ijrde-implementation of dashboard in mainframes for business analysis

International Journal for Research and Development in Engineering (IJRDE)

www.ijrde.com Vol.1: Issue.2, October-November 2012 pp- 18-27

18

IMPLEMENTATION OF DASHBOARD IN MAINFRAMES FOR

BUSINESS ANALYSIS.

HARIRAGHAVAN S.K*, POORNIMA G

*, SUGGULA ANUP, CHAKRAVARTHI

*,

KRUPAL MISTRY*, SNEHA K

*

( [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected] )

*Tata Consultancy Services, India

ABSTRACT

Now-a-days dashboards are more

pronounced in business world since it

facilitates deep investigation on the sales

scenario. But has anyone given a thought of

bringing in this excellence into Mainframes?

Is it possible in the user interface of

mainframe? In this paper, we have provided

a business solution to increase the sales

percentage of a company by implementing

the dashboard strategy in mainframes. The

technicalities present behind the

performance of the officers are taken into

consideration and the same are used to

depict a dynamic graph thereby making it

visually strong. The traversal between

graphs is achieved through drill up and

drill-down approach. This approach

elevates the level of user interface in

Mainframes.

Keywords: Dashboard, Mainframe,

Dynamic graph, Drill up and drill-down

approach

I. INTRODUCTION:

Mainframes are predecessors to Super

computers which are majorly used to handle

bulk data. Though the dynamism involved in

them are low, this technology proves to be

the best because of the high security it

provides. By incorporating certain dynamic

features, the online interface of Mainframes

will be exceedingly interactive.

As of now, to make analysis with different

data sources from a specific page, one has to



19

traverse back from the present page and

navigate from there. As a result, continuity

in analysis is lost and it becomes difficult to

interpret. This issue can be resolved if the

user has an option to view multiple screens

simultaneously. With the help of Dash

Board, user can interpret different data from

the same page.

In the recent days, business demands and

features undergo a dynamic change as a

result of which, cut-throat competition exists

in all industries. To excel in such a heavy

competition, a sound knowledge on business

practices across geographies, apt use of

technology, choosing dexterous analytic tool

and expertise in interpreting data is a need of

the hour.

Dash Board is an analytic tool that presents

volumes of data in a readable form with full

transparency. It is an application to depict

different scenarios mostly of business, in the

form of graphs with drill down and drill up

approach. Major advantages of the Dash

Board in business are:

• Interactivity.

• The ability to combine multiple data

sources.

• Visual analysis.

• Supports organized business with

meaningful and useful data.

In our application, we have

developed a dashboard which contains two

graphs each depicting the performance of

sales officers in detail. The first graph

enables the sales manager of a particular

region to view the performance of all the

sales officers in his region. The second

graph represents the individual performance

of a particular sales officer. The traversal

between the graphs is achieved with drill-

up,drill-down approach. Our approach of

using the dashboard will enhance the

analysis of sales and thereby promoting

business.

II. ALGORITHM:

Our research provides insight on developing

a dynamic graph for the sales of a company

producing three products (AC Motor, DC

Series Motor, DC Shunt Motor). Once the

manager logs in, there is an option for him

to view the sales officers' performance in the

form of a Dash board. The bar graphs give

the monthly analysis of their performance

based on which they are fixed with the



20

targets.

The algorithm behind the first graph of

the dash board is as follows,

•Create maps for X-Y plot and the bars

Fetch values for actual sales percentage of

each officer in the respective region from

the database.

•This actual sold percentage decides the

height of the bar and it changes dynamically

with the performance of each officer

• Various colors are provided to

differentiate between the sales officers so

that readability is enhanced.

The algorithm behind the second graph of

the dash board is as follows,

• Create maps for X-Y plot and the bars

fetch values for actual sales of each product

by the respective officer from the database.

• The actual sales the respective product

changes dynamically and it decides the

height of the bar.

• The target products he is supposed to sell

is displayed in graph with the cursor (-)

Green and red colors are dynamically moved

to the bars. Green color represents that a

particular sales officer has reached the target

of that product and red color represents that

he has not.

• Press F3 to toggle between the two graphs.

This is how drill up and drill down approach

is achieved in our study.

III. Figures and Tables :

Fig 1.1 is the first screen of the dash

board giving a detailed description of what

dash board is. The user can enter a particular

month to view the performance of all the

sales officers in his region for that month.

The legends are presented on the right side

of the map for easy understanding.



21

Fig 1.2 represents how the height of each

bar is calculated. The variable WS-P5

defines the height of the bar..

As the space is a constraint, the values are to

be limited to 10. For this reason, scaling the

variables is done and they are rounded to the

next higher digit. With these values,

respective coloring is done to the bars and a

sample code for the coloring is given in the

Fig 1.3.

When the month is given, the respective

analysis of all officers in that region is

displayed as shown below in Fig 1.4.

As this is a sales application, display of sold

products does not make much sense if they

are not related to the targets assigned to the

corresponding sales officers. For that reason,

sales manager has also an option to view the

targets of the sales officer making the graph

a multi dimensional one.

To analyze the individual performance of

each officer, click on the bottom of each bar

which corresponds to the respective officer.

Sample code for traversing from the first

graph to the second map by cursor positions

is given here in Fig 1.5.

Fig 1.6 shows a sample code which gives an

idea of how cursor is displayed in the graph.

Depending upon the variable taken from the

data base, that position is marked with the

cursor representing the target of the sales

officer in his region.

The graph thus obtained is displayed in the

next page gives the overall performance of

the sales officers thus it provides facility to

the sales manager to fix the target for the

next month there by increasing the sales of

the company. This is explained in Fig 1.7.



22

Fig 1.1: Description of Dashboard



23

Fig 1.2: Calculation of the height of the bar

Fig 1.3: Dynamic coloring of the bars



24

Fig 1.4: Relative performance of the officers in a certain region

.



25

Fig 1.5 : Traversing from first graph to the next graph (sample code )

Fig 1.6 : Calculation of the position of cursor



26

Fig 1.7: Individual performance of the sales officer

IV. CONCLUSION:

The application of this study is to help the

user perceive the nook and corner of his

transaction so that optimum usage of

resources can be done. In addition to this,

efficacious strategies can be implemented on

products which had resulted in loss to

enhance turn-over of the company. Hence a

better understanding of the company’s sales

and its revenue can be figured out.

REFERENCES :

[1] Alexis Leon, IBM Mainframe

Handbook.

[2] Murarch’s CICS for COBOL



28

Programmer.

[3] Designing and programming CICS

application.

[4] Murarch’s CICS desk reference.

[5] Introduction to the new mainframe:

Z/OS Basics (An IBM red books

publication).

[6] David Lee , CICS Vs Online system

design and implementation techniques.

[7] Rownaque Nazneen, Shivani Jain,

Shashanko Aditya and Ravi Prakash

Sikariwal, Effective GUI implementation in

Mainframes – Windows based, International

Journal for Research and Development in

Engineering(IJRDE), 1(1), 2012, 4-11.

[8] Continuous guidance by our Technical

lead Mr. Robin Tommy, Tata Consultancy

Services.

ijrde-implementation of dashboard in mainframes for business analysis

Documents