Create Dashboards on Desktop and Deploy and share them on your intranet or webserver

• No coding knowledge required. Complete Visual Dashboard Development
• Supports Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, DB2, Access, Excel, Sybase and all other databases (jdbc/odbc)
• Role based Security
• Free Dashboard Development support
• Pre-defined Oracle Apps(ebs) Dashboards for GL, AR, PA and Discoverer
• Query Excel files over web URLs as Data source using SQL statements
• Use it as a Desktop Dashboard or your web based Dashboard App

• PHP
• jQuery
• jqGrid
• Flash based charting engine

InfoCaptor dashboard designer which is a desktop based tool(yeah it can be made to run on a webserver using jnlp webstart…) was coded entirely in Java.

I am happy that I chose PHP for developing the web based dashboards.

There is so much of productivity boost when coding the web dashboard compared to the effort involved using Java.

For e.g. When I had to implement the Auto-refresh feature in Java, there are so many things to consider..threads, timers etc.

But when it came to javascript, the auto-refresh is achieved with just a tiny call to set-interval method

window.setInterval(”refreshdashboard()”, 10000);

The above code will call the refresh dashboard every 10 seconds.

True simplicity.

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I have directed so many potential customers to my competitor’s websites (idashboards , visualmining) just because InfoCaptor provides only desktop dashboard solution. My leads were very surprised and amazed by my action to point to other vendors and promised that they immediately switch if I had a web based solution.

Since InfoCaptor designer is based on Java, there is a way you could deploy on webserver and launch it via jnlp and lot of time I will spend enormous amount of time with my customers just to configure everything for them.

The desktop solution has been channelized into multiple sub-products such as Excel Dashboards, Access dashboards, Database documentors etc. So Infocaptor designer is going strong and healthy on desktop as lot of individual solo operator companies find it extremely economical and beneficial.

After so many customers turned down because of the lack of web based solution, the birth of web dashboards was imminent.

But why PHP?

I have previously worked with PHP and liked the simplicity and beauty of it. After a brief research it became apparent that PHP is the platform to go with.

Being truly a PHP based solution, the other benefit it provides is the possibility of providing BI plugins for lot of open source projects such as wordpress, joomla, drupal, bugzilla etc.

I am still a single person company with few part time programmers but I do lot of outsourcing on and off. It is way cheaper to hire a PHP programmer on getfreelancer and elance than say a Java developer. One of the goal for InfoCaptor web based solution is stay economical for the common business. With the availability of open source tools this dream is going to be an absolute success.

Interesting product. Definite candidate to be considered when the web based dashboard is released.

http://pcworld.com.ph/tag/server2go/

http://www.articulate.com/blog/how-to-bypass-flash-security-attachment-download-issues-in-cd-playback/

Is your organization or company not getting the right answer?

What are the differences between a Report Software and a Dashboarding Tool?

There is a very thin line between a Report Software and Dashboard Software. Most often reporting software vendors provide some kind of dashboard functionality and vice versa.

So when do you need Reporting Software?

The need for reporting software arises when you need to create regular reports that you will either print as invoices, Bill, Checks etc. These kind of reporting software allows you to create pixel perfect report in PDF and hence easy to print to pre-formatted stationery.

And When do you need Dashboard Software?

If you happen to summarize lot of information into single Excel Dashboard or a power point slide so that you can send it to upper management, then that is the indicator that you need a Dashboarding Software.

Well, these explanation does not justify the differences between Report and Dashboard Software as there are lot of variety in reporting and same is true for Dashboarding.

Does the above explanation help you to decide what kind of tool you are looking for?

InfoCaptor delivers a complete enterprise reporting solution that easily produces the operational reports as well as scorecards and enterprise dashboards from a single platform.

Enterprise Reporting is the most prevalent Style of BI, encompassing a vast array of operational reporting directly from ERP, CRM, as well as invoice and billing systems.

Management reporting is nothing but the regular provision of information to decision-makers within an organisation to support them in their work. These reports can take the form of graphs, text and tables and, typically, are disseminated through an intranet as a set of regularly updated web pages (or “enterprise portal”). Alternatively, they may be emailed directly to users or simply printed out and handed around, in the time-honoured fashion.

The modern term that is replacing Management or Enterprise reporting is “Dashboards”

InfoCaptor is the leading Dashboard Software on the desktop and with the new web based PHP solution it provides Desktop as well as Web Reporting.

The BPO industry has grown exponentially these few years. More and more call centers are being established all over the world. This makes having an edge over competitors all the more important.

Possessing the right tools and information, such as a call center ratios report could provide, gives a company an advantage. BPO companies are quite competitive when it comes to the accounts they handle and the quantity of employees they hire. Efficiency and customer satisfactions are always good indicators for company and employee performance levels.

Call centre ratios can compare trends, profits, growth, and employee dynamics in order to create an expansive or extensive assessment of a business. Competitor analysis would push for improvements and development in order to maintain a lead against other companies.

The results analyzed from ratio reports assist companies in which direction to take when making business decisions. For example, if the ratio of the number of outbound calls in comparison to profit is disproportionate, it indicates weakness in the service and performance. This information would then prompt management to form a strategy in order to address the weakness and improve upon it.

Another example where call center ratios are significant to the BPO industry is when a trend is noticed. Let us say that the ratio of profit inbound calls is higher compared to outbound calls. This would then guide companies to a direction where they concentrate on building their inbound call service to take advantage of the trend.

Call center ratios are great business and management indicators. They have the ability to influence strategic planning and decision making in a BPO business. They also take measure of the entire industry by comparing one company to another.

In any call center environment, reports are of great importance. Call center reporting consists of the data that is collected from daily inbound and outbound calls.

Typical call center reporting might include: call attempted, calls completed, calls dropped, messages left, busy signals, etc. A clear understanding of when calls are placed and to whom they are placed makes call center staffing and productivity issues and planning easier to understand and undertake.

Sales and accounting may be the least metrics that managers can include in the clinic KPI. Nevertheless, clinic managers should give importance to these financial aspects since this is where the blood of clinical operation runs. Clinic operators, therefore, should consider safety, accreditation compliance, and financial administration in order to come up with a balanced, functional, and results-driven scorecard system.

The clinic manager may also draw possible key performance indicators from the facility itself. Questions like “is there enough space for every patient”; “does the clinic sufficiently allow patient visitors”, “and is the clinic properly ventilated” can provide hints on what the clinic can do to improve its services.

Project management comprises of a number of features:
• Laying out the framework
• Scheduling
• Scope management
• Building support for the project
• Project reporting
• Change management
• Review

Reporting with project management tools comes in handy especially when a team is assigned more than one task. As they work simultaneously on different projects, they will be able to concentrate equally without getting confused, because the reporting software knows exactly how to keep track of their respective performances.

The reporting job is complex, since it involves the coordination of many different people and the completion of many tasks in a precise sequence. It has to be accurate because a great deal of time and money is spent in the planning and execution of projects, which should not go waste due to a minor error or negligence in reporting.

So how will you choose your Reporting or Dashboard Software?