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Home > Programming > CRM > SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook
SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook
SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook: Over 100 simple and incredibly effective recipes to help transform your static business data into exciting dashboards filled with dynamic charts and graphics

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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook

Chapter 2. Data Visualization

In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

  • Adding a line chart to your dashboard
  • Using a bullet chart
  • Using sparklines
  • Using a combination chart
  • Using a waterfall chart
  • Using a pie chart
  • Using a scatter plot chart
  • Using a bubble plot chart
  • Using a radar chart
  • Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart
  • Sorting series
  • Zooming in on charts
  • Scaling the y-axis
  • Using a tree map
  • Showing a trend without a chart
  • Displaying raw data
  • Illustrating single values

Introduction

Data visualization may be the most important topic when we are talking about dashboard creation. It enables us to view data, compare values, and make analyses in a clear and effective way. A dashboard is the ideal platform to present these visualizations.

Data can be presented in a graphical way; for example, with lines, bars, colored areas, gauges, or just with a simple red/green indicator. But on the other hand, in some cases, it may be more effective to use a simple list of values instead of these graphs. This totally depends on the purpose of the dashboard.

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards provides a great toolkit with lots of visualization components. This chapter will discuss these components and show you how to use them.

Adding a line chart to your dashboard

A line chart is very useful to visualize data that changes over time. It consists of a set of data points that are connected by a line. The horizontal x-axis typically shows the categories in which the data is divided. The vertical y-axis shows us the values.

This recipe shows how to add a line chart to a dashboard and how to link it to the data in the spreadsheet. We will also discuss the components that are similar to the line chart component: bar chart, column chart, area chart, stacked chart, and the Marimekko chart.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data into the spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

Getting ready

Note

You can also click on the Line Chart component in the Components browser, move your cursor to the canvas area (the arrow will now change into a cross), and click again. You can use whatever method you prefer.

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Line Chart component from the Components browser into the canvas...

Using a bullet chart

A bullet chart is in fact a bar or column chart with a lot of extra options. It can serve as a replacement for gauges and meters. Besides visualizing a data point as bar and column charts do, a bullet chart is able to show a target and two or more qualitative ranges. These ranges can indicate whether a value can be considered bad, satisfactory, good, and so on.

This recipe will show you how to configure a bullet chart. SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards has two bullet chart components: horizontal and vertical. Both components have exactly the same configuration options and work in the same manner. This recipe will use the horizontal bullet chart.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data into the spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

Getting ready

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Horizontal Bullet Chart component into the canvas.
  2. Bind the By Range field to the spreadsheet range from A4 to E7:
    How to do it...
  3. Also bind the Chart field in the Titles section to spreadsheet...

Using sparklines

Sparklines are typically small graphics, showing a horizontal line connecting several data points without labeling the values on their axes. The purpose of a sparkline is to show the movement of a trend over a certain period. Since its details are not available, the context of a sparkline must be clear to the dashboard user to interpret its meaning properly. This recipe will show you how to configure a sparkline.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data into the spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

Getting ready

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Sparkline Chart component into the canvas.
  2. Bind the By Range field to the spreadsheet range from A4 to M5.
  3. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and bind the Subtitle field to cell A2.
  4. Go to the Behavior tab of the properties pane of the Sparkline Chart component. In the Normal Range Area section, select Normal Range Area.
  5. Enter the value 600 in the Normal Range Low field and enter 1000 in the Normal Range High...

Using a combination chart

With the combination chart you can use both columns and lines to visualize data in one single chart.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data, as shown in the following screenshot, into the spreadsheet:

Getting ready

In the Number section of the Home tab of the toolbar, use the % option to convert the market share values into percentages:

Getting ready

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Combination Chart component to the canvas.
  2. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and the Subtitle field to cell B2.
  3. Bind the By Range field to the spreadsheet range from A4 to E6.
  4. Select By Series and select the Market share series. Select the option to Plot Series On: Secondary Axis:
    How to do it...
  5. As you can see now, both axes are populated with values:
    How to do it...

How it works...

After binding the data to the component, we adjusted the Market share series to plot its data on the secondary axis. After doing this, a second y-axis appeared on the right-hand side of the chart, labeled with percentages.

There's more....

Introduction

Data visualization may be the most important topic when we are talking about dashboard creation. It enables us to view data, compare values, and make analyses in a clear and effective way. A dashboard is the ideal platform to present these visualizations.

Data can be presented in a graphical way; for example, with lines, bars, colored areas, gauges, or just with a simple red/green indicator. But on the other hand, in some cases, it may be more effective to use a simple list of values instead of these graphs. This totally depends on the purpose of the dashboard.

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards provides a great toolkit with lots of visualization components. This chapter will discuss these components and show you how to use them.

Adding a line chart to your dashboard

A line chart is very useful to visualize data that changes over time. It consists of a set of data points that are connected by a line. The horizontal x-axis typically shows the categories in which the data is divided. The vertical y-axis shows us the values.

This recipe shows how to add a line chart to a dashboard and how to link it to the data in the spreadsheet. We will also discuss the components that are similar to the line chart component: bar chart, column chart, area chart, stacked chart, and the Marimekko chart.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data into the spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

Note

You can also click on the Line Chart component in the Components browser, move your cursor to the canvas area (the arrow will now change into a cross), and click again. You can use whatever method you prefer.

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Line Chart component from the Components browser into the canvas...

Using a bullet chart

A bullet chart is in fact a bar or column chart with a lot of extra options. It can serve as a replacement for gauges and meters. Besides visualizing a data point as bar and column charts do, a bullet chart is able to show a target and two or more qualitative ranges. These ranges can indicate whether a value can be considered bad, satisfactory, good, and so on.

This recipe will show you how to configure a bullet chart. SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards has two bullet chart components: horizontal and vertical. Both components have exactly the same configuration options and work in the same manner. This recipe will use the horizontal bullet chart.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data into the spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Horizontal Bullet Chart component into the canvas.

  2. Bind the By Range field to the spreadsheet range from A4 to E7:

  3. Also bind the Chart field in the Titles section to spreadsheet...

Using sparklines

Sparklines are typically small graphics, showing a horizontal line connecting several data points without labeling the values on their axes. The purpose of a sparkline is to show the movement of a trend over a certain period. Since its details are not available, the context of a sparkline must be clear to the dashboard user to interpret its meaning properly. This recipe will show you how to configure a sparkline.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data into the spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Sparkline Chart component into the canvas.

  2. Bind the By Range field to the spreadsheet range from A4 to M5.

  3. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and bind the Subtitle field to cell A2.

  4. Go to the Behavior tab of the properties pane of the Sparkline Chart component. In the Normal Range Area section, select Normal Range Area.

  5. Enter the value 600 in the Normal Range Low field and enter 1000 in the Normal Range High...

Using a combination chart

With the combination chart you can use both columns and lines to visualize data in one single chart.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data, as shown in the following screenshot, into the spreadsheet:

In the Number section of the Home tab of the toolbar, use the % option to convert the market share values into percentages:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Combination Chart component to the canvas.

  2. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and the Subtitle field to cell B2.

  3. Bind the By Range field to the spreadsheet range from A4 to E6.

  4. Select By Series and select the Market share series. Select the option to Plot Series On: Secondary Axis:

  5. As you can see now, both axes are populated with values:

How it works...

After binding the data to the component, we adjusted the Market share series to plot its data on the secondary axis. After doing this, a second y-axis appeared on the right-hand side of the chart, labeled with percentages.

There's more...

In the...

Using a waterfall chart

A waterfall chart is useful to visualize the fluctuation of a value in positive and negative values. The first and final values are displayed as full columns (starting at 0). The values in between represent the positive and negative fluctuations. A good example is the stock level of goods in a warehouse. A waterfall chart can show how it changes over time.

This recipe shows you how to set up such a waterfall chart.

Getting ready

Open a new SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards file and enter data in the spreadsheet as shown in the following screenshot. As you can see in row 3, the first and final value (January and December) show the total stock level, instead of the change relative to the previous period, as is shown in the other months:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Waterfall Chart component into the canvas.

  2. Bind the Values field to the spreadsheet range from B3 to M3.

  3. Bind the Labels field to the spreadsheet range from B1 to M1.

How it works...

Instead of showing the total value for...

Using a pie chart

A pie chart is circular chart divided into one or more slices. Each slice represents the proportion of a value to the total of all values. Pie charts can be used to show the share of a value in contrast to other values or the grand total. However, it may be hard to compare the size of slices within a pie chart when there are more than three slices, or across other pie charts. Therefore, if you need to compare data, we recommend using a bar chart instead.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data, as shown in the following screenshot, into the spreadsheet:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Pie Chart component onto the canvas.

  2. Bind the Values field to spreadsheet cells B5 through B7.

  3. Bind the Labels field to cells A5 through A7.

  4. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and the Subtitle field to cell B2:

  5. Preview the dashboard:

How it works...

We bound the fields from the General tab to the data in the spreadsheet, making this chart show the three labels and the...

Using a scatter plot chart

A scatter plot chart can display values that consist of two variables. The chart shows a set of points, each of which refer to a combination of a value on the x-axis and a value on the y-axis.

Note

In previous versions of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (before 4.1) the scatter plot chart component was called XY-chart component.

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data, as shown in the following screenshot, into the spreadsheet:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Scatter Plot chart component into the canvas.

  2. Bind the data By Range to spreadsheet cells B5 until C9.

  3. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and delete the subtitle.

  4. Bind the Value (X) Axis field to cell B4 and the Value (Y) Axis field to cell C4. Now it is clear what the implication of each axis is.

  5. Go to the Behavior tab and select the Scale sub-tab. Now select Fixed Label Size.

  6. Click on the Preview button to try the dashboard.

How it works...

In this example, we created a dashboard that compares...

Using a bubble plot chart

A bubble plot chart is essentially the same as a scatter plot chart, except that it has a third variable that determines the size of each point. The following screenshot represents a bubble plot chart:

Getting ready

You can reuse the dashboard from the Using a scatter plot chart recipe and add the values in column D, as shown in the following screenshot:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Bubble Plot Chart component into the canvas.

  2. Bind the data By Range to spreadsheet cells B5 through D9.

  3. Bind the Chart field to cell A1 and delete the subtitle.

  4. Bind the Value (X) Axis field to cell B4 and the Value (Y) Axis field to cell C4.

  5. Go to the Behavior tab and select the Scale sub-tab. Now select Fixed Label Size.

How it works...

In addition to the analysis we made in the Using a scatter plot chart recipe, we can now also see that the number of houses for sale in the mid-range market is very high, while the availability in the expensive market is very low.

Using a radar chart

The radar chart is able to represent more than two variables in a single chart. In this chart, the multiple axes all start at the same point. The radar chart can be used to make comparisons between series based on their score on a set of variables. In this way outliers can be quickly discovered and analyzed. The following screenshot represents a radar chart:

Getting ready

Open a new file in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and enter the data, as shown in the following screenshot, into the spreadsheet:

How to do it...

  1. Drag a Radar Chart component to the canvas.

  2. Enter a name and subtitle for the chart.

  3. Bind the cell range A4 to F6 to the By Range field.

How it works...

Our dataset has two series and five categories. The chart has an axis for each category, and on these axes, the accompanying values are plotted for each series. The values of a series are connected with a line.

There's more...

The filled radar chart component does the same job as the radar chart component and has the...

Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart

The OHLC chart and candlestick chart are both designed to show the movement of a stock price over time. OHLC stands for Open, High, Low, and Close. These four stock price values are illustrated for each time unit.

Both components work in exactly the same way, so you can use both the OHLC chart component and the candlestick chart component for this recipe. The only difference between them is the graphical visualization. The following screenshot displays an OHLC chart:

Getting ready

For this recipe, we need some historical stock data. Open your browser and go to http://www.nasdaq.com/ and look for historical quotes on the SAP AG stock as shown in the following screenshot:

Select a timeframe of one month and copy and paste the quotes to the spreadsheet of a new SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards file, as shown in the following screenshot:

How to do it...

  1. First, prepare the data in the spreadsheet. It is now sorted from new to old quotes. As the OHLC Chart component...

Sorting series

A chart does not always look like what you had in mind. In some cases, you may want to see data sorted from high to low values, while in other situations, you want to see the categories displayed in a more logical order. For example, in the following bar chart, the quarters are sorted from last (Q4) to first (Q1). To change this, you can of course adjust the data model in the spreadsheet, like we did in the Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart recipe. An easier and better way is to use the sorting settings for the bar chart component.

Note

Sorting is available in the following components: line chart, pie chart, column chart, stacked column chart, bar chart, stacked bar chart, combination chart, area chart, stacked area chart, radar chart, and filled radar chart.

Getting ready

You can reuse any of the dashboards you created earlier, as long as they contain one of the previously mentioned components.

How to do it...

  1. Select the component, go to the Behavior tab, and select the...

Zooming in on charts

If you are visualizing a dataset with a large number of values on the x-axis (the category axis), the chart might be a bit hard to use. To see a section of such a chart in more detail, we can use the range slider to zoom in on the data.

Note

The range slider option is available in the following chart components: line chart, OHLC chart, candlestick chart, column chart, bar chart, stacked column chart, stacked bar chart, combination chart, area chart, stacked area chart, and waterfall chart.

Getting ready

You can reuse any of the dashboards you have already made, which include one of the components mentioned previously. In this recipe, we will use the dashboard created in the Adding a line chart to your dashboard recipe.

How to do it...

  1. Select the chart then go to the Behavior tab and select the Common sub-tab.

  2. Select Enable Range Slider.

  3. Under Beginning Range Value select Category Label and enter value Q1.

  4. Under End Range Value also select Category Label and enter value Q3.

  5. Bind...

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Description

If you are a developer with a good command and knowledge of creating dashboards, but are not yet an advanced user of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, then this is the perfect book for you. Prerequisites include a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel as well as knowledge of basic dashboard practices.

Who is this book for?

If you are a developer with a good command and knowledge of creating dashboards, but are not yet an advanced user of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, then this is the perfect book for you. Prerequisites include a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel as well as knowledge of basic dashboard practices.

What you will learn

  • Become fully equipped with best practices when using the SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards spreadsheet
  • Present data using a wide variety of data visualization components
  • Discover how to make dashboard components interactive for an enhanced user experience
  • Take advantage of Dynamic Visibility features
  • Connect your dashboard to live data sources
  • Export and publish the SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards model into several environments
  • Improve the performance of your dashboards and increase your productivity as a dashboard developer
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Publication date : Mar 30, 2015
Length: 452 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784391959
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Category :
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Concepts :
CRM
Tools :
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Publication date : Mar 30, 2015
Length: 452 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784391959
Vendor :
SAP
Category :
Programming
Concepts :
CRM
Tools :
SAP BusinessObjects

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Table of Contents

16 Chapters
1. Staying in Control Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
1. Staying in Control
Introduction
Using the Object Browser
Searching for components
Grouping the canvas components
Making the spreadsheet more readable with colors
Making the spreadsheet more readable with comments
Making the spreadsheet more readable with borders
Using named ranges
Copying the format of one cell to another cell or range
Debugging the spreadsheets
Navigating between worksheets
2. Data Visualization Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Data Visualization
Introduction
Adding a line chart to your dashboard
Using a bullet chart
Using sparklines
Using a combination chart
Using a waterfall chart
Using a pie chart
Using a scatter plot chart
Using a bubble plot chart
Using a radar chart
Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart
Sorting series
Zooming in on charts
Scaling the y-axis
Using a tree map
Showing a trend without a chart
Displaying raw data
Illustrating single values
3. From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard
Introduction
Selecting your data from a list
Drilling down from a chart
Using the Filter selector component for hierarchies
An alternative hierarchy selection method
Using the Hierarchical Table
Using Filtered Rows
Using maps to select data of an area or country
Adding a Mac OS X-looking dock to your dashboard
Resetting your data (the reset button)
Making selections from a custom image (the push button and image component)
Inputting data values
Using the Play Selector / Play Control component
Opening up a Web Intelligence report using dashboard parameters
Selecting calendar dates
Using sliders to create a what-if scenario
4. Dynamic Visibility Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Dynamic Visibility
Introduction
Switching between different charts
Building a pop-up screen
Creating a mouseover help text popup
Password protecting your dashboard
5. Using Alerts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Using Alerts
Introduction
Adding alerts to a column chart
Making alert ranges dynamic
Displaying alerts on a map
Displaying alerts of different thresholds on a map
Using bindable colors to control alert coloring from a central location
Using alerts in a Scorecard
6. Advanced Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Advanced Components
Introduction
Printing your dashboard
Grouping and organizing components with the Canvas Container
Using dashboard scenarios
Using the Grid component
Creating a slideshow
Using the Panel Set component
Using the History component
Inserting data with the Source Data component
Analyzing trends
7. Dashboard Look and Feel Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Dashboard Look and Feel
Introduction
Changing the look of a chart
Adding a background to your dashboard
Using color schemes
Sharing a color scheme
Working with themes
Making component colors dynamic
Dynamic XY positioning and sizing of components
Using the Panel Container
Using the Tab Set container
Making tables look pretty
Using quadrants smartly
Creating/using a dashboard template
8. Dashboard Data Connectivity Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Dashboard Data Connectivity
Introduction
Creating a news ticker with Excel XML Maps
Using Query as a Web Service (QaaWS)
Using Live Office Connection
Using BI Web Services to consume a Webi report
Using the SAP NetWeaver BW Connection
Using the Query Browser
Passing values from dashboard to dashboard with Flash Variables
9. Exporting and Publishing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Exporting and Publishing
Introduction
Exporting to SWF, PPT, PDF, and other file types
Publishing to SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform
Housing your dashboard in a BI Workspace
Publishing to SAP BW
Going mobile
10. Top Third-party Add-ons Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Top Third-party Add-ons
Introduction
Managing add-ons in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Connecting to CSV files with the CSV Connector
Integrating Google Maps with the CMaps plugin
Connecting to Salesforce.com with DashConn
Presenting micro charts in a Tree Grid
Integrating Web Intelligence with Antivia XWIS Advantage Express
Advanced printing with Xcelsius Dashboard Printer
SUCCESS with graphomate charts
11. Performance Tuning Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Performance Tuning
Introduction
Improving Excel spreadsheet performance
Using scheduled Webis to save on querying time
Running connections after loading the dashboard
Checking master data loading performance of connections
Optimizing BEx Query performance
Using Fiddler to identify the cause of performance issues
12. Increasing Productivity Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Increasing Productivity
Introduction
Using the Spreadsheet Table component to debug
Time-saving tips during dashboard development
Fixing corrupt XLF files
A. Real-world Dashboard Case Studies Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
A. Real-world Dashboard Case Studies
What-if scenario – Mortgage Calculator
Sales/Profit dashboard example
B. Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
B. Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements
Online resources
Supported Excel functions
System and software requirements
C. The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
C. The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio
What is SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio?
SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards versus SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio
What is the SAP roadmap for dashboarding?
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index

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Customer reviews

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.9
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CWS Apr 24, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I bought this book as i am required to produce a prototype on the following platform SAP BO Dashboard 4.1 .After searching for a while , i noticed there is not many books written for the latest version on SAP BO Dashboard 4.1.This book is written in a cookbook manner whereby there is many good reference to many dashboard techniques and solution.The solution provided is clear and concise. With this book , I am able to complete my task promptly .A very good book to pickup Dashboard 4.1 skill .
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Isaac Babajide Mar 29, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Excellent book very complete
Amazon Verified review Amazon
D. Otten May 05, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
A very useful book for people who like to start building dashboards but also for experienced builders. Lots of examples to clarify things. A must for every Dashboarder!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Gilbert Baca Apr 16, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Company I work for allowed advance purchase of this book prior to release for a BI project at work. The project of course involves the latest version of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboard, ver 14.1.5.1501. In researching reference material for this project a few things became clear. There aren't many choices when it comes to books specifically for SAP Crystal Dashboard's latest version, in fact this is the only book I could find that is current. Many books written previously on Xcelsius plus the older version of SAP Crystal Dashboard (which is similar to the latest version). I did use a trial version of the software for a couple of weeks prior to receiving this book and licensing SAP Dashboard which gave me a chance to experiment.This book is an amazing collection of 'recipes' as the Author(s) have named them. Recipes being methods to produce dynamic interactive content for end users. I've worked through about the first 6 Chapters at this point in time. Eased into the material with some basics in Chap 1 with the recipes becoming progressively more complex through subsequent Chapters.David Lai and Xavier Hacking have compiled an excellent reference book. Thanks for the 'recipes' with detailed, easy to follow instructions. Have managed to develop some very dynamic templates in not even two business weeks of using the software. I'd go as far as saying at this point this is a definitive guide to learning and using the latest iteration of SAP's Dashboard software. Excited with anticipation when ordering the book. Really blown away by the organization, simplicity and presentation. I'll probably order the Kindle version as well for ease of searching and pulling up on my pc's Kindle app.This book was ordered to assist with a high profile project within the company. The initial dashboard templates I've created have turned some heads here. As I continue to internalize the software and soak in the recipes from this book the horizon continues to expand. Thanks for a fantastic reference guide.I do not know nor have never met David Lai or Xavier Hacking. Have a BBA/CIS from an American University. Currently work in enterprise software support as a programmer analyst.04.24.2015 - I've had this book now for almost 3 weeks. It's indispensable. If you're planning to purchase SAP Crystal Dashboard spend the extra $50 bucks, buy this book. I also bought Excel Dashboards & Reports by Alexander and Walkenbach. Never saw either of these books prior to a few weeks ago and wasn't intimately familiar with BI Dashboarding. I'm into BI Dashboard up to the waist and sinking quickly. Thanks David and Xavier for such a wonderful reference manual.07.15/2015- I've gotten very heavily into SAP Crystal Dashboard in the last few months. This book is a good reference book but now that I've sunk this far into BI and SAP Crystal Dashboard, I'd say this book is good for beginning to intermediate developers. SAP Crystal Dashboard is an awesome product. This book will help you thread your way into using Dashboard. It uses very simple tables and examples compared to what you will end up needing in a more complex Dashboard development.This book is available for free as a digital book and also has some great YouTube videos that the ReportWriter company publishes. Amazing book and will assist you in taking the next step into SAP Crystal Dashboard. I've already gone beyond this book in many ways as well. Dashboarding with SAP Crystal Dashboard Design Paperback – November 1, 2012by Report Writing Services (Author)
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Marco Pool May 04, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I had the chance to read the latest SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards book "SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook".It focuses on designing dashboards - a subject that many BusinessObjects designers should know a lot about.In my career, I've developed a few dashboards. The hard part of making a dashboard is that there are so many options available which makes the dashboard hard to support.This book reads well as it is full of examples that convey the essence of designing a dashboard and the understanding about why particular options are needed.This personal touch is what makes the book work so well.It also makes the book something good developers will want to refer back again.
Amazon Verified review Amazon

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About the author

Profile icon David Lai
David Lai
David Lai is an SAP Business Objects Consultant from Toronto, Canada. He has a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto. He currently specializes in SAP Business Objects and Data Warehousing work for clients which include SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 (Xcelsius), Universe Design, and Web Intelligence. David has a passion for data visualization and best design practices with dashboards, which has led him to create his blog (http://www.davidlai101.com/blog) in 2008, as well as co-author http://myxcelsius.com and finally author “SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbookâ€. David also enjoys speaking at conferences about best dashboard practices and making sense out of data. In his spare time he loves to spend time on many physical activities such as working out at the gym, salsa dancing, rock climbing, basketball and volleyball.
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