Transcript R&A_2007_Berg_building_cockpits_dashboards_v3

Building Cockpits and
Dashboards: Shortcuts,
Design Best Practices, and
Guidelines to Ensure You Pick
the Right SAP Tool for the Job
Dr. Bjarne Berg
© 2007 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
What We’ll Cover …
• Background, terminology, and examples
• Tool options
• What makes a good cockpit?
• Which tool is right for me?
• Wrap-up
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Background and Terminology
Purpose
Usage
Updates
Data
Measures
Context
Source
Dashboard
Displays performance
Scorecard
Displays progress
Cockpits
Displays status and events
Performance monitoring
Performance management
Performance management
Real-time feeds
Monthly snapshots
Daily snapshots
Events
Summaries
Summaries and events
Metrics
KPIs
Metrics & KPIs
Exceptions/alerts
Targets and thresholds
Trends
Linked to systems
Linked to plans
Linked to BI systems
Sources: Wayne Eckerson, 2005;
Bjarne Berg 2006
• Many companies and people confuse the concepts of
dashboards, scorecards, and cockpits. They vary in terms
of purpose, usage, source, data, etc.
• Most BI systems fall in to the cockpits category
These are typical parameters, and some may be slightly different (e.g., some metrics in a
cockpit may only be updated monthly). However, such deviations should be exceptions.
2
Typical Components of a Cockpit: SEM Example
• Higher-level
navigation
between
views
• External
data
• Graphical
displays
Comparative/
benchmarking
Logical grouping of
similar information
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SEM Management Cockpit
Customized navigation
menus and buttons
Illustrate best
practices, benchmarks,
or target performance
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Management Cockpit
Add number lists
Each frame can have internal navigation
Represents the same data
in several ways to highlight
trends and to also provide
transaction details
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Navigations Linked to Multiple Views
Central navigation can
change multiple views
Link more
documentation
Make multiple
measures available
Source: SAP AG, 2005
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What We’ll Cover …
• Background, terminology, and examples
• Tool options
• What makes a good cockpit?
• Which tool is right for me?
• Wrap-up
7
Tool Options
• SEM CPM
• Web Application Designer (Web AD; WAD) and SAP
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Publishing to the portal
Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK)
Third-party cockpits
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Strategy Management and Performance Measurement – CPM
The presentation layer in SAP
Management cockpits has
four layers:
•Cockpit
•Wall
•Logical view
•Frame
High-level overview (consists of walls)
A logical grouping of measures
The display level of the cockpit; consists of frames
Lowest level of individual measure display
These presentation layer objects are already Webenabled and integrated with the Portal. They also
provide built-in drill-downs and navigation, based
on how you constructed your measures.
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What is SEM – CPM?
The Corporate Performance Monitor (SEM-CPM) is part of the Strategic
Enterprise Management BI tool suite. It consists of the Performance
Measurement (PM) area and the Strategy management area (SM).
The Performance Management area consists of four distinct areas:
1. Management Cockpit
2. Measure Builder
3. Benchmarking
4. Delivery of business content
The Strategy Management consists also of four areas
1. Balanced Scorecard
Strategy
2. Strategy modeling
3. Value Driver Tree
4. Risk Management
Measure
Value Driver Tree
Objective
Initiative
Source: J. Lombard, 2006
Risk
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SEM – CPM Walls
Walls are the highest level of the SEM-CPM Cockpit. Research has
shown that more than 7 walls are hard to read and comprehend. Ideal
numbers are 3, 5 or 7.
Major consideration!!
Humans have a hard
time remembering,
organizing, and retain
information that is
asymmetrical.
This is true for
hearing, seeing,
tasting, feeling and
smelling.
Read more about the cognitive revolution and the article that
started it all: Newell and Simon “The magic number 7” (1956)
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SEM-CPM Navigation and Measures
• Use indicators (red, green, yellow) at a high level to indicate the
overall situation of the organization
• Create the hierarchies of measures in the Measure Builder tool
(transaction UMK_MB_DISP_PARA)
By clicking on
each of the
frames, users
can access
more details
and other
cockpits
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SEM-CPM Rules for Graphs and Real Estate
• Try to avoid empty spaces, but don’t force unrelated measures
into the cockpit — it confuses users
• Don’t use as many types of graphs as possible,
and never mix more than 3 types of graphs. If you
use more, users have to interpret the pictures as well as the data.
• Missing data
points add
irritation
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SEM-CPM Rules for Graphs and Real Estate (cont.)
There is nothing wrong with using the same type of graphs
on a cockpit (e.g., tachometers or line charts). Users adapt
quickly and can absorb the information faster.
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When to Consider CPM — Management Cockpits
The management cockpits and Web rendering closely integrate with
the predelivered measures in SAP Measure Catalog. You also can add
new measures through SAP Measure Builder.
By linking the higher-level measures using Measure Trees, you can
create true performance measures that are consistent throughout your
cockpit and which also take care of most of the Web navigation and
drill downs in the cockpit. Navigation is built in to the management
cockpit and you do not have to build customized links.
Consider SAP CPM when you have limited in-house Web skills, or
when measure consistency and rollups are very important.
Drawback: Users often complain that there are too many steps
that they have to follow when drilling up and down within the
measures (rigid navigation that is hard to customize).
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Tool Options
• SEM CPM
• Web Application Designer (Web AD; WAD) and SAP
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Publishing to the portal
Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK)
Third-party cockpits
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Cockpits with Web AD 3.x and SAP NetWeaver 7.0
• Web Application Designer can create Web-based
cockpits using BW query data
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Cockpits with BW 3.x Web AD
BW 3.X-based Web AD provides drag and drop functionalities for
creating BW Web templates which may be the host of Web-based BW
cockpits
• Web AD can be used for creating BW Web Cockpits integrating data
from multiple BW queries.
•
Each item can be
served by a
query, or by
external Web
pages or Web
applications
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Cockpits with BW 3.x Web AD (cont.)
• Standard Web items are available for creating BW Web
templates with minimal coding
 Charts
 Tables
 Drop-down boxes
 Navigation block
 Check box
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Cockpits with SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Web AD
• New items include improved tab strip container in SAP NetWeaver 7.0
for designing BI Web applications
• Reduces the
amount of
custom
coding
required with
the help of
Command
wizards, Auto
complete, and
support for
HTML tags
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SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Web AD New Features
• Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (SAP
•
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0 Support Package Stack 7)
Drag and drop using Analysis item
New chart types (heat map, Gantt, milestone trend
analysis)
Export BI Web applications in PDF format
Command Wizard for generating Web
API commands
Integration with SAP NetWeaver 7.0
BEx Report Designer for formatted
reports
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BI Web API Commands
• You can use BI Web API commands for carrying out
certain actions in BI Web Applications
 Export to Excel, PDF, etc.
 OLAP functions: Apply Filter values, remove drill downs
• Command Wizards guide you through the steps for
creating a BI Web API command
• Commands appear together
for easy access
 Data Provider
 Web Items
 Web Templates
Web cockpits developed by Web AD in SAP
NetWeaver 7.0 can be interactive, include
many data sources, and be very flexible
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Command Wizard and JavaScript
•
Use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript code for the
Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications
This is a great feature for
building custom features into
your cockpits based on
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standard JavaScript
More New Cockpit Options
• Personalize BI query variables
• Bookmark the navigational state of the BI Web application
• Perform multidimensional analysis of BI query data
• Allow users to create exceptions and conditions for BI query data
These features make it
easier to customize the
dataset that queries
return to the Web
cockpit
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Web AD Cockpits in SAP Enterprise Portal 6.0
Directly publish BI Web cockpits to Portal Content Catalog using the
Publish option from Web AD
Portal and BI system connection should
be set up per SAP Note 917950
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Broadcast Cockpit Views Using Web AD
In SAP NetWeaver 7.0, use Information Broadcaster to broadcast BI
Web applications (e.g., cockpit views) to Enterprise Portal KM folders
and via email in various formats (PDF, MHTML, HTML)
• Information Broadcaster/Reporting Agent (SAP BW 3.x) can
precalculate BI Web applications to enhance performance
•
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Tool Options
• SEM CPM
• Web Application Designer (Web AD; WAD) and SAP
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Publishing to the portal
Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK)
Third-party cockpits
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer — Background
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is a Web-based modeling tool
• You can use SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer to develop SAP
Enterprise Portal content without coding
• You can create an integrated view of OLTP and OLAP data sources
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Cockpit Example
• No coding required to create great-looking Web-based cockpits
• Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages
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Details About SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Cockpits
• Delivered as part of SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (SPS8 and higher) Portal
• Different options available for rendering SAP NetWeaver Visual
Composer output
 Flash
Flash provides high-end visualization of SAP NetWeaver Visual
Composer models
 Web Dynpro (HTML)

Since a cockpit may have
many different DataSources
(queries), it can take quite
some time to execute them
if the memory cache is not
used consistently
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Data Methods
• Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including
SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model
• Different options available for data access include:
 BI Extension Kit
 Remote Function Call (RFC)
 Web services
• BI Extension Kit allows access
to the following DataSources
 SAP NetWeaver 2004 BI
(SAP BW 3.5 Support Package 14)
 SAP NetWeaver 7.0
 JDBC
 XMLA
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer DataProviders
• You can use BI queries and views as DataProviders for SAP
NetWeaver Visual Composer models
• You also can use BI query functionalities for exceptions and
variables along with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
models
• SAP NetWeaver
Visual Composer
allows access to BI
history, favorites,
and roles
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Web AD and SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer integrates with Web
AD-based applications using Portal Eventing Framework
• For example, BW Web API can pass a filter value from a
BEx Web application to SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
 And vice versa
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Tool Options
• SEM CPM
• Web Application Designer (Web AD; WAD) and SAP
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Publishing to the portal
Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK)
Third-party cockpits
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Web Cockpit in the Portal
Integrate queries and
Web applications into the
portal through
publishing, broadcasting,
or Web calls
The portal can either
receive designed pages
passively or actively
create communities, Web
pages, collaboration
rooms, or cockpits
Publishing
Broadcasting
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Web Cockpit in the Portal (cont.)
• The SEM-CPM cockpits
are already part of the
portal, so you can access
them there
• iViews can build custom
portal cockpits with
iViews from many data
sources (Web AD, BW,
SEM, SAP R/3, Web) and
in many formats (graphs,
pictures, figures, tables)
• iViews can also be
interactive
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SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Visual Composer Portal Publishing
• SAP NetWeaver Visual
Composer Design time
deploys Visual
Composer models
directly as iViews to
Portal Content Catalog
• You can then use
Visual Composer
iViews in portal pages,
roles, etc.
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Building a Web Cockpit in the Portal
The trick in developing custom Web
cockpits in the portal is to manage
the real estate carefully
Most pure iView-based cockpits are
cluttered and hard to read and
navigate
1. Start with logical groupings of
items (sales, finance, e.g.)
3. Share the same navigation menus
and tabs as the portal
2. Limit colors to complementary
formats (we will look at these
later)
4. Avoid running text, flashes,
animations, layering and scrolling
text (this is an absolute no-no)
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Tool Options
• SEM CPM
• Web Application Designer (Web AD; WAD) and SAP
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Publishing to the portal
Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK)
Third-party cockpits
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BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits
BI Java SDK can be used for custom applications based on SAP BI
and non-SAP data.
• BI Java SDK provides access to relational and OLAP data sources
using JDBC, XMLA, ODBO etc.
• Access to 200+ data sources using the JDBC drivers.
•
Java programmers will
recognize the
Software Development
Kit (SDK) main
libraries such as the
abstract windowing
toolkit (AWT) and the
GUI-oriented Swing
object library as well
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Source: SAP AG, 2005
BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits (cont.)
• SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio can develop BI Java SDK-based
applications
• Can use along with SAP Java Web Dynpro
Tip
Interested
developers should
familiarize
themselves with
SAP NetWeaver
Developer Studio
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Tool Options
• SEM CPM
• Web Application Designer (Web AD; WAD) and SAP
•
•
•
•
NetWeaver 7.0
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Publishing to the portal
Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK)
Third-party cockpits
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Third-Party Cockpits
• Some best-of-breed cockpit tools incorporate SAP BI as part
of a Web item provider, or more commonly through BW
queries fed by BAPIs or OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO) in BW
• Some even provide separate Multidimensional Online
Analytical Processing (MOLAP) solutions tightly connected to
SAP BW
 Hint: reading RS_ tables inside BW
Microsoft
Cognos
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Third-Party Cockpits (cont.)
• Other BI and cockpit companies,
such as Corda, are actively
working on creating cockpit
tools for SAP NetWeaver BI
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What We’ll Cover …
• Background, terminology, and examples
• Tool options
• What makes a good cockpit?
• Which tool is right for me?
• Wrap-up
45
War Rooms and External Access
1. Shared cockpits are most
useful
2. External access to information is more common.
Vendors and customers love it!
3. You can build war rooms for collaborative
decision making using cockpits
4. Cockpits require a true BI infrastructure.
Note
It is tempting to jump straight to the
cockpit development, but it is almost
impossible without a well-architected
BW system to support it.
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A Good Cockpit Is Simple
The majority of usage of cockpits is in user segments 1 and 5.
You should use BI queries and OLAP for the other segments.
Segment 1: Trackers - 37%
Tracking - Characterized by low duration
overall.
Segment 4: Info Gatherers - 4%
Concentrated in information areas.
Rarely reach transaction areas.
Segment 2: Reservers - 3%
Low duration per page view.
Segment 5: Single-clickers - 32%
Visit homepage only.
Segment 3: Uncommitted - 10%
Characterized by long duration.
Complex decisions.
Segment 6: Wanderers - 15%
Very few, very random pages.
Few hits, but long duration per page
view.
Example source: Dr. Paul Strupp, Sun Microsystems
Note
The average manager navigates in no more than 7 dimensions and only 2 levels deep
(49 views). Therefore, the majority of users of cockpits need a few, simple, but highly
informative, views. The other user community is best served by OLAP queries.
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Use of Color
Colors share a powerful connection with
emotions, so you want to be conservative
Sir Isaac Newton developed the
first circular diagram of colors in
1666 and identified 12 basic colors
Colors on opposite sides are
complementary and looks good together
in a cockpit
Color definitions:
Shade: base color mixed with black
Tint: base color hue mixed with white
Tone: base color + gray or another base color +
Source: Bob Marteal, Cornell Univ.
a complementary color
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2005, Susan M. Raymond, WHS
How do You Pick Your Web Cockpit Colors?
This uses a single pure color with a number of tints and
shades to provide variety
Monochromatic scheme
Pros: Extremely unified and harmonious; effective for
establishing an overall mood
Cons: Can be dull because of the lack of variation and
therefore can lose the interest of the viewer
Analogous scheme
Any three colors which are side by side on a color wheel,
Pros: Great selection of possible combinations makes
this scheme versatile. The similarity makes the schemes
harmonious with great results because it is soothing and
restful.
Cons: The use of more than three colors can dilute the
overall effect of this scheme.
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How do You Pick Your Web Cockpit Colors? (cont.)
Pick any three colors on a triangle. This scheme is very
appealing and well balanced.
Triadic scheme
Pros: Extremely stable, each color perfectly balances with the
other. It is useful for presenting information in bold, decisive
patterns.
Cons: The vibrancy may be too much and detract from the
message.
Split scheme
Any two colors that are side by side on a color wheel
Pros: This scheme has more variety than a simple
complementary color scheme
Cons: It is less vibrant and eye-catching; it is difficult to
harmonize the colors
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A Colorful Example of What Not to Do
Colors that are so similar that not
everyone will be able to
distinguish them (blends
information)
Split scheme
background colors
that are unattractive
Distracting color that breaks the
color scheme and attracts
attention for no apparent reason
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Use of Real Estate — Symmetry, Graphs, and Colors
Consistent use of graphs is visually pleasing. Here
are three types of graphs and a map.
Background colors are
monochromatic scheme
in blue
Bars and lines are limited
to same color scheme
with few additional colors
Symmetry is visually pleasing and makes the cockpit easy to read.
Here we have 3 walls, 4 frames in the outer walls, and a central section.
Filling the white space by either enlarging the map, or adding a
message board would improve this cockpit
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The Need for Speed
• When cockpits bring together data from many sources
during runtime, it can be slow and cumbersome
 This is because when your system accesses the portal cockpit,
it may have to execute supporting cockpit queries
• Solution: You can present static images (i.e., static HTML
from BEx Broadcaster into a portal iView) or you can
cache queries results by using Reporting Agent in SAP
BW 3.5x or BEx Broadcaster in SAP NetWeaver 7.0
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The Need for Speed (cont.)
• SAP NetWeaver 7.0 allows you to fill the resident memory of
your server with pre-run results (cache). This provides
faster response to the users, since the query result sets are
accessed from memory instead of re-executed on the
database side.
SAP BW 3.5
SAP NetWeaver 7.0
IMPORTANT: Old Reporting Agent scenarios still run in
SAP NetWeaver 7.0. However, Reporting Agent will not be
developed further and is removed from SAP NetWeaver
7.0 Workbench. In SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 you can only
reach it by transaction code REPORTING_AGENT
54
What We’ll Cover …
• Background, terminology, and examples
• Tool options
• What makes a good cockpit?
• Which tool is right for me?
• Wrap-up
55
What SAP Tool Should I Use?
BW 3.x
Web AD
SAP NetWeaver
2004s
Web AD
SAP
NetWeaver
Visual
Composer
SAP
SEMCPM
Thirdparty
cockpits
Multidimensional Analysis (full)
J
J
-
-
-
Portal integration
J
J
J
J
J
Information Broadcaster
J
J
-
J
-
-
-
-
J
J
J
J
J
J
-
J
J
J
Direct support for non-BW data
-
-
Simplicity to use and learn
-
-
Formatted reporting
Graphical options (delivered)
Automatic code generation
SAP integration
Java SDK
tools
Portal
iViews
-
J
-
-
-
J
J
J
J
J
-
J
-
J
J
-
-
-
J
There are many options and sometimes the choice is based on
what you are familiar with and whether you enjoy using new tools
J
J
-
56
What We’ll Cover …
• Background, terminology, and examples
• Tool options
• What makes a good cockpit?
• Which tool is right for me?
• Wrap-up
57
Resources
• COMERIT.NET presentations, tutorials, and articles
http://www.comerit.net
• SAP Online Help
BW and EP Integration
 http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/a3/7b583c2439e66fe10000
000a114084/content.htm
• SDN BW How to Guides
How to integrate Visual Composer Applications and BEx Web Templates
 https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/ad
182ac7-0a01-0010-4fb8-8a4d217b19c1
• BW Expert (www.BWExpertOnline.com)*
“Create Unparalleled Analytical Applications with SAP NetWeaver BI, Visual
Composer, and Macromedia Flex” by Moya Watson and Judy Kestecher,
SAP Labs
 January 2006 issue
* Requires access to credentials to view full article text
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7 Key Points to Take Home
• There are many ways to build Web cockpits and SAP has
•
•
•
•
tools for them all
Look at in-house Web skills before you decide on
the tool
SAP Performance Management is a great tool for those
with limited Web skills, but requires consistency in
performance measures (roll-ups) and structured
navigation
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is great for complex
graphing
Web AD is the tool of choice by experienced Web
programmers who want total design freedom
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7 Key Points to Take Home
• Third-party tools for Web cockpits are emerging and
some are quite advanced (Cognos, e.g.)
• While all these tools gives you a great deal of flexibility, it
is the use of the real estate, colors, graphs, and
consistency that is going to determine if your cockpit is
successful: Spend serious time designing instead of
coding!
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Your Turn!
How to contact me:
Dr. Bjarne Berg
[email protected]
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