- Xcelsius is a great tool for developing visually appealing and easily understandable data presentations, and it's pretty easy to use. If you have a 5 CAL license for Edge, you already own one Xcelsius designer license for use in that environment. (And if you didn't see my recent LinkedIn post SAP was giving away licenses for Xcelsius Present - the free version only works with Excel data sources, but it's a great place to begin learning Xcelsius)
- Xcelsius can use a few different data sources in an Edge deployment - Live Office, Query as a Web Service, and a custom Web Service. Each have their own pros & cons:
- Live Office - Create a report using Crystal or Webi that gives you the data you want to visualize; then put Xcelsius in front of it. It's great when you need to present summarized data at a level that doesn't already exist in the data source. Be careful about performance of the report though - you may want to consider scheduling it.
- Query as a Web Service - QaaWS allows you to connect directly to a Universe to draw data into a report. It's fast and pretty simple to use, but it doesn't allow much flexibility - no ability to create summaries, so sometimes work needs to be done in Excel.
- Custom Web Service - A custom web service allows you to create the exact data source that you need, which is a big plus. On the other hand, you also need the technical skill to create the web service, so that's it's downfall. Can be great if you've got the skills, but most of our clients don't bother.
- Want to do some fancy things with Xcelsius? Her are a few tips
- G-Maps Plug-In from Centigon - Ryan Goodman's company has created a really neat tool to integrate Google Maps with Xcelsius visuals. It's not free, but if mapping is key to your requirements, it's worth a look.
- Xcomponents - Donald MacCormack originally made these Xcelsius Add-ins available (for free), adding a few new Xcelsius visuals to the mix. Some neat stuff here.
- XWIS from Antivia - Antivia has been doing great add-ons for BOBJ products for years, and XWIS is another great addition. Hard to explain well, but take a look at their video demo.
- Remember that you can now put Xcelsius content into Crystal Reports - we'll be testing it soon to verify that this now allows scheduled deliver of dashboards (by cheating - hide the Crystal Report detail and just show the Xcelsius widget)
- Keep in mind that a dashboard is NOT JUST about gauges and charts - the "Flashy" stuff! Sometimes a well designed report is a great way to present information; sometimes a simple chart works too. Pick the best tool for your requirement, not just the one closest at hand.
- And keep in mind that in an Edge dashboard, you can now link various pieces together for great interactivity. For example, clicking on an Xcelsius map could cause a Crystal Report, a crosstab, and a line chart all to update to reflect the customers on the map. Really cool stuff - requires some planning, but can deliver great benefit.
jpayton@dynamicintelligence.ca
(519)745-0722 x111
Jim,
ReplyDeleteDo you have any examples of well designed Xcelsius dashboards? I'd love to see them.
Truth be told, most of the ones I've seen are filled with poor dashboard graphs, like 3D graphs, pie charts, gauges, and other graphs that take up lots of space and convey little information. If you've seen ones that convey information clearly and simply, please share.
Thanks,
John C. Munoz
http://www.bizintelguru.com
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. Instead of me saying, "here's an example of a great dashboard built with Xcelsius", let me make a few comments.
First, I took a look at your website, and it seems you do a great job of creating dashboards yourself! Some very nice content there. (Also agree with your perspective about avoiding a non-zero baseline in charts)
Second, I'd say that the value in a dashboard is in how useful it is for the intended audience. We have created some dashboards for clients that are quite ‘minimalist’ – Spartan colours and backgrounds, simplified presentations, etc. We have also created dashboards that use lots of colour and gauges and speedometers, etc (though not pie charts!). And we have done both of these because that is what the client wanted. I get the feeling there's some anticipation of a Few vs. ‘big flashy dashboard software vendor’ conflict, and I actually don't think it's necessary – one camp is neither right nor wrong all the time.
The next comment I would make is that I (personally) tend to think most dashboards attempt to convey too much information. Maybe I’m a bit simple, but to me, if we’re trying to put 20 or 25 different metrics on a single screen, we may be overwhelming the viewer. I like to keep the number of components/pieces down to something simpler. But then again, I’d reference back to my comment about designing for the intended audience.
I think maybe you’re comment was hinting at the fact that (no argument) Xcelsius includes some really ugly colour schemes and components – things that you might expect to see in a museum of modern art! And if that’s the case, I would say I agree. You could make some really ugly dashboards using Xcelsius! But we do our best not to! :)
And a final thought – If you were in charge of a charity, and the only metric that the vast majority of your staff and volunteers really cared about was total donations received as compared to the overall goal, would there be anything wrong with a really simple ‘dashboard’? One with a single thermometer gauge?
Regards,
Jim