First SAP Press Design Studio book released this week!

Back in April 2012, SAP released a statement of direction on dashboarding that named SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio as a new technology solution for providing rich, professionally authored HTML5 applications and dashboards. The first version of Design Studio was released in November 2012 and allows users to build interactive analytical application and dashboards on top of SAP NetWeaver BW and SAP HANA sources.

As SAP continues to invest heavily in building out functionality in SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio, it’s time for developers to add the tool to their skillset. This book is a step-by-step guide that will accomplish exactly this goal—it teaches how to build Design Studio applications via hands-on training. The book is appropriate for a beginner, but also covers some more advanced topics. By reading and following along with the steps, you’ll finish with an overview of the functionality in Design Studio, as well as some good tips for making your applications both mobile and interactive. In addition, the book covers strategic frequently asked questions (such as the difference between SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, and SAP BEx Web Application Designer) and also provides use cases for Design Studio.

Moreover, who better to write this book? I was delighted to hear that Jeroen van der A and Xavier Hacking, who are two of the most passionate and experienced BI consultants I know, were undertaking the task. Both are active bloggers in the BI community, which is how I first got to know them both. I still remember, in one of my first days in my new role as director of product marketing in the business intelligence team, being told that I simply must read the “bible”—which was Xavier Hacking’s SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook. From there I discovered his blog, www.hackingsap.com. In addition to authoring the cookbook, he is also a writer for SAP BusinessObjects Expert and part of the Dutch BI Podcast.

I first got to know Jeroen through Twitter and his regular blogs on sdn.sap.com and www.interdobs.nl, and I first met him at an SAP Insider conference, where we had a lively discussion about the future of dashboards and applications. He had some great experience with Design Studio, being one of the first people to come in early on the beta program and utilize his broad BI experience to pick it up quickly.

So read the book and get started with Design Studio. Don’t forget to utilize SCN (http://scn.sap.com/community/businessobjects-design-studio) as a resource for any additional questions and staying abreast of the latest news. If you have ideas that you’d like to share with us at SAP for future releases, you can submit them and vote on others ideas here: https://ideas.sap.com/ct/s.bix?c={6055F3C4-E8DA-454F-9C49-85D5A5070BCE}. I’d love to hear about the Design Studio applications you create, so don’t hesitate to reach out to me either via Twitter (@AnitaGibbings) or SCN.