Customer Reviews

Crystal Xcelsius Professional - (V. 4.5) - Complete Package - 1 User - CD - Win - English (74485C) Category: Software Suites

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We ordered the software so we could add more "pop" and visual variety to our displays of information. The package meets all expectations in that area, and we can configure displays in new, creative ways now... The only difficulty we had was that the package is not intuitive to a new, unexperienced User -- so, we spent 2-3 weeks trying to navigate and learn how data is linked to Excel and how to build and format screens/displays. But, as I said, the package is a great one, with lots of flexibility!!

I bought this product and downloaded it direct for Business Objects, then paid big bucks for the back up disk. The back up disk comes without the key, so you have to keep that handy. As another reviewer noted, there is no backward compatibility. I purchased the product before SAP bought business objects. I had problems moving my license to a new computer even with the backup disk. Don't expect help or sympathy from SAP.

Oh. It's a great product. It helped me get promotions and a new job.

Xcelsius makes the most sexy graphs once can imagine, but after extensive use, I have discovered several problems, which really reduce productivity.

Backwards compatibility:
I saved a presentation using version 4. Then I upgraded to version 4.5 just to discover that I could not open the presentation in version 4.5! There were no work-arounds. I contacted customer service without any luck... I then attempted to downgrade to my last version, but the problem was that the link to download version 4 did not work anymore, so I was basically stuck having spend 10-15 sour hours recreating the presentation I had already created a long while ago.

Copy and paste
One cannot copy and paste between "presentations". This might seem like a small feature, but imagine that you have spent 50+ hours creating a presentation. Then another 50+ hours creating another presentation. There is then no way to integrate the two into eachother! You have to do all the drawing etc all over again!

Limited complexity of the presentations
Imagine the following scenario. You create a presentation, which is widely used in your company. Everyone loves it and everything is good. Then some senior management decides that they want to expand the presentation to include more data/history etc. This is agreed upon and you get the task. As you expand the presentation you run into heavier and heavier performance problems (meaning it takes more than 1 hour to preview a presentation). In the end it simply got stuck processing for more than 27 hours before I gave up, unable to fulfill the wish.

Fun and easy software that transforms your everyday Excel spreadsheets into persuasive presentations and dynamic business dashboards, and then share them easily via Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, or the Web. Download CX Now In 5 minutes you will transform a dull spreadsheet into an interactive and persuasive PowerPoint presentation. Move a slider, and watch your column chart change. Push a button, and see your projected sales for the next three years. It's that easy. Don't bore another audience with the same old static presentations.

Go Get a copy now.

Visit: www.xcelsius.wordpress.com for more.