Dashboard Reports Session I -...
Transcript of Dashboard Reports Session I -...
Dashboard Reports – Session I
Vikram Shanmugasundaram
Sourcing CLM – Center of Excellence
Jan 2012
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Course Assumptions & Objectives
Assumptions
Proficient and comfortable with SQL and SAP Sourcing query and reporting
Proficient in SAP Business Objects Xcelsius 2008
Basic understanding of SAP Sourcing and its use
Basic understanding of MS Excel
Objectives
Gain a deeper understanding of Dashboard Reports in SAP Sourcing
Learn about Xcelsius data binding and data connections
Learn tips & tricks and best practices recommended by SAP
Intended Audience
Report Developer
Technical User involved in query configurations
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Agenda – Session 1, 3rd Feb
Dashboard Report Overview
What is a Dashboard Report
Software Requirements
Relationship between key components
Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Overview
Key components of Xcelsius
Demo
Exercise
Data Mappings
Data Connections specific to SAP Sourcing
Demo of Data Mappings and Data Connections
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Agenda – Session 2, 10th Feb
Dashboard Definition
What is a Dashboard Definition
How to create Dashboard Definition
Demo
Building a Dashboard Report – End to End process
Query Filters & Result Output
Best Practices
Troubleshooting
Tips & Tricks
Dashboard Reports - Overview
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Dashboard Reports - Overview
Terminologies
Dashboard Report
A report in SAP Sourcing that contains one or more Dashboard Definitions (created via
Reports)
Dashboard Definition
Contains one are more Query Definitions and a Xcelsius Design file (xlf) and the generated
flash file (swf)
Xcelsius Dashboard
Created in Xcelsius and contains the UI components
Query Definition
Created in Sourcing and contains the SQL and the filter parameters
Xcelsius Source File (xlf)
Contains the Xcelsius Dashboard UI layout, configuration for the embedded excel, and data
connection information components
Xcelsius Data Presentation File
Adobe Flash file that is exported from Xcelsius
Sourcing Dashboard Template
Xcelsius template provided by SAP which should be used for Sourcing Dashboard Reports
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Dashboard Reports - Overview
What is Dashboard Report?
Provides ability to present Sourcing data in a rich, interactive and easy to use format
Bridges the gap between data analysis and visual presentation empowering report developers to create interactive reports that can be easily used by a business user
Utilizes SAP Business Object’s Xcelsius Designer tool and Abobe Flash technology that interacts with SAP Sourcing through a XML data connection
Dashboard Report is NOT a
• Replacement for SAP Sourcing Reports
• Slice and dice tool
• Tool for rendering large result sets
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Dashboard Reports - Overview
Dashboard Report Usage
Workbench Channel
Document Report
Reports Page
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Dashboard Reports - Overview
Process Overview
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Dashboard Reports – Overview
Relationship between Key Components
Dashboard
Definition Report
Reports
Page
Document
Report Refers to 1 or more
Refers to 1 or more
Desktop
Channel
Refers to 1
Workbench
Page
Refers to 1
or more
Query
Definition
Has 1 or more
Has 1 or more
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Dashboard Reports – Overview
What happens when a Dashboard Report is executed?
• End User executes Dashboard Report in Sourcing
• XML Data Connections defined in Xcelsius are invoked
• Sends XML data containing query definitions name and filter information to Sourcing
• Queries are executed and query results are sent to Dashboard Report as xml
• Query results in the XML is mapped to Excel sheet embedded within Xcelsius
• UI Components mapped to Excel spreadsheet are populated
• Dashboard Report displayed to the end user
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Dashboard Reports – Overview
SAP Software Requirements
SAP Sourcing 7.0 or higher
SAP Business Objects Xcelsius
Enterprise 2008 SP2 or above ** ** earlier versions of Xcelsius is not compatible with SAP Sourcing
** Require separate license
SAP Sourcing
Xcelsius 2008
Xcelsius Dashboard
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Xcelsius 2008 is a visualization tool for
creating interactive visual models based on
highly aggregated business data sets
Point and click design time environment
The technologies that drive Xcelsius 2008
are Microsoft Excel and Adobe Flash
Player
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Key Areas
1. Component Browser
2. Object Browser
3. Canvas
4. Embedded Spreadsheet
5. Properties Panel
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Component Browser
Lists all the UI components that are available to add to your
model (UI)
Component Browser Categories
– Charts
– Containers
– Selectors
– Maps
– Texts
– Other
– Art & Backgrounds
– Web Connectivity
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Object Browser
Lists UI components that are currently part of your model
in a hierarchical structure
Can be used to select and manipulate UI components on
the canvas
Can hide UI components on the canvas
Can lock UI components on the canvas
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Canvas
Canvas is the main work area where the UI components are placed by selecting them from
the Component Browser
Size, Color and Background of the canvas can be changed
Grids can be used to arrange the UI components
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Embedded Spreadsheet
Xcelsius workspace incorporates an embedded Excel Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet contains the source data for the visualizations
Embedded spreadsheet is fully functional, however, not all Excel functions are supported.
Buttons that are not related to working with data such as Save, Open, Print are disabled
Typically the spreadsheet is displayed below the canvas. This arrangement allows the user
to easily bind components to cells
Data in the embedded spreadsheet can be imported
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Property Panel
The properties panel contains the setting and
format options for the selected UI component in
the canvas
Configurations such as title, labels, source and
destination data is done on the properties panel
Properties Panel contains the following views
– General
– Drill Down
– Behavior
– Appearance
– Alerts
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Property Panel
General view - All UI components will have a
General view. This is where basic
configurations such as Title, Sub Title, Source
and Destination data are configured
Drill Down view - Typically used in Charts to
create drill down behavior. Clicking on the
chart can insert data into the embedded
spreadsheet which can be used by other UI
components
Behavior view – Mainly used for controlling the
visibility of the UI component
Appearance view – Formatting such as font
size, color, etc.
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Preview
Once the UI components are created, it can be previewed by clicking on the
Preview button
The preview will allow report developer to interact with the model as you would
after it is published
Preview will not trigger the XML Data Connections, so the model will not contain
any data. So it might be useful to add some sample data in the embedded excel
sheet.
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Getting to Know the User Interface
Demonstrate key components of Xcelsius Dashboard
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Exercise 1
• Objective
o Get familiarized with using UI components in Xcelsius
• Exercise
o Download the Sourcing Template
o Create a new Xcelsius Dashboard from Sourcing Template
o Add a Canvas Container component on the canvas
o Add a List View component on the Canvas Container
o Add the following columns to the List View by mapping it to the column names on the embedded excel
Project ID
Project Name
Owner
Estimated Value
Preview and Save
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Exercise 1 - Solution
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Data Binding
Binding of UI components with the data in the embedded excel spreadsheet is a key step in
developing Dashboard Reports
SAP Sourcing provides a Xcelsius Dashboard template that contains the basic framework
to build a Dashboard Report
Excel spreadsheet embedded in the Xcelsius template contains the following sheets:
– Configuration
– UI
– Query 1 through 3 (more can be added as needed)
– Texts
– Messages
– SystemInfo
– Template Legend
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Configuration sheet
Configuration sheet allows the report developer to define the following:
– XML Data URL
– Query parameters associated with each Query Definition
– XML Data Connections and associated Query Definitions
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
UI sheet
UI sheet allows the report developer to dynamically control visibility of the UI components
The Behavior tab on the UI Component is where the dynamic visibility of the UI component
is mapped
Typically 1 means show and 0 means hide
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Query sheet
Every Query Definition defined in the Dashboard Definition should have its own Query
sheet
The naming convention used is Query#. For example, Query1, Query2, Query3, etc.
The template contains Query1 through Query10. Additional sheets can be added as
needed
First row on this sheet is the Query Name. This is information only. There is no logic tied to
it
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Query sheet….contd
Query sheet is where the output of the query is mapped to the UI component
Query sheet contains the following:
– Source data
o Contains the results of the Query Definition and is typically bound to a UI component
o It is recommended that source data is highlighted in yellow
– Destination data
o Bound to the output of the UI component
o It is recommended that destination data is highlighted in purple
Each Query Definition should have one UI text component for potential error display
– Make sure to have enough space for long error messages. If there is not enough space for long error
messages, the error message will be trucated
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Query sheet…contd
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Texts sheet
Texts sheet contains localized resources for labels, titles, etc
Contains two columns – Resource ID and the Display Name (resolved value of the
localized resource)
Each UI component is mapped to one or more cells in the Text sheet
Notice each localized resource is postfixed with a comma. This is required as the comma
separated list of localized resources are passed as the String to ODP-
ODP_ResourceResolver Query Definition
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Texts sheet
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Messages sheet
This sheet is used to display error messages on the Dashboard Report. When the
Dashboard Report is run, and if there is an error generated by one of the Query Definitions,
it will be displayed on the UI
Typically the error message are bound to the UI components sub title or to a new UI label
Message sheet contains 2 columns – Query and Message
Each Query Definition in the Dashboard Report should be listed on separate row on the
Message sheet
If error messages are not mapped to an UI component
it will not be displayed on the Dashboard
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Messages sheet
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
SystemInfo sheet
SystemInfo sheet contains system related information that can be displayed on Dashboard
Report
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Binding
Template Legend sheet
It is recommended to use color codes to highlight content and data mapping areas in the
excel spreadsheet
The color codes is used by standard Dashboard Reports and it is recommended to use the
same color coding for custom Dashboard Reports as well
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Xcelsius Data Mapping
Demonstrate Xcelsius Data Mapping
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Data Connections
An XML Data Connection connects to
Sourcing through HTTP. Typically a
dashboard will contain multiple XML Data
Connections. One is minimum.
Each data connection can send values for
one or more query parameters and receive
results of one or more queries
During runtime, XML Data Connection can
send live data such as query names,
parameter to Sourcing to request specific
information back from the server
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Adding a new Data Connection
Data Connections can be accessed from Data menu
The Sourcing Template contains one XML Data Connection. Additional XML Data
Connections can be added by clicking on the Add Connection button
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Configuring Data Connections
XML Data URL value should be mapped to the Xcelsius Servlet url on the Configuration
sheet as shown
MIME Type should be always set to “application/x-www-form-urlencoded”
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Configuring Data Connections –
Enable Load
Configuring Enable Load with the Data
Connection is a critical step in retrieving
real time data from the query results
and populate it in the Excel spread
sheet
Query Definitions executed in the Data
Connection should be added to Enable
Load and each Query Definition should
have a name and range mapped
Each Data Connection should contain
Message and SystemInfo mapped under
Enable Load
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Configuring Data Connections –
Enable Send
Enable Send is used for sending the
data to Sourcing when a data
connection is established
Enable Send contains 2 items
– __queries – This is mapped to the list of
Query Definitions. When a data connection
is established, the Query Definitions that are
mapped to __queries will be executed.
__queries is case sensitive
– Parameter mappings for the queries that are
part of the data connection. If a Query
Definitions does not have a parameter,
mapping it in Enable Send is not required
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Configuring Data Connections
If there is a delay in retrieving the data
from a data connection, a message can
be displayed to the end user that the
request is being processed
This can be configured under the Usage
tab
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Xcelsius Dashboard
Data Connections
Demonstrate Data Connections
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Exercise 2
• Objective
o Get familiarized with data mapping and data connections in Xcelsius
• Exercise
o Open the xlf you created in Exercise 1
o Add Query Definition (TRAINING-DashboardReport_Ex2) to the Configuration sheet
o Create Data Connection and map it to the cells in Query1 sheet
o Map the List View’s source and target data to the cells in Query1 sheet
o Configure Text, Message and SystemInfo sheets
o Save and Preview xlf
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Exercise 2 - Solution
Thank You!
Vikram Shanmugasundaram
Sourcing / CLM – Center of Excellence
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 23
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