Jan 24, 2012 -- 1:13PM, DragosOprisan wrote:

Hi Gurus,

Do you know how an end-user can send directly a snapshot (pdf or ppt) from a dashboard into email (not the whole dashbaord as flash file).

Thanks

Dragos Oprisan

Hi Dragos

There isn't a direct way to perform this action.  The best way to handle this is to generate the PDF or PPT inside of the Dashboards application and then attach it to your email.

Thanks for your question!

Chris
@chickman72 

Jan 24, 2012 -- 1:13PM, Christopher Hickman wrote:

Jan 24, 2012 -- 12:50PM, RamTadepalli wrote:

Hello Gurus,

Good Afternoon. Couple of questions.

1. When building dashboards, are there any recommended chart types to be used for different reporting areas (Finance, Sales, Manufacturing, Retail etc.). If not, Is it always the business that decides what kind of charts to use in a dashboard? It's confusing to decide the excat chart to use for a specific business area or should we even use a chart or we are fine with using a table?

2. If I want to display statistical information (Quartile, Perntile, Median etc.) in a dashboard, what chart type is most recommended?

I want to know your opinions based on your experience.

 

Best Regards

Ram

Hi Ram

This is a great question!

I will start by giving the typical grad school answer and say "it depends".

When you are building your dashboards, the metrics that have been determined as most important can be presented back to the business users with a question.  "Here are the options that we have for representing the data.  How can you derive the most data in the least amount of time?"  For a Finance dashboard, it would not make sense to give the entire balance sheet and income statement, but providing a small spreadsheet component giving the total assets, liabilities and net income would be ideal.  You can also provide a historical line or column chart once the user clicks on the assets, liabilities or net income.  Sales are usually interested in the performance of their products.  You should ask the users if a pie chart showing the percentage of sales against all lines available would be the best way to derive value.  You can then provide the ability to click on the pie pieces to give drill down information.

As far as statistics, we usually think of histograms and scatter charts.  Investigate using column charts and second axis series.  Also consider using the  XY Chart for scatter charts.  I've seen these used most often in statistical analysis.

I hope this helps!

Thanks a lot Chris. That definitely helped.

Best Regards

Ram

Jan 24, 2012 -- 1:10PM, talbanese wrote:

When using a Live Office connection with a prompt is there a way to set the default not to pull data until input is provided from the user?

Hi talbanese

When you set up your LiveOffice connection, it's best to set your Usage parameters to uncheck "Refresh before Components are Loaded".  Next, Provide a Refresh Query button on your dashboard that refreshes the Live Office data connection when it is pressed.  Finally, set dynamic visibility on the Refresh Query button so that the button only appears when there is valid data entered by the user.

You will need to create a little logic in a spreadsheet cell to determine when the user input is valid.  This logic can be used to control the dynamic visibility of the Refresh Query button.

I'm sure there are other ways to do this but this should give you a place to start

Thank you for your question!

Chris
@chickman72

We are at the close of the Forum. Thanks to all who posted questions and followed the discussion!

A full summary of all the questions will be available here in the SAP BI/BW Forum, and in Insider Learning Network’s  BI/BW Group. If you have registered for this Q&A, you will receive an email alerting you when the transcript is posted.

For ongoing information and additional resources on dashboards, including upcoming dashboard and Xcelsius coverage at the upcoming BI 2012 conference, February 28-March 2, join the BI/BW Group for ongoing information.

And I personally invite you to meet all 3 expert panelists in person at BI 2012 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, February 28 – March 2.

You can also listen to Chris Hickman’s podcast on dashboard mobility and read past blogs from Dr. Berg’s Insider Learning Network column.

And thank you again to our panelists: Decision First’s Chris Hickman and SAP’s Emily Mui. Thank you for joining us today!

Jan 24, 2012 -- 1:21PM, Brian Malone wrote:

When will Xcelius 2008 SP5 be ready for distribution?

Hi Brian,

It is available for download via SAP Service Market Place.

Thanks,

Emily-