Dashboards, Reporting & Business Intelligence

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I have been wanting to write about this topic for a while but for some reason never made it through until now. Back in my childhood days, me and my brother used to tease each other, whenever we saw some kid with some achievement in sports, education or getting a medal on TV, we would be eager to find out the age of that kid. Once we know the age, we mentally compute if he is younger than each of us or older, if he is younger or same age as my brother then I would tell him “Look he is only 12 and achieved this honor, by the way how old are you?” The intent of the question was to mock and tease him that “this little kid achieved so much at this age and look at you…”. Yes, I was mean but then my brother too had the chance to reciprocate saying “What have you achieved so far?” and then both of us would laugh at it. But deep down there was some different kind of psychology at play and I guess more or less everyone of us goes through it.

As a human tendency, we are constantly comparing ourselves with our peers, colleagues and friends. If we find out that the other person has achieved great financial success or got a great job position or title, our minds immediately begin to look for the answer “How old is he?” . In trying to know the age, we are in some way trying to find a comfort zone for ourselves, if the person is older than me then atleast I have the solace that there is a parameter which does not match with mine and I have atleast 3 yrs, 4 yrs, 10 yrs before I should start comparing or looking for reasons as to why I am not like the other person who seems successful. And what do we do when we see a person younger than us who is successful or achieved something, atleast we applaud saying “vow! thats great” and somewhat feel remorse of our inability to achieve similar thing which is let out as “envy”.

I have been monitoring this pattern for a while and trying to stop my thought train as soon as smell it going in that direction of comparing by age. I think comparing by age is not the good way to look at it. First because scientifically AGE is a relative term and in the time-space continum everything is happening at the current “NOW” instance. Well this is something that I have read somewhere and reproduced here but I don’t fully understand or comprehend it Sorry for the scientific tangent!

The main reason it is wrong to compare by AGE, is because everybody is different and everybody’s wants are different. Most of the time our wants are influenced by  what we see, hear and experience. If a person “X” has achieved so much financial success at a young age and if a person “Y” who is of the same age or older has not been as successful then there are obvious reasons for that. First person “X” has different set of priorities than “Y” and “X” has put up lot of hard and smart work to make for the short period. “X” had created perfect enviornment to match his priorities and goals. So there is no reason for “Y” to compare against “X” and feel negative about it. Instead “Y” should maintain his focus on what is important to him, his priorities and goals and rather than feeling negative, should try to get motivation if he has similar goals.

For e.g. Recently a school kid in UK had earned 1 million dollars by a simple but genius idea. Should I be comparing and saying “Oh I am 30 but no where close to million!” ?  I don’t think its the right way to look at, the school kid had different kind of circumstances (student loans), different opportunities and the desire to find a solution for his current situation. Where as when I was 21, I had absolutely no desire or need to earn money as my parents were paying for me. So my goals and destinations are different but certainly I should derive motivation from that school kid. I guess its a tough tendency to break but sometimes it is required for self check analysis. For e.g as a parent, if you don’t compare your baby’s progress, “She is not yet crawling!”, “That kid started at month 4″, “Mine started walking at 10″ and so on the end less comparisons. Some of these comparisons are useful checkpoints as they have become the standard benchmarks but often these comparisons are carried forwarded through the end of life!
Well, this is just my observation, what is yours?

The year is 1992-93, I am in the second year of junior college also known as
HSC in Maharashtra and Mumbai. Ramnarian Ruia college is about 15-20 minute walk from my home. I had scribbled the college timetable on a piece of paper and stuck it on a wall at my home. I would refer to this timetable for my daily
practicals and lecture schedules. Everyday the timings were different for
lectures and practicals. Some of the lectures I would just go in to fill up
the attendance sheet. I think the day was wednesday and it was one of those
lecturer for whom everyone thought the most important thing is to mark your physical attendance at the least. It could affect your grades!

So I look up my faithful timetable and head for the class. As soon as I enter the room, I felt something unusual about it. The class was already full. Knowing that it is still time for the lecture to begin and students don’t just
arrive on time. It takes a while to get the class humming but today it was
different. I see the lecturer too and someone just passed the attendance sheet
back to the lecturer so I thought maybe I should just mark my attendance and then take a seat. So I head over to grab the attendance sheet and this lecturer just swings and swirls the sheet as if dodging my hand and gives a smirky smile and heads
out of the class. I again try to get the sheet but the lecturer just turns his head and says “What for?” and disappears out of the room. The whole class bursts out into a giant laughter! wait a minute…did i miss something…what so funny about this….

I am still trying to figure out whats going on, suddenly I see classmates patting me on my back “Boss aadmi hey re tu!”…”Sahi hai re!”…and all type of similar pun-intended compliments. For those un-aware of Mumbai slang it meant “You got some guts do this kind of stuff”.

I am beginning to realise whats going on so I asked was the class pre-poned? Well see, I am still not getting it so there are still folks laughing and saying “Arey bhai class khatam ho gaya, sala khatam hone ke bad ata hai aur sidha attendance fill karne jata hai!” which meant ” coming late to the class and
still have the guts to walk up and mark the attendance, how dare you!”.
Suddenly I felt the jolt of realization and burst into laughter “How stupid I  was!”

Last week was a shaky week for my blog. For no apparent reason, I saw pages
disappearing, getting database errors and all sorts of UI issues. The website
look and feel kept changing. I would set the template and it stayed that way for a while and all of a sudden
it would switch back to a whole new look, this kept repeating as if a ghost was playing pranks!

Since I work on my day job, I get only early morning or late nights to
look after any issues and since this is a third party hosted website I don’t
have much control over it (not that I have the expertise to handle it on my own
if I had owned the server )

It seemed that I was not even able to ftp any files or update the existing files.
I promptly reported the matter to my web host and the nice guys at Lonex agreed to
move me to a new server. It took few days to get things to normal and I can say
that as of now the website is back on track. Was it really on track?

Then a funny thing happened. I use Google’s web analytics tool to monitor my website.
Knowing that my website is back to normal, I should see my readers coming back, right?
This website, over the period of 4 months has established a small but loyal group of
readers so I expected atleast few of them to return to the website. But it was not the case,
it seemed a week of downtime and the visitors seemed to have abondon me!

“The website Ghost really has some powers” was the thought that kept flashing in my mindspace.

Oh common! How can this be true?? I digged deeper and found out who the culprit was. In order for
Goolge Analytics to work properly, I have to embed some code in each of the web pages.
During the downtime and when I was trying to ftp the files, I had updated the files and missed
this tracking code in the templates. When all the files were copied on to new server obviously
the template was missing the tracking code. I immediately corrected it and the next day was
a big “Sunshine Smile” on my face. Hurraaayyyy! my loyal visitors are back.

Thank you for coming back. Then I keep getting these lovely remarks

”
I just wanted to say how valuable this webiste is. As a new APPS consultant
myself, I turn to this website to learn stuff quickly. Many thanks for doing
this.
–Richard Keeler
”

This just makes my day wonderful!

My brother Kamlesh just sent me this email containing the excerpts of
profile descriptions from Indian Matrimonial sites. The fact that I met my
wife at one of these matrimonial sites and I do recollect some of the funny
stuff that I had to go through, this makes a very interesting reading.

Taken from some matrimony sites ….  just read n enjoy .    )

These are actual ads on a matrimony site. Grammar and spell errors have no
place in a profile description as everything is straight from the heart!

NOTE: You may find lot of excerpts un-readable but try to see it from your heart and
everything will be crystal clear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Hello To Viewvers My Name is Sowmya , I am single i dont have male, If any
one whant to marrie to me u can visite to my home. I am not a good education
but i working all field in bangalroe.. if u like me u welcome to my heart…
when ever u whant to meet pls viset my resident or send u letter.. Thanks
yours Regards Sowmya ~*~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i want very simple boy. from brahmin educated family from orissa state she
is also know about RAMAYAN, GEETA BHAGABATA, and other homework

(Homework?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wants a man who knows me better and can adjust with me forever. he may never
create any difficulties in my life or his life by which the entire life can
run smoothly. thank you

(The principle of running life smoothly was never so easy!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

he should be good looking and should have a service. he Shoulsd have one
brother and one sister. he should be educated.

(ain’t it unique !! 1 brother 1 sister criteria !)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am a happy-go-lucky kind of person. Enjoys every moments of life. I love
to make friendship. Becauese friendship is a first step of love. I am
looking for my dreamboy who will love me more than i. Because i love myself
a lot. If u think that is u then why to late come on ……..
hold
my hand forever !!!

(The dilwale dulhaniya effect)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i am simple girl.I have lot ofproblemin mylife because ofmylucknow i
amlooking oneboyhe caremeandloveme lot lot lot

(I don’t know why but this is one of my favorites)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My husband should be as ‘Shiva’ as in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and as Tanwerr as
in KSBKBT……

(Ok I haven’t seen these soaps but I am sure she must be demanding too much,
ain’t he?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i want a boy with no drinks if he wants he can wear jeans in house but while
steping out of house he should give recpect to our cast

(by not wearing his jeans? Wat the hell…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HYE I AM A GOOD LOKING GIRL,WHO HAS THE CAPABILITY TO MAKE ANY BODY TO
LOUGH.I BELIEVE IN GOD AND ACCORDING TO ME FRIENDS ARE THE REAL MESSENGER OF
GOD. THE 3 THINGS I AM LOOKING FROM A BOY ,THEY ARE 1.THEY MUST BELIEVE IN
GOD.2. THEY HAVE TO LIKE MY PROFFESION AND THEY SHOULD NOT GET BORED WITH
ME WHEN I WILL TRY TO MAKE THEM LOUGH.

(all of us are loughing{laughing})

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

whatever he may be but he should feel that he is going to be someone groom
and he must think of the future life if he is toolike this he would bde
called the man of the lamp

(I am clueless, I feel so lost. Can anyone tell me what this girl wants)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i love my pat ner i marriage the pat ner ok i search my pat ner and i love the
pat ner ok thik hai the pat ner has a graduate ok

(I am again clueless but I liked the use of “ok”. The person is suffering
from “Ok-syndrome”)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HI IAM VERY COOL NUATHER OK MY HOBBY IS SEE T.V AND NEWS OK I HAVE 1 CAR AND
1 BONWL OK MY MOTHER ALSO GOOD OK MY FARUET WORLD IS OK

(the “ok syndrome” again)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iam pranati my family histoy my two brother two sister and fater&mother
sister complity marred

(somebody please explain in comments section how to get married
‘completely’?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iam very simpel and hanest. i have three sister one brother and parent.
i am doing postal sarvice and tailor master my original resdence at kalahandi
diste naw iam staing at rayagada dist.

(actually what is this girl doing? Postal service or tailor.??)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my name is farhanbegum and i am unmarried. pleaes you marrige me pleaes

pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes pleaes

(height of desperation! J )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iwant one boy who love me or my mother. he love me heartly or he havea frank
he’s skin colour ‘normal’not a black or not a whitey. IThink the main think
is heart if your heart is beautiful then you are beautiful.
but iam not a handsome girl or not a good looking. but my Mom say that Iam a
good girl. My father already expired . iam ”AEKLAUTA”. THE CHOICE IS YOUR.

bye bye.

(uttama purishinin)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iam kanandevi. i do owo businas.one sistar.he was marred.

(No comments)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I AM LITTLE FAIR INDIAN COLOUR. I DON’T HAVE ANY HABIT.

(maybe the poor guy meant BAD habits)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hello i am a good charactarised woman. i want to run my life happily.i
divorced my first husband.his charactor is not good’. i expect the good
minded and clean habits boy who may be in the same caste or other caste
accepted …

(but credit cards not accepted..???)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my colour is black,but my heart is white.i like social service

(Zebra..???)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i’m looking out for who lives in bombay , boy simple who trust me lot should
be roman catholic, LOVE ME ONLY.

(Now that criterion is a must, isn’t it?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to be married on jan-2005. working man perferable

(this girl has fixed the marriage date too! But she is yet to find a groom.
I wish her best luck on behalf of all of us. I am sure she will get one
soon.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i would like a beautyfull boy. and i do not want his any treasure.
because boy is the maharaja.

(Now he is going to be a lucky boy! Any takers?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ssc failed three times and worked with privated ltd company which not paying
salary at present.

(Any takers again?)

Frankly, I had no clue what I was going to become. Infact, deep down I did
not want to become anything. I was (am) very much influenced by the teachings of
Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramhansa. I was influenced to the extent that
I had made decision to lead a similar life as the ascetics in India.

At that time I was doing by Computer Science and Engineering from VJTI so my father very well aware of my intentions asked me to at least finish my engineering and in the mean time I kept my options open.

During those years in engineering I became more open minded and started beginning to understand the fact that shunning myself from the world may not be the best option to pursue my spiritual journey.

 Fast-forward to this day, my world is totally different than I wanted it to be but there
is no regret, infact I thank the almighty that things did not work out the way I wished.

I have learnt the fact that “everything happens for the best” and constantly amazed by
its relevance by all the events that have occurred in my life.

One of the things was becoming an Oracle apps consultant. I did not wanted to go out of
Mumbai and just wished for a job within my city but during my campus interview I got selected to work at Wipro. Since Wipro was one of the first companies after TCS and since I was eligible to appear for the aptitude test (based on my grades) I thought of giving the test just to find out what an aptitude test really is.

God knows what happened but in spite of my effort I got selected and I was no longer eligible to apply for any other campus jobs! I just gave the test to gain some experience for the other Mumbai based companies those were scheduled for the campus on a later date. This was a major shock to my family and me.

I settled my mind with the truth that “everything happens for the best”; there must be a greater plan in action otherwise how else could I have passed the test and the interview where I didn’t put any effort?

Finally I arrive at the Wipro office in Bangalore and was put into the applications group. I did not have any clue what this group does. I was put in a group that was providing offshore support to Seagate (the hard disk manufacturer).

Slowly and steadily I was bombarded with the MRP and ERP stuff. There were some great seniors (Sunil, Vivek and Sai) who were always eager to mentor and help me out and that really made my life easy.

At that time around 1997-1998 Seagate was using ManMan (an MRP system), Oracle Applications 10.7 character and smartclient (GUI) for some other modules.

Since I was not billable I was not important and nobody really cared what I was doing. So I utilized this freedom to learn on my own and help my colleagues with whatever skills I had picked up during my college years.

Frankly speaking all this ERP stuff was too overwhelming for me. I had never come across
nor imagined how a company could ever need such a complex piece of software, so many customizations and so many sub-systems.

I came strictly from a strong technical background, dealing with assembly language, “C” and Pascal programming, learning about the microprocessors etc and never had any exposure to the business side of any business.

But eventually I started getting hold of the concepts and learnt some tricks on how to attack any ERP related stuff.
Since I have good learning abilities I gained enough expertise in a short period.

I worked at Wipro for almost a year and since the ERP job market was hot at that time I managed to get a job in the “wonderful USA”. In all the ERP projects, I have found that I have always been the youngest of all my colleagues.

The reason for this could be that I got an early break in this lucrative field whereas most of my colleagues had prior job experience in some other field and got themselves trained in Oracle Applications.

Thanks to the almighty force for taking me through the shortcut

“Everything happens for the best”, don’t you agree?

Be honest and tell me, if you had access to the trick of going invisible how would it benefit you?

Apart from the naughty things going on in your mind, do you have any ethical, moral, non-criminal stuff that you
can do?

Apart from killing the terrorists and winning in the wars what else is the benefit?

I don’t need this invention, do you?

I know it is not a fair question, as a “Daddy” myself; I want all of my children to be intelligent.
Well, this is not any parenting website so of course the title must and should be related to Business Intelligence, right?
  OK, let me ask another question, if you were running your own organization or company don’t you wish
You had information (read intelligence) on all the aspects of your company?

For e.g. in most of the BI initiatives, the emphasis is laid on getting the Key metrics for Financial and Manufacturing Data.
To generalize, the emphasis is laid on the most critical component of your business; it could be CRM, SCM, and Manufacturing
Or Finance. This is perfect, as with the given time and budget constraint you want the most important information.
Time goes by and budget runs over, somehow you manage to assemble all your KPIs into nice looking dashboards and call them “executive dashboards”.

Now lets dig deeper.
How about intelligence on your Outsourcing activity?
Can you effectively tell, if your Outsourcing activity is really beneficial? Do you keep track of any metrics for the code quality, Number of hours worked, Number of Onsite and Offshore developers, Bandwidth Usage, Cost of staying in touch
Etc.

Similarly, How efficient is your infrastructure and the team who is maintaining it? Do you keep track of the number of instances? What are the cloning schedules?
Does your DBA have the right tools in order to efficiently manage his daily job? Can your DBA easily check important System and Database parameters just as your “Executive” can check important financial information?

Similarly, Can your programmer check his or her own performances? Do they have access to metrics that tell them about their code quality, their productivity etc. Is it good for them to have access to a dashboard that instantly tells them about the Greens and Reds? Wouldn’t it be nice if they can see where they are performing good and where they
need improvement rather than you as the manager or supervisor hesitantly telling them anyway!

So effectively you can pick all the activities that is happening and derive intelligence out of it.

So going back to the title question, I guess everybody in your organization is entitled to intelligent information
so that they constantly improve what they are doing and that is what will give them an edge.

If you have plans for “Executive Dashboards” then shouldn’t you plan for “Non-Executive Dashboards” ?

Enough of questions, now lets get Dashboards for all our children

http://www.sq.ro/spamplants.php

“By analyzing text using computational linguistics methods, you can detect anger and sadness. Turning those into gestures in three dimensions, that would be interesting,” said Dragulescu, who is now head of the Experimental Game Lab, a research lab at the Center For Research and Computing and the Arts (CRCA) within the University of California at San Diego.

Dragulescu’s work stands out at a time when scientists and technologists are struggling to harness the massive quantities of data online and make sense of it for fields like earth science, drug discovery, genetic research and U.S. security. Information visualization is a traditional scientific method that’s getting a lot of attention now because it involves projecting a visual image of the data so that onlookers can make connections that might otherwise be lost.

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