When it comes to dashboards and Business Service Management (or any of the many aliases used for that term), no one ever seems to discuss the real concept that lies beneath.

Yes, we are trying to provide a view of technology in a business-oriented way. That is obvious, even if it is beyond the scope of so many products that claim to do it. But what is it really that BSM needs to do to deliver that promise?

Is it about the visual representation? It could be, but there is much work to be done before you can even start to think about what the view should look like.

Is it about the data? Is it more important to have real-time monitoring data, or application performance data? The famous "it depends" rears its ugly head here, but then again, it's not so much about what data you have as what you do with what you have.

Fundamentally, all solutions face the same issue: large volumes of data to show and a very small display space to show it in.

Finally, proof that there are people out there that understand what a BSM dashboard is supposed to deliver.

Recently, BSMdigest published Five Dashboard Must-Haves for BSM, by Steve Tack of Compuware. What he has to say are guiding concepts anyone delivering BSM (or any reasonable facimile thereof) should follow.