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  • Book Overview & Buying SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook
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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

By : David Lai
4.9 (8)
Buy this Book
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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

4.9 (8)
By: David Lai
Buy this Book

Overview of this book

If you are a developer with a good command and knowledge of creating dashboards, but are not yet an advanced user of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, then this is the perfect book for you. Prerequisites include a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel as well as knowledge of basic dashboard practices.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
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Preface
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Preface
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What this book covers
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What you need for this book
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Who this book is for
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Conventions
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Reader feedback
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Customer support
Lock Free Chapter
1
1. Staying in Control
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1. Staying in Control
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Introduction
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Using the Object Browser
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Searching for components
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Grouping the canvas components
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Making the spreadsheet more readable with colors
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Making the spreadsheet more readable with comments
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Making the spreadsheet more readable with borders
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Using named ranges
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Copying the format of one cell to another cell or range
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Debugging the spreadsheets
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Navigating between worksheets
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2. Data Visualization
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2. Data Visualization
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Introduction
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Adding a line chart to your dashboard
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Using a bullet chart
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Using sparklines
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Using a combination chart
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Using a waterfall chart
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Using a pie chart
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Using a scatter plot chart
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Using a bubble plot chart
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Using a radar chart
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Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart
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Sorting series
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Zooming in on charts
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Scaling the y-axis
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Using a tree map
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Showing a trend without a chart
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Displaying raw data
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Illustrating single values
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3. From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard
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3. From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard
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Introduction
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Selecting your data from a list
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Drilling down from a chart
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Using the Filter selector component for hierarchies
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An alternative hierarchy selection method
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Using the Hierarchical Table
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Using Filtered Rows
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Using maps to select data of an area or country
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Adding a Mac OS X-looking dock to your dashboard
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Resetting your data (the reset button)
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Making selections from a custom image (the push button and image component)
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Inputting data values
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Using the Play Selector / Play Control component
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Opening up a Web Intelligence report using dashboard parameters
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Selecting calendar dates
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Using sliders to create a what-if scenario
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4. Dynamic Visibility
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4. Dynamic Visibility
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Introduction
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Switching between different charts
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Building a pop-up screen
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Creating a mouseover help text popup
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Password protecting your dashboard
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5. Using Alerts
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5. Using Alerts
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Introduction
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Adding alerts to a column chart
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Making alert ranges dynamic
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Displaying alerts on a map
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Displaying alerts of different thresholds on a map
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Using bindable colors to control alert coloring from a central location
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Using alerts in a Scorecard
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6. Advanced Components
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6. Advanced Components
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Introduction
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Printing your dashboard
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Grouping and organizing components with the Canvas Container
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Using dashboard scenarios
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Using the Grid component
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Creating a slideshow
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Using the Panel Set component
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Using the History component
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Inserting data with the Source Data component
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Analyzing trends
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7. Dashboard Look and Feel
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7. Dashboard Look and Feel
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Introduction
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Changing the look of a chart
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Adding a background to your dashboard
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Using color schemes
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Sharing a color scheme
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Working with themes
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Making component colors dynamic
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Dynamic XY positioning and sizing of components
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Using the Panel Container
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Using the Tab Set container
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Making tables look pretty
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Using quadrants smartly
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Creating/using a dashboard template
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8. Dashboard Data Connectivity
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8. Dashboard Data Connectivity
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Introduction
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Creating a news ticker with Excel XML Maps
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Using Query as a Web Service (QaaWS)
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Using Live Office Connection
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Using BI Web Services to consume a Webi report
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Using the SAP NetWeaver BW Connection
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Using the Query Browser
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Passing values from dashboard to dashboard with Flash Variables
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9. Exporting and Publishing
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9. Exporting and Publishing
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Introduction
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Exporting to SWF, PPT, PDF, and other file types
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Publishing to SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform
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Housing your dashboard in a BI Workspace
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Publishing to SAP BW
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Going mobile
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10. Top Third-party Add-ons
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10. Top Third-party Add-ons
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Introduction
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Managing add-ons in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
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Connecting to CSV files with the CSV Connector
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Integrating Google Maps with the CMaps plugin
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Connecting to Salesforce.com with DashConn
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Presenting micro charts in a Tree Grid
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Integrating Web Intelligence with Antivia XWIS Advantage Express
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Advanced printing with Xcelsius Dashboard Printer
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SUCCESS with graphomate charts
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11. Performance Tuning
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11. Performance Tuning
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Introduction
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Improving Excel spreadsheet performance
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Using scheduled Webis to save on querying time
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Running connections after loading the dashboard
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Checking master data loading performance of connections
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Optimizing BEx Query performance
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Using Fiddler to identify the cause of performance issues
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12. Increasing Productivity
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12. Increasing Productivity
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Introduction
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Using the Spreadsheet Table component to debug
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Time-saving tips during dashboard development
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Fixing corrupt XLF files
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A. Real-world Dashboard Case Studies
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A. Real-world Dashboard Case Studies
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What-if scenario – Mortgage Calculator
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Sales/Profit dashboard example
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B. Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements
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B. Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements
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Online resources
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Supported Excel functions
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System and software requirements
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C. The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio
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C. The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio
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What is SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio?
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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards versus SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio
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What is the SAP roadmap for dashboarding?
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Index
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Index

Making the spreadsheet more readable with colors

The more complex a dashboard gets, the more clogged the spreadsheet might get with data, Excel formulas, and other usages. To make clear what the exact purpose of a cell is, we color code them to make things more clear.

Getting ready

You need a basic SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards file containing a few components in the canvas with some bindings to the data model in the spreadsheet.

How to do it...

  1. Go to your data model in the spreadsheet.
  2. Select the cell(s) you want to color.
  3. Click on the Fill Color button in the Font section of the Home tab and select the desired color.
  4. Color the cells that have dynamic visibility values in orange.
    How to do it...
  5. Color the cells with input values from canvas components in yellow. In the following screenshot, row A3:N3 is used as the destination range for a drill down from a chart.
  6. Color the cells that will be filled with data from an external data source in blue.
  7. Color the cells with Excel formulas in green.
    How to do it...

How it works...

As you can see, there are many roles that cells in the spreadsheet can play. If these were not color coded, you would be faced with a daunting task when updating the Excel model in the future. In our example, we colored calculations in green, external data input in blue, and component input data in yellow.

There's more...

To make the data model readable, not only for yourself but also for others, it is helpful to create a legend in your spreadsheet that explains what each color represents. Any color scheme can be used, but it is important that you stick to the chosen scheme and use it consistently throughout the development of your dashboard.

It is important to create a separate worksheet that houses the legend, as seen in the following screenshot. You can also use this overall summary worksheet to include the information such as project name, description, usage, version (history), and so on.

There's more...
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