Why do we need dashboards?

"Dashboard" is not a new terminology. Actually, we use dashboards in many aspects in our life. A car's main dashboard is a good example, as we all know how to read a car's gauges and speedometers. You can see an example of a car's main dashboard in the following diagram:

The speedometer is used to indicate the current speed of the car. As the speed changes, the speedometer's needle moves towards the actual current speed. The gauge, dials, and the speedometer are components that we will discuss in detail in Chapter 3, UI Components. We should also note that we have an indicator that starts when our speed reaches 120 km/hr to indicate that we are at high speed (risk) and so we need to slow down.

Fuel, heat, and RPM meters also work in the same manner. They are used to indicate the current value and also to indicate (highlight) the danger values. Danger values signal that we need to take some action. The main use of a dashboard is to help us decide when we should act, but it will not give us detailed information on what is going wrong. For example, when a car engine's heat reaches the red zone, we know that we need to stop and examine the car to find out what the problem is, but we will not get information on whether there is leakage of water or there is a damaged part that needs to be replaced.

Now we should have a good idea about why we need dashboards, so before we start talking about SAP BusinessObjects (SAP BO) Dashboard (formerly known as Xcelsius), we need take a moment first to define what a dashboard is.