Getting ready

You need a basic SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards file containing a few components in the canvas with some bindings to the data model in the spreadsheet.

How to do it...

How it works...

As you can see, there are many roles that cells in the spreadsheet can play. If these were not color coded, you would be faced with a daunting task when updating the Excel model in the future. In our example, we colored calculations in green, external data input in blue, and component input data in yellow.

There's more...

To make the data model readable, not only for yourself but also for others, it is helpful to create a legend in your spreadsheet that explains what each color represents. Any color scheme can be used, but it is important that you stick to the chosen scheme and use it consistently throughout the development of your dashboard.

It is important to create a separate worksheet that houses the legend, as seen in the following screenshot. You can also use this overall summary worksheet to include the information such as project name, description, usage, version (history), and so on.