How to Implement xCelsius in a SAP Environment [Best Practices]

 

Whether you are just considering your first xCelsius Dashboard or are an old hand, or somewhere in between, I wanted to share with you some of my Project Management tips for implementing xCelsius in a SAP environment. 

 

According to a recent ASUG BI Benchmarking report, a large majority of SAP users are on some version of BW 3.X and below!  Now, if you are above that release level or upgrading the advice remains relevant but my blog today is aimed at the still majority of BW 3.X users out there. 

xCelsius Dashboards Can Be Highly Engaging

 

Start with a Wireframe Drawing

 

You already know that a good first step is to do a hand-drawing of what the dashboard should look like.  Though true, I wouldn’t put too much time into it.

 

Here is what I would do from a Project Management point of view:

 

• Check that you have compatible versions of all the software components.
  
  
  • The primary official source of the information required to do this is the PAM, or product availability matrix.
    
    
  • Test each piece of software in the chain, separately, then connected together. 
    
    Shut it all down, and bring it back up. 
    
    If your link between LiveOffice and xCelsius drops, most likely, you have one or more authorization issues that must be resolved.
    
    
  • If and only if, you have all software components installed and connected and proven to be operational, in particular, by embedding and testing linking between xCelsius-LiveOffice-Crystal Reports(if used), Business Objects Enterprise, BW 3.X-SAP R/3 by running embedded queries, should you proceed.
    
    
• There may be any number of tool chains to deal with, depending on your environment.
  
  
• As your dashboard designer ABSOLUTELY must have valid test data to work with, it is critical to either get some from the system or create it from scratch.
  
  
  
• SAP provides a large collection of Dashboard design best practice design templates.  Ensure you use them if they fit.
  
  
• Dashboard designs require a much higher number of interactions with the end-user.  Experience dictates this will add a lot of time to the project schedule as clients have limited bandwidth, and even when they do have time to review it, their ‘input’ will often come after the meeting.  This is normal and to be expected.  Budget for it, increase the number of review meetings, and you will get to the final solution sooner, with a much higher degree of customer acceptance and satisfaction.
  
  
• Plan on revisiting the project at 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after go-live to see if:
  • Are they using it
    
    
  • Do they have additional requirements (assume yes)
    
    
  • How is the performance (assume it is never fast enough)
    
    
  • Keep the level of detail of the project plan somewhere high.
    
    

 

As you can see, there are a lot of considerations you need to be aware of when designing an executive dashboard.  That's why we also designed a guide, "Top 10 xCelsius Best Practices", which comes from extensive hands-on experience.

 

 

Thanks