SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

Book Image

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

Book Image

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

Overview of this book

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

Credits

Foreword

About the Author

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Reviewers

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

Staying in Control

Staying in Control

Using the Object Browser

Searching for components

Grouping the canvas components

Making the spreadsheet more readable with colors

Making the spreadsheet more readable with comments

Making the spreadsheet more readable with borders

Using named ranges

Copying the format of one cell to another cell or range

Debugging the spreadsheets

Navigating between worksheets

Data Visualization

Data Visualization

Adding a line chart to your dashboard

Using a bullet chart

Using sparklines

Using a combination chart

Using a waterfall chart

Using a pie chart

Using a scatter plot chart

Using a bubble plot chart

Using a radar chart

Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart

Zooming in on charts

Scaling the y-axis

Using a tree map

Showing a trend without a chart

Displaying raw data

Illustrating single values

From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard

From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard

Selecting your data from a list

Drilling down from a chart

Using the Filter selector component for hierarchies

An alternative hierarchy selection method

Using the Hierarchical Table

Using Filtered Rows

Using maps to select data of an area or country

Adding a Mac OS X-looking dock to your dashboard

Resetting your data (the reset button)

Making selections from a custom image (the push button and image component)

Inputting data values

Using the Play Selector / Play Control component

Opening up a Web Intelligence report using dashboard parameters

Selecting calendar dates

Using sliders to create a what-if scenario

Dynamic Visibility

Dynamic Visibility

Switching between different charts

Building a pop-up screen

Creating a mouseover help text popup

Password protecting your dashboard

Using Alerts

Adding alerts to a column chart

Making alert ranges dynamic

Displaying alerts on a map

Displaying alerts of different thresholds on a map

Using bindable colors to control alert coloring from a central location

Using alerts in a Scorecard

Advanced Components

Advanced Components

Printing your dashboard

Grouping and organizing components with the Canvas Container

Using dashboard scenarios

Using the Grid component

Creating a slideshow

Using the Panel Set component

Using the History component

Inserting data with the Source Data component

Analyzing trends

Dashboard Look and Feel

Dashboard Look and Feel

Changing the look of a chart

Adding a background to your dashboard

Using color schemes

Sharing a color scheme

Working with themes

Making component colors dynamic

Dynamic XY positioning and sizing of components

Using the Panel Container

Using the Tab Set container

Making tables look pretty

Using quadrants smartly

Creating/using a dashboard template

Dashboard Data Connectivity

Dashboard Data Connectivity

Creating a news ticker with Excel XML Maps

Using Query as a Web Service (QaaWS)

Using Live Office Connection

Using BI Web Services to consume a Webi report

Using the SAP NetWeaver BW Connection

Using the Query Browser

Passing values from dashboard to dashboard with Flash Variables

Exporting and Publishing

Exporting and Publishing

Exporting to SWF, PPT, PDF, and other file types

Publishing to SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform

Housing your dashboard in a BI Workspace

Publishing to SAP BW

Top Third-party Add-ons

Top Third-party Add-ons

Managing add-ons in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

Connecting to CSV files with the CSV Connector

Integrating Google Maps with the CMaps plugin

Connecting to Salesforce.com with DashConn

Presenting micro charts in a Tree Grid

Integrating Web Intelligence with Antivia XWIS Advantage Express

Advanced printing with Xcelsius Dashboard Printer

SUCCESS with graphomate charts

Performance Tuning

Performance Tuning

Improving Excel spreadsheet performance

Using scheduled Webis to save on querying time

Running connections after loading the dashboard

Checking master data loading performance of connections

Optimizing BEx Query performance

Using Fiddler to identify the cause of performance issues

Increasing Productivity

Increasing Productivity

Using the Spreadsheet Table component to debug

Time-saving tips during dashboard development

Fixing corrupt XLF files

Real-world Dashboard Case Studies

Real-world Dashboard Case Studies

What-if scenario – Mortgage Calculator

Sales/Profit dashboard example

Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements

Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements

Online resources

Supported Excel functions

System and software requirements

The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio

The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio

What is SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio?

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards versus SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio

What is the SAP roadmap for dashboarding?

Index

Customer Reviews

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About the Reviewers

Darren Barber is a freelance consultant with over a decade of experience in the field of Business Intelligence. He has worked on every phase of the BI process, from data warehousing, ETL, and data modeling to reporting, dashboarding, and analytics. Working and living out of downtown Toronto, Darren helps companies realize the full potential value of their data.

Atul Bhimrao Divekar has worked with Business Intelligence applications for over 5 years, focusing primarily on the SAP BusinessObjects toolset. He is a SAP BO, SAP HANA 1.0, ITIL 2011, and Linux administrator certified consultant.

He holds a BSc degree in computer science from the University of Mumbai. Apart from being a SAP BO and SAP HANA mentor, he is an ardent follower of recent technologies. So, if he is not working, then you are sure to find him on the Web learning and getting updated about the recent gadgets, mobile applications, and four wheelers on the international market.

Femke Kooij is a dashboard and report designer and developer specializing in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (better known as Xcelsius) and Crystal Reports. She started developing with Xcelsius 3.0 in 2004 when it was still owned by Infomersion and has since worked with the product up till the current version, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1. She has shared her knowledge and experience with others through her own blog (www.femkekooij.com).

She also has a lot of experience with other SAP BusinessObjects tools, such as Web Intelligence, Information Design Tool (universes), BusinessObjects Data Services (ETL), and the overall server platform (Launchpad, CMC). Her latest project focuses mainly on the integration between BusinessObjects and SAP.

Lately, she has been exploring other visualization tools such as QlikView and the Tableau software.

Bernard Timbal Duclaux de Martin is a Business Intelligence architect and technical expert with 15 years of experience. He has taken part in several large Business Intelligence system deployments and administration in banking and insurance companies. In addition, he is proficient in modeling, data extraction, transformation, loading, and reporting design. He has written four books, including two regarding SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise administration.