EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 1
10 Reasons to use XLCubed for
Managed Self-Service Business Intelligence
Introduction
Excel at the centre of the solution
If you handle reports and dashboards you already know Microsoft Excel, like 750 million
other users. The amount of data produced
and available has increased
exponentially through social
networks, controllers,
management systems, results of
surveys, etc. Everything has
become measurable.
Long reserved for the IT
department, Business
Intelligence has now proved its
worth for many organisations. BI
has long required complex and
expensive tools, but recent years
have seen the arrival of new tools
combining both simplicity and
power. Today, demand for
Business Intelligence is
exploding caused both by the needs and
demands of users and the democratisation of tools that serve
them.
XLCubed is unique as it transforms the most popular data analysis tool of all, Microsoft
Excel, into a rich front-end BI tool for the analysis and visualisation of data, operational
reporting and dashboards.
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 2
Managed Self-Service BI
The search for Agile BI, or Managed Self-Service BI, is an organisational response to the
increasing demands of users. It is also a recognition that queries are best answered, and
indeed best asked, directly by the users themselves.
However, to maximise the efficiency and value created from the solution, we believe that
the autonomy of the users is best supervised and supported by the IT Department, or for
more mature organisations a Centre of Expertise for BI (CEBI).
Figure 1 – Managed Self-Service BI process
Coaching: Coaching will normally be at two levels, upstream to identify solutions to meet a need (data, processes, tools) but also downstream of the work done by the user at the point of making the data available more widely in the rest of the organization. With XLCubed, this problem is solved by the introduction of a simple and effective process whereby Excel developed reports and dashboards can be quickly and easily published to the web server.
Support: Support through the provision to users of high performing, complete and reliable data sources. Most often, these data sources take the form of data stores (Data Marts), with a significant semantic layer. The exploitation of these data sources is made possible by tools such XLCubed, which offer an intuitive and powerful interface and require a minimum of training to get started and become proficient.
•Identify needs
•Identify solutions
•Confirm the existence of the required components
Imagination
-> Support CEBI
•Creation
•Iteration until the final result
•Dashboards & Reports
Creation
-> Self-Service User•Technical validation of the
solution
•Implementation of security
•Move to production
•User communication
Dissemination / Sharing
-> Support CEBI
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 3
Reason #1 – No matter how good your BI tools, users will want the data in Excel
It’s a recurring message whether working with Business Analysts, Financial Controllers,
Category Managers or Sales Managers: Excel is their productivity tool, period. XLCubed
gives users data in the Excel environment they want, but with hugely improved query,
analysis and data visualisation possibilities. Sophisticated analysis, report books and
pixel-perfect dashboards can all be designed using XLCubed in Excel.
For example: I need to conduct sales analysis on a list of 500 clients I’ve been provided
with, with sales figures of 200 products classified into 20 subcategories and 5 years of
monthly history, and a sales budget for comparison.
In this kind of situation, the use of an OLAP cube will render data instantaneously.
XLCubed can link the cube to Excel ranges and you can add your own data to the model. In
the case of Budgeting or Planning, it is also very easy to provide a data entry system to
adjust these figures over the period.
Vital data remains centralised but ad-hoc analysis remains local and I don't have to
involve the IT Department for this type of requirement. I can publish my analysis on to
the intranet with a mouse click.
Reason #2 – Overcome the Restrictions of Pivot Tables
Pivot tables are fine for the basic requirements of a simple data-pull, but they have many
limitations which can make them cumbersome and time consuming in many business
situations.
XLCubed Grids are designed from the ground up with multi-dimensional analysis in mind.
They provide advanced selections, embedded visualisations, simple user calculations and
full interactivity.
Flexibility in selecting members and sets of members from the hierarchies are key
in multivariate analysis. XLCubed gives powerful but intuitive ways to filter the
selection as needed, define Pareto Analysis and select the customers or products
which meet the criteria of your business problem
Data can be visualised directly in the grid using a rich in-cell chart library, with the
charts based directly on the cube data and fully dynamic.
User calculations are added using standard Excel formulae, but become an
embedded part of the grid and available for further slice and dice analysis.
Interactivity: All XLCubed components can be controlled by slicers, or by Excel
cells and ranges, opening up the full scope and flexibility of Excel to the XLCubed
BI tool.
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 4
Reason #3 – Visualisation leads to understanding
Excel allows simple graphics from series of numbers. XLCubed provides
three additional resources to help you visually present analysis.
Small multiples are a way to compare items across either one or two
categories in a matrix of charts where the scales on the individual charts
are consistent. Separating into different charts is often easier than trying to
compare on one chart. The charts can be drilled to additional detail, or
used as a selector for other parts of the report.
TreeMaps: The TreeMap can represent a dimension (products, customers) graphically as
a rectangle, the first dimension defines the area of the rectangle, and the second the
colour. This type of visualisation allows the comparison of two uncorrelated dimensions,
and the quick identification of the important elements and exceptions.
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 5
Geospatial maps: XLCubed provides point and shape based interactive mapping through
the Google Maps API. Data can be represented either by a point, where the size and colour
can depict two values, or by colour shading surface areas of a region. The region can be a
standard geographic boundary, or potentially customer-specific areas of managed sales
regions. Maps can be drilled and panned as with a regular Google Map, and map
components can easily be linked to any other components of XLCubed reports.
Reason #4 – Freedom of Formula Reporting
Formula reporting provides a perfect solution for Financial and Management Controllers.
XLCubed provides formulae to retrieve values and hierarchy members from the cube. The
formula approach gives total control over layout and formatting, and the formula are easy
to understand with simple user dialogs. You have control at the cell level and the report
can be built cell by cell, typically referencing the column and row headers.
Formula are most often used in dashboards and formal financial reports where the layout
is key. The simplest approach to create a formula report is to create a grid and then
convert to formula.
Formula can connect to multidimensional cubes or Tabular models.
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 6
Reason #5 - 'Look and Feel'
Formatting reports and dashboards is more complicated than it seems. First of all Excel,
by nature, requires no framework but provides a free canvas, unlike most other reporting
tools. Each element can not only be formatted properly, even dynamically with
conditional formatting but each of these components transfer seamlessly to XLCubed Web
Edition when the report is published.
Maximum freedom, pixel perfect…
Reason #6 – Dynamic publishing
A few clicks and it’s published! The XLCubed Web
server allows you to view and interact with
XLCubed solutions directly from a browser. The
reports are dynamic, secure, and always
connected to their data source.
The server also provides a platform for ad-hoc
analysis, for report automation and scheduling,
and for integration to SharePoint and other
custom portals.
Reason #7 – Mobility
Mobile access is provided through Apple,
Android and Windows Phone 8 applications.
Any report or dashboard developed in the
Excel client can be available on tablets and
mobile devices within minutes. It provides a
pragmatic and quick to deliver mobile
capability. Whatever you build in Excel, can
be available on your tablet in a few minutes.
Once published to XLCubed Web, reports are
immediately available through the mobile
apps.
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 7
Reason #8 - Office 2007 to 2016 x64, SQL 2000 to 2016
If you have not yet moved to Office 2016, don't panic. XLCubed is compatible with all
versions of Excel from 2007 to 2016 64 bit, and for SQL server Analysis Services 2000 to
2016 including tabular models (DAX) and relational sources.
For Excel 2010 and 2016, XLCubed can also use PowerPivot and Power BI as a data
source.
Reason #9 – Learning Curve
Users already know Excel, and this is a big advantage when it comes to learning XLCubed
as they are already comfortable in the environment. 80% of the functionality of XLCubed
can be learnt in a single day of training. Video training is available to explain, step by step,
all facets of the product.
Reason #10 - Price
XLCubed is highly competitive in comparison with its competitors, while offering more value.
Why?
XLCubed relies on existing solutions: no need to reinvent a table or multidimensional engine,
it uses Microsoft SQL Server BI. No need to completely reinvent a user interface. XLCubed is in
Excel.
The price takes this into account, but also maximises the investment already made in the
implementation of the Microsoft technology platform.
On the other hand, the licensing model is extremely simple. XLCubed Excel Edition is by
named user and XLCubed Web Edition is based on the maximum number of concurrent
users required.
EXCEL & XLCubed – Whitepaper page 8
XLCubed fits perfectly in a
'Managed' self-service model,
with an Excel component for
creation and XLCubed Web
Edition for distribution.
XLCubed is compatible with all
versions of Excel from Office
2007 to Office 2016, and SQL
Server 2000 to SQL Server 2016,
multidimensional and tabular.
XLCubed can span and link
different cubes, tabular
models and relational data
sources, in a single report or
dashboard.
XLCubed provides
additional business effective
visualisations such as in-cell
charting, small multiples,
treemaps, and geospatial
mapping.
XLCubed offers two primary
reporting modes:
Grids to quickly create reports
and dynamic dashboards and
Formulae which offer total
flexibility of layout and
formatting.