David Lai's Business Intelligence Blog

I’m very proud to announce that SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards Cookbook is officially available.  For the past year, Xavier Hacking and I together with Packt Publishing have carefully compiled over 90 recipes on transforming your data into highly effective dashboards.

We cover the ins and outs of using the Dashboard Design components, connecting to different data sources, as well as providing examples on how to use many of the top Xcelsius Addons.  Each recipe contains easy to follow step by step instructions and screenshots on accomplishing each task.  In addition, XLF example source files are also included for every recipe to make sure users are following the recipes correctly.

The book is published in eBook (ePub and DRM-free PDF) and paperback format and is available from the Packt Publishing website

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook overview

Over 90 simple and incredibly effective recipes for transforming your business data into exciting dashboards with SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Xcelsius

Xcelsius 2008 was recently included in SAP’s BusinessObjects 4.0 family, rebranding “Xcelsius Enterprise” as “SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0”. With features like flexible design and what-if scenarios, the powerful dashboarding software allows enterprises to make business decisions at a glance, and this book allows you to go far beyond the basics of these techniques.

This cookbook full of practical and applicable recipes will enable you to use the full latest capabilities of Dashboard Design to visually transform your business data. A wide range of recipes will equip you with the knowledge and confidence to perform tasks like configuring charts, creating drill- downs, making component colors dynamic, using alerts in maps, building pop-up screens, setting up What-If scenarios, and many more.

The recipes begin by covering best practices for using the Dashboard Design spreadsheet, the data-model, and the connection with the components on the canvas, later moving on to some from-the-trenches tricks for using Excel within Dashboard Design. The book then guides you through the exploration of various data visualization components and dashboard interactivity, as well as offering recipes on using alerts, dashboard connectivity, and making the most of the aesthetics of the dashboard. Finally, the recipes conclude by considering the most important add-ons available for Dashboard Design and enabling you to perform relevant and useful tasks straight away.

What you will learn from this book :

• Become fully equipped with best practices for using the Dashboard Design spreadsheet
• Present data using the wide variety of data visualization components
• Learn how to make dashboard components interactive for an enhanced user experience
• Take advantage of Dynamic Visibility features on the dashboard
• Master manipulating the look and feel of your dashboards
• Gain confidence in using alerts on charts and other components
• Get to grips with advanced Dashboard Design components like the Trend Analyzer, Fisheye Picture Menu, History Component, and the Canvas Component
• Optimize the user experience of the dashboard
• Connect your dashboard to live data sources
• Export and publish the Dashboard Design model into several environments.
• Learn about the most applicable add-ons available for your dashboard requirements.
• Master setting up alerts on charts, gauges, maps and scorecards

Approach

This guide to SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 (formerly Xcelsius )is a cookbook packed full of practical recipes written in a clear, concise manner with annotated examples to empower readers to quickly accomplish specific dashboard tasks.

Who this book is written for

If you are a developer with a good command and knowledge of creating dashboards, but are not yet an advanced Dashboard Design user, then this is the perfect book for you. You should have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel as well as knowledge of basic dashboard practices, though experience of Dashboard Design as a specific dashboard tool is not essential.