SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook

Table of Contents

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook

Credits

Foreword

About the Authors

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement

About the Reviewers

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Preface

What is SAP Business Objects Dashboards (formerly Xcelsius)?

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Staying in Control

Introduction

Making the spreadsheet more readable with colors

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Making the spreadsheet more readable with comments

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Making the spreadsheet more readable using borders

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

Toolbar border button

Use multiple worksheets

Place your logic wisely

Using named ranges

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Defined named ranges

Name Manager

Selecting all worksheet cells with one click

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Copying the formatting of one cell to another cell or range

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Debugging your spreadsheets

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Navigation between worksheets

How to do it...

How it works...

Grouping the canvas components

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Hiding components

Locking components

2. Data Visualization

Introduction

Adding a line chart to your dashboard

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Manually binding data

Hide/show series

Other charts: bar chart and column chart

Other charts: area chart

Other charts: stacked charts

Using the bullet chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using sparklines

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Header labels

Show low and high values

Using the combination chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using the pie chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Using the XY chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Using the bubble chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Using the radar chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using the OHLC chart and candlestick chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Sorting series

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Zooming in on charts

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Scaling the y-axis

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Variable maximum limits

Allow Zoom Out Only

Using the tree map

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Showing a trend without a chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works

Displaying raw data

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Illustrating single values

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Scaling

3. From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard

Introduction

Drilling down from a chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Selecting your data from a list

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using the Filter Selector component for hierarchies

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Alternative hierarchy selection method

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using Filtered Rows

How to do it...

How it works...

Using maps to select data of an area or country

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Adding a MacOSX loading dock to your dashboard

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Resetting your data (reset button)

How to do it...

How it works...

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

How to do it...

How it works...

See Also

Inputting data values

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using Play Selector/Play Control

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Opening up a Web Intelligence report using dashboard parameters

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Selecting calendar dates

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using sliders to create a what-if scenario

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

4. Dynamic Visibility

Introduction

Switching between different charts

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Other components

Status values

Building a pop-up screen

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Creating a mouse-over help text pop-up

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works

Password protecting your dashboard

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

5. Using Alerts

Introduction

Adding alerts to a column chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

There's more...

Using alerts in a gauge

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Making alert ranges dynamic

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See Also

Displaying alerts on a map

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Displaying alerts of different thresholds on a map

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using bindable colors to control alert coloring from a central location

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using alerts in a scorecard

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

6. Advanced Components

Introduction

Printing your dashboard

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Grouping and organizing components with the canvas container

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Using dashboard scenarios

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using the grid component

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Creating a slide show

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using the panel set component

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Linking to files instead of embedding

Panel behavior

Using the history component

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Data insertion with the Source data component

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Analyzing trends

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

7. Dashboard Look and Feel

Introduction

Changing the look of a chart

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Adding a background to your dashboard

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using color schemes

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Sharing a color scheme

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Working with themes

How to do it...

How it works...

Making component colors dynamic

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using the panel container

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using the tab set container

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Making tables look pretty

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See Also

Smart use of quadrants

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See Also

8. Dashboard Connectivity

Introduction

Creating a news ticker with Excel XML Maps

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Adding the Developer tab

Usage tab

Connection Refresh button

Using Query as a WebService (QaaWS)

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using prompts

Methods

Using Live Office connection

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using prompts

Connecting to SAP BW

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using variables and filters

Other Output Values

Returned data format

Using Universe queries

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Query Prompt Selector

Query Refresh button

Passing values from dashboard to dashboard with Flash Variables

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Using multiple variables

Passing multiple values

Accessing dashboards with live data outside of Infoview using CELogonToken

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

How does Dashboard Design consume CELogonToken?

CELogonToken at runtime

Step-by-step code explanation

9. Exporting and Publishing

Introduction

Exporting to a standard SWF, PPT, PDF, and so on

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Exporting to SAP Business Objects Enterprise

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See Also

Publishing to SAP BW

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Housing your dashboard in Dashboard Builder

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Creating Adobe Air Applets from Dashboard Design dashboard

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

10. Top Third-Party Add-ons

Introduction

Managing add-ons in Dashboard Design

Getting ready

How to do it...

Connecting to CSV-files with the CSV-connector

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Calculations

Exporting data to a CSV file

Integrating Google Maps with the GMaps plugin

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

More features

XGlobe and XYahooMap

Connecting to Salesforce.com with DashConn

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Salesforce.com Data Manager Connection

Working Mode settings

Transferring data between dashboards with Data Sharer

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Presenting micro charts in a tree grid

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Data grid

More information

Integrating Web Intelligence with Antivia XWIS

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There is more...

Antivia Slice and Dice component

Antivia Export component

Alerts

Antivia Timer component

Taking the dashboard offline

A. Real World Dashboard Case Studies

What-if scenario: mortgage calculator

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Sales/profit dashboard example

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

B. Additional Resources—Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements

Online resources

Supported Excel functions

System and software requirements

Index

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook

Copyright © 2011 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: May 2011

Production Reference: 1180511

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

32 Lincoln Road

Olton

Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-849681-78-0

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by David Guettirrez (<bilbaorocker@yahoo.co.uk>)

Credits

Authors

Xavier Hacking

David Lai

Reviewers

Charles Davies

Joshua Fletcher

Nargisse Skalante

Acquisition Editor

Stephanie Moss

Development Editor

Kartikey Pandey

Technical Editor

Pooja Pande Malik

Project Coordinator

Leena Purkait

Proofreader

Aaron Nash

Indexer

Rekha Nair

Production Coordinator

Shantanu Zagade

Cover Work

Shantanu Zagade

Foreword

The original (and key) innovation of Dashboard Design was to bring together the flexibility, power and ubiquity of Excel with the visualization of Flash. This meant that a whole new group of people (basically anyone who understood Excel formulas) could produce sophisticated Flash animations. Over the years, this has led to an incredible array of Dashboard Design models being produced, many of which, I suspect, go well beyond what the creators of Dashboard Design intended (or even dreamed of). Indeed there is one model (you can find it at http://www.antivia.com/confoundingmodel/) which has been doing the rounds for a number of years that, so rumor has it, left even the original Dashboard Design development team scratching their heads as to how it was constructed.

As with any tool that has the flexibility and power to be stretched in this way, it is hard for the core product documentation to comprehensively cover everything users need to know to be successful, and it is books such as this one that fill the gap and allow knowledge that has been distilled through the hands of many individuals to be passed on to the community in general.

I am a particular fan of the recipe format; it allows you to dip in and out of the material for learning in short bursts and also allows you to quickly and easily answer specific questions. In addition, the overall structure provides a smooth flow through all the areas of the product providing a comprehensive review of its capabilities.

In this book, Xavier and David have found something for everyone. For those who are just starting out with Dashboard Design, there are recipes that give advice and guidance to help you start on a solid foundation. For those who are more experienced with Dashboard Design, there are advanced recipes covering inter-dashboard communication and connectivity to external systems. For everyone, there will be something in these pages which is new and will help you take your Dashboard Design knowledge to the next level.

My favorite recipes are in the third-party chapter, not just because I work for one of the vendors featured, but because they advertise the possibilities opened up by the Dashboard Design SDK. Although the initial innovation of Dashboard Design was bringing together the Excel and Flash visualizations, the introduction of the SDK paved the way for a second wave of innovations from third parties, which further widened the bounds of what was possible with this amazing product.

Whatever plans you have for Dashboard Design, I wish you luck; keep pushing the boundaries and share your experiences with the rest of us in the community.

Donald MacCormick

April, 2011

Chief Product and Marketing Officer

Antivia

Web: www.antivia.com

Twitter: @antivia

London.

About the Authors

Xavier Hacking is a SAP BI consultant from Eindhoven, The Netherlands. He has a Masters' degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from the Eindhoven University of Technology. He has worked with a range of products from the SAP Business Intelligence portfolio, including SAP BW and SAP Crystal Dashboard Design (Xcelsius). His goal is to deliver business intelligence solutions that enable people to do their work in a better and more productive way.

In 2009, he started his blog HackingSAP.com (http://www.hackingsap.com/), which covers news, tips, guides, and other resources on SAP Crystal Dashboard Design and other SAP and non-SAP Business Intelligence tools. You can also follow Xavier on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/xjhacking).

Acknowledgement

Firstly, I want to thank the people of the Dashboard Design community on Twitter, SDN, the LinkedIn groups, and the blogs for the interesting discussions on creating dashboards with Dashboard Design and sharing their views and knowledge. I love to see this community growing every day and I encourage everybody who works with Dashboard Design to join us.

Next, I want to thank co-author David Lai for the fine teamwork during this project and the nice discussions we had on the contents of the book.

A big thanks goes out to the entire PacktPub team that supported and guided us through the writing process.

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge Norbert Maijoor for inspiring me to start writing/blogging on business intelligence.

David Lai is an SAP BusinessObjects consultant and specializes in data visualization and data warehousing. He graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto. He has a passion for providing organizations with smart Business Intelligence solutions that encompass Best Practices and Techniques. In addition, he is an active contributor to the community by providing his knowledge in best practices and solutions.

He started David Lai's Business Intelligence blog (http://www.davidlai101.com/blog) in 2008 where he provides tips, tricks, and the best practices for Dashboard Design and BusinessObjects-related material. He is a Bronze level contributor on the SAP community network, has presented at SAP InsideTrack, and provides Business Objects training to students.

Aside from work, David enjoys physical activities such as weight training, basketball, volleyball, and skiing. He also has a strong passion for Latin dance.

David Lai is the owner of Xinfinity Solutions where he provides consulting services as an SAP Business Objects consultant. He has done work for a long list of satisfied clients in various industries.

Acknowledgement

Writing this book has been a long journey and would not have been possible without the guidance, inspiration, and mentorship provided by many others along the way. From here, I'd like to show appreciation to all those who have assisted me along the path.

First, of all I would like to thank the Dashboard Design developers for their efforts in bringing us new features and fixes with every new version of Dashboard Design.

I would like to thank everyone in the Dashboard Design community for their contributions in SDN, LinkedIn, and blogs. Without the community, we wouldn't have anywhere to look for help when coming across a problem. In addition, thoughts and ideas are taken into account by the development team to create a better product in the long run. A big thanks goes to Kalyan Verma for giving me the opportunity to contribute on his blog http://myxcelsius.com and really getting me kick started with community participation (Excellent Job on getting myxcelsius.com to where it is today!). Another big thanks to Mico Yuk of Everything Xcelsius for her past advice and really getting the community involved with Xcelsius.

I'd like to thank Xavier Hacking for co-authoring the book. Without Xavier's teamwork, knowledge, and expertise, this book would not have been a success. I would also like to commend his great work on his blog @ http://www.hackingsap.com.

A big thanks to the Packt Publishing team (Stephanie Moss, Leena Purkait, Reshma Sundaresan) for providing all the necessary guidance in