Business Intelligence Archive

Winners of 2010 Best Xcelsius Dashboard Awards Announced at IBIS 2010

By
Paul
Published: June 14, 2010Posted in: Blog Featured, Business Intelligence, IBISTags: , , , ,
Winners of 2010 Best Xcelsius Dashboard Awards Announced at IBIS 2010

As Xcelsius becomes more widely used and more mature, the level of complexity and creativity in its usage in Business Intelligence applications appears to grow exponentially.  This was the third year of InfoSol’s Best Xcelsius Dashboard Awards and there was no shortage of great dashboards on display at IBIS 2010 at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel, California.

IBIS 2010 Winners

Most Valuable Dashboard SPX Service Solutions Detroit, MI
Most Innovative Dashboard United Educators Washington, DC
Best Business Dashboard Aluchemie Rotterdam, Netherlands
Most Xcellent Dashboard ARI Mt. Laurel, NJ

 

SPX wins Most Valuable Dashboard

This year’s winner of the Most Valuable Dashboard was SPX Service Solutions who developed a series of complex dashboards to provide on-line interactive views of Global Strategic Customers and Line of Business P&L’s for company executives and financial managers. The data was retrieved from an SAP BW (Business Warehouse) and delivered comparisons and analysis never previously available.  The number of possible comparisons and drill-downs is huge and created some real challenges for the BI/BW team at SPX in terms of the amount of data to be retrieved. However, SPX overcame the data quantity and performance hurdles by using InfoBurst XDS with its Intelligent Caching.

The Most Innovative Dashboard Award is for the dashboard that is designed and developed in an innovative way or for an innovative solution.  United Educators, who provide insurance to educational institutions, needed a solution to enable their clients to Self-Serve and Leverage Policy Data to make informed decisions.  The United Educators dashboard application was certainly an innovative solution with its peer selection function that retained anonymity of the institutions being compared. Also, the design using selection /de-selection of multiple peer groups and write-back to prevent users “gaining” the system was unique and creative.

Best Business Dashboard won by Aluchemie

The Best Business Dashboard was awarded to Aluchemie, a manufacturer of anodes needed for the electrolysis process by which aluminum is extracted from ore, based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. They were looking for a way to get Team Leaders, Production Managers and Executives excited about the roll out of their Manufacturing Execution System software, used to manage and monitor work-in-process on the factory floor. Xcelsius was the answer and they created a comprehensive set of options in a multi-tab dashboard with more than 120 different dynamic graphs showing trend analysis along with shift-by-shift and day-by-day comparisons of key production line metrics. The dashboard revolutionized their manufacturing reporting and brought to light critical production issues that could be seen clearly for the first time.  As one Team Leader put it, he felt like they were finally, “coming out of the Stone Age”.

ARI receives Most Xcellent Dashboard Award - IBIS 2010

Last but not least, the Most Xcellent Xcelsius Dashboard was won by ARI, an international fleet Vehicle Leasing and Management Company.   ARI already had the ability to compare and analyze key life cycle metrics of any vehicles through their existing customer portal but they wanted to make it more visually dynamic and add even more useful functionality. They used Xcelsius to create a visually intuitive interface with picture icons, dynamic sliders and a lot of pizzazz.

ARI’s Dashboard Prototype was shown at a key trade show and received rave reviews.

Representatives of the winning companies received their prestigious glass pyramid awards and also participated in a customer panel to explain how their dashboards were conceived and how their respective businesses are benefitting from them.  In addition, three of the winners also presented insightful case studies on their dashboards.

Passing Flash Variables

By
InfoSol
Published: May 26, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Tech Tips, Xcelsius End UserTags:
Passing Flash Variables

Question: What is a Flash Variable connection and what is it used for?    

Answer: Flash Variable connection is used to pass a variable from one dashboard or interface to the second dashboard.    

Let us consider two dashboards here:
a) Parent dashboard  – from which you will be passing a variable to the Child dashboard
b) Child dashboard – this will consume the variable passed from the Parent dashboard
“State name” is the variable that is passed from the Parent to the Child dashboard.    

“California” is passed as a variable from the Parent dashboard to the Child, and the Child dashboard now shows data for California.    

The data for Child dashboard is fed through Live Office and the WebI report that is feeding the dashboard has a prompt on State.    

Parent dashboard     

Fig. 1

 

After selecting State, click on the button on the right, in the Parent dashboard, which will open the Child dashboard as shown below:    

 Child dashboard    

There are 2 aspects to this:    

  1. Creating a Live Office connection – where the data is coming from a prompted WebI report; the WebI report in this demo has prompts for State as seen below.
  2. Setting up the Live Office piece.

     

Fig. 4: Live Office connection in the Excel sheet

 

Cell E3 is where you have prompts being provided for the WebI report, so if you change the states in this cell then the data (E16:H26) will change and will reflect the changes for the corresponding state that is in cell E3.    

The purpose of this Flash variable is so that we can pass the value of state from the Parent dashboard, or any web interface, to another dashboard.  

a snapshot of the Parent dashboard   

Fig. 5

 

On the left side, you have a selector which is dropping state value in the blank cell; below is a snapshot from Excel:    

     

Fig. 6 (The link “completevm” refers to your server name)

 

      

Cell E3 is where the labels are being dropped, note that I have a URL button in Xcelsius, and I am pointing the URL to Cell E20. Cell E20 is the concatenation of E19 & E3.    

In this URL “completevm” is the name of your server and Child is the name of your main dashboard. In the Child dashboard, we will create a Flash Variable. Go to Data Connections.    

Fig. 7

Add a connection Flash Variable:    

Fig. 8

Provide a suitable name for the range. Notice that the Range is pointing to cell E3, which means that the name of the state will come from the Parent dashboard through the Flash Variable to this cell, this is also the cell which is acting as the prompt for the WebI report for Live Office (refer to Fig. 4).    

For the Live Office connection, in the usage tab, I have made the trigger based on a change of cell E3, since Live Office should refresh based on the change in this cell.    

Export this child dashboard in html format to the inetpub folder. Publish the dashboard in this path: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot.    

Put the crossdomain.xml file in this folder.    

In this folder, you should now see 2 files – Child.html and Child.swf. Right click on the Child.html file and change its extension from html to aspx. Your file will now be Child.aspx. Right click on it to edit this file, here is how the file looks before editing:    

Fig. 9

 

Notice that “Enter value(s) for state: = California appears in 2 places. In this case, California is the default value. This is our Flash Variable, and to make it dynamic, replace California with <%=Request.QueryString%>. Save the file after making the changes.    

Fig. 10

 

To see how the data is changing, drag a spreadsheet component onto the Xcelsius canvas, so you can see the changes. Whenever the State changes in the Parent dashboard, you can see the corresponding changes in the Child dashboard as well.

How to Implement “BOUSER” Row-Level Security in Xcelsius QAAWS and Live Office Connections

By
InfoSol
Published: April 30, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Tech Tips, Xcelsius End UserTags: , , , , , , , ,
How to Implement “BOUSER” Row-Level Security in Xcelsius QAAWS and Live Office Connections

Question: How can I get user-specific data results for Xcelsius dashboards viewed through BusinessObjects InfoView?

Answer: There are a few application variables that BusinessObjects provides for use when a user logs into InfoView, one of which is BOUSER.  BOUser is the variable for the userId that is logged in and can be used when Xcelsius is aware of the user session.  The user session is passed to Xcelsius via a flash variable that has been made available in XI for this purpose.  It is called, CELogonToken.

BOUSER contains the value of the userId of the user logged in.  It can be used to provide user-specific row-level security through the universe design by adding a self join to a field containing the userIds in your data.  With XI3.1 Designer, this can be applied at the class level (across all objects in a class), or through the traditional method of being applied just when objects from that specific table are used in the query.

Here is an example of how this variable is applied:
Note that the self join is applied against the Manager field.

The Manager field for eFashion contains usernames like “Queen” and “Tuttle”.  For this example, we have added these as users into our CMC.

In QAAWS, I have created a web service to return Manager and their corresponding Store.  This query automatically prompts for the BOUSER since the SQL contains the @Variable(‘BOUSER’) restriction.

In Xcelsius, I have referenced this QAAWS with the appropriate connection defined and entering Name of Manager and Store name results into cells that are viewable through a spreadsheet component.

IMPORTANT: QAAWS will return a promptValue invalid error message if a valid value is not declared as a default for bouser.  Make sure you point bouser to a cell in the Excel spreadsheet of your Xcelsius design and input a valid userId as a default.

In order for Xcelsius to know the BOUSER userId of the user logged into BO, Xcelsius needs to be aware of the session.  If you enter a login and password to the QAAWS connection, that username will be used all the time.  Instead, these entries should be left blank.

If they are left blank, then the users will be prompted to log into QAAWS when they attempt to refresh the QAAWS query from the dashboard. 

For both performance and ease of use, it is usually desired that the users continue using their existing session for a single-sign on method.  To do this, a flash variable connection should be added which includes the range name CELogonToken.  This hands the existing session token over to Xcelsius seamlessly.

The BOUSER or userId is not viewable in the token value as displayed.  The token, however, makes this application variable available for use as the Login value passed to the QAAWS connector upon refresh.

In the end, my excel spreadsheet design looks like this:

I export the Xcelsius dashboard to the SAP BusinessObjects Platform (note that an Enterprise license is required for this functionality).

Then, I log into InfoView as Tuttle and view the dashboard. When I click the refresh button, the Manager Tuttle and his/her store gets returned.

Incidentally, the default value of Queen is never used.  The default is only to allow the bouser variable to load with the QAAWS definition, but only the actual user logged in ever gets passed to the query.

Data Quality Dashboards

By
Moksh
Published: April 20, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Infoburst 2009, XcelsiusTags: , , ,
Data Quality Dashboards

The stream of articles, white papers and videos desperately trying to convince the business community of the negative impact of poor data quality on their bottom line seems to be never ending.  It almost seems like the IT brigade is marching into a cul-de-sac at the end of which is a brick wall with three large letters written on it – ‘ROI’.  Data Quality projects share their dreaded fate with all other projects emanating from the IT division and including the geeky word ‘data’ in their title.  While the management continues to remain blissfully ignorant of the unsettling financial and human consequences of bad data, customers, employees and business itself continues to suffer from ‘Data Quality Blues’.

The one technology in recent years that has managed to captivate the business users in organizations across the globe is undoubtedly – Dashboards.  Dashboards speak to them in a language which they are familiar with, the language of graphs, charts and metrics.  The BI Dashboard serves as an abstraction layer that shields the business users from the intricate and unwelcoming world of the ‘Data Churners’.  It is this instrument therefore, that should be leveraged to enlighten the management of financial losses that are incurred due to a seemingly trivial typo error or a misplaced digit in the sales figures.  Although this may not be the panacea one is looking for, creating a real-time dashboard which attaches a price tag to every data quality issue and extrapolates the figures to demonstrate their long term impact, may just act like a sip of coffee that will stimulate their business senses.

 Here’s an example of a Data Quality Dashboard

 This dashboard was the outcome of the convergence of three technologies: BO Data Quality,  InfoBurst 2009,  and Xcelsius.  Bundling a DQ dashboard with DQ Services benefits in the following ways: 

  • Getting the initial buy in from the senior management
  • Understanding the DQ issues that are creating havoc
  • Tracking the performance of the DQ initiative itself
  • Displaying the relevant financial metrics to answer the ROI question
.
Photo Credit: Sieve photo in this post from Wikimedia

Europe Trip 2010: Day 8 Denmark – Vikings and Excel Post-Processing

By
Paul
Published: April 19, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Europe Trip 2010, InfoBurst, Infoburst 2009, Paul Blogs on BITags: , , ,
Europe Trip 2010: Day 8 Denmark – Vikings and Excel Post-Processing

I arrived late at night at Copenhagen airport and headed for the taxi rank to get to my hotel. As I exited the terminal, there was a large sign pointing to “Danish Taxis” to the right and “Swedish Taxis” to the left. Not understanding the difference, I figured I should opt for the Danish taxis since I was in Denmark.  As we drove to the hotel, I asked the driver about the Swedish taxis and he explained that they were cheaper but they take you to Sweden so I guess I made the right choice!

I checked in at the Kong Arthur Hotel (Kong being King in Danish) and made it to my room where this huge modern painting hung above my bed. I have included a picture since it will have different interpretations to each viewer.  At that time it was saying to me “No matter how tied up in knots you are, come to bed”. In the morning, I noticed there was both the outline of a man and a woman in the picture and I had a totally different interpretation.

Although I did not see a lot of Denmark in one day, I did get to meet quite a few Danish people in my meetings and learned that Denmark is the home of Lego, Lager beer, ham and Vikings. I also noticed that the average Dane is significantly taller than the average European – must be that special beer and ham! 

I was visiting one of the largest companies in Denmark where a couple of the divisions use BusinessObjects for their Business Intelligence. They were interested in finding a better way to schedule, publish and distribute their reports so I showed them a demonstration of the new InfoBurst 2009 along with presenting a few customer case studies. They were particularly excited about the ability of InfoBurst to apply Excel macro post processing. It seems they, like many other companies, have large numbers of Excel users that want all their Business Intelligence reports delivered in Excel format but publishing reports directly from BusinessObjects to Excel does not provide all the features in the Excel output that they want delivered to the user. For example, one customer wanted to make use of data grouping and outlining within Excel for one-click collapse and expansion of individual data groupings in the report. In addition, they wanted each and every data group and outline to be automatically collapsed in the initial delivery of the report – keeping the report compact and easier to view. This simply cannot be done publishing from BusinessObjects to Excel but with InfoBurst 2009, you can execute a VBA macro following report production and produce a revised version of the report for publishing.

This caused great excitement amongst my Danish audience and there were smiles and vigorous hand shaking at the end of the meeting.  I think they really appreciated the logical building block of adding the Excel post-processing – just like Lego!

Europe Trip 2010: Day 6 Snowboarding Lessons

By
Paul
Published: April 18, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Europe Trip 2010, InfoSol, Paul Blogs on BITags:
Europe Trip 2010: Day 6 Snowboarding Lessons

After my previous disastrous attempts to ski when I visited my son last year, he suggested I try snowboarding. When I told him I had heard it was more difficult than skiing, he just shrugged and said that I couldn’t do any worse. I figured he had a point and agreed to give it a shot.

After spending 20 minutes putting on all the protective equipment and some bright purple pants that my son insisted were an essential part of any serious snowboarder’s attire, we headed for the slopes where he showed me how to strap my boots to the snowboard.  The next part was significantly more challenging, namely how to stand up when attached to your board. After scores of failed attempts that amused the groups of youngsters watching to no end, my son finally showed me that if I rolled on my belly and then pushed myself up while facing up the mountain, I could actually stand up without immediately falling over again! Of course, this made me look like a beached whale, but it did work!

My first run down the slope was not very graceful and ended with a spectacular head first crash into the snow.  On my second run I collided with my son who bravely tried to slow me down and paid the price as I simultaneously wiped us both out.

The third and forth runs were not actually bad as I completed a couple of 50 yard runs at some speed. Amazingly, I survived my first ever 90 minutes of snowboarding with no broken bones or serious bruises but I was so exhausted from all the falls and attempts to stand up, that I could barely move a muscle.

As we sat and ate lunch, my son explained that I did better on a snowboard than I did on skis because my feet were locked in a position on the board and I could not move them like I can with skis.

Sometimes when there are less options or steps involved, we tend to master them quicker.  The same is true in Business Intelligence. If you give a user a Universe or View with access to hundreds of objects in different databases and a tool like Web Intelligence for self-service query and analysis, they will usually struggle to create any type of useful report, get themselves tied up in knots and become frustrated to the point of blaming the tool and not wanting to use it again.

If, on the other hand, you create a small specialized universe or view for a user with just a few relevant objects and a pre-made report that with which they can start, they have less options and directions to choose and they can master the tool a lot easier. They can still add, delete, modify, sort, filter and save in different formats but they are working from an already created report and do not have an overwhelming number of choices to select.

While many Business Intelligence tools have become more powerful, feature-rich and versatile, most users just want information delivered in a simple, easy-to-understand way and do not want to spend time learning products and becoming experts in tools that they may not use that often.

InfoSol has developed many self-service business intelligence solutions using Web Intelligence, Xcelsius Dashboards and InfoBurst and applying best practices to allow users to get immediate benefit from them without weeks of training and usage.

Now, not everyone wants to be a casual user and those individuals should take more advanced training.  But, for the novice snowboarders like me, just standing, staying up and gliding for 50 yards is great!

Europe Trip 2010: Day 4 Lyon – Ease of Use Combined with Security

By
Paul
Published: April 12, 2010Posted in: 360 View, Business Intelligence, Europe Trip 2010, Paul Blogs on BITags:
Europe Trip 2010: Day 4 Lyon – Ease of Use Combined with Security

As I checked out of my hotel in Paris, I had finally figured out how to use my high-tech, multi-functional room key. When I checked in, I was given a room card key with some writing on it that I did not pay attention to until I got to the door of my room and could not find anywhere to insert the card. After struggling for a minute, I finally looked at the card which had the words “wave at the door” written in multiple languages.  So I checked nobody was in the corridor and feeling very silly, I waved at the door with my left hand. Nothing happened.  I tried waving with my right hand and several variations of wave including the “Queen of England” wave which is quite slow and deliberate.

Then it dawned on me that I was supposed to wave the room key card at the door. This, of course, worked and a green light lit up and I was able to open the door. The room was pitch black inside and so I fumbled around for a light switch but to no avail.  However I did see a red glow on the wall on the right which was a square plate about the size of a regular light switch. I tried waving my room key at it but nothing happened. I felt around the plate and discovered it had a slot on top. I put my room key in the slot (I know, a stroke of genius especially after waving at the door with my hand!) and all the lights came on.

Anyway, I had to laugh to myself as I left the hotel to take the train to Lyon at my first encounter with a wave room key. When I arrived at the train station, I had to validate my ticket by placing it in a machine which recorded and stamped it – no human ticket collectors.

I left the train in Lyon and headed straight for my appointment with a partner where I was treated to a demonstration (over lunch of course) of the newest version of 360View Plus. This is the neat security management tool for BusinessObjects XI that allows you to view and manage user and object security access. The tool has this really cool security matrix grid that allows you to modify access rights with a single click on the relevant cell. It can also produce these fantastic reports in Excel that show different security access for users and objects that are really useful for auditing purposes. Anyway, the product has new drag and drop features making it even easier to manage security settings as well as the ability to automatically schedule the security audit reports.

Although in most BusinessObjects environments a small number of people tend to manage security, it is still important to make the task easy and intuitive. 360View Plus allows that and, in addition, makes it just as easy for Help Desk staff to have the ability to reset access so that key BusinessObjects administrators do not have to be involved with these tasks. Best of all 360View Plus provides the capability to manage multiple BO instances (CMS’s) from a single interface enabling remote security management of different sites as well as comparing security rights between environments.

As I returned to the station to take a train to Grenoble, I needed to buy a ticket. I just walked up to a machine with a touch screen and selected my preferences and paid by credit card on the spot. Since the train I was taking left in 10 minutes, the machine pre-validated my ticket prior to issuing it and once again, I boarded without any human intervention.

The need for automated simple user interfaces combined with solid security is a clear differentiator in today’s fast moving world. France certainly appears to be one of the innovators here.

Of course, it may take a little time for us non-French to catch on but you will not see me waving at a door in a hotel ever again!

Europe trip 2010: Day 2 Paris – Business A La Carte

By
Paul
Published: April 11, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Europe Trip 2010, Infoburst 2009, Paul Blogs on BITags: ,
Europe trip 2010: Day 2 Paris – Business A La Carte

I arrive in Paris in the middle of a train strike and I am expecting the worst but as I step off the Eurostar train from London (not on strike – different company) and jump on the Metro (not on strike – different company), I notice nothing unusual.  I was told by a close friend who lives in France that strikes have become a way of life there since they are so numerous and people have learned to adapt. In fact, I end up arriving at my appointment early and so I have time to go to lunch with the people I am meeting at SAP.

Eating in France is not so much a necessity as it is a religion. It is not to be rushed and the social aspect is as important as the eating itself. Needless to say, the discussion over lunch was really interesting and stimulating as we exchanged ideas on the future of various Business Intelligence solutions.

During the meeting and demonstrations after lunch, I was able to see the SAP Explorer solution running on an iPhone which I know the Londoner’s will love (see my BLOG from Day 1).  I was also able to share the latest features of InfoBurst 2009 with the people from SAP.

At my next meeting that day with another partner, I started with the demonstrations and update on InfoBurst 2009. This was quite interesting since one of the people in the room did not speak English but he seemed to catch on due to the visual and intuitive nature of the solution.  It also helped that I was very animated when I presented and when he looked really bemused, I threw in a sentence in French. This always seemed to make him laugh and I was not sure if this was because my poor French or due to my “Inspector Clouseau” accent. 

After this meeting I went to dinner with the partner and, again, had a great conversation about strategy which was so much easier over a meal than in a board room.

My “take away” for the day was that the best way to do business in France is while eating and that if ever the restaurants went on strike in France, it would bring business to a standstill!

Europe Trip 2010: Day 1 London Swimming in Mobile Technology

By
Paul
Published: April 9, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Europe Trip 2010, Paul Blogs on BITags:
Europe Trip 2010: Day 1 London Swimming in Mobile Technology

After only 2 hours sleep on the trans-Atlantic flight (I should never have watched that in-flight movie “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll”), I finally arrived at my sister’s house in London only to find nobody in.  With two suitcases and a backpack, I parked myself on her doorstep and phoned her. My brother-in-law was supposed to be home straight after his swimming workout, she told me.  “If he’s not back in 5 minutes, call me and I will come home to let you in and kill him when I see him!”

My brother-in-law is a “larger than life” person who loves to eat, drink and socialize and I had a good idea he was probably not swimming – well not in water at least! Not wanting to get him murdered (and my sister is lethal), I decided to just keep quiet and wait a little longer than 5 minutes. I turned on my PC and connected to my sister’s wireless internet from outside her front door to catch up on my email – isn’t technology wonderful!

Apart from a few strange looks from passers-by, I contentedly tapped away on my keyboard. After about 25 minutes, my bother-in-law appeared with a big fat grin on his face that told me he had obviously had a good (and long) lunch. He gave me his infamous bear hug greeting which always ends with a big wet kiss on the cheek. Then reality hit him and he looked at me with a worried expression as he remembered “she who must be obeyed”. I told him not to worry and I quickly called my sister and said I was in the house and “hubby” was late because he did an extra few laps at the pool. I know she did not believe me and my bother-in-law figured this also so he grabbed his swim suit and goggles, ran them under the cold water tap and hung them out on the clothes horse for my sister to see when she got home. For good measure, he also set the table and unloaded the dishwasher!

The lack of sleep started to hit me so I decided to go for a run to wake myself up. As I ran around St. James Park and Green Park, I noticed quite a few other runners with backpacks strapped to their backs. At first I thought they might be on some orienteering exercise but then I realized (and I later verified this with my sister) these were people jogging home from work and they were carrying their work clothes in their backpacks. One of them was actually talking on a Bluetooth headset as he was running. Both parks were full of people talking on mobile phones or looking at or listening to PDA devices.

It occurred to me how mobile communication devices have become so significant to so many of us. They are no longer just novelty or entertainment devices; they are essential extensions to our work life that allow us to multi-task in an ever increasing number of ways. As the Apple iTunes store adds more applications every day, an even larger number are being developed by both software companies and the I.T. departments of regular businesses.  A few years ago laptops and cell phones were considered essential equipment for the mobile and remote workforce. Now it has moved to PDA’s like iPhones, Androids, Blackberries and the new iPads. These devices do not just combine the capabilities of a laptop and cell phone together; they have incredible new ways of interacting with data and can store an enormous amount of data locally on the device. This makes them ideal for Business Intelligence.

As I get back to my sister’s house from my refreshing run, I grab my Blackberry to check my email before jumping into the shower. I see a message that RoamBi, the Business Intelligence solution to graphically render Web Intelligence and Crystal reports on the iPhone, is now available for the iPad. I see another message about an SAP Explorer demo on the iPhone and another message to discuss SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI offering. Yes, the world of both personal and business communication has changed a lot.

My sister walks in the door as my brother-in-law cowers in the corner expecting the worst.  She goes light on him because she’s happy to see me (I think).  It suddenly occurs to me how an iPhone might have saved my brother-in-law from this situation but just as quickly, I wipe the thought from my mind. The swim suit and goggles was so much more creative! 

Immersion Training at IBIS May Help Eliminate the “antos”

By
Paul
Published: March 27, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, IBIS, Paul Blogs on BITags:
Immersion Training at IBIS May Help Eliminate the “antos”

A few years ago I was on vacation in the South of Spain staying at a small local hotel. After spending a day sightseeing I returned to my room to find a huge trail of ants had entered through a bathroom window. I walked down to the reception to report the problem which was a challenge since the receptionist spoke no English.  My Spanish was limited but I remembered a friend telling me that thousands of Spanish words were the same or similar to English but just pronounced differently.

Well the receptionist did not understand “ant” so I figured I would add a Spanish ending and put on my best Julio Iglesias accent.

“Tenemos  antos!” I said. The raised eyebrows and puzzled expression on the face of the receptionist clearly communicated that he did not understand.  I then raised my hands to my head and wiggled my fingers trying to make them look like antennae, “antos”, I repeated. This only created a further contortion in the receptionist’s facial expression. I was determined to make myself understood and being a veteran of charades, I got down on all fours and shuffled around in front of him shouting “antos”.  His face now turned to an expression of shock and he rushed from behind the front desk and raised me to my feet muttering the words “loco Ingleses”. I remember thinking at the time that this must be a relative of Julio Inglesias but later found out he was saying “crazy English”!

As I leaned against the reception desk, I saw a pen and paper which I grabbed and quickly drew a crude drawing of an ant. The receptionist’s eyes lit up in recognition as he excitedly said “ormiga!”. He disappeared into the office behind the desk and reappeared seconds later with a can of bug spray.

A few years later, when I was planning to take another vacation in Spain, my wife enrolled in a two week Spanish language immersion class. It was all day for 10 consecutive days and they were not allowed to speak any English. It was a hands-on interactive conversational class with everybody  and everything in the room involved. It was also incredibly effective and she could conduct reasonable conversations in Spanish at the end of the course. When we were in Spain, she handled all the transactions and conversations flawlessly. Even though her vocabulary was not that extensive, she knew enough words to make herself understood.

Since then I have been I firm believer in immersion training. At the annual InfoSol Business Intelligence Seminar (IBIS), boot camps or immersion training have been growing in popularity and this year six out of the eight tracks are hands-on immersion training sessions. Three of those sessions are dedicated to Xcelsius with Beginner and Advanced boot camps and a new Xcelsius Gurus hands on workshop which will all be delivered by highly experienced Xcelsius specialists.

Learn more about IBIS

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