Altek Solutions Business Intelligence Blog

Creating Scorecards in BusinessObjects Mobile

Ryan Muldowney — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:22:20 +0000

The BusinessObjects Mobile iPad app provides the ability to display normal Web Intelligence report tables as scorecards featuring microcharts or trend icons. The report developer can enable this scorecard functionality by adding a special formula to the report block. Let’s take a look at an example to see how this is done.

Suppose you have a standard crosstab in your report with sales data, like the one below.

To display this crosstab as a scorecard with microcharts on the iPad, the report developer would set the report’s “block name” to this formula:

;SC_GF_C_4;SL_GF_Sales_C_5_16

With this change, we would see the following result when we view this report on the iPad:

How does this formula work?

There are two parts to the formula — one creates the “progress bar” and one creates the microchart.

The first part SC_GF_C_4 represents the progress bar. Literally, it means “ScoreCard, Gradient Fill, Column 4“. The 4 tells the app that this progress bar format should be applied to the fourth column on our crosstab, which happens to contain a percentage value.

The second part SL_GF_Sales_C_5_16 represents the microchart. In this case, the literal meaning is “SparkLine, Gradient Fill, named Sales, Columns 5 through 16“. This means that we want the app to take columns 5 through 16 on our crosstab and format them as a filled chart (also known as an area chart). You’ll see the chart has the column heading of “Sales” because we specified that in the formula.

The formula might look confusing, but you can see it’s pretty straightforward to get scorecards enabled on your mobile reports.

For More Information

The Mobile app allows several other types of scorecard items like line microcharts, trend icons, and trend arrows. To see the syntax for creating these items, check out the Mobile Administrator and Report Designer Guide.

Advanced BusinessObjects Mobile Reporting Tactics: Embedding Images

Mike Allison — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:59:57 +0000

With Mobile BI being the latest craze and most likely being the new norm, we will need to work to make sure that we continue to innovate and be creative in our report creation to keep end users happy. One quick tactic is to spice up your report by adding images into blank cells above or below your charts and tables or directly into table cells on your report.

Embedded Images

The BI Mobile app for the iPad supports images that are embedded in Web Intelligence reports. Here are some of the requirements for embedding images into your mobile report:

The embedded images are only supported by adding them in Blank Cells or Table Cells. The embedded images will not be displayed if they are put in the header or footer.
The embedded images can only be uploaded from a file location. Currently images from a source URL are not supported.
All image formats that are supported by Web Intelligence documents are supported by the Mobile BI app for the iPad.
The max height for table rows is 28 pixels. If the embedded images in a table cell are more than 28 pixels high, the image is truncated when it is viewed in the Mobile BI app on the iPad.

Embedding Images in Web Intelligence

Insert a Blank Cell or Table
Right Click in the blank cell or in a cell on the table and select Format Table
Select the Appearance tab in the dialog box
Access an image file by clicking Image from File and then Browse to browse out and find the image you would like to use
Click OK to close the dialog box

For More Information

For more information on embedding images into your mobile reports or other Mobile BI Reporting techniques, check out the Mobile Administrator and Report Designer Guide.

Formatting Reports for BusinessObjects Mobile

Ryan Muldowney — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:25:53 +0000

Although you can view any Web Intelligence report using the BusinessObjects Mobile iPad app, for the best user experience there are some simple rules to follow when creating your report. To help understand these rules, it helps to know how reports are rendered on the iPad.

If the document has only one report part or has one report part left on the last page, it appears as a full screen view irrespective of the formatting in the Web intelligence document.

If the document has two report parts or has two report parts left on the last page, the page is divided into two equal parts horizontally.

If the document has three report parts or has three report parts left on the last page, the page is divided into three parts.

A maximum of four report parts can appear on a page.

When designing your report’s layout, keep these guidelines in mind:

Ensure a maximum of two horizontal report parts only.
Ensure proper spacing between report parts.
Consider the edges of the widest report parts as a boundary within which all other report parts must be aligned.
Remember that if you increase the length of report parts vertically in Web intelligence documents, the layout will not be reflected accordingly on the iPad device.

Introduction to SAP BusinessObjects Mobile

Ryan Muldowney — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:00:57 +0000

In the age of the smartphone, mobile reporting is the future of Business Intelligence. And in BusinessObjects 4.0, SAP is making a strong push to provide a more complete mobile experience. This experience starts with two apps available now for iPhones and iPads: SAP BusinessObjects Mobile and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

SAP BusinessObjects Mobile (iPad Only)

The BusinessObjects Mobile app allows you to view WebIntelligence documents right on your iPad. You can make existing reports available via the Mobile app simply by adding them to a “Mobile” category from the BI Launchpad or Central Management Console. The reports look great and the style looks right at home on the iPad.

It’s important to note that not all WebIntelligence functionality is available on the mobile app just yet, although improvements are promised in future releases.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer (iPhone + iPad)

The BusinessObjects Explorer app allows you to access your Explorer Information Spaces and analyze the data just like you would in the browser-based version of Explorer. This app is available on both the iPhone and iPad — all you need is a compatible version of Explorer on your server.

What’s Next?

The mobile experience in BusinessObjects is an important part of SAP’s strategy for 2012 and beyond, and obviously these two apps are only the tip of the iceberg. What else can we expect in 2012?

Geolocation services including “augmented reality”
More ways to collaborate
Android and RIM app support
Support for the Sybase Unwired Platform
Offline capability in BusinessObjects Explorer Mobile
Support for Exploration Views in BusinessObjects Explorer Mobile
Xcelsius Dashboard support via HTML5!
A new Mobile Analytics Studio app for designing your own mobile BI

RangeFinder in the Workplace: Sales and Marketing Edition

Mike Allison — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:00:59 +0000

Business Intelligence provides sales and marketing teams with the information and insight they need on customers, prospects, markets and competitors. With powerful dashboards, analytical and reporting solutions sales and marketing teams are able to better and more accurately track, monitor and analyze every aspect of a sales cycle. BI makes it easier to identify cross-selling opportunities, locate profitable customers, track competitors, and create strategies to successfully reach sales quotas and revenue goals. With the addition of RangeFinder, you can make it even easier to visualize how your company is doing compared with historical data as well as your competitors to make educated and informed decisions that will enhance your company’s future.

RangeFinder KPI’s In Action

In the example below, we are looking at quarter-to-date sales numbers for all salespeople in a company. RangeFinder is utilized to visualize the typical sales numbers for the current quarter and compare it against the sales numbers for the person that is logged into the dashboard. This will allow for salespeople within the company to see how they are doing in the current quarter compared to their peers.

RangeFinder in Action!

Other Sales KPI’s that can be visualized by RangeFinder

Customer Interaction

Customer Satisfaction
Successful Customer Visits
Customer Costs

Sales

Target Rate – Inquiries into Orders
Salesperson Loss $
Sales by Product Line
Sales Costs
Sales Lost to Competitors
Salaries and Sales Commissions
Average Sales per N Customers

Leads

Leads per Week/Month by Salesperson
Junk Leads
Success Rate
Lead Addressing Delay
New Product Adoption

Service

Sales Deliveries
Delivery Delays
Complaint Turn Around Time

Market Analysis

Market Share Analysis
New Product Launch Analysis

And many, many more!!!

Want to try RangeFinder?

Download a fully-functional watermarked copy of the software free for your evaluation to discover how RangeFinder impacts the way you present and visualize information.

The .zip file contains everything you need to get started:

Xcelsius Add-on file (.xlx)
User Guide
Two sample Xcelsius models

Get the 30 day free trial here!

Formatting Data for Xcelsius

Ryan Muldowney — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:00:59 +0000

BusinessObjects Xcelsius is a great tool for creating dashboards and data visualizations, but sometimes it can take some thinking to get it to do what you want it to do. Your data may not always be formatted the way that Xcelsius needs it to be formatted, and that means working some Excel magic. For example, say you’ve got some baseball player salary information you’d like to analyze (hey, it’s that time of the year and I’m a Phillies fan). If you want to use a bar or column chart, it’s best if the data is formatted like this:

But if your data is coming from Query as a Web Service, it will more likely be formatted in a flat table, like this:

So how do you get from point A to point B? If you’ve got a fixed number of dimensions, you can do this pretty easily using the Excel function VLOOKUP. There’s a few simple steps to make this happen.

Step 1 – Build Your Table

First you need to set up your final table. For a bar or column chart, you need the data to be formatted like a crosstab, with one dimension across the top and the other down the first column. Set up an empty table by typing in your dimension values like this:

Step 2 – Create a Lookup Value

The VLOOKUP function works by matching a single value in a table and returning data from another column in that same table. So if we’re going to use it, we need to create a unique value for each row that we can reference. We can do this easily by concatenating the Player Name and Year together in one column, like so:

Step 3 – Add the VLOOKUP Function

Once you’ve got the first two steps finished, all that’s left is to create our VLOOKUP function. We will look up the unique value we created in step 2 and return the player’s Salary for the given year. You can see the function in the screenshot below. We concatenate the column and row header for the cell we’re interested in and use that as our lookup value, then use the results from our QaaWS query as the source data, returning column 4 with the player’s Salary.

Once you’ve got the data in this format you can easily throw any Bar or Column Chart on top of it by using the Data by Range option, located on the chart’s property sheet under the General section. Just select the entire table and choose Data in Rows or Data in Columns, depending on how you want to see your data.

The finished dashboard could be something as simple as this:

It’s not too much more work to make this completely dynamic if you want — Just use Query as a Web Service queries to build the header row and column in your crosstab and make sure your VLOOKUP formula covers all the cells in the table. With a little planning and some Excel magic, you can do some clever things in Xcelsius!

RangeFinder in the Workplace: Manufacturing Edition

Mike Allison — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:00:31 +0000

RangeFinder can be utilized in manufacturing just like it is utilized in the Insurance Industry as illustrated in Episode 1 of this multi-part series. Manufacturing includes all of the processes needed to convert raw materials or components into finished goods. Manufacturing KPIs can reflect process efficiency, resources consumption and quality of the outputs.

RangeFinder KPI’s In Action

In the example below, we are looking at production numbers that are made up from data for the last 30 days. RangeFinder is utilized to visualize the last 30 days, typical values for the following metrics:

Production Volume in lbs
Scrap Volume in lbs
Quality Reject %
Production Hours
Downtime Hours
Set-up Hours

The dashboard is interactive with the drop down box in the top right hand corner. If ‘All Shifts’ are selected, the indicator value would display the average value for each metric for yesterday and compare that to the typical value that was generated with the last 30 days of data. If a specific shift is selected, it will show that shift’s production numbers for yesterday and show how it compares to the rest of the shifts for the last 30 days.

RangeFinder in Action!

Other Manufacturing KPI’s that can be visualized by RangeFinder

Human Factors Engineering (HFE)

% Reduction of operational errors
System performance and reliability
Design and testing and evaluation

Manpower Availability / Personnel Capabilities

% For operations
% For sustaining
% For provide training for systems
% For maintenance

System Safety

Injurious accidents due to human or machine errors or failures
Number of safety considerations applied in a system acquisition
Maintain price with value to customer
Maintain high quality for all customer point of interaction

And many, many more!!!

Want to try RangeFinder?

Download a fully-functional watermarked copy of the software free for your evaluation to discover how RangeFinder impacts the way you present and visualize information.

The .zip file contains everything you need to get started:

Xcelsius Add-on file (.xlx)
User Guide
Two sample Xcelsius models

Get the 30 day free trial here!

Using Internet Explorer 9 with BusinessObjects

Ryan Muldowney — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:00:51 +0000

Last week I got a frantic email from a client who was having trouble using InfoView. Every time he tried to view a WebIntelligence report, he would get the error “The request sent by the client was syntactically incorrect (Invalid path /AnalyticalReporting/WebiView was requested).”

He had just gotten a new Windows 7 PC with Internet Explorer 9 installed — and that was exactly the problem. IE9 wasn’t supported on their version of BusinessObjects. Most clients don’t realize how short the list of supported browsers actually is. Until recently, only IE7, IE8, and Firefox 3.x were supported on Windows. Users can experience similar issues with other unsupported browsers, like the latest version of Firefox or Chrome.

So what are your options as an Internet Explorer 9 (or Firefox 8+) user?

Upgrade BusinessObjects to Service Pack 5

Thankfully, XI 3.1 Service Pack 5 has been released which adds support for Internet Explorer 9. If upgrading is a possibility, we strongly recommend it — not only do you get the latest browser support but also a laundry list of fixes.

Service Pack 5 also promises ongoing support for Firefox. The Supported Platforms Guide lists Firefox 8 as officially supported, but also says that all future Firefox releases will be supported with minimal testing about two weeks after the release by Mozilla.

If you’ve already moved on to BusinessObjects 4.0, you will have to wait for Feature Pack 3, due to enter ramp-up next week.

Install Firefox

If upgrading isn’t an option, then the next choice is to install a supported browser. And since downgrading Internet Explorer is not really an option either, that leaves Firefox. Check the Supported Platforms Guide for your release to see which version of Firefox will work for you. It will most likely be Firefox 3.6, which is still available for download on Mozilla’s site.

Use a Workaround

If neither of the options above will work for you, there is a workaround which involves modifying some of the BusinessObjects webapps. Obviously, this is a try-at-your-own-risk workaround that we don’t recommend, but the option is there if you have no other choice. A user on BOB provides a great description of the workaround and how to implement it.

RangeFinder in the Workplace: Insurance Edition

Mike Allison — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:00:13 +0000

With the release of our first Xcelsius/Dashboard Design Add-on component, we decided to put together a multiple part series of blog posts that will showcase how RangeFinder can be utilized within specific business sectors. The first edition of the series is taking aim at the insurance industry and which KPI’s can be visualized by RangeFinder to provide exceptional value to end users.

The insurance industry is data driven and people powered which is why having access to the correct data to make informed decisions is key. RangeFinder is the perfect component to identify how KPI’s compare to what is typical for a specific metric broken out by any dimension or time period. Let’s take a look at two KPI’s that we have implemented for a client in the insurance industry.

RangeFinder KPI’s In Action

In the two RangeFinder components below we are displaying two different metrics that show different things based on what information is selected in the dashboard. For both components, the county selection will show the value that pertains to that county in comparison to all other counties within the state in the orange indicator box.

As you see in the screenshot, based on the date range specified, the orange indicator shows how Allegany County compares to all other counties for both Avg Report Lag and Average Length of Claims. It shows that Report lag per claim is well above the typical range for all counties for that date range and Length of Claim is well within the typical Range for all counties. As the county selection changes, the value in the orange indicator box will change as well to quickly show the end user how that county stacks up against the rest.

RangeFinder in Action!

Other Insurance KPI’s that can be visualized by RangeFinder

Insurance Sales KPI’s

% of Renewed policies to the number of policies sold
% of policy lapses or missed payments
% of upgraded policies
Average # of policies per household
Cross-sell rate per agent

Insurance Policy & Premium KPI’s

Average insurance policy size of policies closed within measurement period
# of new insurance policies closed within measurement period
Net written premium on policies
% of policies that are renewed / not renewed
Premium revenue by geography / product
# of in-force policies to headcount

Insurance Claims

% of claims over cap
% fraudulent insurance claims / activities
Loss ration %
% increase in average claim payment per case
Legal cost incurred as % of total cost
Average claim settlement time
Claim paid amount as of a % of first year premium / renewals
# of open insurance claims
Claim reserves to meet current and future claim payments
Average cost of lost time claim
% of lost time claims that are represented
# of claims per $ of payroll

And many, many more!!!

Want to try RangeFinder?

Download a fully-functional watermarked copy of the software free for your evaluation to discover how RangeFinder impacts the way you present and visualize information.

The .zip file contains everything you need to get started:

Xcelsius Add-on file (.xlx)
User Guide
Two sample Xcelsius models

Get the 30 day free trial here!

Importing Content in BusinessObjects 4.0

Ryan Muldowney — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:00:16 +0000

SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 introduces a new tool for importing content called the Upgrade Management Tool. This replaces the old Import Wizard from previous versions and takes a huge step forward in usability. Using this tool, you can do a Complete Upgrade to import all of the content from an existing BusinessObjects system, or an Incremental Upgrade which allows you to choose the objects to import.

Once you’ve chosen which type of upgrade you’d like to perform, you are prompted to choose the Source and Destination systems. These can be either live systems or BIAR (BI Archive) files. If you choose a Live source system, its version must be XI Release 2 SP2 or higher.

The Upgrade Management Tool will then show you a summary of all the objects that will be imported. Remember that Desktop Intelligence reports are no longer supported in BusinessObjects 4.0, so they will not be imported. (You can use the Report Conversion Tool to upgrade those separately, but that’s another blog post.)

Click Start and the content import will begin — it’s that simple!

You can also do an Incremental Upgrade using this tool which allows you to choose the objects you want to import. The tool automatically finds and imports all dependencies for the objects you select. For example, if you choose to import a report, the tool will also import its universe and connection. After you log into the Source and Destination systems, you can choose your desired objects.

Once you make your selection, you are shown a Summary screen where you can see the objects you’ve selected along with their dependencies. In this case I chose a set of Crystal Reports, and all of their associated “Repository Objects” were automatically selected for me.

Upgrading to BusinessObjects 4.0 can be a daunting task, but things like the Upgrade Management Tool make life a little easier.