Reporting Remix #3
Here I am at the end of the Reportapalooza journey, a bit melancholy, a bit relieved, but overall better for having done it. It’s hard to believe that the journey began back in mid August and now we are fast approaching Thanksgiving.
Our last task was to blog about one of the Crystal Solutions Products we either did not know or knew little about over a 3 week period. Honestly, I thought there wasn’t much to talk about with Crystal Dashboard Designer (formerly known as Xcelsius) but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I chose it because it was the only product that I knew little about either because I chose not to or did not have the opportunity. Sometimes life’s greatest lessons are those learned through a controlled choice (forced). Now don’t get me wrong, no one twisted my arm and said I had to do anything, all I am saying is that of all the choices I have to make during the day, choosing to learn more about Crystal Dashboard Designer would not have been high on my uncontrolled list.
Like I said in my opening paragraph I am leaving this experience better for having gone through it. I would like to say that I am an accomplished BI Solutions expert and that I can speak well on most SAP BusinessObjects Products. What I have learned through my weeks with Crystal Dashboard Designer is that I still have a lot to learn.
Crystal Dashboard Designer
We are visual beings. We use sight from the time we open our eyes in the morning until the time our head hits the pillow at night. So it should come as no surprise that the things that get our attention are the things that we find visually appealing. I never thought of generating reports as glamorous or sexy, I mean really? It’s a bunch of numbers and some words, a graph or two and maybe a page count with the summaries. Using Crystal Dashboard Designer is the tool that brings sexy back.
Now granted your Dashboard may not get you on the cover of Vogue, but it will get you the attention of CEOs and CIOs within your organization. Here is a tool whose output you can give to these very busy individuals that is portable, interactive, informative and customizable.
I learned that this tool is not just an extension of an Excel Workbook, but a powerful and rich way to attract and interact your user and your data. There is a big and vibrant community both inside and outside of SAP that are enthusiastic about the product and answering your questions. There are numerous partners that have great add-ons for this product that take your presentations to a new level.
I am a little sad that I won’t be getting on conference calls to talk to Mico, Jamie, Jim and David over this shared topic. While this was touted as a competition I feel it was more of a collaboration of friends. We had to balance our already hectic schedules with sometimes near impossible deadlines and technical difficulties. It was the support of my fellow Reportapalooza Experts that I persevered and to them I give thanks.
To my supporters through this journey I want to give special thanks. I know you were cringing towards the end every time you saw another Email from me thinking “what does he want me to vote on now?” Well just one more vote through an Email with a bit.ly attached 
What ever position I finish in I will have still won.