IBIS 2010 Surfs and Serves Some Cool BI

Hands-on immersion training can be tough but when your classroom looks out on to the Pacific Ocean of Southern California and during the breaks you can walk out on to the balcony and watch surfers riding the waves, it’s not so bad.

IBIS 2010 Beach view

This year’s InfoSol Business Intelligence Seminar (IBIS) was just packed with high quality and in-depth boot camps and seminars covering Xcelsius, Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, Data Services, BO XI 3.1 Administration and lots more. It was also located at the beautiful Ritz Carlton, Dana Point on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean which was the perfect remedy after a day of absorbing tons of knowledge.

The Welcome reception on Sunday night, entitled “Seeing Beyond Business Intelligence” was set in the Solutions Showcase area where sponsors demonstrated and discussed some of their latest business intelligence solutions.  I delivered the keynote the following morning on the same “Seeing Beyond” theme and highlighted some interesting business intelligence customer case studies.  The keynote on the Tuesday from Santiago Becerra, CEO of Mellmo, was quite fascinating as he took the audience through “the Evolution of Think” and cleverly demonstrated how putting fun into regular tasks can change people’s habits as well as their adoption of solutions. Showing Roambi, the latest business intelligence solution for the iPad, really brought the point home well.

The 2010 Best Xcelsius Awards demonstrated how far many companies have come in applying Xcelsius in very complex and powerful applications and inspired many others to go even further so I would watch out for next year’s awards.

I had the opportunity to meet with many people during the event and dive into some great discussions on both existing challenges in various BI implementations as well as future directions. In general, it appeared that most companies lag about 3 to 5 years behind the latest releases of SAP BusinessObjects and other BI solutions. Occasionally there is some critical new functionality that will compel a company to adopt a new release sooner but that tends to be the exception to the rule.  Many customers expressed that having reliability, stability and consistent performance are more important than most new functionality. Some of the newer solutions like Xcelsius dashboards and Roambi mobile business intelligence appear to circumnavigate this pattern since they can often be deployed and highly effective outside of the main business intelligence and production applications. A further big factor here is cost as many companies are more hesitant, due in part to the recent global recession, to spend large amounts of time and money on new software until they have conclusively proven a solid return on investment. For this reason incremental software purchases and pilot projects have become very popular in the BI space.

This was evident at IBIS as customers expressed a lot of interest in Xcelsius, XDM, Roambi, XWIS, GMaps, 360View, Version Manager and SAP BO EDGE solutions for very specific business issues and needs.

All in all, IBIS 2010 was a great BI gathering and information exchange and continues to grow in popularity. A couple of lucky attendees won iPads and a couple of not-so-lucky attendees dropped their phones in the ocean, but judging by the feedback everyone can’t wait to do it again.

Here are a few of the comments received back on IBIS 2010 :

“The IBIS conference was terrific this year.  I can’t wait to incorporate write-backs into our dashboards, and InfoBurst 2009 with dashboard bursting opens new doors for delivering customer information.  I also really enjoyed Aluchemie’s customer demo with all of their challenges they had to overcome!”

Kim Marshall, Waldinger Corporation

“I wanted to commend you and your team on the wonderful seminar.  My colleagues are very enthusiastic about their boot camp and the knowledgeable instructors they have met. You and your team have been wonderful throughout the past few days and everyone’s terrific attitudes have made the seminar a great success”

Melinda Dennis, Aluchemie

When asked, “What was the best part of the seminar for you?”, here are some of the responses :

“User Panel – excellent recognition of organizations with creative solutions”

“The class time. The first time I have ever been to a seminar where I was asked right from the beginning to reverse engineer an example”

“ The chance to talk and network with pros, find out what SAP doesn’t tell you about the product and get the best practices from people who have been in the trenches”

“…invaluable talking with other companies and knowledge sharing”

“… the workshops were excellent and very exercise intense so there was no boredom factor”

“Meeting with other users of the tools – It is a great way to get new ideas”

“The tips on real life best practices were extremely valuable – something that you cannot always get from other conferences”

“Size of the event led to good instruction and interaction”

“The training far surpasses any other training in the BI field. InfoSol has created a habitat for intensive training efforts at an economical price”

“The fact that I am learning things that are actually going to help me solve current problems – which also helps me sleep better at night”

Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology.

View the original article here

Passing Data From a Parent to Child SWF (Data Sharer Component)

In my previous post I demonstrated how to pass data from a parent to child SWF with the use of Flash Variables and the SWF Loader component. Today, I’m going to demonstrate how to accomplish the same functionality leveraging a free add-on component from Inovista.com called the “Data Sharer”.

One of the noticeable difference in this solution compared to the use of Flash Variables is that the child SWF does not have to load and initialize each time the parameter is changed.

How to do it:

1. Go to Inovista.com and download the free data sharer component

2. Add the data sharer component with Xcelsius’ Add-On Manager GUI or see Kalyan’s post “Using the command-line version of the Add-On Manger in Xcelsius 2008” to add using command line

3. Using the same child.xlf as in my previous example I have kept the same cell (E6) reserved for my parameter

4. Next add the data sharer component found under the “Inovista Other” category in your components list. Note that the component will not be visible at run time.

5. Give the data sharer a connection name. In my example I have used “salesman”

6. Check the “Import Values” box

7. Select the range of cells for  the “Import Data Cells”. In my example it is cell E6

8. Save and export your child SWF

9. Using the same parent.xls as in my previous example I have made a few changes to the underlying excel sheet.

a. Cell B5 should have the URL to your child SWF (Note that your SWF Loader Component will link to this URL)

b. Cell B7 should be reserved for the parameter that is going to be passed

10. Add the data sharer component to your canvas

11. Use the same connection name that you used in your child SWF. I used “salesman” in my example

12. Check the “Transmit Values” box

13. Select the range of cells for the “Transmit Data Cells”. In my example it is cell B7

14. Save and export your parent SWF. Note that the parent and child SWF should be located on the same server or file directory.

There you have it. Passing data from a Parent to Child SWF leveraging what I feel to be one of the best free components available to the Xcelsius community. There are a few quirks with this component so be sure to read the supporting documentation when implementing into a more complex model.

As always, please feel free to download the source files.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Several years ago, I saw an exhibition of surrealist paintings in Paris including works by Salvador Dali and Joan Miro. I found the Dali paintings visually stunning as well as fascinatingly compelling whereas I had a hard time understanding the Miro ones. Others, who were with me, expressed the complete opposite opinion and loved the Miro work but had little time for the Dali pieces.

We all have different likes and dislikes to visual images whether they are paintings, cars or even business intelligence dashboards. I can personally testify to the dashboards since our company has developed over 400 of them in the last four years and they come in all shapes, sizes and visual tastes. I remember one particular dashboard that we developed for a transportation company that I thought was very visually stunning and provided multiple levels of drill down and some very powerful “What if?” scenarios. While the manager at the company also liked it a lot, his director felt it was not stunning enough and wanted different colors and more 3-D components. They both felt the dashboard met their functional needs but for the look it really just boiled down to a matter of personal taste.

The beauty of a dashboard tool like Xcelsius is that it allows you to design and cater to all these different tastes. You have a wealth of components, colors, themes and templates available and, if this is still not enough, you can develop your own.

While some people prefer simple dashboards with clear sharp components, others may prefer a more complex and richer look. If you do not like pie charts and certain colors, you do not have to use them.

Dashboard design is an art but the key to designing an effective, as well as a visually pleasing, dashboard is not to read books about the subject and it is also not to hire a graphic artist. The key is to sit down with the people who are going to be using the dashboard and to understand what they want to see and how they want to view and interact with it. While this may sound too simplistic, it is not. Of course, there can be room for visual enhancement and “cool” features but only if they serve a purpose.

There are many dashboard products on the market today that provide limited views and components so that you often have to force fit your requirements into what is available within the product. Xcelsius, on the other hand, allows you to design and create dashboards in an almost infinite number of ways and you are only limited by your imagination (or your user’s requirements).  As to how they look, it is doubtful you will ever please everyone but remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

For a gallery of Xcelsius dashboards designed by INFOSOL and defined by customers, visit INFOSOL’s Dashboard Gallery

Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology.

View the original article here

Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 1 of 3

Before getting started, I want to provide a quick update on the Reportapalooza competition:

Unfortunately, I fell a bit behind while attending 2 SAP Conferences back to back this month.  Sorry if I let anyone down but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support.  I also want to give a huge CONGRATS to our current leader David Deitch who is an Xcelsius beginner turned Guru in this competition!

Now to Challenge #5.  Labeled the ‘Report Remix’ challenge, I am tasked with learning more about Crystal Reports 2008 and sharing it with YOU the community, hence the ‘remix’ which is to take you on the journey with me of learning a new Crystal product .  Below is my official public statement:

So let’s get started with a few simple questions?

Q. How can you integrate Xcelsius flash files into your Crystal Reports?

A. It’s a 2 step process. You first have to configure the Crystal Reports Data Consumer connection in Xcelsius (seen below) and then use the .swf button in Crystal Reports to embed the Xcelsius flash file. (More details on how to setup each will be provided in the next article)

Q. What are the Pros and Cons?

A. Pros – It is no secret that Xcelsius’ ability to handle large amounts of data is VERY limited. By embedding your Xcelsius flash file into Crystal Reports you get to leverage the power of the Crystal engine while utilizing the beautiful graphics in Xcelsius. It’s like having the best of both worlds.  In fact, in my next blog posts I am going to show how to integrate a map in Xcelsius into a Crystal Report.

A. Cons – If your not as familiar with Xcelsius you may have some issues using the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ connection. It could use some fine tuning (note to the  Product Team )

One more thing! This is your last week to submit your dashboards to the community Reportapalooza competition.  Hope you read this far down,  because if you have something worth seeing I am opening the door to review any entries that you send via email to gurus at everythingxcelsius.com and provide feedback if sent by 10/31 @ 12am EST.

Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page.

Tags: Business Objects, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008

View the original article here

Cool Stuff: Film Reel Countdown and Radar Simulation using Xcelsius

Cool Stuff: Film Reel Countdown and Radar Simulation using Xcelsius – MyXcelsius.Com div.cute_profiles_sprite{top:275px;left:0px;}//#smooth_sldr{width:550px;height:180px;background-color:#7f6d57;border:2px solid #4f4131;}#smooth_sldr_items{padding:10px 12px 0px 12px;}#smooth_sliderc{width:526px;height:125px;}.smooth_slideri{width:526px;height:125px;}.sldr_title{font-family:Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;font-style:normal;color:#ff991b;}#smooth_sldr_body h2{line-height:23px;font-family:Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:20px;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;color:#f0f0f0;margin:10px 0 5px 0;}#smooth_sldr_body h2 a{color:#f0f0f0;}#smooth_sldr_body span{font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;color:#ffffff;}.smooth_slider_thumbnail{float:left;margin:10px 5px 0 0px;border:2px solid #4f4131;}#smooth_sldr_body p.more a{color:#f0f0f0;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;}#smooth_sliderc_nav li{border:1px solid #ffffff;font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;}#smooth_sliderc_nav li a{color:#f0f0f0;}.sldrlink{padding-right:25px;}.sldrlink a{color:#ffffff;}MyXcelsius.ComVisual Data Analysis, Information Dashboards and Related Technologies

Skip to Content ?HomeShowcaseVideosVideos from SAPContactAuthorsArchivesCool Stuff: Film Reel Countdown and Radar Simulation using XcelsiusOct 21st, 2010

by Kalyan Verma. TweetShareEmailTweetShareEmail

Inspired by Joshua Tapley’s UFO tracker, I’ve tried my hand at creating this cool animation using Xcelsius. I will be posting the source code soon, however, I would like to hear from you all on your own “approach and take” on creating such an animation using out of box Xcelsius components.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)

Cool Dashboards from ProMorphics

Although I’ve worked in a number of different industry verticals, I’m currently focused on the Utilities vertical.  I’m always on the look out for great dashboards and I found some!  I want dashboards that combine the best features of Xcelsius together with amazing usability and depth of function.  My latest discovery is from ProMorphics.  ProMorphics is a services organization and they have been a member of the SAP Ecosystem for a number of years.   I recently got a chance to view the results of some of their compelling dashboards  and the results speak for themselves.

When I spoke with ProMorphics they talked about their commitment to listen to the customer and to go the extra mile.  They’ve been extremely successful at using Xcelsius as a prototyping/rapid development tool so that they can get feedback and turn the results around extremely quickly.

Their sample dashboards focus on these three areas:

Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S)Field OperationsSales and Financial Performance (Peek Performance)

If you work in a utility related industry, you may want to engage ProMorphics and leverage their expertise.  It’s not surprising that 70% of their business comes from repeat customers.

ProMorphics Operations Dashboard with Custom Xcelsius Controls

Although ProMorphics does not allow you to download their .xlf files, you can view the dashboards via the following website:
http://www.promorphics1.us/22/interactivedemos/demos

Here is a 10 minute video walk-through of their Peak Performance dashboard with Kasia Szewczyk
http://www.promorphics1.us/29/audiovideo/recording

It’s always good to see partners who exploit all the features within a solution.  In the screenshot above, you can see how they have built Google Map integration as well as a custom calendar control.  These are examples of custom Xcelsius controls written in Flex.  I saw example after example of custom controls, developed to make sure they gave the customer exactly what they wanted.  If you engage ProMorphics in a project, they will also make these custom Xcelsius controls available to you.  Some partners like Centigon Solutions do allow you to buy their Xcelsius controls separately but ProMorphics currently does not.

«Good BI»

View the original article here

Report Bursting with SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008

(Post #3 of 3 for Reportapalooza – Focused on SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008).

The idea to write about Report Bursting in SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008 came to me on the shuttle bus on the way to the airport in Orlando after a very successful (and one shiny iPad later) ASUG SAP BusinessObjects User Conference. The idea came by way of friend and fellow Reportapalooza expert – Brian Durning.

We were having a conversation about the “Reporting Remix” challenge and I asked his opinion on topics to discuss when writing about SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008. Brian is a highly accomplished SAP Crystal solutions expert and his immediate recommendation was Report Bursting. After some investigation, I now know why he made this suggestion. Report Bursting is a really powerful, convenient, and efficient process that minimizes the need for excessive individual report scheduling.

As the previous paragraph suggests, the inclusion of Report Bursting is one of the most anticipated enhancements to SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008. If setup correctly, this elusive feature is an SAP Crystal and BOE administrator’s dream. But if setup incorrectly, it will quickly become a DBA’s nightmare.  That’s why Report Bursting should be carefully researched and tested before implementing in a production environment. Once you’re ready, scheduling reports will never be the same (in a GOOD way).

What is Report Bursting?

Report Bursting in SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008 allows multiple groups of reports (known as Publications) to be scheduled and distributed to personalized groups of recipients with each group receiving reports containing data filtered differently. This is accomplished when the SQL statement is submitted to the database by the individual SAP Crystal Reports multiple times with different filtered values fetching different data values for each group.

This process provides the most efficient way of scheduling and distributing reports to a large number of users who require the same or similar reports but filtered by different parameters.

The reason that Report Bursting should be entered into cautiously is because of the potential impact on system resources. If the option “One database fetch per recipient” is selected when creating a Publication, the SQL statement of each report will query the database one time for each recipient. This option will almost definitely catch the eye of the DBAs if the recipient list is of significant size. But one database fetch per “batch” of recipients might be much less expensive and fly well below the DBA’s radar.

Creating a New Publication for Report Scheduling

To create a new Publication, begin by selecting a folder from the file menu in InfoView. Once you’ve done this, click New in the default toolbar and select Publication. This is displayed in the screenshot below.

Once “Publication” is selected from the list of choices, you’ll have three options when the “New Publication” window opens.

SummaryGeneral PropertiesSource Documents

In the General Properties section, give your new Publication a name, description (optional), keywords (optional), and then select the Source Documents option. Next click Add to select the reports that will become a part of the Publication that will “Refresh at Runtime”. Multiple reports can be selected as part of a single Publication.

As soon as reports are added, six new options are made available. The “New Publication” now has the following property sections.

SummaryGeneral PropertiesSource DocumentsEnterprise RecipientsDynamic RecipientsPersonalizationFormatsDestinationsAdditional Options

The “Additional Options” section contains eight different options:

Print SettingsDelivery RulesMerged PDF OptionsDatabase LogonRecurrenceEventsScheduling Server GroupAdvanced

Select the Advanced category and you’ll see settings in three different groups:

Profile ResolutionPersonalizationReport Bursting Method

The Report Bursting Methods section provides three choices for bursting:

One database fetch for all recipients (recommended for minimizing the number of database queries)One database fetch for each batch of recipients (recommended for high-volume scenarios)One database fetch per recipient (recommended when using row level security within Universes or Business Views)

Report Bursting Methods Described

One database fetch for all recipients – This option will submit the SQL statement of each report to the database once per report then deliver the data in the specified format to each recipient.  This method uses the database logon credentials of the publisher.One database fetch for each batch of recipients – This is the default option when scheduling Crystal Reports. Batches can run concurrently on different servers to reduce the load on the system (keeping the DBAs happy). The size of the batches depends on the specified personalization. This method uses the database logon credentials of the publisher.One database fetch per recipient – This method uses the data source logon credentials of each recipient as the query is submitted to the database once per report for each recipient in the publication. This option provides the greatest level of security but also produces the greatest load on the system if the recipient list is large.

Publications

In addition to Report Bursting, Publications provide an extensive set of options. Among the options that you’ll want to pay special attention to are the: Print Settings, Delivery Rules, Database Logon Credentials, Recurrence, and Events. Settings such as: Personalization, Formats, and Destinations should also be configured completely before saving and implementing a Publication.

Be sure to view the Summary option and review your selections before finalizing your Publication. You should also test your Publication before making it live. Refer to official SAP documentation for a more in-depth discussion of Publications and information regarding the various other options to configure, save, schedule, and view publication results.

Summary

After finally experiencing SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008, I am surprised at the great deal of sophisticated methods of delivering reports to users across the enterprise. Whether through the convenience of the portal , the use of automated report scheduling, or the use of personalized Publications for Report Bursting, SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008 is an excellent product for sharing information with users.

Questions? Please contact me.
Jim.Brogden@daugherty.com

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Kimono Starts to Open on BusinessObjects XI 4.0 at ASUG BO Conference

The 2010 ASUG BusinessObjects User Conference provided a lot of interest not just for the 1,100 registered attendees but also for the additional 600 attendees of the SAP Fall Focus who shared the same venue. Judging by the number of attendees in the various sessions, it appeared a large number of SAP Fall Focus attendees decided to attend the BusinessObjects tracks. The same was true in the exhibit area as many of the BusinessObjects sponsors were swamped with excited and interested customers.

This year Xcelsius dashboards shared the limelight with Mobile Business Intelligence in terms of the most popular topics being discussed amongst attendees.

There was also some buzz around the new BusinessObjects XI 4.0 release promising to be the first truly integrated business intelligence platform. While there were a few small demonstrations of some of the new XI 4.0 products in the general session, most of the other sessions stuck to slides and pre-recorded Camtasia demonstrations.  With the release moving to “ramp up” stage in November, the kimono was only half opened on some of the new features and functions. These included the new Data Services that will now incorporate Text Analytics in addition to Data Integrator and Data Quality in a single engine solution. Also, there is the new Universal Metadata Layer that not only combines Business Views and Universes but also now provides direct access to Multidimensional OLAP data sources.

Part of the integration approach with XI 4.0  is to provide common services across all the main content provider tools like Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, Explorer. These include a common query panel for accessing data through a universe so in the new Xcelsius Enterprise 4.0 developers would have access to universe objects while building the dashboard.

An updated Web Intelligence brings new charting libraries from the Explorer product and an update Crystal Reports delivers a new grid view with drag and drop on graphics capability.

Common platform services like Auditing and Life Cycle Manager now extend across all the content provider tools including Xcelsius.

SAP’s new solution for in-memory analytics, known as HANA (High performance ANalytical Appliance), was also discussed.

Once the ramp up period gets underway, we will have a better chance to more thoroughly explore the new features and functions but based on this sneak preview, there appears to be some promising new functionality in XI 4.

Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology.

View the original article here

Crystal Reports Drill Down

Drill Down is one of the great features in Crystal Reports.  You have to group the report and hide the Detail Section. Now only the Group Names (the Group Header) are showing with any Summary information in the Group Footer. Double clicking on a Group Name generates a separate tab and a sheet will be created on only that Group.

So how do you do that?

Design you report as usual.Insert a Group and summarized data by Group if desired.In Design mode, right-click on Section Name Details:

On the shortcut menu-choose Hide (Drilldown OK).Crystal Reports will put diagonal lines across the section. (See them above).If you would like to hide more sections, repeat steps 3 & 4.Also, you are able to move the Summary Data from the Group Footer up to the appropriate Group Header section and hide the Group Footer.In Preview mode, the mouse will change to a magnifying glass as you mouse over the Group Header. When you see the magnifying glass—double click.Crystal Reports has generated a separate tab and sheet of data for that Group only!! How cool!

Happy Reporting!

Drill Down is covered in our Introduction to Crystal Reports class and our Intermediate Crystal Reports class.

View the original article here

Setting Default Fonts in Crystal Reports

Tired of constantly formatting your fields in Crystal Reports?  Frustrated because you  have to do it for every report?  Crystal Reports uses default fonts provided in the database and they are not usually what you would consider attractive for your report.  You can change the default fonts so that when you design a new report, Crystal will use your preferred fonts in the new report.

Before you start your next report, take the time to set your default fonts for all future reports by following these steps:

From the File Menu, select Options.Choose the Font tab.Select each field category, select the font face and size. (For example: for Group Names, you may like Arial 12 and Bold.)Consider making the Summary Fields the same style, so the Subtotals will automatically match the Group Names.Fields are the record data, so a smaller size would be appropriate (e.g, 10 or 11).Field Titles are the Field Names or Labels that automatically go in the Page Header so you may want to Bold and Underline them.  Maybe make them a size larger than the fields.

Remember, Crystal Reports is a professional presentational reporting tool.  Your reports should appear professional, but they do not have to be difficult or time consuming for the report designer.  The main goal is to provide the correct data, but it’s nice if you can do it with a little style.

Hope this makes your reporting easier for you!!

Formatting Reports is covered in our Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008 class.

View the original article here

Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 2 of 3

As usual, before getting started I want to provide a quick recap of where we are with the Reportapalooza competition. This is the last week of voting before the final winner is announced on Nov 22th!

Challenge #1 (Done) – Winner , Mico Yuk (Check out my Coffee Consumption Calculator)Challenge #2 (Done) – Winner, Mico Yuk (based on traffic sent to Report a Hero Page)Challenge #3 (Done) – Winner, Brian Durning (voted best Crystal Reports Video by Community)Challenge #4 (Done) – Winner, David Deitch (voted best Charity Dashboard by Community)Challenge #5 (In Progress) – What this series of blog post is about.Community Dashboard Challenge (In Progress) – Vote until Nov 12th, 2010 for your favorite community dashboard.

In Part 1 of this series I went over some Q&A on what it would take to embed your Xcelsius visualization (in this case a map) into your Crystal Report, as well as some pros and cons.   In Part 2 I am going to cover how to set up your map in Xcelsius so that it can be consumed by Crystal Reports.  For this example we will be using Google Maps (compliments of Centigon Solutions) as it much more robust than the out of box maps in Xcelsius.

1.       Install Google Maps Plug-in for Xcelsius (more details on how to do this here)

2.       Add the  GMaps Plugin to your Xcelsius dashboard

3. Configure your Excel spreadsheet to hold 2 columns of data for the Google Map: 1) Map Address 2) Map Labels

4.       Go to Data Connections in Xcelsius -> Add the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ Connection

5.       Configure the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ Connection so that the ‘Row Headers’ are bound to the  Excel cell area you created in Step #3

In Part 3 I will focus on the final step:  Bringing your Xcelsius Map into Crystal Reports.

One last thing, please don’t forget to cast your votes on the 3 dashboards that were submitted by the community to show your support.

Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page.

Tags: Business Objects, BusinessObjects, Centigon Solutions, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008, Xcelsius 2008 Tips

View the original article here

Crystal Reports Rounding Function

In general, Crystal Reports users set up the default formatting to display the data in the way it is to be used most often. However, when it is necessary to be able to switch quickly to another format – right-clicking to format the field is usually the solution.

If the data field comes down to Crystal Reports with several decimal points, one solution would be to use the remove decimal places button on the tool formatting bar. That button actually rounds up on decimal place numbers greater than 5 and rounds down on decimal place numbers less than 5.

If that data is included in a formula, the Round function could be used on the number to be formatted. To give the report designer more control there are actually two functions for rounding numbers: Round and RoundUp. Each of these rounding functions have two sub-functions, which we will see below.

The syntax is simply Round (x), with x being the numeric or currency field to be rounded. Here are some examples of the Round function:

Round(1.234) = 1Round(1.4999) = 1Round(1.5000) = 2

You can also add a second argument to the Round function to indicate how many places to be rounded to as represented by y here: Round(x, y). Some more examples:

Round(1.234,2) = 1.23Round(1234.2345,2) = 1234.23Round(2345.23456,0) = 2345

The syntax is RoundUp(x), again with x being the numeric or currency field to be rounded. Here are some examples of the RoundUp function:

RoundUp(4.234) = 5RoundUp(1.4999) = 2RoundUp(1.25000) =2

Again, you can also add a second argument to the RoundUp function to indicate how many places to be rounded to as represented by y here: RoundUp(x, y). Some more examples:

RoundUp(1.234,2) = 1.25RoundUp(6.36521,3) = 6.366RoundUp(2345.23456,0) = 2345

If the second argument is left blank then the function rounds up to the nearest integer. In other words, 0 is the default for the second argument.

All this sounds complex, but it really isn’t. I would suggest that you try it on simple numbers with decimals first. Then, when you have the expected results, place it in your Crystal Report using it with the database field.

Taking it a step further, as in Arne’s comment – an if-then-else operator would have to be incorporated using syntax similar to this example:

If region in[CA, MA, FL] then Round({orderdetails.orderamount},2)Else Round({orderdetails.orderamount},0)

Happy Rounding with Crystal Reports!!

View the original article here

Two Advantages of a Manual Maximum Calculation in Xcelsius

By

AmyPublished: August 4, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Tech Tips, Xcelsius, Xcelsius End UserTags: Dashboard design, Xcelsius

Problem A: I have data that could be in the 1000s but sometimes could be 1 or 2.  Users do not want to see a division of 1.5 (or any part of a whole) since the data is tracking incidents and there are never “half incidents.”  How do I force the values to integers without losing the divisors for the high numbers (i.e. when there is 1000 maximum, I want to still see 250, 500, 750 divisors)?

 

Solution: Set a manual calculated maximum

{ =IF(MAX(AE15:AE26)<100,100,MAX(AE15:AE26)) } and then set the division number to 1.  With the division number to 1, it often also looks better to remove the grid lines (in case the data for the charts sometimes is much higher).

          

  Problem B:  I want to display a line chart on top of a stacked bar chart because there is no combination chart with this option.  My data for the stacked bar chart, however, is sometimes over 100 and sometimes under 100 and the extra space shifts the chart so that the two do not align.  How can I make the layered charts always align? 

 

 (Layered line chart does not line up with stacked bar chart when maximum is less than 100)

 

 (Layered line chart lines up with stacked bar chart when the maximum is over 100)

 

Note: If the charts are less than a magnitude different, the following method is a not-so-elegant-but-perhaps-acceptable workaround.  In the example above, I have emphasized the issue of alignment by making the different much greater in which case a more-involved display control of multiple charts may be the only acceptable option. 

Solution: Set a manual calculated maximum within an if() statement so that the maximum is always 100 or greater even if the stacked bar chart total is less than 100. (See above note for exception) 

 

This “fix” may not be acceptable for the right visual consumption. What may need to be done when the data is more than a magnitude of 10 different is to work with display properties for two charts with different widths based upon the maximum chart height formula instead.

View the original article here

Xcelsius and the Object Browser

In Xcelsius, the Object Browser is your new best friend.  It stores and displays all of the components that are on the canvas and allows you to hide them and/or lock them into position.  Xcelsius allows you to design a dashboard  by placing components on the canvas.  It adds exciting visualization to Excel data– trends, what-if, projections and much more.

To add a component to a canvas of the visualization:

Open the spreadsheet that contains the data you want to use.Decide which type of component you need. ( Selectors, Containers, Charts, Gauges.)
Select the component and click on the canvas to insert the object.Use the Object Browser to control the component.Click on the eye to hide temporarily.Click on the padlock to lock the  component position on the visualization.

Once you have completed the components layout, you save it. The process of saving converts your visualization of the Excel data to an .xlf file.  Click on preview and and a .swf file is created.   This file then can be placed in a web page, PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Acrobat.

Xcelsius creates a dynamic, interactive and visual presentation of Excel data and a wow factor to your presentations!

Learn more about the Object Browser and other cool Xcelsius features in our 2-day Xcelsius class.

View the original article here

Missing Leo Apotheker

There was a lot of trepidation amongst the BusinessObjects community when SAP acquired Business Objects in January 2008. We had all seen how Oracle had consumed Hyperion (which had, in turn, consumed Brio) to the point of losing its identity as an independent BI solution. The question was would SAP do the same to BusinessObjects?

On the day of the acquisition, I was attending a joint sales and partner meeting for BusinessObjects in Las Vegas listening to a mix of top Business Objects and SAP Executives delivering presentations to motivate sales for the coming year. There was really very little of substance until this man named Leo Apotheker took to the stage. He was engaging and passionate as he explained that Business Objects would remain an autonomous division of SAP so that it could effectively continue to sell Business Intelligence to all. He then went on to explain who SAP was and the core values of the company and how those would benefit the BusinessObjects employees, partners and product suite.  He painted an exciting vision of both the direction for SAP and BusinessObjects. I believe he impressed and inspired a lot of people in the room that day.

The global financial crisis followed later that year and into 2009 and Apotheker had his work cut out for him to steer SAP through a difficult time but he continued to push Business Intelligence to the forefront of SAP as well as actively support the Sustainability solution initiative within SAP.

So at the beginning of 2010 as we emerged from that difficult period, I was both shocked and sad to see Leo Apotheker leave SAP.  Of course, what he put in place has borne remarkable results with now more than 50% of SAP’s license revenues coming from Business Intelligence (not bad when you consider SAP was eight times larger than Business Objects at the time of acquisition) and SAP a clear leader in the Sustainability solution arena.

Leo Apotheker is now the CEO of Hewlett-Packard ( a company eight times larger than SAP – HP Press release ) and I think they are very fortunate to have such a visionary leading them. Unfortunately, we will not see how much further he could have taken SAP but, from where I sit, he certainly set them on the right track.

In searching for a picture to post on this blog, I found the following blog post from Feb 7, 2010  http://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/12079/news-analysis-saps-ceo-leo-apotheker-resigns/ which has many links including one to the official SAP press release.

Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology.

View the original article here

InfoBurst blog has a new home

The InfoBurst team at InfoSol is relocating their Infoburst2009 site to a new web address.  Visit the new product blog at infosolblog.com/infoburst

Yolande Grill is the Vice President of Business Development at InfoSol Inc. I would like to think of myself as the Chief Transformation Officer. My favorite quote to ponder is one from Trina Paulus. "How Exactly does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so badly, that you are willing to give up being a catterpillar"

View the original article here

How to handle missing data in time series analysis

Posted by Hemanta Banerjee on March 26, 2010

Saw a post today on the clearpeaks blog on ways to display time series charts with missing data. This is something that all of us run into and I wanted to try out some of the suggestions posted on the blog and actually implement those using XCelsius to see whether they can be done in real world.

So here is the situation. As you can see below I have sales for the various months of the year with data for Mar-June missing. If I do nothing and try to draw a chart it is actually misleading since it does not tell

the viewer that some of the months is missing. It is better if we include all the months and show missing data by a broken chart as shown below.

This is better since at least the viewer of the chart knows that the data is missing for some of the months.

This is of course not ideal since we would like to use the data we have to extrapolate and have a better visualization that shows the trend of sales for the full year including the missing months.

So how is done?

We added an excel formula to calculate a rolling average function… we could have used other functionality and even get the backend database to calculate the missing months.

With this new layout we could draw out the chart, and we do not have missing data… however I feel that we are again misleading the user since there is no way for the user to know that Apr to Jun is made up data.

Ideal would be if we could draw that section of the chart in a different color.

This is something that I thought would be easy but turned out to be a little bit complicated.

In the end I ended up doing a hack, which I am not sure if it is a scalable… In the table on the right, the yellow section is the data section. That has all the data from the database as well as the rolling months. Using that I have created 2 series, 1 which contains the real data (red) and another which contains the calculated months (green). For the calculated months series I have also included the boundary months to make sure that I have a continuous line.

Then I setup 2 series in XCelsius, the 1st pointing to the red portions, and the 2nd pointing to the green section of the spreadsheet.

And I have the final chart I need.

If someone has a better way of doing this using XCelsius would love to hear.

This entry was posted on March 26, 2010 at 5:35 pm and is filed under BusinessObjects, XCelsius. Tagged: XCelsius, BOE, BusinessObjects, Missing Data, Visualization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Be the first to like this post.

View the original article here

Crystal Reports Customized Groups

Did you know that in Crystal Reports you can design your own customized groups for your reports? All you need to do is to decide what the new groups will be called and what the rules or criteria are for the different groups. You are ready to go!

Let’s say that you have a list report containing 250 companies and the total sales amount for the year to date. The Sales Manager would like to see them grouped as follows:

Gold Star Customers (Total Sales Amount greater than $100,000)Silver Star Customers (Total Sales Amount between $50,000. and $99,999)Bronze Star Customers (Total Sales Amount between $10,000. and $49,999)Must Contact Customers (Total Sales Amount less than $9,999)

Here’s how you customize the grouping in Crystal Reports:

Insert a group on the Total Sales Amount field.Select Group from the Insert menuIn the order drop down (second drop-down on Common Tab)—choose Specified Order.A New Tab will open with the label Specified Order.

Type the name of the group ie. ‘Gold Star Customers’ and click on the New button, which opens the following dialog for entering the criteria of this group:

Add your criteria and click OK.Create the other two main groups in the same manner.The last group, Must Contact Customers, will go on the tab for Others.
Select the tab Others – notice the radio button is already there, just change the name in the text box from ‘Others’ to “Must Contact Customers”.You now click on OK and you are done!!

You have now made your first custom grouping for your report! Congratulations.

Happy Reporting!

View the original article here

Conditional Formatting in Crystal Reports

What exactly is Conditional Formatting in Crystal Reports?

Conditional formatting, put simply, is formatting  (e.g, font color, font style, etc.) applied to data that meets certain rules or conditions.  For example, the person requesting the report would like the Total Sales field to have a green background if the amount is greater than $5000.

But how is this conditional formatting magic done?

Select the field to be formatted.Right-click and choose the border tab – background color is in the center of that tab.Do not click in the color checkbox, rather click on the X+2 box directly to the right of the background color. The Formula Editor will open.In the Operators column choose Control Structures for the If Then Else.Double-click to bring that down to the work area. At the top of the functions column, you’ll see two new categories associated with formatting text/numbers: Formatting FunctionsColor ConstantsNow the tricky part: you have to construct a formula. I’ve included a couple of examples below.if Sum ({Orders.Order Amount}, {@GroupSort})>5000 then crGreen else crNoColor

Note that the colors are preceded by cr in lower case – Crystal Reports needs this, so do not enter a color name without it.  Also note that the else argument is followed by crNoColor.  The else could also be followed by DefaultAttribute, like so:

if Sum ({Orders.Order Amount}, {@GroupSort})>5000 then crGreen else DefaultAttribute

The results would be the same but the second formula would revert back to whatever the formatting color was that did not meet the condition. Of course, the formulas could be much more complex but the logic remains the same.  If the formula returns true do this othewise do something else.

Happy formatting!

We cover conditional formatting in our Introduction to Crystal Reports class.

View the original article here

Sharing Reports in SAP Crystal Reports Server

In this post, the 2nd in a three part series for the Reportapalooza “Reporting Remix” challenge, I will describe my observations of SAP Crystal Reports Server after logging on with Internet Explorer into the Java Infoview portal.

I logged into SAP Crystal Reports Server as the Administrator and was given two categories of options: Navigate and Personalize. Beneath the Personalize category was a Preferences selection. I’ve never been the type of person to pass on the opportunity to tweak a couple settings, so I clicked Preferences. Below is a screenshot of the initial screen displayed after I logged into the system.

Preferences are available in four categories:

GeneralChange PasswordCrystal ReportsDashboard and Analytics

The General section was expanded by default and the first setting provides the option to change the InfoView Start Page. I modified this selection by clicking the option button beside Folder then browsing to the “Report Samples” folder. By making this selection, all of my subsequent logons to the SAP Crystal Reports Server will no longer display the Navigate and Personalize categories as previously described. Instead, I would be taken directly to the Report Sample folder. 
This option saves time and allows me to get right to the folder that contains the reports I’m most interested in analyzing.

Browsing BusinessObjects InfoView
The contents of the Java Infoview portal, (or BUSINESSOBJECTS INFOVIEW as it’s titled in the upper left corner of the page header), delivers Crystal Reports and other local document types to users in a similar format as Windows Explorer. Users have the ease of navigating through a folder structure on the left side of the page while viewing the contents of the selected folder on the right side of the page.
This basic style should be very familiar to anyone that has spent any time working with a PC. The simplicity in navigation seems like it would lead to a very productive user experience.

Adding Reports to the Portal
To begin sharing reports with other users, I will need to add them to the portal. Will this be difficult or easy? Should I right-click or look for something like “Add”? The answer is: either.
If you want to add a report to the portal, just click Add in the toolbar located across the top of the folder structure. After clicking Add, two choices will be available – Crystal Reports and Local Document. If Local Document is selected, you’ll have the opportunity to browse for a Microsoft Office document (Excel, Word, or PowerPoint), PDF, Text file, or other file type. If Crystal Reports is selected, you’ll be taken to a screen prompting you to select a Crystal Report. The screenshot below shows the Add button in action.

Another way of adding a report to the portal is by right-clicking on a folder and selecting Add. This option is available in the tree of folders on the left side of the screen. You can also right-click on a folders displayed on the right side of the screen to add a Crystal Report to the portal. Picture below is this example.

Sharing Reports with Folders and Categories
Reports can be shared or delivered to authorized users in either folders, categories, or both. Folders are the primary structure for storing published report objects while categories seem to work as custom views that may contain reports from different folders.

My Favorites and Inbox
The My Favorites folder in the Java Infoview portal allows users to save their own personal copies of reports. This is a great place for storing report variations or reports that are still in the development and verification phase.

The Inbox is an extremely useful feature for passing around instances of reports to other authorized users. Also, the Infoview Inbox is a common destination for sending the results of scheduled report instances. Any user with Schedule rights can send refreshed report instances to other users with a valid logon by selecting “Business Objects Inbox” as the scheduled destination while scheduling a report to refresh.

Enterprise Convenience
After spending a short amount of time with SAP Crystal Reports Server, it has become very obvious how powerful this product can be to an organization. A report developer in Mobile can create a report, publish it to the portal, and then have users in Portland, New York, and Atlanta all view it within seconds of publishing it. With this type of collaborative environment, someone in another city can see a report quicker than someone four cubicles away can walk to your desk. Now that is cool!

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Thank you!

Jim Brogden

jim.brogden@daugherty.com

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!