SCDD
SAP Crystal Dashboard and Presentation Design (Xcelsius) Cookbook
I am very excited to announce the SAP Crystal Dashboard and Presentation Design Cookbook I am currently working on together with co-author David Lai. The book is scheduled to be published by Packt Publishing in the first half of 2011.
The cool thing about this book is that it is indeed structured as a cookbook. In at least 75 practical recipes we will show in a step-by-step approach and supported by a large number of screenshots how to create advanced dashboards using the SAP Crystal Dashboard and Presentation Design software, formerly known as Xcelsius.
Besides covering the functionality and working of components, data connections, dynamic visibility, alerts and dashboard publishing we will also discuss some of the top add-ons and provide best practices on dashboard development. This setup makes the book a nice read for both beginners and the more experienced users.
Since the book is currently under development it has the RAW (Read As we Write) status at Packt Publishing, which means that the all material that is written until now is already available in e-book format. We aim to publish the book in May 2011.
Update May 2011: The book has been released as the SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 cookbook. You can find more information here.
Posted in: Books, Cookbook, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, XcelsiusFree SAP Crystal Dashboard Design (Xcelsius) Webinars
This month three nice webinars have been publish on some diverse SAP Crystal Dashboard Design (Xcelsius) topics. This is good learning material, so have a look at it!
Distribute your Xcelsius Dashboards by Antivia.
How to utilize the power of XWIS and the BusinessObjects Enterprise platform to distribute personalized, offline Xcelsius dashboards, in a secure and scalable way to new users and new devices.
Xcelsius101 by DataPig Technologies (Mike Alexander)
This session is a beginner’s look at Xcelsius. If you are just getting started with Xcelsius, this session will give you a proper introduction to all the features of this amazing dashboarding tool.
Advanced XML Connectivity by DataPig Technologies (Mike Alexander)
In this Webinar, you will learn how to connect to external databasesusing full XML connectivity (not just XML Maps). This session will walk you step-by-step through the code you will need to develop a connected Xcelsius dashboard.
Free Mr. Excel ebook
Microsoft Excel is a major part of SAP Crystal Dashboard Design (Xcelsius) and to build advanced dashboard you need some proper Excel knowledge. Today I was browsing for some info on a few Excel formulas when I came up to this Mr. Excel site, offering a free 900+ pages best practices book on Excel called Learn Excel 97-2007 from Mr. Excel: 377 Excel Mysteries Solved!. The video below shows some of the tips & tricks that are covered in the book.
The ebook is in low resolution so it is good enough to use as a reference guide to take with you on your laptop or iPad. Download it here (no login/registration required!). You can get the printed version here.
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Posted in: Books, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, XcelsiusSAP InsideTrack videos on Xcelsius (SCDD) and BO Explorer
Last month David Lai gave an interesting presentation on SAP Crystal Dashboard Design (Xcelsius) at the SAP InsideTrack Vancouver event which covered lots of tricks and tips.
He discussed the following topics:
- Why are dashboards used and what are the benefits?
- Dashboard Design and Best Practices
- Dashboard Connectivity – Enterprise and Non Enterprise
- Xcelsius best practices with the designer and internal spreadsheet
- Xcelsius Tips and Tricks
- Xcelsius resources
You can watch the replay of this presentation here (Adobe Connect required).
Two other interesting presentations covered the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and the SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap/overview.
Which Xcelsius (SBOD) version do I have?
SAP released the third fixpack for Xcelsius (SBOD) service pack (SP) 3 last week. This is the eighth update since the initial release of Xcelsius 2008. You might be wondering which version you are using right now.
To see which versions you have, go to the Help menu and choose About Xcelsius.... In the table below you can find an overview of all releases.
| Release | Version | Build |
| Xcelsius 2008 (RTM) | 5.0.0.99 | 12,1,0,121 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP1 | 5.0.0.99 | 12,1,0,247 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 1.1 | 5.1.1.0 | 12,1,1,344 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP2 | 5.2.0.0 | 12,2,0,608 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 2.1 | 5.2.1.0 | 12,2,1,66 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP3 | 5.3.0.0 | 12,3,0,670 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.1 | 5.3.1.0 | 12,3,1,776 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.2 | 5.3.2.0 | 12,3,2,864 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.3 | 5.3.3.0 | 12,3,3,973 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.4 | 5.3.4.0 | 12,3,4,103 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.5 | 5.3.4.0 | 12,3,5,1128 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP4 | 5.4.0.0 | 12,4,0,11,66 |
