What this book covers
Chapter 1, Getting Started with SAP BO Dashboards, shows you how to download, install, and run SAP Dashboard Designer. After that, we explore this tool's capabilities and features by accessing SAP BO Dashboard designer templates and samples. We do this to demonstrate the capabilities of this tool and make you more excited to learn about it further. Then we discuss the SAP BO Dashboard Designer interface, menus, and panels.
Chapter 2, Understanding the Dashboard Creation Process, makes you familiar with the process of creating dashboards. We start by talking about the business requirement gathering phase. Then we discuss how important it is to sketch the initial requirements on a plain paper and think beyond data. After that,you get to learn how to create a prototype for our dashboard project, which we build step by step as we progress through this book.
Importing data is the first step in the process of dashboard creation, so here you learn how to import data into your dashboard project. Then you learn how to maintain your Excel sheet and make it more readable. You also learn how to use imported data, which is meant for later chapters.
Chapter 3, UI Components, is where we start building the model by adding chart components to our dashboard project. Then you learn how to link this with the data that we imported in the previous chapter. After that, we see how to play with our charts' properties and how to handle missing data.
The single-value component is another visual element that we can use inside our dashboard, but because it is totally different from charts, we discuss it in detail.
Chapter 4, Using Maps and Other Components, teaches you how to add a map to your dashboard project. In this chapter, you also learn how to install, configure, and use third-party add-ons for Google Maps. Then you get to know the other available components in SAP BO Dashboard Designer.
Chapter 5, Interactive Analysis with Dashboards, explains selectors and shows you how to use them.
Chapter 6, Advanced Interactive Analysis with Dashboards, is the core of this book. In this chapter, we explain how to make our dashboard interactive using dynamic visibility. Also,you get to learn how to add alerts to your charts, single-value components, and selectors. After that, we see how to use data insertion and containers.
Chapter 7, Styling Up, demonstrates how to customize the look and feel of our dashboard by applying themes, changing colors, adding media and a logo, and so on.
Chapter 8, Exporting, Publishing, and Importing Dashboards, teaches you how to export your dashboard in different formats. Then you learn how to publish it to make it available for others.
Chapter 9, Retrieving External Data Sources, explains how to connect to data retrieved from other data sources.
Chapter 10, Managing Dashboard Security, illustrates how to manage dashboard security.
Chapter 11, Creating Mobile Dashboards, shows you how to create a dashboard for mobile applications.
Appendix, References, will include references for Supported excel functions, List of Built-in maps, and Supported mobile components and connections.
