Software as-a-service applications like Salesforce.com and Google Maps Premier enable organizations of all sizes to offload operational and infrastructure costs associated with on-premise software. Organizations that have made significant investments in on-premise business intelligence are now mashing up data from web-based solutions thanks to powerful APIs. In the last year, Salesforce.com and Google Maps integrations for Xcelsius have popped up making it easier than ever to integrate these technologies without any coding. Third party software solution providers like Centigon Solutions and Moss Solutions are bridging the gaps between these powerful web-based platforms and Xcelsius.

-Read more about this dashboard at EverythingXcelsius.com

GMaps Plugin provides an excellent method for visualizing geographic points on a map that can be aligned to business performance measures. Many customers often ask how many points I can plot on a map at one time. In the Xcelsius world the answer is usually not strait forward since the dashboard often caries an overhead depending on the number of dependencies with components, data, and logic.

The first question I always ask if they are using Latitude, Longitude values or addresses. This has a major impact on performance because an address needs to be geocoded before the icon is renders (this can tabe about 150ms per data point). If you utilize long,lat coordinates there is 0 latency before all data points are drawn on the map.

I would say that 150-300 data points at a time within a Google Map is adequate for expecting good performance on most computers (assuming you are using long,lat). For organizations who require the geocode service, 20-80 is adequate from a user acceptance standpoint because of the latency of the geocode service. The good news is the Google Premier API provides half the latency of the free API.

We have benchmark tested with 1000, which presents sluggish performance with Long,Lat pairs so my recommendation is to restrict the data points that you plot at one time within a map.

If you do not have your address data stored in a "Long,Lat" format I have found a nice batch geocode website that can do the transformation for you: http://www.batchgeocode.com/.

Let me know what your experience is and how you are using these features. If you have not had a chance to test out GMaps Plugin for Xceslsius, you can download a free trial today.

Last week, Centigon Solutions release a new data connector for Xcelsius enabling direct connectivity to csv (comma separated values) files. Geared toward customers who require a simple method for updating Xcelsius dashboards, CSV Connector adds value by streamlining dashboard development and connectivity to external data.

Until now, Xcelsius required XML data and web services for live connectivity. CSV Connector is an optimal component for your developer toolbox to connect a dashboard to a flat file located on your desktop or web server.

Since I started using this data connection, CSV Connector has proven to be a perfect low cost solution for building dashboards against legacy reporting systems and databases. In several projects where I have successfully injected csv connectivity, I saved a tremendous amount of development resources previously expended in writing redundant .NET or J2EE services. Even when web services are required to meet customer requirements for live personalized data, I use CSV connector while refining the dashboard design. In several cases I have used a combination of csv connectivity and web services to enable a customer to mashup data from different data sources.

From a property sheet data preview to a simple row filter property, CSV Connector is optimized to make development a breeze while enabling direct connectivity without any additional server-side installation. Try CSV Connector using the free trial and feel free to post any comments or questions.

This year, the Xcelsius community has experienced rapid growth in the number of developers and vendors who create add-on solutions for Xcelsius. One of the most important innovations that will ultimately hold Xcelsius in place as a leading enterprise dashboard tool is Antivia XWIS (Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite). With thought leadership both in the BusinessObjects Enterprise and Xcelsius technologies, Antivia took a step back to recognize some of the fundamental problems that developers face with the existing enterprise integration, and then designed a solution that provides functionality that customers have always asked for.

While Live Office and Query as a Web Service (QaaWS) both provide data connectivity to Xcelsius using BusinessObjects Enterprise, customers have long grappled with performance, navigation/drill down, and true ad-hoc capabilities.

Not only does XWIS streamline connectivity to BOE, but it also integrates new Xcelsius controls for presenting and navigating data in a way that has never been possible with Xcelsius. The result is true point and click integration between BusinessObjects Enterprise and Xcelsius without fancy SQL statements or crazy Xcelsius black magic:

• Re-use existing reports: When implementing Live Office enabled dashboards, customers regularly write reports that are formatted and optimized specifically for Xcelsius. Because XWIS manages the connectivity and data delivery to Xcelsius, you no longer need to create “Xcelsius friendly” reports. This allows traditional WebI report designers to speed up the development process previously hampered by un-necessary focus on report formatting and data volume that could create performance implications to Xcelsius.
• Performance: Many Xcelsius dashboards benefit from scheduled WebI reports as a data source for Xcelsius dashboards. To this day, I still believe this to be a perfect marriage of technology, because a scheduled report serves as a virtual data repository that offloads the heavy processing so dashboard users can access data quickly. XWIS builds upon this concept while providing a significant performance boost because XWIS communicates directly with BOE, bypassing the Live Office/QaaWS services.
• Data Volume: A common design consideration for Xcelsius is data volume. Developers are inclined to load large volumes of data into a SWF which can impact performance. XWIS takes full advantage of the Xcelsius SDK by loading data directly from the XWIS platform into XWIS components, by-passing Excel data volume limitation. This communication coupled with Antivia’s innovative Xcelsius add-on components create an interface for end users to analyze large data sets better than ever, while still benefiting from standard Xcelsius visualization.

If you are using WebI in your organization, Antivia' XWIS is a solution that you should consider before tackling dashboard development with Xcelsius. I have been using XWIS since version 1.0 so if you have any questions about my experiences, I am more than happy to share them. Next week, I will review the XWIS add-on component suite for Xcelsius that enables: Ad hoc analysis, Drill Down and hierarchies, and Collaboration.

I am long overdue publishing my write up on Antivia's Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite. As one of the premier developers of BusinessObjects Enterprise and Xcelsius solutions, Antivia has revolutionized how customers can leverage BOBJ's semantic layer with Xcelsius.

I have become quite familiar with this powerful integration over in the past few months, so if you are using Xcelsius with Live Office or QaaWS and have gripes about Xcelsius integration, I heavily suggest giving this powerful solution a shot. I will have a full review coming in the upcoming week, but to give you a taste, here is XWIS integrated with GMaps Plugin:

I am more than happy to share my experiences, so if you have any questions feel free to contact me directly.