Management maps

Listen to the column Management maps, or visit our Podcast Center to hear more by James Gaskin.

Why do executives look so disappointed when they visit the operations center? Because the TV program 24 shows us a NOC with network maps linked to satellites able to drill down and watch Jack Bauer run around town. You've got log files, and if you're lucky, a reproduction of a router face plate with blinking LEDs.

Time to spiff up your presentation for executive eye candy as well as provide better management. Take a look at the new FireScope (.com) Dashboard now integrated with Google Maps and drill down to street level. You won't see Bauer running around, but you will see your remote locations in physical context with their environment.

Mark Lynd, FireScope's president and architect, used to work for restaurant management companies and learned the value of geography. His company, one of the first to integrate Google Maps, offers management solutions to collect and coordinate information from a variety of reporting sources.

"When you hover over a location on the map, a tabbed page appears showing you details of that location," says Lynd. Data connections between locations respond to cursor hovers as well, popping up information like bandwidth, protocols in use, and other connection details. You choose what to display in response to a hover, and FireScope can help make it happen.

Google Maps allows FireScope and Lynd to drill down more deeply than other geographic applications. "Others will show eight or nine close locations as one big dot," says Lynd, "but Google Maps takes you down to each building." Once configured properly, details such as the type of POS in each outlet will pop up. Wouldn't it be easier to show executives which locations need upgrades when they can see the building image along with the technical details?

FileScope is a young startup, and Lynd says they have only delivered seven systems as of March 1. More are in the pipeline, and since some executives use their eyes more than their brains, this mapping feature should take off. As the trite executives say, seeing is believing, but only if it's a picture and not a log file detailing messy technical details like downtime. Who can see that in a log file?

See more, grasp the physical reality more quickly, and better manage your locations with FileScope. And, finally, the executives can visit your operations center, and actually smile.