University Alliances (UA) congratulates the “Dashboarders” team in taking first place in the Brazil Dashboard Design Competition.
Tiago, Lucas and Gregory spent a portion of their most recent semester designing a Dashboard for the World Cup. Each team member is from a different university in Brazil; they met during an internship at SAP and worked through competing exam schedules to deliver the dashboard and showcase it to SAP executives.
The goal of the UA Spotlight Series is to exchange insights with professors, lecturers, students, researchers and the entire SAP ecosystem and community.
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Tell us a little bit about your experience building your dashboard. What was the goal of the project?
Tiago: It was a great experience! We were able to build a dashboard with a very helpful tool: SAP Crystal Report. Even though we had some previous access to it, we had to learn a lot about some new functionality so we could create the best dashboard possible within the circumstances. Our goal was to show as much relevant information we could in a very interactive and friendly way!
Lucas: In addition to creating a dashboard in accordance with the requirements, our goal was to use as many different features as the tool offers. At the same time, ensuring it would be practical and user-friendly was an importante consideration.
Gregory: It was an amazing experience. We already had contact with the Dashboard tool in the past so we could focus on the business problem and develop a solution that showcased most of the functionalities the tool provides.
What were you most successful at? What was your greatest challenge? Were there any obstacles you had to overcome? If so, what steps did you take?
Tiago: We were most successful in the way that we tried to implement almost all of the features to optimize the dashboard’s capabilities. We knew that we had to be great to win this competition. We had some difficulties with the timing of the competition as we were taking our finals at our universities at the same time. So, we had to conciliate university work (we all were interns here at SAP) and our teaming for the competition. We were able to concentrate our efforts on our tasks and help each other so we could deliver the best solution.
Lucas: The greatest challenge was that the competition took place at the same time as our college exams. In spite of the time constraint, thanks to the team effort, we managed to complete the tasks in time.
Gregory: I believe the biggest challenge was the time constraints we faced. Although the team members work at the same company, it was hard to find free time to discuss the Dashboard project. We study at different universities and one of the team member’s lives in a different city. Even with this challenge we performed excellent team work.
The skills you grew and gained from working with SAP’s Analytics solutions are highly valued in the marketplace. How did your experiences with the competition help advance and further your knowledge of SAP’s Analytics solutions and your marketable skills?
Tiago: This experience was very valuable in many ways. In addition to using a very powerful tool which is very valued in the market; we valued sharing this experience with other students around Brazil. Also, we had to present the dashboard to very important people inside SAP, such as board members, which represented a unique opportunity.
Lucas: The competition helped me learn more about the SAP’s Analytics solutions. I find it useful to turn raw data into meaningful information and I am impressed with its wide applications.
Gregory: The team work was one of the most important skills we were able to improve. Since different people think differently, it might become a problem while a project is being developed, however, it allowed us to have broader collaboration and ideas. Another positive skill we explored was the planning; in other words, stop and think about the proposed problem in order to avoid unpredictable or rework situations. In addition, we learned more about a very interesting Analytics solution provided by SAP.
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