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I recently had the honor to present at last week's Big Data for Defense and Government conference. My presentation showed 10 jaw-dropping visualizations along with other application and workflow visualizations. I'm attaching my PowerPoint slides that contain screenshots of these visualizations. In the Notes section, I discuss the different attributes that make these visualizations relevant to us all. I hope you find this collection helpful and inspiring.

 Actuate Data Visualization - 20130301.zip (2.97MB)
Number of downloads: 116

Hans Rosling is an interesting presenter. Many of you might remember his February 2006 TED talk where he gave an impassioned speech about data he collected comparing country population's average life expectancy at birth to the average fertility rate. He was very excited to show how certain countries' situation improved over time. The data had something exciting to show. He jumped up and down like a crazed sportscaster that had just witnessed some great athletic feat. The audience cheered and applauded because THEY had just witnessed a great presentation feat. Complete with instant replay! The data told us a good story, and Hans presented it to us through a Motion Chart. His Motion Chart showed us how the countries compared to each other through an animated progression, year by year. This part of his presentation can be found at the 2:30 minute mark of the following video: http://www.ted.com/t..._ever_seen.html

If you would like to present your data in a Motion Chart using BIRT, please download the example Motion Chart and wire it up to your data: http://www.birt-exch...-chart-example/

See what story your data tells, and sing it from the rooftops like Hans Rosling did.

A few of my coworkers overseas were having problems getting their BlackBerry's to display the default list of sample reports in the BIRT Mobile Viewer for BlackBerry application. Upon researching this, here's what I found to help them get the issue resolved:

Depending on your initial Internet configuration on your BlackBerry device, some extra settings may need to be made to allow the BIRT Mobile Viewer for BlackBerry application to communicate with an iServer. Most BlackBerry devices already are set properly, but yours may need some setting changes to allow third party applications to communicate over the Internet. If your application opens, but doesn't display the list of sample reports, you may need to do the following.

From most BlackBerry phone user guides:

About direct Internet connections for third-party applications: Some third-party applications that you add to your BlackBerry® device might require a direct TCP or HTTP connection to the Internet. Verify that you have an APN and that you have the user name and password for the APN. For more information, contact your wireless service provider.
1. In the device options, click Advanced Options.
2. Click TCP.
3. Type the APN information.
4. Press the Menu key.
5. Click Save.

You will also have to make sure to set permissions for this third party application:
1. On the Home screen or in a folder, click the Options icon.
2. Click Device > Application Management or Settings > Options > Applications.
• To set permissions for a specific third-party application, highlight the application (BIRTViewer). Press the key > Edit Permissions.
3. Expand Connections, Interactions, and User Data.
4. Change the permission fields to Allow.
5. Press the key > Save.

Let me know if you find this helpful, or if you have any other issues.

The Salesforce.com ODA on the Marketplace has a new version. It includes new features that allow it to handle aggregate fields, report parameters, the AnyType data type, relationship fields, and alias capability. Building a query is easier now with drag and drop from a graphical tree representation of all the SF tables and fields. It has an environment switch on the data source component that allows switching between your test sandbox and production/development.

The new Salesforce.com ODA 1.7.3.4 can downloaded from here:
http://www.birt-exch...howcase/?app=38

I hope you find the new features helpful. I know I do!

I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with Jason Weathersby on an article in Flash & Flex Developer's Magazine named "Visualing your Data with BIRT and Flash". The article describes how Actuate is using data driven BIRT reporting in combination with Flash presentations to create highly interactive business applications. It shows firsthand how Actuate is using both technologies to produce a better Web based BI solution. You'll also get to see the Flash development features available in the BIRT Designer.

The article can be found online at the Flash & Flex Developer's Magazine website:

http://ffdmag.com/sy....pdf?1285953844

Enjoy!

The RCL Master Dashboards are a collection of four BIRT templates that allow you to quickly create dashboard content to Track, Compare, Target and Measure. Since they are solutions built upon the Reusable Component Library v2.0.3 and BIRT best practices, you only have to point your data to them, and you're done.

I think using the RCL Master Dashboards is going to save you a ton of development and testing time. It's fun just to fold your data into them, and see the dashboard visualizations instantly populate with your data.

Both the RCL Master Dashboards and Reusable Component Library v2.0.3 can be found on the BIRT Exchange Marketplace.

Today, Actuate announced a contest to build the coolest app, solution or component with BIRT and Adobe technologies.

The press release describes the details and prizes of the contest. Some helpful resource pages are provided with integration points between the two technologies.

I think the combination of these two powerful RIA technologies will result in something spectacular. How could it not? Integrating the best of Flex into BIRT, or the best of BIRT into Flex is going to make something zing. The creativity of developers today is off the charts, as well as their skills. I can't wait to see what happens.

Come showcase your talent, get tons of free marketing opportunities for your creation, and win some money. Fame, free distribution, and fortune. I think you can handle that...