Special 2-Part Session:
Part 1: SAP BusinessObjects
Dashboards Best Practices:
Lessons to Design and
Deploy Interactive
Dashboards
Dr. Bjarne Berg
COMERIT
© Copyright 2013
Wellesley Information Services, Inc.
All rights reserved.
In This Session …
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In this two-part session we will look at how you can make your
dashboards a success
Get best practice rules for branding, layout, and dashboard
templates
Learn how to get the right dashboard requirements and how to
use Rapid Application Development (RAD)
Explore the best items to deploy on mobile platforms
Step through many practical demos of well-designed dashboards
for finance, sales, purchasing, what-if analysis, BPC reporting,
variance analysis, and more
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What We’ll Cover …
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Introduction
Use of different templates for different purposes
Picking the right dashboard methodology
Mobilizing your dashboards
Dashboard deployment options
Wrap-up
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Intro and Background
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In this special 2-part session, we will explore SAP
BusinessObjects Dashboards, not SAP Design Studio
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Distinction
 SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards is intended for businessdriven or BI self-service dashboards
 SAP Design Studio is intended for “professionally authored or
power/IT-built dashboards” (Source: Adam Binnie, Global VP
SAP, ASUG News 2012)
This is Part 1 of a 2-part session. For more information, attend the Special 2-part
session: Part 2: SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards best practices: Top 20 factors
that affect your dashboard usability, integration, and performance session.
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What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
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Introduction
Use of different templates for different purposes
Picking the right dashboard methodology
Mobilizing your dashboards
Dashboard deployment options
Wrap-up
4
Creating Dashboard Standards
A dashboard template should be developed that standardizes the font, colors, button
locations, navigations, and tabs. Spend serious time on this, it should become the
global standard for all your dashboards.
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Divide and Get Performance
Drill-down options
Link to Details
WebI reports
Split your dashboards into logical units. This keeps the result set for each
query small and also decreases the load time for each dashboard.
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Build Several Dashboards for Each Functional Area
• Avoid trying to create a single
dashboard for each functional area
• You will normally need 3-5 dashboards
for areas such as accounts receivables,
accounts payables, purchasing, sales
orders, invoices, shipping, etc.
• Build 2 to 5 WebI reports for more
details and link them to the dashboards
so that navigation is easy for end users
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Formatted Dashboard Example
• Dashboards
can
also be highly
formatted and
static with little
user interaction
• In
this dashboard
we included some
KPIs and only the
balance sheet for
an organization,
instead of using
Crystal Reports
for this sort of
work
Not all dashboards have a high degree of navigation and
images. For finance dashboards, presenting the numbers
in a meaningful way may be more important.
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Senior Management — Graphical Dashboards
• Dashboards for the senior
management should be very
graphically oriented
• Consider using logos and
images instead of text for this
purpose
• Navigation should be very
simple
• For senior managers, the
ability to interact with the data
(what-if), and see performance
numbers relative to plan,
budgets, and prior years are
critical functionalities
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Operational Dashboards
• Dashboards
can
be operational
• This
dashboard
focuses on
billing disputes
and is used to
monitor closing
of cases
• The
users of
this dashboard
are clerks in the
Some dashboards are operational in nature and give a summary of
billing office,
the key metrics and new cases as they occur. Such dashboards
not executives
works best when data is refreshed often or real-time.
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A Real-World Example
• This
project is for
travel expense
analysis
• The
color codes
communicate
changes, year over
year
• Graphs
can be
displayed in many
ways
• Navigation
can
be done and can
get new query
result sets
This dashboard is based only on BW query and BICS
connector; the cube is in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator and
the dashboard therefore loads in less than 12 seconds 11
A Real-World Example (cont.)
• Dashboards
are
most useful when
compared to
something
• This
dashboard is
relative to a
budget
• Notice
that all
graphs can be
displayed in many
ways and that
color coding is
consistent across
the dashboards
Make sure layout, buttons, and colors
are consistently used
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A Real-World Example (cont.)
• This
dashboard
groups six different
categories and
over 30 lines into
an easily readable
table using a few
lines and mostly
colors
• Too
many lines and
incorrect use of
“bold” makes
dashboards very
hard to read
Don’t cram too much into a single dashboard. Plan
on multiple dashboards for each business area.
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A Real-World Example (cont.)
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Changes over
time are typically
tracked in the
dashboards
•
Don’t just present
numbers, plan on
only showing
changes
 I.e., in amounts
and percentages
In this dashboard, the graphs are sometimes hard to read, so
filter selections were added. Use these carefully, since they are slow
and make Flash files large.
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Sharing Your Work Products — Web Services
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Dashboards are
most useful when
shared with others
•
Power users can
create great
departmental
dashboards that
can be shared
inside smaller
organizational units
In this dashboard, the data is merged with Google maps and external news
feeds. This makes the dashboard much more interactive and interesting.
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Live Demo: Six Types of Interactive Dashboards
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BI Self-Service — A Concept Enabled by SAP
BusinessObjects BI 4.0
The idea is to have a single launch item for all reports and
analysis. Many call this a “report center.”
•
•
A new perspective is the idea that
users can do much of their own
“development” work
The Launch Pad is intended
to make this easier. Users can:
 Use multiple tabs to work on
several documents at the
same time
 Search for what they are looking
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for and filter results
Dynamic Dashboard Option for Power Users
Step 2 – Self-service to select any characteristic to filter on. Can select multiple characteristics
to filter on, i.e., Month, Plant, Material Group, etc.
Step 1 – Provide a self-service option
to select a group of any of the many
key figures available from a BEx query.
Step 3 – Self-service option to select any
range of dates or selections. The dashboard
is designed to limit 13 characteristic key
figures though.
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The Measures Can Now Be Selected to Be Displayed
Step 4 – Select available key figures to display on chart
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The Next Step Is Just to Refresh the Display
Step 6 – Update the key figures to add
more key figures
Step 5 – Select available key figures to
display on the chart
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Adding More Measures to the Display and
Rearranging Them
Step 8 –
Move “SNP
Forecast
(MT)” to the
top of the list
for a higher
priority
Click update
Step 7 – Add “Revenue” to selected
key figures
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The Output
Step 9 – Notice “SNP Forecast (MT)” moved to the top and now
has numbers on the chart
Step 10 – “Revenue” is now
a selectable option
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Controlling Characteristics
Step 11 – Select “Xref,” a custom
characteristic to describe a material
hierarchy
Step 12 – Select “MESH” and
click Apply
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Key Figures Are Now Filtered Based on the
Selection
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Saving a Personalized View
Step 13 – Save this view as “Mesh and Mes Dashboard”
Step 14 –
Enter name and
save, and this
become your
personal selfservice
dashboard view!
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What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Use of different templates for different purposes
Picking the right dashboard methodology
Mobilizing your dashboards
Dashboard deployment options
Wrap-up
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The “Waterfall Methodologies” Are Not Good
for Dashboards
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The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodologies, such as
ASAP, are known collectively as “waterfall methodologies”
They give a false sense of clear-cut stages and do not address
substantial functionality changes during development
 It is hard to fix missing functionality during integration testing
The waterfall
Examples for Accelerators:
• Project Plan, Estimating
• Design Strategies, Scope Definition
• Documentation, Issues Db
Fill
Fillin
inthe
theBlank
Blank
Versus
Versus
Start
Startfrom
fromScratch
Scratch
• Workshop Agenda
• Questionnaires
• End-User Procedures
• Test Plans
• Technical Procedures
• Made Easy guidebooks (printout, data transfer, system
administration…)
Source: SAP
The challenge with ASAP is that users don’t know
what they want until they see it …
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The ASAP Methodology Overview
Integration
Testing
Create Technical
specs
No
Create Functional
specs
System Testing
Complete?
No
Yes
Unit Testing
Complete?
Yes
Configuration
Yes
Peer Review
No
Approved?
Peer Review
Yes
No
Complete?
Yes
Approved?
Structured
walkthrough
No
No
Complete?
Yes
Structured
walkthrough
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Where Do You Start — First Alternative
Get a group of five to seven
people for a brainstorming
session
Draw the solution, knowing that
it may look somewhat different
once developed
Focus on the use of space, graphs,
navigation, available data, and the
purpose of the dashboards
Do not design fixed format “reports”
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Building a Mockup in Excel
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If you can make a “mockup” in Excel, users can see what it may
look like in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (formerly Xcelsius)
Users can now see what it may look like
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Prototyping the Dashboard Requirements
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Once the brainstorming is completed, you can create data in Excel and
prototype the solution in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
It may be time consuming to get the requirements right
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Dashboard Accelerator Approach — Agile,
JAD, and RAD
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A Dashboard Accelerator is a group of bought or pre-developed dashboards, to
help companies develop their dashboards faster following a Rapid Application
Development (RAD), JAD, or Agile methodology
Interactive development
Orientation meeting
- High-level scope
agreement
Demo accelerator
dashboards in
scope
Show dashboard
in weekly UAT
sessions
Request
enhancements and
new features
Make
enhancements
Performance
enhancements
backend & frontend
Unit test
No functional specs are written and the
development time for a subject area can be as
little as 4-10 weeks depending on back-end
enhancements required and scope
System test
Integration test
Go-Live
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Framework for Picking a Dashboard Methodology
When to Select Different Methodologies
High
Joint Application Design
(JAD)
System development Life-Cycle
based methodologies
(SDLC)
Extreme Programming
(EP)
Rapid Application Development
(RAD)
Time to
Delivery
I.e. Scrum and Agile
Low
Low
High
Impact of Failure
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The Gray Areas of Dashboard Methodologies
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While presented as clearly delineated areas of selection, there are, in fact, several
dimensions when multiple methodologies can be employed
 I.e., when time to delivery is moderate or when the impact of failure is moderate
When to Select Different Methodologies
High
Joint Application Design
(JAD)
System development Life-Cycle
based methodologies
(SDLC)
Time to
Delivery
Extreme Programming
(EP)
Rapid Application Development
(RAD)
Low
Low
High
Impact of Failure
The framework is intended to
illustrate the differences
among the appropriateness of
each methodology
This decision is clearer in the
extreme. However, in reality
there may be “gray zones”
where more than one answer
may be correct
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What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Use of different templates for different purposes
Picking the right dashboard methodology
Mobilizing your dashboards
Dashboard deployment options
Wrap-up
35
Supported HTML5 Objects for Mobile Dashboards
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In Service Pack 5 for SAP BusinessObjects
Dashboards, there is currently some support
for a number of mobile dashboard elements.
These are the most commonly utilized
elements.
•
This means that many of your current
dashboards can be converted to mobile with
minimal effort.
SP05 also uses a new mobile-only preview
mode. This shows dashboards as they will
appear on the iPad before you deploy them.
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Mobile — Some HTML5 Limitations as of SP05
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Some items to note about SP05
 The exclusion of some mobile elements, such as a prompt selector
 There are no calendar controls, and HTML text for labels is not
supported
 Connections in the data manager is only available in the pre-query
panel, and only the “NOVA” theme is supported on mobile devices
 There is no support for the prompt selector for hierarchies in SP05,
nor are “reset” and “save scenario” available
Another major component that is not currently available in SP05 is
spreadsheet tables, making tables harder to make
 However, SAP supports the use of the URL button in mobile
dashboards, so we are making progress
The trick is to use the features supported today and
find workarounds for those currently not available
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Conversion of Dashboards to Mobile
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When converting, the new “Mobile Compatibility” tab displays
suggestions and warnings for optimizing dashboard components
for mobile deployment
Warnings, as shown in this picture, simply mean that there are better
ways of doing this. The dashboard still works. Error messages mean
that it will not work and needs some redesign.
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Using the Right Fonts for Mobile Dashboards
Mobile-specific text fonts are
marked with “iOS 5+” to show
which fonts will work best on your
dashboard
SAP has communicated that in the long run, SAP BusinessObjects
Dashboards and SAP Design Studio will start sharing more objects and
be on the same framework (source: Eamon Ida, http://tinyurl.com/ckw4cof)
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What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Use of different templates for different purposes
Picking the right dashboard methodology
Mobilizing your dashboards
Dashboard deployment options
Wrap-up
40
The Strategic Dashboard Release Plan
The strategic dashboard plan should clearly map out the vision for
the next 24-36 months
Freight costs dashboard
Cost analysis dashboard
COPA Profitability dashboard
Product profitability dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
Billing overview dashboard
Billing analysis dashboard
Billing
Billing errors dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
Order dashboard
Order Order trend dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
AR overview dashboard
Past due dashboard
AR
Aging dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
AP aging dashboard
Discounts taken dashboard
AP
Travel expense dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
...
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
July
Aug
June
May
April
March
Jan
Feb
Dec
Nov
Oct
Aug
2014
Sept
July
May
April
March
Jan
Feb
Dec
Oct
Nov
Sept
July
2013
Aug
May
June
April
Feb
Dashboard
March
Area
Jan
2012
June
•
!
!
!
!
!
Make sure you add the “phase-2” timeline for all areas, plan
for enhancements, and communicate this early to all users
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Create a Dashboard Deployment Diagram
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The dashboard deployment diagram provides an overview of who has
access to each dashboard. It is not a security role design (yet).
You should also provide a similar diagram that shows who can grant
access to the dashboards. These are called “dashboard owners.”
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The Business Readiness Dashboard Checklist
The purpose of the
business readiness
dashboard checklist is to
make sure that a project is
not merely an afterthought
with little visibility, zero real
sponsorship, and has a lack
of communication, support,
training, and organizational
commitment
There are reasons why many
dashboard projects fail
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Create an Online Help System for Your Dashboards
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Online help should be available for each dashboard
•
The online help system should
explain:
 How numbers are calculated
 How to read graphs
 What functionality is
embedded
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Another Example of Online Help for Dashboards
Online help is especially useful
for complex dashboards with
many panels
In this example we have
a help dashboard with
one display for each
graph, panel, and major
functionality
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Accessing My Dashboards in a Meaningful Way
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BI Workspaces and Modules
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BI Workspaces allow you to link many SAP BI tools in the same area, without the
need to jump between them. In this workspace, we have 3 dashboards, 1 WebI
report, 1 Analysis report, and 1 Crystal Report running at the same time.
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BI Workspaces and Modules (cont.)
We can also link the objects (WebI, Crystal
Reports) in a workspace together and pass
variables and navigation between some of
them
This alleviates
some of the task
of opening and
running the
workspace every
day
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Modules
We can use modules to make
the objects more interesting
and add comments to them
You can access modules from
the “my application” area
There are two types of
modules:
 Text modules
 Compound modules
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The Text Module
Using the Text module, we
can add our comments and
update them whenever we
like
There are two
options:
• Regular text
• HTML (this allows
you to use HTML
tags to format
your text
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The Compound Module
Using the Compound module we display
many modules together, this includes text,
dashboards, WebI reports, Crystal Reports,
and Analysis for OLAP
The development
of compound
modules are so
simple that
anyone with MS
Word or
PowerPoint skills
can do learn it in
less than five
minutes!
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Demo: BI Workspace and Modules
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Who Gets to Do What?
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The major decision for an SAP BI-driven enterprise is to determine
who gets access to each tool
There is often a temptation for the IT community of wanting to
keep the tools under their domain – That is a mistake
The IT community should actively work with the power and casual
users to improve human capabilities and thereby teach them to
become more productive employees
Chinese Proverb
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What Tool to Select
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All SAP tools have core strengths
 This is a subjective summary
Development
Tool
End Power
IT
External
user User Author Developer Graphing Navigation
data
Capabilities
External
web
services
OLAP
Ad-Hoc
Simplicity (basic) Mobile querying
Longterm
Strategy
Web
Application
Designer
Design
Studio
Xcelsius
Visual
Composer
Web
Intelligence
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What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Use of different templates for different purposes
Picking the right dashboard methodology
Mobilizing your dashboards
Dashboard deployment options
Wrap-up
55
Where to Find More Information
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Ray Li and Evan DeLodder, Creating Dashboards with SAP BusinessObjects
(2nd Edition) (SAP PRESS, 2012).
 ISBN-10: 1592294103
David Lai and Xavier Hacking, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook
(Packt Publishing, 2011).
 ISBN: 1849681783
SDN Community for BI Dashboard design
 http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-dashboards
Anita Yuen, “SAP User Interface Guidelines for Crystal Dashboard Design”
(SAP Collaboration Workspace, 2011).
 https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/docs/DOC-142813
Blair Wheadon, “SAP Crystal Dashboard Design 2011 and Presentation Design
2011 Samples” (SCN, 2011).
 www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/40245c5e-767d-2e10-e4b2c779cf05d753
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7 Key Points to Take Home
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Getting the right requirements requires prototyping and interactive
sessions with end users
Plan on many dashboards and don’t force too much information into
a single design
Build different layouts for casual users, executives, and power users
Link WebI reports to the dashboards and keep the detailed
information in those reports
The SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0x platform should be the preferred
choice to deploy your dashboards
Avoid certain components of the tool and stay with “default”
templates for simplified design (i.e., NOVA)
Plan your dashboard deployment as a larger initiative of BI selfservice for your organization
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Your Turn!
How to contact me:
Dr. Bjarne Berg
Bberg@Comerit.com
Please remember to complete your session evaluation
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Disclaimer
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, SAP NetWeaver®, Duet®, PartnerEdge, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their
respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and
service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by SAP.
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