BUSINESS COCKPITS BASED ON IN-MEMORY DATABASE
BACKGROUND
[01] In today's competitive markets, managers of organizations need to make qUick
decisions based on constantly changing conditions. Managers need simple and attractive
ways to analyze a situation, share the findings and make qUick decisions. Existing services
are complicated and do not always provide real time evaluation of the always changing
conditions.
[02] In addition, organizations today need to make decisions based on many factors that
may include analyzing vast amounts of data. Existing methods do not provide solutions to
analyze large amounts of data quickly and to provide real time results of such analysis. Thus,
managers are limited in how fast they can make decisions and on what data they make such
decisions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[03] The accompanying drawings illustrate the various embodiments and, together with
the description, further serve to explain the principles of the embodiments and to enable
one skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the embodiments.
[04] AG. 1 illustrates an exemplary integrated platform that includes a plurality of
universal pages according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[05] AG. 2 illustrates possible paths for the first level naVigation of the tiles shown in AG.
1.
[06] AG. 3 illustrates basic building blocks of the KPI cockpit architecture according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure.
[07] AG. 4 illustrates system integrating of a web application server and an in-memory
database to provide a KPI cockpit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[08] AG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system that may be used with
the embodiments of the present disclosure.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[09] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for a
lightweight monit?ring application with key performance indicators (KPI) reporting and
management. The method may include displaying a page with a plurality of tiles on a user
device. The tiles displayed on the page may include a plurality of key performance indicator
(KPI) tiles and at least one of a report tile, a news tile and a collaboration tile. The method
may retrieve metadata from an in-memory database, the metadata from the in-memory
database may correspond to content displayed in at least one of the KPI tiles on the page.
In response to an input from a user input apparatus selecting one of the tiles displayed on
the page, the method may display additional details or controls for the selected tile.
[10] Embodiments of the present disclosure addressed the above discussed shortcomings
by allOWing managers to configure and access their strategic and operational KPls in a
personalized cockpit. Including strategic and operational KPls in a single cockpit allows
users to make better and faster business decisions on both strategic and operational KPIs.
[11] UtiliZing an in-memory database to proVide the data for the KPls, allows for ad-hoc
KPI calculations, comparisons and simulations with immediate and highly flexible
visualization of the values. Managers may receive results of the organizations performance
in real time, even when the input parameters are changed on the fly. Thus, the users may
perform "What if" scenarios and decide the best course of action for the organization based
on the results.
[12] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary integrated platform 100 that includes a plurality of
universal pages 102 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The universal
pages 102 may be used as a home screen, where users are prOVided with relevant
information for their tasks in one place. The universal pages 102 may provide users with a
clearly structured visualization of the information using a plurality of tiles 110-122. The
universal pages 102 may be displayed on a client device 104, 106 or 108 which may include,
for example, a mobile device (e.g., mobile phone or a smart phone), a personal computer, a
tablet, a terminal device, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). The client device 104, 106,
or 108 may include an input device (e.g., a touch screen, a touch pad, a mouse or a
keyboard) to receive commands from a user.
[13] The plurality of tiles 110-120 displayed in the universal page 102 may include KPls
110-116, reports 118, news feeds 120, collaboration threads 122 and/or custom tile 124 to
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add additional tiles (e.g., another KPI tile). Each page from the plurality of universal pages
102 may include its own collection of tiles 110-120 that are selected and/or arranged based
on the tasks associated with the respective page. The pages 102 may be configured, for
example, for: strategic purchases; financial and commodity risk; fast financial close;
inventory management; handling complex projects; and shared service management. Each
of the tiles 110-120 may be customized by the user.
[14] The tiles 110-120 may provide real-time information (e.g., inventory, purchases
being made, funds received, etc.) to the user of the page 102. Based on the information
provided in the tiles 110-120 the user may perform specific transactional processes (e.g.,
material recruitments planning) or specific in depth analysis (e.g., business process
management or work clearance management). Automated tasks (e.g., purchasing, transfer
of funds, manufacturing adjustments, etc.) may be set by the user based on the information
provided in the tiles 110-120.
[15] The KPI tiles 110-116 may include KPls that can be used to evaluate the
performance of an organization or particular aspects of the organization's activity. The KPIs
may evaluate the organization's success based on predefined goals (e.g., number of sales or
customer satisfaction) or based on performance of other organizations. The KPls may be
used to evaluate the present state of an organization, predict future performance and/or
identify areas for improvement. The KPIs may provide how the organization would perform
if certain changes were implemented. The content of the KPI tiles 110-116 may be
personalized. For example,- the user may set the thresholds for the KPIs, the source of the
data, method to display the content and types of notifications to be displayed. The KPls
may be calculated after respective reporting periods and intervals or may be calculated
when data used to determine the KPls is changed.
[16] The report tile 118 may include charts and/or graphs to show visually the
performance of the organization. The charts and/or graphs may include predicted
performance of the organization. The report tile 118 may display information related to the
one or more of the KPI tiles 110-116.
[17] The news feed tile 120 may prOVide headlines and/or summarized news content that
is related to the page 102 or one or more of the KPI tiles 110-116. The news feed tile 120
may include a feed with information from the organization, customers and/or partners.
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e[18] The collaboration tile 122 may include a social network or a collaborative
environment that bring together people, information, applications, and processes to solve
business-critical problems (e.g., SAP@ Jam collaboration product). The collaboration tile
122 may connect customers, partners and employees with key information to collaboration
on a business task. The tiles 110-120 displayed in the page 102 or information associated
with the tiles 110-120 may be provided to the collaborators via the collaboration tile 122.
[19] Each tile 110-122 may include a context menu. The context menu may be activated
by selecting the tile (e.g., right click or a double tap) or selecting a context menu icon (not
shown in FIG. 1) on the tile 110-122. The context menu may include tile configuration and
formatting settings, follow-on actions, additional information, options to delete. the tile, and
other options to modify or control the tile.
[20] In one embodiment, by selecting (e.g., clicking or tapping on the tile) one of the tiles
110-122, users may navigate to pages that show additional details corresponding to the
information of the respective tile. For example, as shown in AG. 1, by clicking on one of
the KPI tile 222 the first level tile of the page 102 may navigate to 2nd level naVigation target
130. The 2nd level naVigation target 130 may include additional details of the KPI tile 222.
For example, while the KPI tile 222 may include a summary of the KPI details, the 2nd level
naVigation target 130 may include graphs, charts, timelines, sources of information, and
filtering or selections that can be made on the displayed information.
[21] In one embodiment, clicking on one of the tiles 110-122 may display a specific
application 132 (e.g., an analytical application). The specific application 132 may prOVide
tools to perform tasks associated with the KPI tiles 110-116. The specific application 132
may includ~ settings that can be configured to perform the analysis on the data for one or
more of the KPI tiles 110-116.
[22] The tiles 110-122 may be rearranged, resized, added and/or removed by a user to
customize the display of the tiles on the display. For example, a user may tap and hold on a
desired tile and then drag the tile to move the selected tile to a new location on the display
page. The user may be prOVided with options to define the size of the page 102 (e.g.,
number of pixels or other units in the horizontal and vertical axis) in which the tiles 110-122
may be proVided. The visualization of the tiles 110-122 may be changed based on corporate
design (e.g., branding) and may include a tile for the company logos.
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,
e[23] The type of changes that the user is allowed to make to the page 102 may be ba~d
on the role of the user. Thus, the personalization of the page 102 and/or one or more tiles
110-122 may be based on the role of the user. For example, customers of the organization
may only be allowed to use the tiles 110-122 in the page 102 and may not be provided with
options to change the settings or arrangement of the tiles 110-122. In contrast, the
employee of the organization (e.g., administrators) may be allowed to make any type of
changes to the tiles 110-122 on the page 102. The role of the user may be used as the
basis to determine which tiles 110-122 are displayed, to which tiles 110-122 changes can be
made and which tiles 110-122 can be added or deleted.
[24] AG. 2 illustrates possible paths for the first level navigation of the tiles 110-122
shown in AG. 1. As show in AG. 2, the KPI tile 210 may navigate to a navigation target
that include KPI details 212 or to a SPeCific application 214. The KPI details 212 may include
graphs, diagrams, charts, tables, and/or details on how KPI details are determined. The
SPeCific application may include applications (e.g., an analytical application) to perform
further analysis on the associated KPI 210. The specific application 214 may allow the user
to predict performance of the KPI 210 by changing various activities of the organization.
[25] The report KPI 216 may map to the specific application 214. The SPeCific application
214 may allow the user to control the performance of the report 216. The SPeCific
application 214 may allow the user to predict performance of the organization that is
proVided in the report 216 by changing various activities of the organization.
[26] The news tile 218 may map to a detailed news target 220. The detailed news target
220 may include detailed news content and/or settings for the news tile 218. The settings
may include selecting the source of the news, the content of the news, and/or what portion
of the news to display in the news tile 218.
[27] The collaboration tile 222 may map to a collaboration activity target 224. The
collaboration activity target 224 may provide the social network or the collaborative
environment on a single page.
[28] As shown in AG. 2, a user may navigate from the supported navigation targets 212,
214, 220 and 224 back to the initial page including the tiles 210, 216, 218 and/or 222.
When the user navigates to the supported navigation targets 212, 214, 220 and 224, the
supported navigation targets 212, 214, 220 and 224 may be displayed by itself on a single
page.
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e[29] The navigation paths may include additional levels. For example, as shown in FIG.
2, the KPI details 212 may include paths to navigate to other KPI details 226 and/or specific
applications 228.
[30] FIG. 3 illustrates basic building blocks of the KPI cockpit architecture 300 according
to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The building blocks of the KPI cockpit
architecture 300 may include components used as frontend services and as backend services
which are accessed by the frontend components. The frontend services may be associated
with KPI cockpit 302, shell 314 and applications 316. The back end services may be
associated with backend service 320, KPI catalog 322, tile repository 324 and
personalization services 330. The back end services may also be associated with tile
information provider 332 and KPI provider 334.
[31] The backend operations of the KPI cockpit 302 may be performed on an in-memory
database (e.g., SAP@ HANA database). The in-memory database may be a database
management system that relies on main memory (e.g., a store which acts as a cache) for
storing the data of the database. Utilizing the main memory may allow for faster retrieval of
the data stored in the main memory and allow for reporting to be prOVided in real-time. The
in-memory database may utilize multi-eore processors and solid-state drives. The database
may support both relational data (e.g., with row-oriented and column-oriented
representations) and graphs and text processing within the same system.
[32] The in-memory database may prOVide the KPI details in response to a request (e.g.,
via OData). The in-memory database may include the KPI repository, KPI definition tools,
and perform KPI runtime and evaluation based on local data. In another embodiment, the
backend services may be performed on a web application server (e.g., ABAP server running
APAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) applications) and on an in-memory
database. The web application server may also provide one or more of the frontend
services (e.g., a user interface with the KPI cockpit 302). The KPI cockpit 302 may be
provided to a client device via a browser. In another embodiment, the backend services and
one or more of the frontend services may be performed on an in-memory database.
[33] Integrating the in-memory database with the KPI cockpit 302 provides for real time
analysis of variances and deviations on high volume data. The architecture may allow the
user of the organization to select predictions based on current as well as on historical data.
The architectures may also provide the user with immediate insight into existing deviations
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and make predictions on potential issues. The KPI cockpit 302 may provide the user with a
combined holistic view on the status and progress of an organization's operations with
respect to financial and/or logistical data. The data displayed in the KPI cockpit 302 may be
driven by alerts and exceptions covering values, dates and quantities defined by the
organization.
[34] The KPI cockpit 302 may include a page 304 for displaying a plurality of tiles 306.
Page 304 may be provided on a display of a client device via a browser 318. The KPI
cockpit 302 may be based on a document language (e.g., markup language) for structuring
and presenting content to the user 312. The KPI cockpit 302 may be based on a document
language for displaying content over the Internet, a local network, or a private network.
The document language may include HyperText Markup Language (HTML) (e.g., HTMLS),
but is not so limited.
[35] As discussed above, the tiles 306 may include different types of tiles (e.g., tiles
including KPIs, reports, news and collaboration). The type of the tiles 306 may be defined
via configuration of the tile. Each tile 306 in the KPI cockpit 302 may be defined by metadata.
For each type of tiles 306 (e.g., point value type, line chart type, bar chart type, etc.),
specific code may be used to produce the visualization of the content based on the metadata.
The specific code for each type of tiles 306 may include the personalization features
that apply to the respective tile type
[36] The KPI cockpit 302 may provide the user with personalization features (e.g., adding
or removing tiles). The personalization features may be proVided for each tile and may
include changing a threshold of the content displayed in the tile. The personalization
features may affect which tiles 306 "are displayed, how they are displayed on the page 304
and how the content is displayed in the tile. By defining the content of the tiles 306 via the
configuration instead of using code, the distributer of the KPI cockpit and the customer (e.g.,
users 312) may define several KPI cockpits and/or the tiles 306 based on the same
application code.
[37] The KPI cockpit 302 may include a user interface 308 and other libraries 310 to
render the page 304 and/or the tiles 306. The user interface 308 may include SAP@ UI5
(User Interface for HTML5). The tiles 306 that are rendered on the page 304 may be loaded
using only the libraries that are prOVided as part of the KPI cockpit 302. The KPI cockpit
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302 which renders the page 304 to show the tiles 306 may operate as a frontend
component (e.g., interface between the user and a backend).
[38] The shell 314 may proVide the user 312 with navigation capabilities and/or
infrastructure functionality. The navigation capabilities provided by the shell 314 may go
beyond the KPI cockpit 302. The shell 314 may proVide frontend services that are not
bound to a specific application.
[39] The applications 316 may include applications that are associated with one or more
tiles 306. Applications 316 may include HTML (e.g., HTMLS applications). The applications
316 may be applications that are running outside of the KPI cockpit 302. The user 312 may
navigate to the applications 316 by making corresponding selections on the tiles 306.
Parameters describing the context of the navigation from the tile 306 within the KPI cockpit
302 to the application 316 may be passed from the tile 306 to the called application 316.
Navigation by the user from the tiles 306 to detailed views of the KPIs may be handled by
the KPI cockpit 302 and the specific code for the type of tile or KPI.
[40] As discussed above, the KPI cockpit 302 may render the page 304 and/or the tiles
306. The information (e.g., descriptions of tiles and KPIs) that is needed to render the page
and/or the tiles 306 may be retrieved from the backend service 320 (e.g., KPI cockpit
backend service). The information may be received via a data access request using a
known protocol (e.g., HTTP or Open Data Protocol (OData». In one embodiment, the
request may be made with OData via HTTP. A single HTTP request may be used to provide
all of the needed meta-data to the KP cockpit 302. To achieve this in a single HTTP request,
the backend service 320 may call other backend services for getting additional information
for processing the request. The additional information may include, for example, details
about the tiles, KPIs and other applications.
[41] The backend service 320 may expose the list of tiles 306 to be displayed on the page
304 and meta-data describing the tiles 306. The meta-data may correspond to personalized
list of tiles 306. The meta-data for KPI tiles may be stored in the KPI catalog 322. The
meta-data for the tiles 306 may be stored in the tile repository 324. The meta-data for the
personalization of the tiles 306 may be stored in the personalization service 330.
[42] The KPI catalog 322 may include all of the meta-data for deScribing the KPIs. The
KPIs may be defined by a given set of attributes (e.g., numerical values, multilingual text,
technical keys, uniform resource identifiers, etc.). The same meta-data for describing the
I
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KPIs may be used for different user interfaces. Thus, the meta-data may not be user
interface spedfic. The KPI catalog 322 may centrally maintain all of the KPIs in one place.
The KPI catalog 322 allows for all of the KPIs to be defined in the same way and in one
location. That is, the KPI catalog 322 may maintain the standard KPIs provided by the
organization and also maintain customized or client developed KPIs. The values for the KPI
may be retrieved from virtual data models (VDMs), from third party systems or from a
business information warehouse.
[43] The tile repository 324 may include a complete list of tiles that are available to be
displayed in the page 304. The tile descriptions in the tile repository 324 may be user
interface specific. For example, the tile descriptions may include deocriptionsof a tile for
HTML applications and for native mobile applications. The tile descriptions may include
indirections (e.g., abstract identifiers referencing concrete realizations for different user
interface technologies).
[44] The KPI cockpit 302 may receive tile information from a tile information provider 332
and KPI information from a KPI provider 334. This information may be provided in addition
to the information prOVided via the backend service 320 from the KPI catalog 322, tile
repository 324 and/or personalization service 320. The additional tile and/or KPI information
may be received from third party systems or from a business information warehouse. The
tile information provider 332 and/or the KPI provider 334 may provide customer-specific
information to define the tiles and/or KPIs. The customer specific data may be stored in the
backend service components (e.g., KPI catalog 322, tile repository 324 and/or
personalization service 320).
[45] The data for the KPI may be associated with specific customers and/or organizations.
The organization and/or customers may define and maintain the KPIs. In one embodiment,
defaults or sample definitions of the KPIs may be provided by the organization, distributer of
the service or maintainer of the system. The system shown in FIG. 3 allows for the KPIs
and the tile information to be maintained centrally in one place and using the same system.
The system allows for user to utilize the same definitions (e.g., descriptive data) of the KPIs
that may be stored in the same place (e.g., KPI catalog 322).
[46] FIG. 4 illustrates system 400 integrating of a web application server 410 and an inmemory
database 420 to provide KPI cockpit according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure. The web application server 410 may be an Advanced Business Application
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Programming server and the in-memory database 420 a SAP@ HANA database, but are not
so limited. FIG. 4 illustrates how the components shown in FIG. 3 may be distributed
between the web application server 410 and the in-memory database 420. The system 400
may operate such that the frontend and the backend components are not limited by the
type of frontend and/or the back end components used in the system 400. Thus, the same
frontend components (e.g., communication libraries, navigation shells) may be reused
specific types of backend stacks used in the system (e.g., ABAP server and/or HANA).
OData (Open Data Protocol) may be used by the system 400 to communicate between the
frontend and the backend components.
[47] The web application server 410 and the in-memory database 420 may perform the
backend operations. The web application server 410 may perform one or more of the
fronted operations. The web application server 410 may provide a user interface with the
KPI cockpit to a browser 440. The KPI cockpit may be provided to the browser 440 via a
web dispatcher 430. The web dispatcher 430 may be provided to process the HTMl and
OData protocol content from the web application server 410 and an in-memory database
420, respectively.
[48] User interface artifacts corresponding to the KPI tiles to be displayed in the KPI
cockpit may be stored in the stack of the web application server 410. Reporting of the
information for the KPI tiles may be performed via.the PCFG (role maintenance) and Report
launchpad. The PFCG may perform role maintenance administration to manage roles and
authorization of data on the ABAP stack which includes the user interface artifacts
corresponding to the KPI tiles.
[49] Drill down applications and 2nd level applications used to analyze the KPIs further,
may be proVided on the in-memory database 430 stack. The in-memory database 430 stack
may also include the KPI framework definition, runtime aspects (e.g., without Visualization)
and all of the drill down applications.
[50] The integration of KPIs into the tile catalog of the unified shell may be performed via
a catalog prOVider in the web application server 410. The catalog provider may access the
KPI catalog of the in-memory database 430 and provide a list of KPIs to the end user. The
catalog provider may need to authenticate the current user's credentials against the inmemory
database 430 to make use of the authorization concept in in-memory database 430.
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[51]
[52]
[53]
[54]
[55]
Thus, the organization may restrict the list of KPIs per user and/or the role of the user in the
organization.
Once a user selects a KPI, the catalog provider in the web application server 410
may create a configuration containing resource locators (e.g., URls) to the corresponding
in-memory database 430 services (e.g., query, annotation, etc.) for the KPI tile templates.
The KPI tile templates and the configuration may be passed to the page builder in the web
application server 410. The page builder may render the KPI for display in the KPI cockpit.
The KPIs may be defined by meta-data. A specific set of attributes may define each
of the KPIs, which may include numerical values, multilingual text, technical keys, and/or
URI (uniform resource identifier). The specific attributes of the KPI may be defined by a
user, an organization, provider or administrator of the system. The components of the
system may search for the KPIs based on the attribute values. As discussed above, the KPIs
may be defined independent of the user interface technology used to display the KPs.
Providing KPls that are independent of the user interface technology may allow for metadata
defined by the users to be reused.
The values for the KPI may be retrieved by the KPI catalog from virtual data models
(VDMs) in the in-memory database 420, from third party systems or from a business
information warehouse.
While some concepts of the system are described above with reference to a ABAP
sever and a HANA, the concepts may be applied to other infrastructures.
Some embodiments may include the above-described methods being written as one
or more software components. These components, and the functionality associated with
each, may be used by client, server, distributed, or peer computer systems. These
components may be written in a computer language corresponding to one or more
programming languages such as, functional, declarative, procedural, object-oriented, lower
level languages and the like. They may be linked to other components via various
application programming interfaces and then compiled into one complete application for a
server or a client. Alternatively, the components maybe implemented in server a!1d client
applications. Further, these components may be linked together via various distributed
programming protocols. Some example embodiments may include remote procedure calls
being used to implement one or more of these components across a distributed
programming environment. For example, a logic level may reside on a first c~mputer system
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that is remotely located from a second computer system containing an interface level (e.g.,
a graphical user interface). These first and second computer systems can be configured in a
server-client, peer-to-peer, or some other configuration. The clients can vary in complexity
from mobile and handheld devices, to thin clients and on to thick clients or even other
servers.
[56] The above-illustrated software components are tangibly stored on a computer
readable storage medium as instructions. The term "computer readable storage medium"
should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media that stores one or more sets
of instructions. The term "computer readable storage medium" should be taken to include
any physical article that is capable of undergoing a set of physical changes to physically
store, encode, or otherwise carry a set of instructions for execution by a computer system
which causes the computer system to perform any of the methods or process steps
described, represented, or illustrated herein. Examples of computer readable storage media
include, but are not limited to: magnetic media, such as hard disks, floppy disks, and
magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs and holographic devices; magnetooptical
media; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute, such
as application-specific integrated circuits ("ASICs''), programmable logic devices ("PLDs'')
and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer readable instructions include machine
code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-level code that are
executed by a computer using an interpreter. For example, an embodiment of the disclosure
may be implemented using Java, C++, or other object-oriented programming language and
development tools. Another embodiment of the disclosure may be implemented in hardwired
circuitry in place of, or in combination with machine readable software instructions.
[57] AG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system 500. The computer
system 500 includes a processor 505 that executes software instructions or code stored on a
computer readable storage medium 555 to perform the above-illustrated embodiments of
the disclosure. The computer system 500 includes a media reader 540 to read the
instructions from the computer readable storage medium 555 and store the instructions in
storage 510 or in random access memory (RAM) 515. The storage 510 proVides a large
space for keeping static data where at least some instructions could be stored for later
execution. The stored instructions may be further compiled to generate other
representations of the instructions and dynamically stored in the RAM 515. The processor
505 reads instructions from the RAM 515 and performs actions as instructed. According to
one embodiment of the disclosure, the computer system 500 further inclydes an output
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[58]
[59]
device 525 (e.g., a display) to provide at least some of the results of the execution as output
including, but not limited to, visual information to users and an input device 530 to provide a
user or another device with means for entering data and/or otherwise interact with the
computer system 500. Each of these output devices 525 and input devices 530 could be
joined by one or more additional peripherals to further expand the capabilities of the
computer system 500. A network communicator 535 may be provided to connect the
computer system 500 to a network 550 and in tum to other devices connected to the
network 550 including other clients, servers, data stores, and interfaces, for instance. The
modules of the computer system 500 are interconnected via a bus 545. Computer system
500 includes a data source interface 520 to access data source 560. The data source 560
can be accessed via one or more abstraction layers implemented in hardware or software.
For example, the data source 560 may be accessed by network 550. In some embodiments
the data source 560 may be accessed via an abstraction layer, such as, a semantic layer.
A data source is an information resource. Data sources include sources of data that
enable data storage and retrieval. Data sources may include databases, such as, relational,
transactional, hierarchical, multi-dimensional (e.g., OLAP), object oriented databases, and
the like. Further data sources include tabular data (e.g., spreadsheets, delimited text files),
data tagged with a markup language (e.g., XML data), transactional data, unstructured data
(e.g., text files, screen scrapings), hierarchical data (e.g., data in a file system, XML data),
files, a plurality of reports, and any other data source accessible through an established
protocol, such as, Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBe), produced by an underlying software
system (e.g., ERP system), and the like. Data sources may also include a data source where
the data is not tangibly stored or otherwise ephemeral such as data streams, broadcast data,
and the like. These data sources can include associated data foundations, semantic layers,
management systems, security systems and so on.
A semantic layer is an abstraction overlying one or more data sources. It removes
the need for a user to master the various subtleties of existing query languages when
writing queries. The prOVided abstraction includes metadata description of the data sources.
The metadata can include terms meaningful for a user in place of the logical or physical
descriptions used by the data source. For example, common business terms in place of
table and column names. These terms can be localized and or domain specific. The layer
may include logic associated with the underlying data allOWing it to automatically formulate
queries for execution against the underlying data sources. The logic includes connection to,
structure for, and aspects of the data sources. Some semantic layers can t>;e published, so
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[60]
[61]
[62]
that it can be shared by many clients and users. Some semantic layers implement security at
a granularity corresponding to the underlying data sources' structure' or at the semantic
layer. The specific forms of semantic layers includes data model objects that describe the
underlying data source and define dimensions, attributes and measures with the underlying
data. The objects can represent relationships between dimension members, provides
calculations associated with the underlying data.
In the above description, numerous specific details are set forth to proVide a
thorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure. One skilled in the relevant art
will recognize, however that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more
of the specific details or with other methods, components, techniques, etc. In other
instances, well-known operations or structures are not shown or described in detail to avoid
obscuring aspects of the disclosure.
Although the processes illustrated and described herein include series of steps, it will
be appreciated that the different embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited by
the illustrated ordering of steps, as some steps may occur in different orders, some
concurrently with other steps apart from that shown and described herein. In addition, not
all illustrated steps may be required to implement a methodology in accordance with the
present disclosure. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the processes may be implemented
in association with the apparatus and systems illustrated and described herein as well as in
association with other systems not illustrated.
The above descriptions and illustrations of embodiments of the disclosure, including
what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the
embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples
for, the embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent
modifications are possible within the scope of the disclosure, as those skilled in the relevant
art will recognize. These modifications can be made to the embodiments in light of the
above detailed description.

WE CLAIM:
1. A computer implemented method comprising:
displaying a page with a plurality of tiles on a user device, the tiles including a
plurality of key performance indicator (KPI) tiles and at least one of a report tile, a news tile
and a collaboration tile;
retrieving metadata from an in-memory database, the metadata from the in-memory
database corresponding to content displayed in at least one of the KPI tiles on the page;
receiving an input at a user input apparatus indicating that the user is selecting one
of the tiles displayed on the page; and
in response to selecting one of the tiles, displaying additional details or controls for
the selected tile.
2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further compnslng retrieving
metadata from a web application server, wherein the metadata from the web application
server describes the tiles displayed on the page.
3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the description of the tiles is
specific to a type of user interface displayed on the user device.
4. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the metadata from a web
application server includes description for all of the tiles displayed on the page.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the metadata from the inmemory
database is not specific to a type of user interface displayed on the user device.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein if one of the KPI tiles is
selected, displaying additional details of the one or more KPls associated with the selected
KPI tile.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein if one of the KPI tiles is
selected, displaying an analytical application that is associated with the selected KPI tile.
8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the controls for the selected
tile incllJde at least one of tile configuration, tile formatting settings, follow-on action setting,
option to delete the selected tile, option to relocate the selected tile, and options to change
a threshold of the selected tile.
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C>
• 9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein displaying the page with the
plurality of tiles includes displaying tiles which are associated with a role of a user using the
user device and hiding or deactivating tiles which are not associated with the role of the
user using the user device.
10. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for
providing a user interface on a user deVice, wherein execution of the program instructions
by one or more processors of a computer system causes one or more processors to carry
out the steps of:
displaying a page with a plurality of tiles on the user deVice, the tiles including a
plurality of key performance indicator (KPI) tiles and at least one of a report tile, a news tile
and a collaboration tile;
retrieving metadata from an in-memory database, the metadata from the in-memory
database corresponding to content displayed in at least one of the KPI tiles on the page;
receiving an input at a user input apparatus indicating that the user is selecting one
of the tiles displayed on the page; and
in response to selecting one of the tiles, providing additional details or controls for
the selected tile.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 10, further
including step of retrieving metadata from a web application server, wherein the metadata
from the web application server describes the tiles displayed on the page.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the
description of the tiles is specific to a type of the user interface displayed on the user device.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 10, wherein the
metadata from the in-memory database is not specific to a type of user interface displayed
on the user device.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 10, wherein if one
of the KPI tiles is selected, displaying an analytical application which is associated with the
selected KPI tile.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 10, wherein the
controls for the selected tile include at least one of tile configuration, tile formatting settings,
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follow-on action setting, option to delete the selected tile, option to relocate the selected tile,
and options to change a threshold of the selected tile.
16. A system comprising:
an in-memory database for providing key performance indicator details, the inmemory
database including:
a KPI catalog providing a list of KPls based on KPI related data stored in
memory,
a virtual dada model providing values for the KPIs based on the KPI related
data stored in the memory, and
a backend service retrieving the list of KPIs and the values for the KPIs in
response to a request;
a web application server coupled to the in-memory database, the web application
server including:
a page builder to render a page including a plurality of tiles based on
metadata stored in memory of the web application server, the plurality of tiles including a
plurality of KPI tiles and at least one of a report tile, a news tile and a collaboration tile,
a unified shell providing navigation capabilities of the tiles displayed in the
page, and
a catalog provider integrating the list of KPIs, values for the KPIs and the tiles
on the page; and
a browser for displaying the rendered page provided by the page builder.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the rendered page is provided to the browser via a
web dispatcher coupled to the web application server and the in-memory database.
18. The system of claim 16 wherein the in-memory database is a HANA database and
the web application server is an Advanced Business Application Programming server.
19. The system of claim 16, wherein the KPI related data stored in the memory of the inmemory
database is not specific to a type of user interface displayed in the browser and the
tile related data stored in the memory of the web application server is specific to the type of
user interface displayed in the browser.
20. A computer implemented method comprising:
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displaying a page with a plurality of tiles on a user device, the tiles including a
plurality of key performance indicator (KPI) tiles, a report tile, a news tile and a collaboration
tile;
retrieving metadata from an in-memory database, wherein the metadata from the inmemory
database corresponding to content displayed in at least one of the KPI tiles on the
page and the metadata from the in-memory database is not specific to a type of user
interface displayed on the user device;
retrieving metadata from a web application server, wherein the metadata from the
web application server describes the tiles displayed on the page and the description of the
tiles is specific to the type of user interface displayed on the user device;
receiving an input at a user input apparatus indicating that the user is selecting one
of the tiles displayed on the page;
in response to selecting one of the tiles, displaying additional details on the content
displayed in the selected tile;
receiving an input at the user input apparatus indicating that the user is selecting a
settings control for a specific tile;
in response to selecting the settings control for the specific tile, displaying a context
menu including tile configuration and formatting settings for the specific tile.