Using the Web Part XML schema, corporate developers and partners can more easily create customizable digital dashboards that bring together personal, team, corporate and external information with single-click access to analytical and collaborative tools. Getting control of information overload remains a critical business challenge for our customers, said Bob Muglia, group vice president of the Business Productivity Group at Microsoft.
Web Parts can deliver any Web-based content such as XML, HTML or script.
Developers using Web Parts can build dashboards that provide a high level of end-user customization including the ability to change dashboard layout, add or remove content, or select a personalized style. Because Web Parts share a common schema they can be easily reused across dashboards, and catalogs of Web Parts can be created that allow system administrators to better manage and distribute digital dashboards throughout their organization. Deploying dashboard solutions requires assembling information from a diverse and complex set of systems while at the same time hiding that complexity from the user, said Jeff Lynn, vice president and general manager at Compaq Professional Services and Solutions. The Digital Dashboard Resource Kit 2.0 assists corporate developers in rapidly building and deploying dashboard solutions using sample templates and reusable Web Parts. The toolkit enables them to leverage their existing Internet skills to create dashboards using a catalog of reusable components and templates and to perform much of the customization without programming.