In this post, Mark Hudson from Antivia, introduces us to the new Xcelsius Add-On: “ Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite”
As David Lai mentioned in his recent comparison of Xcelsius with QlikView, one of the issues with Xcelsius is how difficult it is to get enterprise data into it. As a long-standing Business Objects Technology Partner we saw an opportunity to fix this very problem with the power of the add-on component SDK released with Xcelsius 2008. The result is the Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite (XWIS) which offers a new, simpler, interactive approach.
XWIS provides Xcelsius components which know how to connect to Web Intelligence and allows you to deliver drillable data grids in Xcelsius that work directly with your existing Web Intelligence reports and drill paths, providing a true Web Intelligence experience (drill-down and slice-and-dice) but inside Xcelsius and without having to write a single formula in your Xcelsius spreadsheet.
The XWIS components allow dashboard users to decide for themselves how much information they wish to view and also how they want to view it—cross-tab, tabular, tree view—all are fully drillable on any of the dimensions the user selects (see screenshot below).
Slice and Dice Panel in Design & Cross TabSlice and Dice Panel in Design & Cross Tab
Not only does XWIS dramatically reduce the time (and cost) it takes to connect Xcelsius dashboards to your enterprise data, it also solves a potential performance issue with Live Office or QaaWS pointed out in David’s recent article.
How does it do this? XWIS works directly against the data that has been cached on the BusinessObjects Enterprise Server. Therefore, it does not need to run ‘Queries’ against the database and can easily access the information stored within reports that, for example, could have been refreshed overnight.
This means XWIS performs many times faster, is more efficient and more scalable than alternative approaches. It caches its data and delivers it intelligently to the Xcelsius model which gives the dashboard developer control over how much data is delivered to the Xcelsius model and when.
XWIS also helps to address another issue highlighted in David’s article and that is the ease with which dashboard developers can connect to enterprise data. XWIS delivers point-and-click connectivity to enterprise data where hooking up dashboards to Webi information is as easy as picking a report from an interactive panel inside Xcelsius itself. (See screenshot below)
Easy to access report picker within the XWIS components
Support is also inbuilt for query prompts and the dashboard designer also has the ability to control how users will be able to drill through the information. The contents tab allows you to control which objects from the report you would like to use with Xcelsius whilst the data tab allows you to bind the chosen information with other Xcelsius controls.
XWIS also includes a component that connects dashboard users together with Instant Messenger™ like discussions that are always live and that are independent of how a dashboard is delivered. Send a dashboard to InfoView, embed the same dashboard in a PowerPoint presentation—users remain connected and are able to collaborate around the information delivered in both dashboards.
Instant Messaging Within your Dashboards
For an in-depth look at XWIS take a look at the recording of a recent SAP Community Network webinar in which XWIS was introduced to the Xcelsius and Web Intelligence communities. Click Here for the Recorded Webinar.
Obviously all of us at Antivia love XWIS but we would really like to hear what you think. So whether you’re an experienced Xcelsius developer or just getting started with dashboard development why not try XWIS, a 30 day trial can be accessed at www.antivia.com/xcelsius , and give your own independent review right here on www.myxcelsius.com.
