Viewing information on different consoles and collecting data out of it seems to be tedious tasks for every business. A newer concept, ‘single pane of glass,’ was introduced as a solution to it. The ‘single pane of glass’ is often used as a synonym for the dashboard.

A single pane of glass is an IT management console that collects and presents data from different sources in a unified structure. Here, a computer, laptop, or mobile device screen can be considered a single pane of glass, or we can say dashboard.

The dashboard helps get a better scenario about what information is valuable and filters out the less important information. The information present on a single platform allows employees to take faster actions.

A practical single pane of glass view reflects a starting point from which a corporate executive or system administrator can understand the big picture. For instance, a data center software product offering a single pane of glass might obtain data from building facility systems and integrate that information with information technology (IT) systems. The goal of a unified display is to present operational data in a way that’s easier to read and interpret.

A notice board holds all the updated information for any institution’s upcoming or ongoing events. Similarly, a single pane of glass in IT is a bird’s eye view of all the data available in the systems or applications in one go.

Requirements for a single pane of glass

The single pane of glass helps organizations to make better business decisions. However, there are a few requirements for determining the usability of data –

  • The first one includes monitoring all the systems and gathering data from every valid source within the organization for analysis. All the components on the single pane of glass application need to be connected to ensure that they receive input data for display.
  • The second one includes analyzing and interpreting data. This action will help look for trends and turn all that data into actionable insights for improving businesses.
  • The last requirement is a flexible dashboard. It should have the ability of data customization and custom visual report generation. The dashboard should benefit all users by providing correct and appropriate data for their operations.

Types of display in single pane of glass

The dashboard includes a single pane of glass software with a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI). This GUI allows access and interpret data faster and is an easy-to-use report generator. Depending on these criteria, there are two major types of a single pane of glass (also known as single pane view) –

  • Many of the organizations make use of single pane of glass applications for data analysis. Using it lets organizations make faster and better business decisions. Here, users usually focus on the performance-related information shown on the dashboard.
  • Other organizations implement a single pane of glass software for displaying various User Interfaces (UI). This second type allows organizations to shift from one program to another without exiting from the current one to access another. It has proved most beneficial for multitaskers.

Essential components of single pane of glass

Every single pane of glass program possesses the following three essential components –

  • Automation and monitoring

For every effective single pane of glass software, it is essential to have an automated discovery program that will be capable of finding required network components from where data needs to be collected. No operation team will be able to use the program if all the components are not connected to it. All the systems are connected and made accessible for users, where they can automatically witness updates on the single pane of glass for monitoring.

  • Actionable information

Normalization of data from each system and program is done only after obtaining accurate, actionable information from a single pane of glass. If the information present is not correlated, it isn’t easy to make decisions and act upon it. Here, adding different kinds of data into a single format can be ideal for users.

  • All-in-one dashboard

An application cannot be called a single pane of glass if the dashboard does not display the user’s information at one glance. The software dashboard must be easy to configure and flexible while using. Its various components, such as charts, graphs, alerts, and other easy-to-read visuals, should be highlighted explicitly for faster decision-making.

Here, flexibility means the dashboard’s ability to display customizable views, depending on the user’s role in that particular company. Suppose if the user is a human resource manager, he should be able to segregate relevant data, such as employee productivity and performance-related data.

Take away

Implementing a single pane of glass technology will help businesses grow better and faster. The sorted and straightforward way of displaying information makes a single pane of glass technology more adaptable.

So, the single pane of glass approach fits those businesses who want to make quick decisions and receive faster output for a particular project. It depends on company to company what kind of output they expect from different projects and how useful the single pane of glass method proves.

To learn more about a single pane of glass and other similar technologies, visit our latest whitepapers here.