Comments on: No Crystal Xcelsius dashboard, sorry

By: What if the buyer is not the user? « Shakeout’s Blog

What if the buyer is not the user? « Shakeout’s Blog — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:00:25 +0000

[...] aspects which add nothing (and often detract from) the data behind the dashboard. I will let Jorge Cameos and Stephen Few explain its problems in more detail (both of these blogs are mandatory reading for [...]

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:41:57 +0000

I think your points are valid and well articulated. To be honest I think your Blog titles advocate “Crystal Xcelsius Dislike” more than the actual content. Without getting to much into what Xcelsius can or can’t do with respects to Excel charting, I think it’s important to also recognize where all of this is going. Dashboards, widgets, analysis and just general RIA’s. At some point Excel WILL fall short of user expectations from deployment to real-time performance and interaction. Rather than considering Xcelsius a “toy piano” of charting, people should understand its designed purpose, which is really a mix of PowerPoint, Excel and Flex technologies.

One should ALWAYS take advantage of every tool in their arsenal and use them when are where appropriate, taking into consideration data, audience, deployment, scalability and general user interaction.

Personally, I feel much more comfortable in Crystal Xcelsius and Flex more than I ever would in Excel…but that’s probably because of my design background.

…different folks, different strokes! None the less a very interesting and thought provoking series. Thanks for taking time to dive into it.

Last note: Found this Flex RIA using web-services, which would be very possible in Xcelsius. I see added value here that just isn’t possible in an Excel “Dashboard”…just something to think about

http://www.cynergysystems.com/blogs/blogs/andrew.trice/strikeiron/Dashboard.html

By: Jeff Carpenter

Jeff Carpenter — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:12:55 +0000

You have adequately answered my question and you make some good points.

I believe too much glitter dilutes the message, but some pizzazz is needed in data visualization to engage the audience.
(Why is Silk, a non-dairy product, in the refrigerated section?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/28 min 14:55)

I would love to share my favorite Stephen Few moments related to CX…

Maybe not everyone interprets them as criticism of BO’s product. I see them as validation that there is much room for improvement when developing tools to further democratize BI and data visualization.

“Any executive who is challenged by creating a simple table or graph in Excel isn’t going to find salvation in Crystal Excelsius. Even the executive’s assistant, who is the one who really creates the presentation in most cases, probably won’t find Crystal Xcelsius easier or faster to use than Excel.”
(http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=38)

“it emphasizes features and functionality that subvert effective dashboard communication”
(http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=63)

And a post that always makes me smile: Taunts from the playground
(http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=162)
“Keep giving your customers what they want, even when it doesn’t work, rather than taking responsibility as a consultant to add value. That may satisfy them for the moment, but it won’t help them in the least.”