Learning SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

Book description

Create professional, stunning, and interactive visual dashboards for both desktop and mobile devices

  • Connect to your data and create business-driven interactive dashboards using SAP BusienssObjects Dashboards 4.1

  • Make better business decisions, analyze information, and maximize the value of data with the help of these eye-catching dashboards

  • A step-by-step guide that will help you to master dashboard creation using SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

  • In Detail

    SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards is a leading Business Intelligence and reporting tool that provides you with a real-time understanding of your business with agile visualizations.

    Starting with an introduction to Dashboards and its benefits, the book slowly moves on to explain the dashboard creation process. After this, you will learn how to add charts, single-value components, maps, selectors, and other third-party plugins to the existing dashboards. Furthermore, it shares many best practices and will also help you to connect your dashboard to real data by establishing a data connection to a data source. You can also explore more about mobile BI and learn how to create dashboards for mobile devices. By the end of the book, you will be able to prepare, plan, and design interactive dashboards based on your business requirements using this cutting-edge BI tool.

    What You Will Learn

  • Create interactive dashboards for both desktop and mobile users

  • Add charts, single-value components, and maps to your dashboard

  • Use selectors to control your dashboard

  • Use advanced features such as dynamic visibility, insertion, and alerts

  • Style your dashboard by adding images and control a dashboard component's appearance

  • Export, publish, and import a dashboard

  • Connect your dashboard with real dynamic data using the connection manger

  • Find ways to secure your dashboard

  • Table of contents

    1. Learning SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
      1. Table of Contents
      2. Learning SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
      3. Credits
      4. About the Author
      5. About the Reviewers
      6. www.PacktPub.com
        1. Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more
          1. Why subscribe?
          2. Free access for Packt account holders
          3. Instant updates on new Packt books
      7. Preface
        1. Why do we need dashboards?
        2. What is a dashboard?
          1. Indicators
          2. Traffic light colors
          3. Icons
          4. Key performance indicators (KPIs)
          5. How to define your KPIs
            1. Visual elements used to present KPIs (charts)
          6. Key Risk Indicator (KRI)
          7. Scorecards
          8. Reports
        3. What this book covers
        4. What you need for this book
        5. Who this book is for
        6. Conventions
        7. Reader feedback
        8. Customer support
          1. Downloading the example code
          2. Downloading the color images of this book
          3. Errata
          4. Piracy
          5. Questions
      8. 1. Getting Started with SAP BO Dashboards
        1. Introduction to SAP BO Dashboards
          1. SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4.x
          2. SAP BO Dashboards
          3. SAP BO Dashboards design history
        2. Installing SAP BO Dashboards
          1. The dashboards prerequisites
          2. Downloading SAP BO Dashboards
          3. Installing SAP BO Dashboards
        3. Exploring SAP BO Dashboards' capabilities
          1. Accessing and using dashboard samples
            1. Accordion menu dashboard sample
            2. Chart Drill Down dashboard sample
          2. Accessing and using dashboard templates
            1. US Sales Map
        4. Getting to know the SAP BO Dashboards interface
          1. Understanding SAP BO Dashboards panels
            1. The Properties panel
            2. The Components panel
            3. The Object Browser panel
            4. The Query Browser panel
            5. Mobile compatibility
          2. Understanding SAP BO Dashboards toolbars
            1. The Standard toolbar
            2. The Themes toolbar
            3. The Export toolbar
            4. The Format toolbar
            5. The Start Page toolbar
          3. Understanding SAP BO Dashboards quick views
        5. Summary
      9. 2. Understanding the Dashboard Creation Process
        1. Phases in the project
          1. The initiation phase
          2. The planning phase
          3. The execution/implementation phase
          4. The control/testing phase
          5. The closing phase
        2. Determining the needs
          1. Gathering business requirements
            1. The sales by state analysis
            2. The sales trend analysis
            3. The sales and quantity per product analysis
          2. Determining the target audience and devices
          3. Sketching our dashboard
          4. Building the prototype
        3. Dashboard creation process
        4. Preparing the dashboard workspace
        5. Summary
      10. 3. UI Components
        1. Before we start
          1. Preferences
            1. The Document tab
            2. The Grid tab
            3. The Excel options
          2. Document properties
        2. Adding our first chart component (pie chart)
          1. Linking the chart with data
          2. Configuring the main chart properties
        3. Introducing other chart types
          1. Line, column, bar, and column line charts
          2. Bubble, scatter charts, and tree maps
          3. OHLC and candlestick charts
          4. Bullet charts
          5. Radar charts
        4. Adding a single-value component to our dashboard
          1. Gauge and dial
          2. Progress bar and sliders
          3. Value and spinner
          4. Play
        5. Summary
      11. 4. Using Maps and Other Components
        1. Maps
        2. Using maps
          1. Adding built-in map dashboard components
          2. Installing, configuring, and using the CMap plugin
        3. Using other SAP BO Dashboard components
          1. Using a calendar dashboard component
          2. Using the trend icon
          3. Using a trend analyzer
          4. Using the print, reset, and local scenario buttons
          5. Using the history and source data dashboard components
        4. Using other third-party plugins
          1. Using a dash printer
          2. Using Micro charts
        5. Summary
      12. 5. Interactive Analysis with Dashboards
        1. Using traditional selectors
          1. Using radio buttons
            1. Orientation
            2. Insert On
            3. Insertion types
            4. Selected item
          2. Using comboboxes and list boxes
          3. Using checkboxes
          4. List builder
        2. Displaying tabular data
          1. List view
          2. Scorecard
          3. The hierarchical table
          4. The spreadsheet table
          5. Grid
        3. Using advanced menus
          1. Label-based menu
          2. Sliding picture fisheye menus
          3. Accordion Menu
        4. Using other selectors
          1. Using the icon
          2. Using Filter
          3. Using push and toggle buttons
        5. Using third-party selectors
        6. Summary
      13. 6. Advanced Interactive Analysis with Dashboards
        1. Using the dynamic visibility feature
        2. Grouping components
        3. Using Containers
          1. Using Panel Container
          2. Using Canvas Container
          3. Using a Tab Set
        4. Using Alerts
          1. Using Alerts with Charts
          2. Using Alerts with the single-value component
          3. Using Alerts with maps
          4. Using Alerts with Selectors
            1. Using Alerts with the Combo Box selector
            2. Using Alerts with the Scorecard selector
        5. Using the drill-down (Insertion) feature
        6. Linking a dashboard to a Webi or Crystal report document
        7. Summary
      14. 7. Styling Up
        1. Using text dashboard components
          1. Using Input Text Area
          2. Using labels
          3. Using Input Text
        2. Dealing with colors and themes
          1. Using the Appearance tab
          2. Color binding
          3. Using the color scheme
          4. Using Themes
        3. Using art and background components
          1. Using basic art components
          2. Using the image component
        4. Formatting the dashboard components
        5. Summary
      15. 8. Exporting, Publishing, and Importing Dashboards
        1. Exporting the dashboards file
        2. Publishing dashboards
        3. Importing dashboards
        4. Summary
      16. 9. Retrieving External Data Sources
        1. Using direct query
        2. Using web services
          1. Web service query
          2. Web service connection
        3. Using Live Office
        4. Using XML data
        5. Summary
      17. 10. Managing Dashboard Security
        1. Understanding the SAP BusinessObjects security model
        2. Applying object level security
        3. Applying application level security
        4. Applying row level security
          1. Creating a row level security data profile using IDT
          2. Creating row level security access restrictions using UDT
        5. Applying security best practices
        6. Summary
      18. 11. Creating Mobile Dashboards
        1. Creating dashboards for smart devices
        2. Developing a mobile SAP BO Dashboard
          1. Using supported mobile components
          2. Using the recommended canvas size for iPads
          3. Using a supported mobile data connection
        3. Publishing mobile dashboards
          1. Previewing our mobile dashboard
          2. Publishing our mobile dashboard
          3. Adding our dashboard to the mobile category
        4. Accessing and using mobile dashboards
        5. Introducing the main features of the SAP BI application
          1. Viewing document information and adding a document to favorites
          2. Using the Annotation feature
          3. E-mailing dashboards
        6. Summary
      19. A. References
        1. Supported excel functions
        2. List of Built-in maps
        3. Supported mobile components and connections
      20. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Learning SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
    • Author(s): Taha M. Mahmoud
    • Release date: June 2015
    • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
    • ISBN: 9781785286629