This was an ASUG webcast last month presented by Greg Sprowles, Kindred Healthcare. Part 1 is here Customize SAP Design Studio for the Enterprise ASUG Webcast Part 1 and Part 2 is Customize SAP Design Studio for the Enterprise ASUG Webcast Part 2
Tips for Customization – Consistent Look and Feel
Figure 1: Source: Kindred
Figure 1 covers the look and feel with corporate brand, theme, and colors
As you develop those, and you are on the BI Platform, set up a common folder for style sheets, logos and images
For text formatting use style sheet instead of images
Consistently place controls and icons on the screen
Figure 2: Source: Kindred
Figure 2 shows the images; company logo goes in upper left. Banner image is at the top. They don’t have to be the same but the placement is the same.
Figure 3: Source: Kindred
Static images can be placed in stylesheet
Figure 4: Source: Kindred
Found situations where applications would render image and not
You can point to the folder or Base64 encode it
When they drop images in folder sometimes show up and not
With Base64 they removed issue of image rendering
Base64 is a larger raw image file
Figure 5: Source: Kindred
Make sure permissions are set for the user and folder and other developers are aware of the standards
With the NetWeaver platform it uses the MIME repository
Figure 6: Source: Kindred
Use style sheets for text in terms of fonts instead of images as shown in Figure 6
Figure 7: Source: Kindred
Consistency is key for placement of controls and icons
Filter icon is on the left; date selector is on the right along with the export icon
Try to provide a link to the BW Query for the user to give the user confidence in the data
For charts they placed a zoom for each chart to maximize the chart if the user has trouble seeing the chart.
Ease of Use
Figure 8: Source: Kindred
Figure 8 covers making applications easy to use
Maximize the real estate of the canvas – use scripting to dynamically filter and navigate
Provide access to the source data for ease of use and convenience
For the BW Query pass the filtered parameters via the URL
They embed a link to the training inside the application
Instead of starting from scratch, they start with the delivered templates. The ad hoc template is similar to what they have with BEx web.
Figure 9: Source: Kindred
They used a button to stretch it vertically to hide and show the hierarchy panel using scripting as shown in Figure 9
Figure 10: Source: Kindred
Figure 10 shows using scripting to show monthly, quarterly, yearly view
Figure 11: Source: Kindred
Figure 11 shows export script and to ensure it matches what they want to export (monthly quarterly yearly)
Figure 12: Source: Kindred
Ad hoc Analysis template lets you drill down by rows, columns, or change hierarchy views
Figure 13: Source: Kindred
Figure 13 is a wrap up
SAP is making improvements with each version of Design Studio
Do not over code unless required
Use style sheets for a consistent look and feel
Links:
Links provided by Greg during the webcast:
SCN - Convergence of BI - SAP BusinessObjects BI Strategy and Roadmap Call Notes, Question and Answer
•VisualBI (DS Blogs) - http://www.visualbis.com/blogs/
•DS on HANA Platform (Poovin Kumar) - Design Studio 1.3 on HANA Platform
•DS Best Practices (Anil Bavaraju) - SAP BusinessObject Design Studio - Best Practices
•Design Studio Utility Pack (Michael Howles) - Design Studio 1.2/1.3 SDK - Design Studio Utility Pack
•Image Encoding - How to embed images inside of a Design Studio App without uploading to server.
•Other Blogs - Design Studio 1.2 SDK - An Image Component free of MIME Repository worries
Reference:
Upcoming ASUG BI Webinars - February 2015
Join ASUG this Tuesday for Best Practices and Additional Visualization Options for SAP Design Studio
Also May 4th, before ASUG Annual Conference starts, ASUG will have a pre-conference hands-on session featuring Design Studio and Lumira. More information to come.