Xcelcius Alternatives

[MikeLiberty]

Hi,
I'm looking for recommendations for dashboarding tools to lay on top of Excel. I need to provide concise and impactful visuals to represent our metrics for senior level management.

I've used Xcelcius before and think its a good tool, if a bit labor intensive for new users. I need to do some due diligence on a number of different options. Has anyone used anything similar (or different) that they recommend I look at?

-Mike

 

[Derek Brown]

I have not used Xcelcius but I do use Charley Kidd's Dashboards.
For Dashboards, look at:
http://www.exceluser.com/dash/index.htm
(there are links to demos on that page).
I also subscribe to Charley's "Swipe Files":
http://www.exceluser.com/catalog2/charts/charleyfiles1.htm
And while you are there, have a look at the Kyd add-ins:
http://exceluser.com/catalog2/addins/kyd-sa.htm#TrafficLight

 

[MikeLiberty]

Thanks Derek. I took a look at the site and there are a lot of really good tips and tricks that I will definitely start using for my charts. For our presentations and dashboards, we are really looking to incorporate interactivity. The reason I am using Xcelcius as a baseline is the ability for a manager to drill down into the data and look at the specific business units behind the information. I can't figure out how to make Excel interactive beyond just dynamically changing the data with a drop down box.

Have you had any success replicating this type of fucntionality?

- Mike

 

[Smitty]

If you use Pivot Tables, they have drill-down properties.

HTH,

 

[MikeLiberty]

If you use Pivot Tables, they have drill-down properties.

HTH,

Can you do it within graphs though?

I'm looking for the ability to take a chart at a cross business unit level and then be able to drill into it to look at the departments within the same business unit across the same metrics.

We just had a demo from a company called Spotfire that seemed promising.

 

[Smitty]

Can you do it within graphs though?

Probably not to the extent that you want, but Pivot Charts do give you Filtering functionality, so you can narrow the displayed data based on certain selections.

 

[Derek Brown]

Excel 2010 introduced 'Slicers' for pivot tables and pivot charts. A great improvement in the look of chart presentations.
For examples, look at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG593BIWV7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14QG7KO9jY4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sixq4GS3X7M