views
In preparing your data, you should consider whether you should use materialized views
or SQL views.
Since a SQL view created on an RDBMS database is a virtual table, no data is actually
stored in the table. The data is retrieved at run time using the SQL in the view creation
statement.
In a materialized view, however, the data is stored and retrieved from the storage at run
time. The SQL in the view creation statement is used when the view data is refreshed. If
you use materialized views, you create the materialized view and then set up a periodic
data refresh process for that view.
A materialized view requires more effort to create and maintain, but it yields better run-
time performance and fewer hits to the underlying database table. However, materialized
views do not provide current data, as the data is only as fresh as the most recent refresh of
the materialized view. Using a standard view is probably the best choice when data
volumes are low and data volatility is high. Using a materialized view is the best choice
for optimum performance when data volumes are high and some latency in data currency
is tolerable.
BMC recommends that the solution be tested with production data volumes using both
standard and materialized views before choosing the approach that is best for your site.
Data Preparation using SQL Views
Based on our UI requirements, and the data analysis, we decide that we will need two
SQL Views:
1. A SQL View that shows a comprehensive list of business services and their
associated projects and its details. Example:
CREATE VIEW BSD_SIM_CALBRO_PROJECTS_VIEW AS
SELECT
services.NAME as BUSINESS_SERVICE_NAME,
projects.NAME as PROJECT_NAME,
projects.JUSTIFICATION,
projects.OVERALL_HEALTH,
projects.SCHEDULE_HEALTH,
projects.FINANCIAL_HEALTH,
projects.IMPORTANT,
projects.STATE,
projects.STATUS,
projects.BUDGET
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FROM
BSD_SIM_CALBRO_BUSINESS_SERVICE services,
BSD_SIM_CALBRO_PROJECTS projects,
BSD_SIM_CALBRO_BUSINESS_SERVICE_PROJECTS services_projects
WHERE
services.GUID = services_projects.BUSINESS_SERVCE_GUID
AND
projects.GUID = services_projects.PROJECT_GUID
2. A SQL View that shows a comprehensive list of projects and their associated
business units and its details. Example:
CREATE VIEW BSD_SIM_CALBRO_BU_VIEW AS
SELECT
projects.NAME as PROJECT_NAME,
bu.name as BU_NAME,
project_bu.PROJECT_BUDGET
FROM
BSD_SIM_CALBRO_BU bu,
BSD_SIM_CALBRO_PROJECTS projects,
BSD_SIM_CALBRO_PROJECT_BU project_bu
WHERE
bu.GUID = project_bu.BU_GUID
AND
projects.GUID = project_bu.PROJECT_GUID
With these SQL Views created in our database, we are ready to build Data Views on top
of them in the Pod Builder.
Creating an RDBMS Data Source
We can create a new Data Source by clicking on the New Custom Data Source icon, and
entering the connection information to the relational database. In this example, we are
using a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database as shown below.
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Creating A Data View
Now that a Data Source has been created, BSM Dashboard will need the schema and the
SQL Views where the data resides. We will create two Data Views in the Pod Builder, to
correspond to each relevant SQL View.
The Calbro Projects data view is shown below.
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Note: Similar to the Vendor pod, Calbro desires that this pod filter its data with the
selected business service from the Business Service Summary pod. In order to do so,
this pod will need to respond to the pod event from the Business Services Summary
pod. Hence, we will set up an alias “serviceName” for the
BUSINESS_SERVICE_NAME data column to match the key in the incoming pod
event.
The Calbro Business Units data view is shown below:
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Now that the relevant data sources and data views have been set up, we are ready to
create pods.
Creating the Project Pod
We will skip the steps prior to the Pod Builder Design Panel since they are simple and
have already been covered in the section on the Vendor Pod.
1. In the Pod Builder Design Panel, in the top-left pane, we will select a bar chart. We
will then select the PROJECT_NAME (category) and BUDGET (series) columns to
bind to this chart. We will also create UI labels for these columns by clicking on
them and filling in a text label. Finally, we will check the Data Prefs checkbox for
the PROJECT_NAME column to allow the end users to select the projects displayed
in this pod, as shown below:
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This results in the following design screen:
2. In order to fulfill Calbro’s requirement that the data in this chart be filtered by the
business service selected in the Business Service Summary pod, we will click the
Pod Interaction button in the left hand chart and make the appropriate selections in
the Pod Interaction Panel as shown below.
3. At this point, this chart in this pod is set up to receive communication from other
pods in the dashboard. We will finish designing this chart by clicking Options to set
up chart titles and X-Y axis labels (screenshot omitted for brevity).
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4. Moving on to the right-hand side pane, we will select a donut chart to show the
breakdown of the various business units and their budgets. We will associate this
chart with the PROJECT_BUDGET (series) and BU_NAME (category) columns of
the Calbro Business Units data view.
5. As per Calbro requirements, the data in this chart needs to be filtered by the selection
of the vendor in the left-hand side chart. Hence, we set up the appropriate options in
the Pod Interaction Panel as shown below:
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6. Now, let’s test the filtering behavior in the pod by selecting a vendor in the left-hand
side chart. As expected, we see the data in the donut chart on the right-hand side
filtered to show only contracts for the selected vendor, as illustrated below:
7. Moving on to the bottom side pane, we will select a grid chart to show the various
details of every project associated with a business service. We will associate this
chart with various columns in the Calbro Projects data view, taking care to include
PROJECT_NAME (category).
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8. As per Calbro requirements, the data in this chart needs to be filtered by the selection
of the business service in the Business Services Summary pod. Hence, we set up the
appropriate options in the Pod Interaction Panel as shown below:
Finally, we are at a stage where our design is finished, as the following screenshot
illustrates:
9. In the next few steps, we will publish this pod to the Calbro custom Pod Category,
save this pod, set the Data Preferences and assign roles to this Pod (screenshots
omitted for brevity).
At this point, we have successfully created the Project Pod.
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Putting It All Together
Calbro has been able to create their Calbro Dashboard using out-of-the-box pods from
BMC and custom pods created via the Pod Builder. Let’s login to the BMC Dashboards
for BSM Executive Console, add the Project Pod to the Calbro Dashboard and see it
interact with the other Calbro Dashboard pods. The following screenshot shows the
Calbro Dashboard.
Case Study 2: Building a pod from the BMC
Remedy AR System database
Calbro Services wants to show a summary of their incidents, broken down by assigned
group. They also want to see the monthly and daily trend in incidents reported, also
broken down by assigned group.
The BMC pods do not allow Calbro to display their incidents by assigned group, so they
must create custom pods that use the BMC Remedy AR System data source.
Calbro pods and metrics
Calbro has decided to create the following three pods using the Pod Builder:
Incident summary by assigned group
Incident monthly trend
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Incident daily trend
The three pods are defined below.
1. A pod that shows the incidents for the business service by priority and status, filtered
by varying time ranges and broken down by assigned group.
Pod Name & Description
Name: Incident summary by assigned group
Description: This pod contains a bar chart that summarizes the incidents, showing
the count by priority and status, filtered by varying time ranges. For each segment
selected in the bar chart, an Assigned Group breakdown will be displayed. A third
chart component, a grid chart shows the incident details for the incidents displayed
in the graph charts.
Behavior Definition
Calbro expects to be able to quickly view the priority and status of the incidents
that were reported in a particular reporting period, then determine to which group
the incidents are assigned. They can also view the details of the incidents that are
displayed in the charts by selecting the grid view. For even more detail on the
individual incident records, they can launch the BMC Remedy Action Request
System from the pod.
UI Definition
This pod will contain three charts:
A bar chart showing the number of incidents by priority. Each bar in this chart
will show the total number of incidents in that priority by incident status,
represented by colored segments. The data in this chart can be filtered by the
time range selected in the drop down menu.
A donut chart showing the breakdown of the incidents by the assigned group.
This chart will show the data by priority and status, according to the segment
selected in the bar chart.
A grid chart showing details for the incidents displayed in the charts, by
assigned group and time range, according to what is selected in the drop-down
menus.
This pod will utilize the layout Side by side with a third chart accessible through a
chart selector in the Pod Builder.
Data Location and Definition
Incident records are stored in the BMC Remedy AR System. The incident records
are displayed in each time range in the pod, based on the incident reported date.
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2. A pod that shows the monthly incident report trend, filtered by varying time ranges
and broken down by assigned group.
Pod Name & Description
Name: Incident monthly trend
Description: This pod will show the trend in the number of incidents reported each
month.
Behavior Definition
Calbro expects to be able to view the trends in the incident report dates and the
groups to which the incidents are assigned.
UI Definition
This pod will contain three charts:
A trend chart showing the total number of incidents reported each month. The
data in this chart can be filtered by the time range selected in the drop down
menu.
A donut chart showing the breakdown of the incidents by the assigned group,
according to the data point selected in the trend chart.
A grid chart showing details for the incidents displayed in the summary chart, by
time range, according to what is selected in the drop-down menu.
This pod will utilize the layout Side by side with a third chart accessible through a
chart selector in the Pod Builder.
Data Location and Definition
Incident records are stored in BMC Remedy AR System. The incident records are
displayed in each time range in the pod, based on the incident reported date.
The incident daily trend pod is very similar to the incident monthly trend pod, except
that the pod will show the trend in the number of incidents submitted each day rather
than each month. The daily trend pod contains the same number and types of charts
as the monthly trend pod.
To create the three pods, we must perform the following tasks:
1. Prepare the data
2. Create a data source
3. Create a data view
4. Create the pod
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Each task is explained in the following sections.
Preparing the data
This section contains steps and samples to create and populate a table and a view that
contain a subset of the data from the BMC Remedy AR System data source. See “Data
Preparation” on page 29 for more information about why data preparation is necessary.
Page 29 also contains information to help you decide whether you should create a
materialized view or an SQL view.
Since we know that we want to create a pod that displays information about the incidents,
the groups to which they are assigned, and the days on which the incidents are reported
(in our appropriate time zone), we need to create the following two data views on top of
the underlying BMC Remedy AR System database:
The incident summary view is used to perform translation of the enumerated
values, transform epoch integer dates to timestamp values, and aggregate the data
by priority, status, and incident reported date. So that the Pod Builder can display
the incident reported date in the appropriate time zone, this incident summary
view requires the time zone information table.
The time zone information table is a lookup table that contains information
about each time zone, such as offset from GMT and start and end dates for
Daylight Savings Time for each year. This table is used by the incident summary
view to look up the relevant information for the selected timezone when
transforming the epoch integer date fields stored in the BMC Remedy AR
System database to the timezone adjusted timestamp fields presented by the
incident summary view.
The BMC Dashboards for BSM product expects that your timestamps be in GMT so that
it can properly apply the client timezone offset and daylight savings time calculations.
The BMC Remedy AR System product stores data in GMT, so no manipulation of that
data is required before preparing your data for use by the BMC Dashboards for BSM
product. If your timestamps are not in GMT, the times displayed in the pods will not be
accurate.
Creating the incident summary view
This section contains DDL for creating and populating the incident summary view. You
can copy and paste the DDL below to create your own incident summary view. You can
choose to create a materialized view, but you must specify “CREATE MATERIALIZED
VIEW” below instead of “CREATE VIEW”.
The sample DDL below is set for the CST timezone. To specify your own timezone,
update the TIMEZONE_ID AND TIMEZONE values shown in the boldface line towards
the end of the statement below. Currently, the DDL for this view is set to time zone ID
CST, the America/Chicago time zone.
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To create and populate the incident summary view INCIDENT_SUMMARY_DAILY,
we use the following DDL:
CREATE VIEW ARADMIN.INCIDENT_SUMMARY_DAILY AS
SELECT TIMEZONE_ID,
TIMEZONE,
Date_Point,
PRIORITY AS Priority_Enum,
CASE WHEN PRIORITY = 2 THEN 'Medium'
WHEN PRIORITY = 1 THEN 'High'
WHEN PRIORITY = 0 THEN 'Critical'
WHEN PRIORITY = 3 THEN 'Low'
ELSE NULL
END AS Priority,
STATUS AS Status_Enum,
CASE WHEN STATUS = 0 THEN 'New'
WHEN STATUS = 1 THEN 'Assigned'
WHEN STATUS = 2 THEN 'In Progress'
WHEN STATUS = 3 THEN 'Pending'
WHEN STATUS = 4 THEN 'Resolved'
WHEN STATUS = 5 THEN 'Closed'
WHEN STATUS = 6 THEN 'Cancelled'
ELSE NULL
END AS Status,
ASSIGNED_GROUP AS Assigned_Group,
COUNT(INCIDENT_NUMBER) AS Num_Incidents
FROM (SELECT TIMEZONE_ID,
TIMEZONE,
(TO_TIMESTAMP((TO_CHAR(REPORTED_DATE_TZ_ADJUSTED, 'DD-MON-
YY')), 'DD-Mon-YY')) - TZ_ADJUSTMENT AS Date_Point,
PRIORITY,
STATUS,
ASSIGNED_GROUP,
INCIDENT_NUMBER
FROM (SELECT TIMEZONE_ID,
TIMEZONE,
INCIDENT_NUMBER,
PRIORITY,
STATUS,
ASSIGNED_GROUP,
REPORTED_DATE,
REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP,
REPORTED_DATE_YEAR,
GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE,
REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP + TZ_ADJUSTMENT AS
REPORTED_DATE_TZ_ADJUSTED,
TZ_ADJUSTMENT
FROM (SELECT TZ.TIMEZONE_ID,
TZ.TIMEZONE,
INC.INCIDENT_NUMBER,
INC.PRIORITY,
INC.STATUS,
INC.ASSIGNED_GROUP,
INC.REPORTED_DATE,
INC.REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP,
INC.REPORTED_DATE_YEAR,
TZ.GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE,
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CASE WHEN TZ.DST_FLAG = 'N' THEN
TZ.GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE/24
ELSE CASE WHEN
INC.REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP >= TZ.START_DST_TIMESTAMP AND
INC.REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP <= TZ.END_DST_TIMESTAMP THEN
(TZ.GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE/24) + 1/24
ELSE
TZ.GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE/24
END
END AS TZ_ADJUSTMENT
FROM (SELECT INCIDENT_NUMBER,
PRIORITY,
STATUS,
ASSIGNED_GROUP,
REPORTED_DATE,
REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP,
TO_CHAR(REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP,
'yyyy') AS REPORTED_DATE_YEAR
FROM (SELECT INCIDENT_NUMBER,
REPORTED_DATE,
PRIORITY,
STATUS,
ASSIGNED_GROUP,
TO_DATE('01-01-1970','MM-
DD-YYYY') + REPORTED_DATE / 86400 AS REPORTED_DATE_TIMESTAMP
FROM ARADMIN.HPD_HELP_DESK))
INC
LEFT OUTER JOIN
ARADMIN.TIMEZONE_DETAIL_INFO TZ
ON TZ.DATE_YEAR =
INC.REPORTED_DATE_YEAR AND TZ.TIMEZONE_ID IN ('CST') AND
TZ.TIMEZONE IN ('America/Chicago'))))
GROUP BY TIMEZONE_ID, TIMEZONE, Date_Point, PRIORITY, STATUS,
ASSIGNED_GROUP
ORDER BY TIMEZONE_ID, TIMEZONE, Date_Point, PRIORITY, STATUS,
ASSIGNED_GROUP
Note: The DDL above is for an Oracle database. If you use a different DBMS type, your
DDL may be different.
The following image contains part of the view that results from the DDL:
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Creating the time zone information table
This section contains sample DDL and information about SQL statements to create the
time zone information table.
To create the time zone information table TIMEZONE_DETAIL_INFO, we use the
following data definition language (DDL):
CREATE TABLE "ARADMIN"."TIMEZONE_DETAIL_INFO"
(
REGION_FLAG varchar2(1),
TIMEZONE varchar2(50),
TIMEZONE_ID varchar2(50),
DATE_YEAR char(4),
GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE varchar2(10),
DST_FLAG varchar2(1),
START_DST_TIMESTAMP varchar2(4000),
END_DST_TIMESTAMP varchar2(4000)
);
Note: The DDL above is for an Oracle database. If you use a different DBMS type, your
DDL may be different.
To populate the time zone information table, we run insert statements. A sample insert
statement is shown below. The full set of insert statements is found at
http://communities.bmc.com/communities/docs/DOC-12137.
INSERT INTO "ARADMIN"."TIMEZONE_DETAIL_INFO"
(REGION_FLAG,TIMEZONE,TIMEZONE_ID,DATE_YEAR,GMT_TIMEDIFFERENCE,DS
T_FLAG,START_DST_TIMESTAMP,END_DST_TIMESTAMP) VALUES
('N','America/Mazatlan','MST','2000','-07.00','Y',{ts '2000-04-02
09:00:00.000'},{ts '2000-10-29 07:59:59.000'});
Once you run the insert statements, the time zone information table will look similar to
the following sample table:
Once the table and view is created, we can proceed with creating a new data source and
then a data view that uses the prepared data.
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Creating the data source
We must first create a new RDBMS data source using the procedure below.
Creating an RDBMS Source using BMC Remedy AR System
To retrieve data from our BMC Remedy AR System database, we will create a Data
Source. We’ll do this by:
1. Logging onto the BMC Dashboards for BSM Administration Console (typically
available at the following URL:
https://<dashboards_installation_host_name>/bsmdashboards/admin).
2. Launching the Pod Builder Tool by clicking on its icon as shown below:
3. Creating a Data Source by clicking the Data Sources button, as shown below:
4. Clicking the New Custom Data Source button, setting the Type to Database and
giving the Data Source a name such as Incidents. After this, we’ll provide the
requested connection information and save the data source.
Creating the Incident Summary by Assigned Group pod
This procedure contains steps and procedures for creating the Incident Summary by
Assigned Group pod and includes the following:
Creating the data view
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Creating the “master” chart
Creating the breakdown chart
Creating the grid chart
Finalizing and previewing the pod
Creating the Incident Summary data view
We create the data view by clicking Data Views in the Pod Builder tool, clicking New on
the Data View management dialog, specifying Incident View as the data view name, then
by making the following selections in the Data Set screen:
The BMC Remedy AR System database schema name, in our case, ARADMIN.
The table (view) that we created earlier when we prepared the data,
INCIDENT_SUMMARY_DAILY.
We select all of the columns in the table.
We apply the SUM function to the NUM_INCIDENTS column so that the pod can
calculate the total number of incidents reported on a daily basis. The function name is
prefixed to the column name, which is then used as the alias. In the example above,
the NUM_INCIDENTS column is automatically assigned the alias
SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS. You can keep this alias or update it.
The Incident Summary view is shown below:
Creating the summary chart
Use the steps in this section to create the summary or “master” chart for the Incident
summary by assigned group pod.
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1. Using the Create Custom Pod wizard, we use the Name and Layout pane to specify
the pod name (Incident summary by assigned group) and because we know we want
to view the summary chart with a breakdown of the data in another chart component,
we select the layout type side-by-side layout with a third chart accessible through a
chart selector.
The name of the pod should convey the metric or the key performance indicator that
the pod visualizes. Use the description field to provide summarized information
about the pod.
As a result of this step, we now have a blank pod with three empty chart areas. Each
chart area contains buttons at the top that are used to configure each chart. The
remainder of this procedure takes us through the steps of creating each of the charts.
The blank pod with empty chart areas is shown below.
2. In the left chart area, we click the Chart button to specify our chart type. We specify
the Stacked bar chart as our chart type for the summary chart since this chart type
allows us to see not only the total number of incidents of a particular priority but also
the status of the incidents that are categorized in each priority.
3. In the left chart area, we click the Data button to specify the data used in the chart.
Using the Select Data for the Chart pane, we select the data view Incident View then
specify the columns Priority and Status as the category, using the up arrow to move
the Priority and Status columns up to the top of the list. Since Priority is at the top of
the list, “Priority” is used as the horizontal axis label.
We then select the SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS column as the series column so that the
calculated number of incidents is displayed on the vertical axis. The completed pane
is shown below:
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4. In the Select Options for the Chart pane, we select the Include optional labels
option and specify Incident Priority and Incident Count as the axis titles. Specifying
those labels allows us to have more descriptive labels than “Priority” and
“Sum_Num_Incidents”. We select the Include a Time Range Selection Component
option so that the pod will include a drop-down menu that we can use to display the
data for different time ranges. We select DATE_POINT as the field to use for the
time range so that the reported date is used in the time range calculation. The
completed pane follows:
For this chart, no pod interaction options are selected since it is the summary, or “master”
chart.
Creating the breakdown chart
Use the steps in this section to create the breakdown chart for the Incident Summary by
assigned group pod.
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1. From the right-side chart area, we click the Chart button to and select the donut chart
from the Select a Chart pane. We specify the donut chart as the chart type. Using a
donut chart allows us to display the number of incidents assigned to a particular
groups as a percentage of the total number of incidents of a particular priority and
status.
2. Also from the right-side chart area, we click the Data button to specify the data that
we want to include in the chart. In the Select Data for the Chart pane, we select the
Incident View data view and then select ASSIGNED_GROUP as the category
column, using the up arrows to move the ASSIGNED_GROUP column up to the top
of the list. We then select the SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS column as the series column
so that the number of incidents is displayed for that assigned group. The completed
pane is shown below:
3. In the Select Options for the Chart pane, we enable the option Include optional
labels and specify Incident Breakdown by Assigned Group as the chart title. We
select the Include a Time Range Selection Component option so that a time range
drop down menu is available for the pod and then we specify DATE_POINT as the
field to use for the time range so that the date reported data is calculated for the time
range. The completed panel is shown below:
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4. In the Select Pod Interaction for the Chart pane, we select the option Make this a
detail component so that the data displayed in the donut chart can be controlled by
what is selected in the summary chart on the left. We select Priority and Status as the
data columns from the master (summary) component on which we want the donut
chart to be “driven”. The values Priority and Status are populated in the Filter
Column column since these are the data columns from this “detail” component that
correspond to the columns from the master (summary) component. By default,
Priority and Status, respectively, are displayed below the breakdown chart so that we
can easily identify the priority and status of the incidents displayed in the donut chart.
The Select Pod Interaction for the Chart pane is displayed below:
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Creating the grid chart
Use the steps in this section to create the grid chart for the Incident summary for assigned
group pod.
1. To enable the grid chart area for editing, we click the Select Chart type icon and
select the grid chart from the pop-up menu, as shown below.
2. From the grid chart area, we click the Chart button, and in the Select a Chart pane,
we select the Data Grid chart type so that the incidents displayed in the summary pod
are displayed in a table.
3. In the Select Data for the Chart pane, we select Incident View as the data view and
select Priority, Status, Assigned Group, Reported Date, and Number of Incidents as
the columns of data that we want to be displayed in the table. The completed pane is
shown below:
4. In the Select Options for the Chart pane, select the option Include optional labels
and specify Incident Details as the chart title.
So that we have a time range dropdown menu for the pod, we enable the option
Include a Time Range Selection Component and then specify DATE_POINT as
the field to use for the time range so that the incident reported date data is calculated
for the time ranges.
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Enable the option Include a Breakdown Selection Component and select Assigned
Group. This option adds an Assigned Group drop-down menu to the chart so that we
can view the incident details by the assigned group. The completed pane is shown
below.
Finalizing and previewing the pod
Use the steps in this section to perform the following tasks:
add a hypertext link to BMC Remedy Service Desk
assign the pod to a category and a user
add information that explains the pod
make the pod available to users
preview the pod
1. We click the Pod Options icon located at the top of the pod so that we can create
a hypertext link to BMC Remedy Service Desk. Launching the BMC Remedy
Service Desk allows us to access the Incident Management interface and locate more
information on the incident records. To specify the URL used for BMC Remedy
Service Desk installed in our environment, we enable the option Provide URL and
enter the following value for the URL:
http://bsmdash100:8080/arsys/shared/login.jsp?/arsys/forms/w23-ce-vm03/HPD
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Note: The value you use for your environment will vary.
The completed Select options for the Pod dialog follows:
The resulting hypertext link is shown below:
2. We assign the pod to the Incident Management pod category by selecting the pod
category from the Pod Category list at the bottom of the pod. If you do not specify a
pod category, the pod is assigned by default to the first category in the list. You can
modify the category assignment at any time.
The category that you specify can be any of the existing categories available with the
product, or you can create your own category that is applicable to your workflow.
Create a new category by clicking the Custom Pod Categories button at the top of the
Pod Builder utility window.
3. To add descriptive information about the pod so that others that use the pod can
understand the data that they are viewing, we click the Information about this Pod
button at the top of the pod. We enter descriptive information, including what each
chart shows, the source of the data, how to filter the data that is shown, as well as
other information that is useful to other users of this pod.
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Here is the text that we enter into the text box:
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4. So that the pod is available for the designated user to see in the Pod Catalog in the
executive console, we click the option Make Available to Users. We also assign the
pod to the roles of IT Supervisor and Service Delivery Manager in the Role
Assignment pane.
5. To preview the pod in the administrator console, we click Preview, and then we
select the Year to Date time range selection to view the incident data for that time
range. The chart view is shown below, showing the data for the Year to Date time
range:
The donut chart on the right is updated each time we click on a different section of
the chart on the left, to show the breakdown, by assigned group, of the incidents
included in the segment selected on the left.
The grid view, shown below, shows the details of all of the incidents that are
displayed in the summary chart, for the selected assigned group and time range,
including the priority, status, assigned group, reported date, and number of incidents.
You can select a different assigned group or a different time range from the drop-
down menus.
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Creating the Incident Monthly Trend pod
Creating the Incident Monthly Trend data view
We create the data view by clicking Data Views in the Pod Builder tool, clicking New on
the Data View management dialog, specifying Incident Monthly Trend as the data view
name, then by making the following selections in the Data Set screen:
The BMC Remedy AR System database schema name, in our case, ARADMIN.
The table (view) that we created earlier when we prepared the data,
INCIDENT_SUMMARY_DAILY.
We select all of the columns in the table except for the TIMEZONE_ID column.
We apply the SUM function to the NUM_INCIDENTS column so that the Pod
Builder can calculate the total number of incidents reported on a daily basis. The
function name is prefixed to the column name, which is then used as the alias. In the
example above, the NUM_INCIDENTS column is automatically assigned the alias
SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS. You can keep this alias or update it.
We apply the MONTH function to the DATE_POINT column so that the Pod Builder
can report the dates in a month format (January through December). The function
name is prefixed to the column name, which is then used as the alias.
The Incident Monthly Trend data view is shown below:
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Creating the summary chart
Use the steps in this section to create the summary, or “master” chart for the Incident
monthly trend pod.
1. Using the Create Custom Pod wizard, we use the Name and Layout pane to specify
the pod name (Incident monthly trend) and because we know we want to view the
summary chart with a breakdown of the data in another chart component, we select
the layout type side-by-side layout with a third chart accessible through a chart
selector.
The name of the pod should convey the metric or the key performance indicator that
the pod visualizes. Use the description field to provide summarized information
about the pod.
2. In the Design pane, we specify the Stacked Area Chart as our chart type for the
summary chart since this chart type allows us to visualize the change in the number
of incidents reported over time.
3. In the Select Data for the Chart pane, we select the data view Incident Monthly
Trend View then specify the column MONTH_DATE_POINT as the category, using
the up arrow to move the column up to the top of the list. Since
MONTH_DATE_POINT is at the top of the list, the column name is displayed as the
horizontal axis label.
We then select the SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS column as the series column so that the
calculated number of incidents is displayed on the vertical axis. The completed pane
is shown below:
The completed Select Data for the Chart pane is shown below.
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4. In the Select Options for the Chart pane, we select the Include a Time Range
Selection Component option so that the pod will include a drop-down menu that we
can use to display the data for different time ranges. We select DATE_POINT as the
field to use for the time range so that the reported date, in the proper timezone, is
used in the time range calculation. The completed pane is as follows:
No pod interactions are specified for this pod component since it is the summary
(master) chart
Creating the breakdown chart
Use the steps in this section to create the breakdown chart for the Incident monthly trend
pod.
1. From the right-side chart area, in the Design pane, we specify the donut chart as the
chart type. Using a donut chart allows us to display the number of incidents assigned
to a particular groups as a percentage of the total number of incidents reported within
that month.
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2. In the Select Data for the Chart pane, we select the Incident View data view and then
select ASSIGNED_GROUP as the category column, using the up arrows to move the
ASSIGNED_GROUP column up to the top of the list. We then select the
SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS column as the series column so that the number of
incidents is displayed for that assigned group. The completed pane is shown below:
3. In the Select Options for the Chart pane, we enable the option Include optional
labels and specify Incident Breakdown by Assigned Group as the chart title. We
select the Include a Time Range Selection Component option so that a time range
drop down menu is available for the pod and then we specify DATE_POINT as the
field to use for the time range so that the date reported data is calculated for the time
range. The completed panel is shown below:
4. In the Select Pod Interaction for the Chart pane, we select the option Make this a
detail component so that the data displayed in the donut chart can be controlled by
what is selected in the summary chart on the left. We select MONTH_DATE_POINT
as the data columns from the master (summary) pod on which we want the donut
chart to be “driven”. By default, the value MONTH_DATE_POINT label and the
month value is displayed below the breakdown chart so that we can easily identify
the month for which the data is displayed in the donut chart.
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The Select Pod Interaction for the Chart pane is displayed below.
Creating the grid chart
Use the steps in this section to create the grid chart for the Incident montly trend pod.
1. To enable the grid chart view for editing, click the Select Chart type icon and
select the grid chart from the pop-up menu, as shown below.
2. In the Select a Chart pane, select the Data Grid chart type so that the incidents
displayed in the summary pod are displayed in a table.
3. In the Select Data for the Chart pane, select Incident Monthly Trend View as the
data view and select Assigned Group, Reported Date Month, Incident Count, Priority,
and Status for the table columns. The completed pane is shown below:
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There are no options for pod interaction specified for this chart component.
Finalizing and previewing the pod
Use the steps in this section for performing the following tasks:
assign the pod to a category
make the pod available to users in the executive console
assign the pod to users
add informative text about the pod
preview the pod
1. We assign the pod to the Incident Management pod category by selecting the pod
category from the Pod Category list at the bottom of the pod. If you do not specify a
pod category, the pod is assigned by default to the first category in the list. You can
modify the category assignment at any time.
The category that you specify can be any of the existing categories available with the
product, or you can create your own category that is applicable to your workflow.
Create a new category by clicking the Custom Pod Categories button at the top of the
Pod Builder utility window.
2. So that the pod is available for the designated user to see in the Pod Catalog in the
executive console, we click the option Make Available to Users. We also assign the
pod to the roles of IT Supervisor and Service Delivery Manager in the Role
Assignment pane.
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3. To add descriptive information about the pod so that others that use the pod can
understand the data that they are viewing, we click the Information about this Pod
button at the top of the pod. We enter descriptive information, including what each
chart shows, the source of the data, how to filter the data that is shown, as well as
other information that is useful to other users of this pod.
4. To preview the pod in the administrator console, we click Preview, and then we
select the Year to Date time range selection to view the incident data for that time
range. The chart view is shown below, showing the data for the Year to Date time
range. Update the chart on the right by clicking on a data point. The screen shot
below shows the data point for April, and the donut chart shows the breakdown of the
incidents, by assigned group, for the month of April.
The grid view is shown below. The grid view shows all of the incidents in the summary
trend pod, including assigned group, priority, status, month in which it was reported,
and the total number of incidents submitted in that same month, for the specified time
range, Year to Date in our case.
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Creating the Incident Day of Week Trend pod
Creating the Incident Day of Week Trend View
We create the data view by clicking Data Views in the Pod Builder tool, clicking New on
the Data View management dialog, specifying Incident Day of Week Trend as the data
view name, then by making the following selections in the Data Set screen:
The BMC Remedy AR System database schema name, in our case, ARADMIN.
The table (view) that we created earlier when we prepared the data,
INCIDENT_SUMMARY_DAILY.
We select all of the columns in the table except for the TIMEZONE and
TIMEZONE_ID columns.
We apply the SUM function to the NUM_INCIDENTS column so that the Pod
Builder can calculate the total number of incidents reported on a daily basis. The
function name is prefixed to the column name, which is then used as the alias. In the
example above, the NUM_INCIDENTS column is automatically assigned the alias
SUM_NUM_INCIDENTS. You can keep this alias or update it.
We apply the DAY_OF_WEEK function to the DATE_POINT column so that the
Pod Builder can report the dates in a day of week format (Monday through Friday).
The function name is prefixed to the column name, which is then used as the alias.
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Creating the pod
This pod is created following the steps for the Incident Monthly Trend pod, but instead,
we use the Incident Day Of Week Trend View data view and the
DAY_OF_WEEK_DATE_POINT in the Select Data for the Chart dialog for the
summary bar chart.
The Select Data for the Chart dialog is shown below.
Viewing the three pods in the executive console
Calbro has been able to create their Incident Management by Assigned Group dashboard
using three pods created using the Pod Builder. They have added all three pods to their
Incident Management by Assigned Group dashboard. Let’s log into the BMC Dashboards
for BSM Executive Console and see the Incident Management by Assigned Group
dashboard. The following screenshots shows the dashboard with the data displayed for
the Year to Date time range.
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Conclusion
As we illustrated through case studies, Pod Builder allows customers to quickly build
pods on their own data that also work seamlessly with out of the box pods provided by
BMC. While Pod Builder is not geared towards solving complex data joining and
aggregation scenarios, it is a powerful tool that allows any customer to point-and-click
their way towards building highly interactive and visually appealing charts on top of any
tabular data set, whether in Excel spreadsheets or in relational databases.
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Appendix A: Glossary
Term Definition
Administrator
The targeted end user of the Administrator Workbench.
Performs complex tasks in managing the BMC Dashboards
for BSM application
Administrator Workbench Formerly known as the Admin Tool
Chart Category A collection of values that delineates the various categories
to which a chart series belongs. Example, the values that
comprise X-axis of a column chart
Chart Series A sequence of values that comprise numeric data for a chart
or UI component. Example, the values that comprise the Y-
axis of a column chart.
Custom Pod Pods that are created by the BMC Dashboards for BSM
Administrator using the Pod Builder
Dashboard A collection of Pods
BMC Atrium Data
Integration Layer (DIL)
An internal component of BMC Dashboards for BSM, used
to fetch data from many disparate data sources.
Data Source A repository that serves up data.
Data Source Type A type of repository such as a relational database (Oracle,
DB2 etc) or a spreadsheet (Excel).
Data View
A particular slice of data represented as a table or view in a
database world, an end-point in a web service world or a
worksheet in the Excel world.
Data View Alias
A value that denotes an alternate name for a schema table or
Excel spreadsheet column name. This facility allows the
BMC Dashboards for BSM administrator to avoid
modifying the underlying data source when setting up
various options in the Pod Builder.
Info Text Text explaining the business value of a Pod
Pod
A container for charts, grids and other UI components that
represent inter-related metrics and key performance
indicators.
Pod Builder Tool A tool in the Administrator Workbench that manages the
Pod CRUD lifecycle.
Create Pod Guided Workflow A wizard in the Pod Builder that guides an administrator
through a series of steps to create a Pod
Pod Builder Design Panel
A UI panel in the Pod Builder that allows an administrator
to design a Pod including selection of charts, inter- and
intra-pod communication and various other UI options.
Pod Category A value denoting the grouping of conceptually-related pods
Pod Interaction Panel A UI panel in the design space of the Pod Builder which
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allows an administrator to specify various inter- and intra-
communication options such as setting up Master-Detail
relationships.
Pod Preferences Customization options available with pods
Publish ( a pod) Make a pod available
Role Assignment The act if giving permissions to a Pod so that only users of
particular groups may have access to that Pod.
SQL View A SQL View is a query stored in a relational database,
which behaves as a virtual table composed of the result set
of the query.
User
The targeted end user of the BMC Dashboards for BSM
User Console application. Performs simple tasks such as
using Dashboards and Pods created by the Administrator
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Appendix B: Charts Supported By Pod Builder
Chart Type Icon Description
Bar/Column Charts
Stacked Bar
Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are stacked
within a bar for each category value.
100% Stacked
Bar Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are stacked
within a bar for each category value, as percentages of the
total series values for the bar.
Clustered Bar
Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are displayed in
separate bars, clustered by category value.
Stacked Column
Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are stacked
within a column for each category value.
100% Stacked
Column Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are stacked
within a column for each category value, as percentages of
the total series values for the column.
Clustered
Column Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are displayed in
separate columns, clustered by category value.
Line/Area Charts
Line Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are displayed as
overlaid straight line segments.
Curved Line
Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are displayed as
overlaid curved lines.
Stacked Area
Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are stacked for
each category value.
100% Stacked
Area Chart
One category, multiple series. Series values are stacked for
each category value, as percentages of the total series values
for the category.
Pie Charts
Pie Chart
One category, one series. Series value is displayed as a pie
slice per category value.
Donut Chart
One category, multiple series. Series display as concentric
donuts, each donut displaying the series value for each
category value.
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Other/Composite Charts
Data Grid
Up to twenty columns displayed in a tabular format.
Dual Axis
Column and
Line Chart
One category and two to eight series. First series displayed as
column chart, remaining series as overlaid lines.
Dual Axis Area
and Line Chart
One category and two to eight series. First series displayed as
area chart, remaining series as overlaid lines.
Pareto Chart
One category and two to eight series. Series are displayed as
a stacked column chart with columns sorted in descending
order of value. The column chart is overlaid with a line chart
showing the cumulative total for each category.
Composite
Metrics
Single category, multiple metrics. Displays one tile per
category value, with each tile displaying one or more metrics
in a flexible format that includes a gauge or bullet graph and
may include headers, footers and a mini data grid.
Traffic Light
Single category, multiple metrics. Displays one tile per
category value, with each tile displaying one or more metrics
in a flexible format that includes a traffic light status
indicator and may include headers, footers and a mini data
grid.
Composite Data
Grid
Single category, multiple metrics. Displays one data grid per
category value, with each data grid displaying one or more
metrics in a flexible format, including headers and footers.
Spark Line
Single category, multiple metrics. Displays one tile per
category value, with each tile displaying one or metrics in a
flexible format that includes a spark line graph and may
include headers, footers, and a mini data grid.
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