Technical Datasheet / System Requirements

Owned by Karen Hogan (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Feb 17, 2023 by Adam Voakes
4 min read

Zero install on client machines

  • Any Windows / Linux system with any modern browser, such as:

    • Latest Edge (Windows)

    • Latest Chrome

    • Latest Firefox

  • iPad / Android Tablets & Mobiles

  • Native HTML5 web application (Responsive)

Simple, flexible, & secure server install

Server component

  • Choose your preferred location

    • On-premise

    • Cloud

    • Cloud 2 Cloud

  • Load Balancing / Failover support (high usage and availability)

  • Light footprint installation

  • Minimum server specification**

    • 2 GHz CPU

    • 4 GB RAM

    • 3 GB free disk space

  • Containerization support

** Please note these are the minimum requirements to run the server, assuming no other applications are running on the same machine. 

System Memory

System memory requirements are something that can vary from customer to customer, due to differences in how the dashboard is used, the number of users and the data connections used.  To help illustrate the memory requirements, these are best presented as a formula (if you prefer to auto scale) or a table with some example user numbers as a guide.

Memory is the amount of memory allocated to the Tomcat server, and Users are the number of concurrent users.

Concurrent Users

RAM (GB)

Concurrent Users

RAM (GB)

Up to 5

1

Up to 50

6

Up to 100

11

Up to 500

51

Up to 1000

101

Server Software

  • Core Dashboard

    • 64bit Java based

    • Runs inside Apache Tomcat webserver (currently only Tomcat is supported as a .war container) to a standard browser

  • Renderer (PDFs and Excel reports)

    • Packaged NodeJS-based application

  • Scheduler & Excel Reader

    • Go-based application

  • Pirana (analytics engine for pi Predict):

    • Packaged python-based application

Server operating systems supported

  • Windows – is self-contained, with no prerequisites

  • Linux – require:

    • Java 8

    • GLIBC 2.19 or above (Pirana) - Optional

    • libgmb (Renderer) - Optional

  • Others – via Docker containers

Security

  • Authentication:

    • Native

    • Windows Active Directory (AD)

    • Office 365

    • Keycloak

    • SAML

    • Other OAuth providers

  • No data is held on the client device

  • Role based access defines what each user can and cannot see

  • Audit Dashboard enables user tracking of access and usage

  • Supports native HTTPS (or via reverse proxy)

  • User restrictions – apply these to control what information can be viewed, without needing to create user specific charts.  Ideal for your Sales teams, or for safely and securely exposing parts of the dashboard to customers, suppliers, or other stakeholders

Deployment options

  • Installation Files – we can share installation files for Windows and Linux through our Licence Manager/Customer Portal

  • Docker Images – we have a GitHub repository where you access the latest release for containers

  • AWS Marketplace – you can find us on the marketplace, where you can download a ready built instance of the dashboard

  • For more information on how to get set up with any of the above options, please see HERE

Application Program Interface (API)

  • RESTful JSON based web service (based on API spec 3)

  • Integrated security

  • Option to seamlessly integrate with your own installer programmes, via a Silent installer

Application integration and embedding

  • OEM Partners can embed any chart into their own applications (HTML components)

  • Ability to embed one chart, one category or the whole dashboard via iframes

  • Application chaining – allows you to link chart data back to your own application via a URL

  • Logon – Single Sign On supported through Waffle (Windows Authentication), Panintelligence API integration, Microsoft Exchange, Keycloak, OAuth and generic OpenID connect providers

  • Import Excel into your data source

  • Export reports to Excel, CSV, Word and PDF

  • Integrate with any SMTP email server

  • Server API’s allow you to integrate your own application with the dashboard

  • Unattended/silent install methods allow for seamless integration with other installers

Styling & Themes

  • Logo – add your own logos into the Dashboard, or that of your customers

  • Colours & Font – use your corporate colour schemes throughout the dashboards

Data Connections / Drivers

  • Multiple data sources supported in a single dashboard – e.g. Sales, Finance, CRM, Support

  • No ETL/ELT required – no need to move data from its current location

  • All data is actionable in one portal

  • Multitenancy / SaaS

  • Database introspection

  • Free format JDBC drivers available as standard

  • Default JDBC drivers shipped include:

    • Apache Drill

    • CONNX

    • DynamoDB

    • Firebird

    • HyperSQL

    • iAnywhere

    • IBM DB2

    • IBM DB2 AS400

    • IMB Informix

    • Ingres

    • InterSystems

    • JConnect

    • MySQL / MariaDB

    • Mondrian OLAP

    • MS Access

    • Oracle

    • Pervasive

    • PostgreSQL

    • Redshift

    • SalesForce

    • SAP

    • SAP WB OLAP

    • Snowflake

    • SQL Server

    • SQLite

    • Sybase/SAP IQ

    • Sybase Advantage

If you have any specific JDBC requirements not listed above, do let us know and we can look to include those for you

Easy to use and share

User Experience (UX)

  • Feels like a web app rather than a BI tool

  • Fun to use, with visual and quick results

  • Anyone can create a dashboard

Value Added Uses

  • Exception Reporting

  • Office Wallboards – put your dashboards on your office TV’s

  • Schedule Reports to be created and automatically distributed, using pi Reports

  • What-If Scenario analysis, using pi Predict

Architecture

Below is an example of how the dashboard architecture is recommended to be delivered for deployment onto a single machine (be that locally or in the cloud), whilst being behind a reverse proxy.