Crystal Xcelsius For Dummies 1st Edition

In analyzing data at work, I was looking for a way to graphically present analysis to accurately communicate. I'd been through some self-study material and was familiar with the basics of Xcelsius.Having read another book by Michael Alexander on data analysis with Microsoft Access, I confidently purchased Crystal Xcelsius for Dummies. While I'm no where near a power user after going through this book, I do feel empowered to use the application.

I liked this book a lot. I enjoyed the writing and even tough it was a Dummies book, it contained all the information that I needed to be able to get started mastering Crystal Xcelsius.

Is the best option to begin you in this excellent software like Xcelsius...It is importat that you consider this book your initiation to after be a PRO using more complex dashboards (with the practice I mean!)

The 'For Dummies' books have done it again. This is a complete and thourough introduction to using Xcelsius to give you an entirely new set of sophisticated ways to show Excel data in graphical form.Xcelsius specializes in what they call dashboards. That is, the data is diaplayed in the form of gauges (speedometer, gas gauge, they even have what they call 'alerts' that are close to idiot lights). You can also design inputs in the form of sliders, buttons, again, not unlike an automobile dashboard.In addition to dashboards there are other features such a maps, enhanced charts, pictures -- all kinds of things to ehnance the visual experience of a presentation.Technically, Xcelsius compiles your visual model into a Flash (.swf) file and creates an HTML file that calls the .swf file. The HTML file is of course presented using a web browser, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Outlook, or Plumtree.As in most 'For Dummies' books, this one starts slow, builds on the base, and by the end of the book you have a pretty good idea about the whole thing.

This is a very good resource for beginners, however its not an ideal Reference book while working on Xcelsius. Buy this book, if you are new to xcelsius. The chapters are very well organized and will help you get started easily.[...

While Xcelsius is a great tool, the model is the substance behind the image. This software makes presentation simple and powerful (and has a bit of the 'wow' factor, especially when sending interactive .pdfs) but the real issue is building the underlying model.In chapter 15, the 'real world examples,' none of the Excel models are shown. A big omission. It would have been so easy to add the 15 excel files to the 'Bonus material.'

After being assigned to produce Dashboards for our company, I tried to read and understand the manual. I saw the Crystal Xcelsius for Dummies and thought I would give it a try. This book had me up and running in 2 days and I actually understood "why" things were happening. This is a great book for beginners and has a hands on approach to the learning, which I find extremely helpful. This book is for anyone who wants to learn Crystal Xcelsius in a hurry.

I used this book as a training manual to learn Xcelsius. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. The chapters build on each other. It starts with the basics and you can build your simple dashboards immediately from this section. However you need to go through the whole book to really see the power and versatility of this application. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn Crystal Xcelsius.