SharePoint Portal Server is an out-of-the-box digital dashboard solution that can help you find, create, and share information from a browser-based interface. It is Microsoft's first commercial implementation of the digital dashboard technology. This chapter examines this implementation and explains some of the core components surrounding the dashboard architecture.

7.1 Terminology

When we think of a dashboard, most of us would automatically think of our car. The instrument panel, or dashboard, updates the driver on the status of various components within the car. Each instrument presents the driver with very specific information. For example, the fuel gauge shows the driver how much fuel remains in the tank, while the speedometer indicates the speed at which the car is currently traveling. Each instrument delivers vital information in a manner easy for the driver to access; imagine how unsafe the roads would be if drivers had to sift through a lot of information to get the data they needed.

The user accesses the dashboard in SPS through a browser. Like the dashboard in a car, the SPS dashboard presents users with specific information about their department or company. The instruments on the dashboard, the Web Parts, provide vital, easily interpreted information. For example, the Web page, or dashboard, for the marketing department of a movie company could use one Web Part to inform employees of the current value of the company's stock and another to provide information about the company's latest movie releases.

The instruments on the dashboard of a car get...