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BI2010 Christensen Buildadashboard PDF
BI2010 Christensen Buildadashboard PDF
Build a Dashboard in
60 Minutes Using
Xcelsius
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The End Result A Simple Sales Dashboard
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What Well Cover
Define your dashboard prototype project
Get you hands on the Xcelsius 30-day trial version
10 dashboard best practices
10 steps to build a dashboard using Xcelsius
Publish the dashboard
Wrap-up
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Why a Dashboard Project?
So why does my company need a dashboard?
You have a great data warehouse with a lot of information but
the users still do not use it!
Your users keep on complaining about the report functionality
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How to Get Started with a Dashboard Project
Define a clear scope for the dashboard prototype, such as:
Define standard dashboard layout, look and feel, and best
practices
Build one or two dashboard prototypes using Xcelsius
Define the expected scope for dashboards to be deployed
Define the dashboard creation, maintenance, support, and
rollout processes
Describe technical implementation requirements
Prepare cost estimate for the rollout and deployment
Prepare a business benefits case for the rollout and
deployment
Compare the business benefits to the costs, and make
recommendations
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What Well Cover
Define your dashboard prototype project
Get you hands on the Xcelsius 30-day trial version
10 dashboard best practices
10 steps to build a dashboard using Xcelsius
Publish the dashboard
Wrap-up
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The Xcelsius Free Trial Offering from SAP
SAP offers two versions of
Xcelsius in the free trial
offering:
Xcelsius Engage
Xcelsius Present
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How to Get the Free Trial Software (cont.)
The Xcelsius trials are at the bottom of the page
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How to Get the Free Trial Software (cont.)
Fill in your information
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How to Get the Free Trial Software (cont.)
Now you are ready to download the trial version
It is a 540mb file
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Installing the Xcelsius Trial Software
Extract the Zip file to a folder and start the installation using the
setup.exe file
You will have received an email with the key code to be used
during the installation
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Using Xcelsius Trial Version
As this is a trial version, you will see this nice intro every time you
open Xcelsius. Just click Continue.
Once your trial expires, you can enter the key code you get when
you buy Xcelsius and all your work is still available and fully
functioning
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What Well Cover
Define your dashboard prototype project
Get you hands on the Xcelsius 30-day trial version
10 dashboard best practices
10 steps to build a dashboard using Xcelsius
Publish the dashboard
Wrap-up
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The Five Most Important Things to Remember
Perception is everything it has to look good and be intuitive
Users are not all the same they do have different requirements
Make it simple
Make it fast
Create good online help
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10 Best practices for Xcelsius dashboards
1. Position the most important items in the dashboard to the
top left
2. Use the correct chart types to communicate the information
3. Use the correct color scheme
4. Use preattentive variables to make important information
stand out
5. Organize the embedded Excel workbook using colors and tabs
6. Keep only the data that is needed in the embedded Excel to
improve performance
7. Set a standard canvas size that keeps the dashboard to one
page
8. Layer and position your objects correctly before grouping them
9. Define standard templates for your company that can be reused
for several dashboards. Make them look and work the same way.
10. Use the native SAP NetWeaver BW integration to get SAP
NetWeaver BW data into your dashboard
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1. Positioning KPIs on the Dashboard
Consider how the users eyes move across the page
Source: www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/viewing.htm 18
2. Chart Types to Use and Not to Use
Which is bigger?
US Mid-Cap or US Small-Cap
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3. Using Color Effectively (cont.)
Choose colors within the
same shade
Color definitions:
Shade: base color mixed with black
Tint: base color hue mixed with white
Tone: base color + gray or another base
color + a complementary color
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3. How Do You Pick Your Web Cockpit Colors?
Split scheme Split scheme: Any two colors that are side by
side on a color wheel.
Pros: This scheme has more variety than a simple
complementary color scheme.
Cons: It is less vibrant and eye-catching; it is difficult to
harmonize the colors.
Source: www.worqx.com/color/index.htm 24
4. Visual Appearance: Eight Preattentive Variables
Color
Position
Brightness
Orientation
Saturation
Size
Texture
Shape
Source: http://dashboardspy.com/dashboards/47/intuitive-dashboard-design-preattentive-variables
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5. Xcelsius Embedded Excel Organization
Use multiple sheets (tabs)
General information about the Xcelsius model and legend
Maintenance procedure
One or more data sheets avoid having too many data tables
in one sheet
Use colors to identify tabs in large models
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5. Xcelsius Embedded Excel Organization (cont.)
Sheet layout guidelines
Spacing
Leave blank rows and columns (do not start in cell A1)
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8. Layering and Positioning of Objects
Layer components correctly
First define the order
Then group them to make changes easier
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9. Create and Use Standard Templates for Your Company
There are a lot of templates included in Xcelsius that you can
use as a base to create a dashboard
They have good step-by-step guides
They can serve as a good reference
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10. Integrating Xcelsius with SAP NetWeaver BW (cont.)
The native integration of Xcelsius in SAP NetWeaver BW includes
additional functionality such as:
Integration into the SAP NetWeaver Portal which makes it easy
to publish the dashboard
Integration into the BEx runtime environment (no need to install
SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise)
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10 Steps to Create a New Dashboard
1. Draft your dashboard on paper
2. Build a standard dashboard template
3. Define the data structures that you need
4. Add components to the canvas
5. Add data for testing
6. Add dynamic visibility if needed
7. Add the real data
8. Test the model
9. Export the dashboard
10. Integrate into an SAP NetWeaver portal or Web page
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1. Draft Your Dashboard on Paper
You dont have to be an artist to draft a dashboard by hand
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2. Build a Standard Dashboard Template
Choose the color theme
Include some standard components such as logo, etc.
Save this as a template so you can easily reuse it
Save it to folder
C:\Program Files\Business
Objects\Xcelsius\assets\template
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3. Define the Data Structures That You Need
Define the tables of data you need in Excel
Table for the query data or base data
Tables used for components
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4. Add Components to the Canvas
Add the components that you want in your dashboard to the
canvas and align them
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5. Add Data for Testing
Add some dummy data to all your tables in the embedded Excel
sheet and link to the components via the properties
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6. Add Dynamic Visibility If Needed
Dynamic visibility is powerful you can reuse the space on the
canvas for multiple items
Use the canvas container to group items you want to
show/hide
For example, when clicking on Europe another component will
be displayed on the right
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7. Add the Real Data
Now it is time to refine the dashboard and add the real data or
link to data sources such as SAP NetWeaver BW, LiveOffice or
Query as a Web Service (QaaWS)
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8. Test the Model
Test the model and make sure that all functionality works the
way it is expected to work
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9. Export the Dashboard
In this example, I will export the dashboard to HTML
This is the easiest option if you want to include the dashboard
in a Web page
It generates an HTML file with the Embed tags and the
corresponding SWF file
Other options are available. These will be covered later.
<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://fpdownload.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0"
WIDTH="900" HEIGHT="600" id="myMovieName">
<PARAM NAME="movie" VALUE="COMERIT_SALES.swf">
<PARAM NAME="quality" VALUE="high">
<PARAM NAME="bgcolor" VALUE="#FFFFFF">
<PARAM NAME="play" VALUE="true">
<PARAM NAME="loop" VALUE="true">
<PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE="#FFFFFF">
<EMBED src="COMERIT_SALES.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF WIDTH="900" HEIGHT="600"
NAME="myMovieName" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash"
play="true" loop="true"
PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>
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10. Integrate into Portal or Web Page
It is easy to integrate the generated SWF file into any portal or
Web page
Use the Object tag from the generated HTML and add it to any
Web page
You can also upload SWF files directly to Knowledge
management
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What Well Cover
Define your dashboard prototype project
Get you hands on the Xcelsius 30-day trial version
10 dashboard best practices
10 steps to build a dashboard using Xcelsius
Publish the dashboard
Wrap-up
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There Are Several Options to Publish a Dashboard
SWF file
Adobe AIR
HTML embedded SWF file
SAP BusinessObjects
Enterprise
PDF
PowerPoint
Outlook
Word
SAP NetWeaver Portal
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Lets Look at the Most Common Ones in This Demo
SWF file
HTML embedded SWF file
PDF
PowerPoint
Outlook
Word
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What Well Cover
Define your dashboard prototype project
Get you hands on the Xcelsius 30-day trial version
10 dashboard best practices
10 steps to build a dashboard using Xcelsius
Publish the dashboard
Wrap-up
49
Resources
www.xcelsius.com and www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/xcelsius
A wealth of information on Xcelsius provided by SAP
http://everythingxcelsius.com
Great information from various Xcelsius gurus
www.perceptualedge.com
Stephen Few is a thought leader on data visualization. His Web
site contains a lot of good information on how to visualize
information.
http://myxcelsius.com
Forum for sharing Xcelsius information
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Resources (cont.)
http://forums.sdn.sap.com/forum.jspa?forumID=302&start=0
Xcelsius forum on SDN
http://xcomponents.blogspot.com/
Download some add-in components for Xcelsius
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7 Key Points to Take Home
Dashboards can help improve your company performance. There
is almost always a business case for a dashboard.
SAP has a 30-day free trial version of Xcelsius download it and
use it
Xcelsius is an easy tool to use. It can also be used for more
complex dashboards.
Build a standard template and store it in the template folder for
later use
Use multiple tabs and color coding in Excel to make it easier to
support
Avoid chart types that do not suit the data you present
Use the SAP-provided templates and the ones on the conference
CD to get started on creating your own dashboards
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Your Turn!
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