- SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook
- Table of Contents
- SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.1 Cookbook
- Credits
- Foreword
- About the Author
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Acknowledgments
- About the Reviewers
- www.PacktPub.com
- Preface
- 1. Staying in Control
- Introduction
- Using the Object Browser
- Searching for components
- Grouping the canvas components
- Making the spreadsheet more readable with colors
- Making the spreadsheet more readable with comments
- Making the spreadsheet more readable with borders
- Using named ranges
- Copying the format of one cell to another cell or range
- Debugging the spreadsheets
- Navigating between worksheets
- 2. Data Visualization
- Introduction
- Adding a line chart to your dashboard
- Using a bullet chart
- Using sparklines
- Using a combination chart
- Using a waterfall chart
- Using a pie chart
- Using a scatter plot chart
- Using a bubble plot chart
- Using a radar chart
- Using an OHLC chart and a candlestick chart
- Sorting series
- Zooming in on charts
- Scaling the y-axis
- Using a tree map
- Showing a trend without a chart
- Displaying raw data
- Illustrating single values
- 3. From a Static to an Interactive Dashboard
- Introduction
- Selecting your data from a list
- Drilling down from a chart
- Using the Filter selector component for hierarchies
- An alternative hierarchy selection method
- Using the Hierarchical Table
- Using Filtered Rows
- Using maps to select data of an area or country
- Adding a Mac OS X-looking dock to your dashboard
- Resetting your data (the reset button)
- Making selections from a custom image (the push button and image component)
- Inputting data values
- Using the Play Selector / Play Control component
- Opening up a Web Intelligence report using dashboard parameters
- Selecting calendar dates
- Using sliders to create a what-if scenario
- 4. Dynamic Visibility
- 5. Using Alerts
- 6. Advanced Components
- 7. Dashboard Look and Feel
- Introduction
- Changing the look of a chart
- Adding a background to your dashboard
- Using color schemes
- Sharing a color scheme
- Working with themes
- Making component colors dynamic
- Dynamic XY positioning and sizing of components
- Using the Panel Container
- Using the Tab Set container
- Making tables look pretty
- Using quadrants smartly
- Creating/using a dashboard template
- 8. Dashboard Data Connectivity
- 9. Exporting and Publishing
- 10. Top Third-party Add-ons
- Introduction
- Managing add-ons in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
- Connecting to CSV files with the CSV Connector
- Integrating Google Maps with the CMaps plugin
- Connecting to Salesforce.com with DashConn
- Presenting micro charts in a Tree Grid
- Integrating Web Intelligence with Antivia XWIS Advantage Express
- Advanced printing with Xcelsius Dashboard Printer
- SUCCESS with graphomate charts
- 11. Performance Tuning
- 12. Increasing Productivity
- Introduction
- Using the Spreadsheet Table component to debug
- Time-saving tips during dashboard development
- How to do it…
- Global Fonts
- Grouping from the Object Browser versus grouping with a Canvas Container
- Editing multiple components at once
- Using the alignment, sizing, and spacing buttons
- Using the arrow keys for precise placement of components
- Using the Grid to help with relative positioning
- Copying objects from another dashboard
- How to do it…
- Fixing corrupt XLF files
- A. Real-world Dashboard Case Studies
- B. Additional Resources – Supported Excel Functions and System/Software Requirements
- C. The Future of Dashboarding with SAP Design Studio
- Index
A waterfall chart is useful to visualize the fluctuation of a value in positive and negative values. The first and final values are displayed as full columns (starting at 0). The values in between represent the positive and negative fluctuations. A good example is the stock level of goods in a warehouse. A waterfall chart can show how it changes over time.
This recipe shows you how to set up such a waterfall chart.
Open a new SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards file and enter data in the spreadsheet as shown in the following screenshot. As you can see in row 3, the first and final value (January and December) show the total stock level, instead of the change relative to the previous period, as is shown in the other months:
- Drag a Waterfall Chart component into the canvas.
- Bind the Values field to the spreadsheet range from B3 to M3.
- Bind the Labels field to the spreadsheet range from B1 to M1.
Instead of showing the total value for each category, the waterfall chart shows how an initial value (January) changes over time until it ends in the final value (December). To make this work, you have to make sure that the first and final values of your dataset represent the actual initial and final value. The other values that are in between should only represent the amount of increase or decrease of a value.
There are four categories of values in a waterfall chart: initial value, final value, positive value, and negative value. These values all have their own color. Initially, the positive values are green and the negative ones are red. In the Series sub-tab within the Appearance tab of the properties pane, you can change the color of each type of value:
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