Why the need for integrated IT management dashboards? Take as an example the application life cycle and its management. Software applications are normally introduced in organizations by a business case. After approval of the business case, a project is started, either to make or buy, and to design and purchase infrastructure. If a make-decision has been approved, a development project is started. A developed application is tested, for bugs and performance. And after delivery it is handed over to the IT operations organization to run it as a service to the business. After a while, business will have new requirements (demand) for the application and meanwhile changes to the infrastructure must be made to ensure quality of service. New requirements are implemented and a new version of the software is release and deployed. Etc.
Where is all the management information on this application life cycle residing? Indeed, in a range of IT management applications, such as a project portfolio management tool (e.g. HP/Mercury PPM - formerly Kintana, or CA Clarity - formerly Niku), an IT service management tool (e.g. BMC Remedy, HP ServiceCenter/ServiceDesk, or CA Servicedesk), an application test tool and a whole range of operational management tools for applications and infrastructure.
If, management is now interested in a single consolidated view of the application life cycle, it will need to consolidate reports from all the underlying sources. In pratice this is time consuming, error prone, and in most cases the lag in information delivery may hurt the management decision process. Therefore, amongst others, the need for integrated IT management dashboards.
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