Our solutions for Xcelcius' shortcomings
There are several factors that favor SAP Xcelsius , the SAP BusinessObjects suite's visualization tool:
- it is easy to use
- the result is attractive
- there are a number of output formats.
However, when we do implementations in businesses, we find that there are certain elements that Xcelsius does a little less well. Fortunately, there are ways to overcome these shortcomings and to continue using this great tool.
But what are those limits and how can they be addressed?
The first is related to the alignment of the components when we use a resolution different from the one for which the panel has been created. The second concerns the performance degradation when the data volume begins to increase.
Both problems have solutions. We will further explore the first issue in this blog article and the next. We will address the issue of volume in the last article of this series.
One of the most popular components of Xcelsius 2008 is the scorecard component. This component allows you to display data in a more or less similar way to an Excel spreadsheet. It can also display alerts that are relevant to the data displayed. But what happens if you also want to see a graph relevant to the data that's attached to this model?
Currently, we are forced to overlay graphics on the scorecard component. Unfortunately, with the proliferation of display advertising, there are many windows through which one can view the contents of the visualization, and they all have different resolutions.
The dashboard is compressed when it is displayed on a medium with a screen resolution lower than the one for which it was created. Worse, when it is displayed using a higher screen resolution, the dashboard is stretched and that's where the shoe pinches. The data of the scorecard will stretch to fit the new resolution, but the superimposed graphics won't be, and there will be a gap between the two.
What to do when faced with this problem?
Unfortunately, Xcelcius offers no elegant solution to this problem. You will need to try another option that we will explore in a future blog article.
Until then, good dashboarding!
Photo: thoothulee