Comments on: Review of Xcelsius Present

By: Colin Banfield

Colin Banfield — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:14:52 +0000

Wish I could make it. Would love to rub shoulders with greats in the sport.

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:14:22 +0000

Colin -

Mike and I are going five rounds in the ring at the Dashboard & Visualization Boot Camp. Ringside seats are going fast.

By: Colin Banfield

Colin Banfield — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:44:33 +0000

Jon, did you read Mike A’s Xcelsius book for Dummies? I think you guys are treading on some sensitive toes here :)

By: Xcelsius Present Dashboards Bashed

Xcelsius Present Dashboards Bashed — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:08:34 +0000

[...] the debate is going on about. Worse yet, as Excel guru and dashboard curmudgeon (just kidding!) Jon Peltier of PTS Blog shows in this pie chart example, the reflections in the slick graphics can interfere with data [...]

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:35:54 +0000

Jon, I think you hit on two key reasons why a product like Xcelsius is so popular even with its shortcomings. The two are: flashy and web enabled.

I have seen it firsthand where executives are wowed by the glitzy and flashy dashboard, which makes them think its a high end product specifically for dashboards. I agree that Excel can do many of the same things and do them better. Especially with some of the add-on products like MicroCharts.

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:33:20 +0000

Ever use Xcelsius? I did a project a few years back. A couple of things about Xcelsius dragged me down. First, not all Excel functions were recognized in the worksheet Xcelsius imported, so I had a hard time getting the relationships to work properly. Second, and more important, I found the Xcelsius editing interface very difficult to use. You could only edit or format one control at a time, you couldn’t copy or paste formats, there was no Repeat shortcut.

You can make just as effective a display in Excel, though it won’t be quite as flashy. Put some charts and tables, and some data entry cells onto the main sheet, and put your data and formulas on a second sheet. Use ActiveX sliders for immediate feedback, and use dynamic ranges for the charts.

The Flash object created by Xcelsius securely contains your data and algorithms (I guess), while Excel’s security is at most an inconvenience to a hacker. If you want your model on a web page, then Excel can’t handle that (maybe with the new Excel Services?). But for a solution distributed among desktops, Excel beats Xcelsius hands down.