Hi all,
After reading a lot about not to put a lot of elements or not to have a lot of data on the Excel document. I still don’t know how to improve the performance of the dashboards.
http://www.flynetviewer.com/NEET/
This link shows a dashboard that has, in my opinion, a lot of components and data but it is so fast. I would like to know if someone knos how to do that. Maybe how to reduce the quality of the components, to do lighter dashboards.
Thanks,
Reimonch (BOB member since 2010-06-10)
that file has flat data in it. those are real queries firing off when you click a button. The fastest dashboards have no real queries. They will move as fast as your mouse clicks.
Disadvantage…you are updating the worksheet manually.
Cairmor 
(BOB member since 2008-06-05)
Performance depends on many factors. Provide more information and it would be easier to help. eg how many objects you have, using flash variables,etc)
Passa (BOB member since 2010-10-26)
The above link dashboard is too fast since that not connected to the database. Most of the dashboard projects use Aggregate tables in the universe to improve the performance of dashboards and to retrieve the data fast.
santhosh.tl (BOB member since 2006-09-18)
Fastest way I’ve found is to hit the database overnight - do all the work then and store the output in xml files. Then connect the dashboard to the xml files. It doesn’t work for everything - sometimes you have to get real-time data, but for most of my number-crunching stuff, it works just fine.
Debbie
Debbie 
(BOB member since 2005-03-01)
Let’s be more specific 
I am not using data connectivity I put an Excel Spreadsheet as data source. It has about 300 rows.
About the dashboard, it has many components, because I built a what-if scenario.
There are:
[list]
155 Combo Box
10 Canvas
50 Spinners
20 Labels
5 Input Text Box
1 Tab Set
1 Print Button
1 Scenario Button
1 Image
1 Bubble Chart
[/list]
It takes about 40 second in loading the swf, I would like to improve that. If you want I can do it smaller and upload here.
Thanks for all your previous answers,
Reimonch (BOB member since 2010-06-10)
155 combo boxes! I’m impressed. 
Not surprised it takes a while to load though. You could try splitting off your what-ifs into child dashboards?
Debbie
Debbie 
(BOB member since 2005-03-01)
With all those controls, I’m not surprised :).
As well as aggregating the data, i.e. a small number of rows, you have to remember you are dealing with a simple flash file output, complete with size and complexity limitations, with regards to the performance.
As Debbie suggested, maybe, you should split this up a bit.
Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)
The reason I am using such amount of Combo Box is because the app needs a lot of input. The Tab Set drives the user through 4 steps, in the 4th tab there is a Bubble Chart which interprets all the inputs in the previous steps.
Do you suggest … ? Instead of using a Tab Set use 4 different dashboards and link them using flash variables.
Thanks,
Reimonch (BOB member since 2010-06-10)
This is what I would probably try, I have to confess I have always been quite disspointed with Xcelcuis. Looks nice and glossy, but can be tricky to get a good result.
Also, on another note, my experience is once the initail fuss in a company has died down, often the dashboards lie there largely unused…
Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)
Tell me about it! Want it, want it, want it NOW - so you give it to them and do they ever actually use it? 
Personally I find xcelsius is great at displaying the end result - but hopeless in getting the data there and ready. Once I switched to doing pretty much everything outside of the product and just bringing in the exact data I need, it’s a great tool for looking pretty and being interactive!
Debbie
Edited to add: I’m sure I read somewhere that the tab set is very memory hungry. Have you tried just using the canvas and controlling the visibility of the components? I’ve got combo boxes working like cascading choice lists quite nicely - and different components display according to what is selected.
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
I read about that also, and other memory eaters I read before are Bubble Graph and Backgrounds.
If someone can confirm that could be marvellous.
Thanks again for your help, I have to start studying flash variables 
Reimonch (BOB member since 2010-06-10)
[quote=“Debbie”] Once I switched to doing pretty much everything outside of the product and just bringing in the exact data I need, it’s a great tool for looking pretty and being interactive!
[/quote]
Once people understand how right you are, they will stop having the problem of un-used dashboards. Dashboards on desktops (widgits) is insanely useful. dashboards on the web, likewise.
No matter how big your dashboard is…if you have over 2 second response times for any interactive click…You are doing it wrong. Create a few pre-aggregated objects under 500 rows and you’ll start to ‘get’ it.
SWF’s were never ever meant to assemble data, nor store it.
Presentation, however…
Cairmor (BOB member since 2008-06-05)
Cairmor,
You have made some excellent points here :).
I agree they can be useful as a top level gateway to detailed data through KPIs.
As has already been stated, the problem is that people miss the top level part of the equation and thus “abuse” the tool.
Amen to that :)!
Simplicity and focus is the key, IMO…
Cheers,
Mark.
Mak 1 (BOB member since 2005-01-06)
Well as someone who helped in developing that dashboard (mainly from a Web service point of view). I can tell you some of the technical details.
The Dashboard is a fully connected dashboard using web services created with our Designer for Web Services tool. Actually these web services were created by an ealier version of the Web Services Generator tool , our product has improved since then.
The web services run against a SQL database , this data is in the public domain but it is real data. NEET actually stands for Not in Education or Training and these are UK Government statistics. So this dashboard was used in the real world.
The SQL server and Web Services run on our Web Site.
ianlearmonth (BOB member since 2008-10-22)
Reimonch, check this article on dashboard design and performance. It may be helful.
http://tronichop.com/fast-xcelsius-dashboards/
Passa (BOB member since 2010-10-26)