How Dashboards Work

The digital dashboard architecture generates portal pages using client, Web server, and store (database) components and content servers. The process works as follows:

1. The user starts the process by sending an HTTP request for the URL of a dashboard folder on the Web server.

2. The digital dashboard factory running on the Web server fields the request and retrieves the dashboard folder properties and the properties of its Web Parts from the store using the WebDAV protocol.

3. The factory extracts the content from each Web Part. This might entail copying static content out of the Web Part itself, running a server-side script under the Active Server Pages (ASP) engine (3a), and/or getting content from an internal or external content server (3b), either by retrieving a Web page using HTTP or by calling the API of an application running on the server.

4. The factory builds a Web page that incorporates the content produced by each Web Part and applies style, borders, and other features, as determined by the user’s browser and the dashboard and Web Part properties.