Raindrop Solutions | The Business Intelligentsia

Flynet Xcelsius Server Training

October 30, 2012 in Flynet, Reviews with 0 Comments

view 3206 m879 Flynet Xcelsius Server Training This week I attended the Flynet training course for their Xcelsius Server with DataConnect product.

I have been playing around with DataConnect (DC from here on) over my own data but this was the first chance I’d had to use the demo data and to use the tool in the company of Flynet staff and other developers (there were four of us on the course).

It is a two day course that is aimed at the novice developer or analyst who has limited (or even no) experience of Xcelsius (now called SAP Crystal Dashboard Design) and has not used DC before.

DC is a SQL creation tool that converts SQL statements into Xcelsius compatible web services.

Xcelsius is the main SAP dashboard product that enables you to create rich, interactive data visualisations that connect to live business data.

Flynet Xcelsius Server (FXS) is a combined solution incorporating both products so to create connected dashboards so using FXS requires skills in both DC and Xcelsius.

This training course covers all you need to know to get started creating your own connected dashboards. Continue Reading…

Bruce Lee on Business Intelligence

September 24, 2012 in Blog with 0 Comments

For me Bruce Lee is one of the most iconic figures of the 20^th century, revered across the globe and in China especially. He was instrumental in popularising the Kung Fu movie genre and devised his own martial arts philosophy, Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist), by combining his favoured parts of different rigid styles into his own art of “fighting without fighting”.

Jeet Kune Do is a paired back style of martial arts that puts the emphasis on simplicity, flexibility and defence. Lee said you should “be like water”, be fluid, be confident, and don’t hesitate.

I’ve always loved the concept behind Jeet Kune Do, the idea that you cannot always plan for what is to come; instead you must be prepared to react to (or better still, try to predict) what is to come and then respond to it.

You can ally this philosophy to most aspects of life and adopt an attitude of adaptability in everything you do. In BI this is especially important and the more experience I gain designing and building data solutions the more clearly I see it.

Every time I encounter an executive with grand plans that he or she simply will not budge from; every developer I see who cannot think outside the box; every end user I meet who refuses to see the bigger picture; each time I battle against Mr QA who wants the whole design fully documented and signed off up front. In each of these instances I think of Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do.

What would Bruce Lee be like as a BI Guru? Can his philosophies on life and the principles of Jeet Kune Do be applied to BI and the successful implementation of BI projects? I think so.
Continue Reading…

Xcelsius Printer Pro

September 4, 2012 in Printer Pro, Reviews with 2 Comments

Print Slider Xcelsius Printer Pro Another product that I will be reviewing over the coming weeks is Xcelsius Printer Pro from Data Savvy Tools, an Xcelsius add-on that provides print functionality for dashboards. This is an area sorely lacking with out-of-the-box Xcelsius.

Printer Pro (or Dash Printer or Dashboard Printer – I’m not exactly sure which name the Data Savvy guys have settled on) gives you the ability to capture areas of your dashboard (or the entire dashboard) and rearrange into custom views with configurable paging and layout options.

You can then annotate your layouts, adding text commentary to give context to your presentations before outputting to a number of formats, soft and hard.

Xcelsius Dashboard Printer was launched on December 14, 2011 and has undergone a makeover with a more aesthetic and user-friendly UI. At first look it appears to be a highly configurable tool that provides far more than a simple ability to print charts.

I’ll be getting stuck into the nitty gritty and putting the tool to the test to see how well it delivers in an area of Xcelsius that has been a gaping hole until now.

Traditionally, getting your snazzy dashboard to the printer would involve a lot of messing around with SnagIt or Print Screen and then some cropping in Paint before exporting into Word or PowerPoint for final arrangement. It could take an age and would involve much switching between application. Plus we all know what Xcelsius is like when you start to open Office apps in parallel..! Printer Pro removes the need for third party applications making the journey from dashboard to printer (or export file such as JPG, GIF, PNG, PDF) much more seamless and, importantly, crash-resistant.

I will try to get an in depth review out before the 2012 ASUG conference next week. Printer Pro will be on show at ASUG at the InfoSol booth. ASUG takes place in Orlando between September 10th and 13th and InfoSol can be found at booth 104 if you want to check them out.

Flynet Xcelsius Server 2012 Installation

August 26, 2012 in Flynet, Reviews with 0 Comments

Before you can use any new software you have to install it of course. Coming from a background of the old days of Business Objects I’m fully aware of what a nightmare this can be when it comes to BI applications.

So it is extremely important in this modern world that the installation process is straightforward and seamless. This is especially true of an application that is marketing itself to a wide range of end users.

A large organisation may have dedicated teams to handle the approval and implementation of software but a one man band or small company will not have the same resources available so will be looking for new software to install with pretty much the click of a button.

So how does Flynet DataConnect install? Very well, as it happens. The install wizard is straight forward and automates the whole installation smoothly.

My machine is running on 64-bit Windows 7 and the wizard detected this and set the appropriate version itself. Even checking the terms & conditions is a one click operation launching straight into the install without having to ‘ok’. User interaction is kept to a minimum and I like this.

There are a few customisation options – you can change the Installation Path, you can force a 32bit install, and you can install the Demo Data that comes bundled (this is ticked by default).

Once installation is under way the first things it does is check for prerequisites – IIS must be enabled and running along with a number of IIS components, Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 must be installed, ASP.NET 4.0 must also be installed, MS SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 also needs to be installed and on 64bit systems both the
32bit & 64bit versions are required.

Now this all sounds a bit convoluted at first glance but fear not, the wizard handles everything for you. If a service or component is not installed or enabled the wizard will sort it out while you sit back and watch.

I have a new build machine and found that none of the prerequisites were in attendence. The wizard went through them one by one and installed everything for me without me having to get involved.

The only caveat to this is on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows XP machines where some manual steps are required to install the prerequisites. But nobody runs on those ancient versions anymore, right?

When all the prerequisites have been installed (or checked if you already have them) the wizard moves onto the main DataConnect software which installed quickly for me.

Following this the demo database is set up and you are presented with a screen to enter your Organisation Name and License Key (a trial key is available on registering at the Flynet website).

Finally your user is set up and all the necessary services are started.

You are asked to click ‘Ok’ and the DataConnect Designer starts up automatically. You’re in and free to start creating new data web services for your dashboards.

In summary the installation of Flynet DataConnect is refreshingly simple and straightforward. My personal experience was one of minimal interaction, the wizard handled everything itself. Given the fact that I had none of the prerequisites installed I find this quite impressive, traditionally being used to horrendous issues when laying the foundations of a new BI application. Yes BusinessObjects I’m looking at you.

I will look at the newly installed Flynet DataConnect Designer application in more detail in the next post.

Flynet Xcelsius Server 2012

August 23, 2012 in Flynet, Reviews with 0 Comments

view 3206 m879 Flynet Xcelsius Server 2012 I was recently contacted by the people at Flynet who asked if I’d like to test and review their product; their timing was spot on. I was in the process of revamping this blog and was on the hunt for interesting content. This is the first of a series of posts where I will be getting stuck into the product and putting it through its paces to see how it performs.

Flynet offer a range of options tailored for differing business requirements, from a cut down limited version of SAP Crystal Presentation Design to the full blown Xcelsius Server. I will be focusing on the full package of ‘Flynet Xcelsius Server 2012 with DataConnect’.

DataConnect is the jewel in the Flynet crown, a Web Service Generation tool that integrates with Xcelsius and provides a simple drag-and-drop interface enabling designers to create unlimited, shared live data connections to power their dashboards.

It gives less technical developers the ability to create complex visualisations as well as simplifying the task for experienced developers, saving time and improving efficiency.

That is the claim and I will be seeing if the Flynet suite delivers on this promise by utilising the product in a variety of real life scenarios.

DataConnect can connect to a number of databases and removes the need for the developer to know the syntax of each. Currently Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Excel, Access, MySQL, Teradata and DB2 are supported. It is used by a growing number of organisations large, medium and small and the latest version will be receiving a massive push during the latter part of 2012.

The Flynet website has more information on the product bundles available with accompanying videos, a Wiki page, a blog and a forum. You can download a 30 day trial to check out the software for yourself and so far the technical team have been very helpful for me.

Watch out for follow up articles covering my experiences with the tool, from installation and getting to grips with its intricacies, right through to building full blown data services to power dashboards of varying complexities.

Raindrops Blog is Live

August 21, 2012 in Blog with 0 Comments

At long last the site has been given a lick of paint and the new blog has been launched. We were proud to have Boris Johnson switch on the lights but he couldn’t find the light switch so we sent him home.

This site is focused primarily on the Business Intelligence sphere and specifically on the data visualisation element – dashboards to you and I.

So we have some interesting features in the pipeline including full product reviews of some exciting BI visualisation tools.

view 3206 m879 Raindrops Blog is Live The guys at Flynet have a new 2012 release of their DataConnect tool, which comes bundled with Xcelsius, so we will be taking an in depth look at the full product suite. The Flynet claim is that DataConnect makes creating Web Services a doddle. The drag-and-drop interface enables developers and business users to connect to a number of data sources and create & share data connections. Tasks are simplified and efficiency is improved.

JSN Raindrops Blog is Live Also, the PrinterPro plugin for Xcelsius has morphed into something much more than a print facility for your dashboards. We will be putting this product through its paces as well to see if it can deliver on its promises.

There are many BI/Data Visualisation/CMS/Reporting tools out there these days and we will be trialing some of them to see if they measure up.

When it comes to data display requirements there is a full spectrum of users with a broad range of needs. Be it budget constraints, data volumes, portability requirements, large end user base, speed of thought, ease of use, infrastructure limitations, everybody has their individual needs and you will know yours.

In theory there should be the perfect product for your specific needs ready and available right now, but how do you find it? Whether you are a lone bedroom web developer looking for free and simple products or a large corporation looking for enterprise solutions it can be a minefield finding the product to fit your requirements.

Over time we will be expanding our reviews and giving some insight into the capabilities of a range of BI applications and their suitability to a breadth of users.

If you are a vendor and are looking for impartial reviews of your product then drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do for you.