This document discusses the benefits of data visualization and Xcelsius 2008 software. It notes that business people are inundated with information but it is not always useful. Xcelsius 2008 allows users to see a holistic view of business performance, take action to reach goals, and peer into the future of an organization through a highly visual interface. It enables anyone with Excel skills to create engaging interactive models and dashboards to provide comprehensive views of data.
10. THE NEED FOR DASHBOARDS & VISUALISATION ISSUE SOLUTION Numerous, disparate data sources Xcelsius Engage connects to any ODBC or XML source Create simple and engaging interactive models Spreadsheets are dull, static, and aren’t compelling Need a comprehensive view of your data Dashboards provide a comprehensive view of business performance Discussions take place in real time; static data isn’t conducive Do on-the-fly analysis with visual components like gauges, sliders and dials Limited IT resources Anyone that can use Excel can create stunning visualisations with little training
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12. Dashboards are used by Human Resources, Marketing, Sales, and more! ALL DEPARTMENTS NEED DASHBOARDS & VISUALISATIONS
20. COMPLETE END TO END CONSULTING SERVICES DSCallards was recently awarded Gold Partner of the Year by SAP Business Objects, in recognition of our continued success in helping organisations deliver business intelligence through: and
26. “ Dashboards and scorecards are multilayered performance management systems, built on a business intelligence and data integration infrastructure, that enable organisations to measure, monitor and manage business activity using both financial and non-financial measures” ” WHAT ARE DASHBOARDS AND SCORECARDS?
There are two main sections to this presentation. First, I want to explore some of the challenges associated with accessing and making sense out of corporate data. Then, I’d like to explore how Xcelsius 2008 meets these challenges. We’ll then look at the new features of Xcelsius 2008, and then we’ll see some of these new features in action
Everyday casual technology users are making decisions based on relevant information. We decide what to wear after a quick visit to MetOffice.co.uk We’d never head out on a road without a print out of directions from the RAC or the SATNAV suck on the widescreen. We change our route to work based on online, real-time traffic updates. We book our next holiday based on real-time alerts on a mobile phone that tell us that the flight to Paris has be discounted by £100.
However in the business world, timely access to the latest information is a challenge that faces virtually every decision-maker, from financial analyst to CEO. Even when data is available, it’s typically presented in a report format that taxes the eyes as well as the mind – endless rows and columns of numbers. Who gets the blame for all this? IT. With today’s rapid pace of business, large volumes of business data are locked within the silos of disparate databases that are impossible for business users to access and tedious for IT to translate into intuitive visual presentations.
How do we empower “Everyone else”? Did anyone ever teach you how to google? With the Internet, non-technical users have a high expectation of simplicity. They want an interface with no training required and quick response time. They want . . . Business information that is ready to use Accurate & timely No additional data manipulation required Business information that is extremely easy to use So intuitive that no end user training is required, ever Requires minimal navigation to get the information they need Business information delivered to them where they work Deliver Business information to them, on their desktops Deliver Business information to them, within their Office documents Don’t make them ‘go somewhere’ to get their business data
Dashboards are user interfaces that organize and present information intuitively, usually with graphical elements. The information is often aggregated from several sources (databases, operational metrics, log files, etc.) and summarized. They are often used by decision or policy makers. There are many types of dashboards. These include: Executive dashboards which tap real-time data as they use data visualization techniques to bring those databases to life. Business intelligence (BI) employing dashboards, scorecards and other visualizations that managers can better understand and manage their business Enterprise resource planning (ERP), deploying enterprise applications, dashboards and data access front-ends that require intuitive, easy to use navigation and drill-down Spreadsheets embedding graphing, charting, and mapping into custom applications within the enterprise. Operational applications embedding the above capabilities into their ASP, ISV, and professional services offerings.
What is Xcelsius? Well, I’m sure you all recognise this screen. Xcelsius turn this, - click – into this! Transforming data into captivating presentations, and enables you to create Interactive and Engaging Dashboards
SE CASE: Drive immediate action - What should I do next? Where should I focus my attention now? - The middle panel in this dashboard allows you to choose the opportunities that, if closed, will help you meet your forecast and quota. As a sales manager, I would want to focus on the opportunities that are farthest along in the pipeline (bottom of the y-axis) and the largest dollar amount (farthest right on the x-axis). Click on these dots and see how they impact the blue section on the “closed” bar on the chart below. If you want to target this opportunity, click “Projected to Close” and it will be saved. Do this for about 4 opportunities until your “closed” bar is above the forecast. Now you can take immediate action to close those opportunities. The forward looking dashboard - The panel on the right is a mash-up of data – from Salesforce.com and your financial database. Here you can apply what-if scenarios to predict your future outcome.
Change the traditional views of business information. Here’s a typical income statement. Imagine our CEO’s given us the mandate to increase net revenue to 2 million over the course of the next year (please excuse the dollar reference in the this example). How do we get there? How would we even begin to answer the question with this static view of information? (CLICK ON “Graph”). Well, data visualization can provide a new way to consume this information. Now we can intuitively see the relationships to our bottom line. Back to the CEO’s mandate, the most common answer may be to increase sales, but using our current data, we can see that even if we increase sales by 50%, an extremely aggressive goal, we still haven’t hit our target. So what else can we do? Let’s assume our Director of sales commits to increasing sales by 26%. Then, our purchasing department decides that we can switch vendors and lower our cost of goods down to 38% as a % of sales. Then, our office manager decides that we can cut G&A costs, and move that down to 16% of sales. Now, we know what we need to do in order to reach our $2m target, and all this was done during the same meeting.
See a holistic view of your business performance Monitor your business performance from easy-to-understand dashboards Make better decisions with real-time insight Leverage consistent visibility into your business performance Take action to reach strategic goals Enable everyone in your organisation to align goals Put immediate information in to the hands of decision makers Foster informed decision-making Peer into your organisation's future Interact with up-to-the-minute company data Discover critical patterns and easily spot trends in your data Drill down into real-time corporate data to perform root-cause analysis
How can we identify the business need for dashboards? All departments need dashboards.
Dashboards are user interfaces that organize and present information intuitively, usually with graphical elements. The information is often aggregated from several sources (databases, operational metrics, log files, etc.) and summarized. They are often used by decision or policy makers. There are many types of dashboards. These include: Executive dashboards which tap real-time data as they use data visualization techniques to bring those databases to life. Business intelligence (BI) employing dashboards, scorecards and other visualizations that managers can better understand and manage their business Enterprise resource planning (ERP), deploying enterprise applications, dashboards and data access front-ends that require intuitive, easy to use navigation and drill-down Spreadsheets embedding graphing, charting, and mapping into custom applications within the enterprise. Operational applications embedding the above capabilities into their ASP, ISV, and professional services offerings.
When the Xcelsius model is run it then accesses the data directly, from whatever output tier it’s been published to.
Well, the response we see when these are run for the first time is usually quite positive, to say the least.
A FLASHY DASHBOARD IS ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT IF USERS DON’T TRUST THE DATA THEN THERES LITTLE POINT BUILDING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. Dashboards need a certification process for all of the data they contain: goals, initiatives, financial and non-financial metrics. With certification and auditing comes trust. With trust, comes use. With increased use, more impact.
...as an example of this.
DEMO INSTRUCTIONS LOGIN = world LOGIN = Europe In this example…` First, you’ll note that the dashboard I’m showing you appears within PowerPoint. Keep this in mind as we walk through this dashboard: all of the security, functionality, and data connectivity is maintained, even when I embed the dashboard into a personal file format that can be emailed to any user in the organization. The first thing you’ll notice is that I’m prompted to login. The dashboard, and all of it’s data, benefits from the same security as the XIR2 platform. Logging into the dashboard shows me the all the sales information for Europe. With the ease of point and click, I can drill into additional details for each sales rep, showing me their Month, QTD and YTD % of quota, as well as their overall sales mix by product. Using a familiar table format, I can sort my overall data by Rep, Region, or dollar total, just by clicking on the categories. But what if I want to see the same sales information, but from a regional perspective? Click on the region button, and we can now look at the data for each country, simply by clicking on any area of the map. The result is a dynamic dashboard that’s connected live to the most current data, securely embedded inside of a portable PPT file.
Over the years we have developed a core methodology for dashboard development projects.
DSCallards place a high priority on quality and this commitment is endorsed through our ISO 9001:2000 accreditation and reflected in the methodical and consistent approach we take to deliver our services.
WHY DSCALLARDS? DSCallards deliver a flexible and creative approach to deploying effective solutions and techniques to satisfy business needs DSCallards harness a breadth of knowledge with over fifteen years experience of working with Crystal Reports technology DSCallards have a strong relationship with Business Objects, the home of Crystal Reports, and this is reflected in their Gold Partner status DSCallards continue to help thousands of customers in multiple industries spanning the UK and into Europe, including pharmaceutical, retail, manufacturing, banking and finance as well as government organisations DSCallards have extensive experience of integrating Crystal Reports solutions into many different types of databases and applications including SAGE, Oracle, SQLServer, IBM DB2, SAP, MS Access and many others DSCallards place a high priority on quality and this commitment is endorsed through our ISO 9001:2000 accreditation and reflected in the methodical and consistent approach we take to deliver our services.
The many different types of dashboards and scorecards can each look and function slightly differently, and often go by different names depending on the organisations implementing them. To help dispel the confusion, here is a definition – “ Dashboards and scorecards are multilayered performance management systems, built on a business intelligence and data integration infrastructure, that enable organisation to measure, monitor and manage business activity using both financial and non-financial measures” Dashboards and scorecards provide more than just a screen populated with fancy performance graphics: they are full-fledged business information systems designed to help organisation achieve strategic objectives. They help measure the past, monitor the present, and forecast the future, allowing organisations to adjust its strategy and tactics in real time to optimise performance, before it’s too late. Despite the variation among Dashboards and scorecards, each shares three basic characteristics, Three Applications if you like, all woven in one – A monitoring application, 2) an analysis and reporting application, and 3) a management application. Each provides a specific set of functionality to the user
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