(FIXED) 10.5 Functions: WEB Object Copy and Paste

Paul Wyatt

A new BOARD release is a very exciting time.  Scrambling to read the release notes, diligently comparing version functions from one to another and then writing up the upgrade strategy utilizing the best 'agile' means to ensure the quickest and most efficient pathway to the update and release of all current models.  Ah, the bliss of rigidly applied, fashionable dogma of.. the da(y)..hou(r)..the moment - 

 

OK, hands up all the cool kids who just installed 10.5, read nothing and dived right on in wanting to re-create EVERYTHING...ON THE WEB PLATFORM. 

 

No more client install for you sir, no sir, you're FREEEEEEEE and on the web. 

 

Now, hands up all those searching for the ubiquitous function of Copy/Paste so you can re-create that 21 block super-duper report which you then copied several times in a tabbed container - you know the one, it's the Marketing Director's report that has 10 standard blocks and 11 algorithms to illustrate the effect of sales based on the azimuth of Pluto in relation to Jupiter in a tabbed container showing each of 3 scenarios, created by copying the initial layout and pasting it several times before editing each of the subsequent layouts - imagine having to re-create those dataview blocks without Copy/Paste???. 

Oh, and it's true that a few buttons to apply the selections to a single dataview would have done but, well, you know the Director and 'technology'.

 

Well, the good news is (and some of you knew this), you still have the client install to use because, drum roll...there is no Copy/Paste in WEB 10.5, confirmed by BOARD's Pietro Ferrari in response to an idea raised by Gerrit Kohrs @SDG Group back in May 2018. 

 

If you read this far, I'm guessing you hit this issue and, possibly in desperation, turned to the community for help.  If so, I hope I've saved you pulling your hair out trying to achieve the impossible.  If you were not so fortunate, are now bald and have no fingernails, I'm sorry about that.  Although, it's sort of your own fault for not being actively involved in the community where there is always at least one developer, with (possibly) less hair than you, who has already made the mistake you made but has then written a smart-arsed, verbose post like this about their experience to help prevent people like you becoming people like me, I mean them.

 

Now, go and have fun - Might see you at BOARDville 2019 Baveno

(Salut to my friend and respected colleague Kevin Regis. I wish you great fortune and success in all you choose to challenge - you, my friend, will make a difference).

Gerrit Kohrs

 

...still pretty confident that this functionality will come, though.

Mike Westley

Have you been lookin' at my old family photo album! 

Mike Westley

Loving the imagery!  but sad regards the oversight and apparent review by major clients before release of 10.5 to ensure no 'show-stopper' changes.  Unless there was, but this should have been heavily documented in the pre-release / release documentation... Perhaps release notes need Q&A that includes 'How to role back a release when find something major that's not there any more'?

 

Looking forward to 10.6 with Copy/Paste objects AND Copy/Paste Layout back in

Previous Member

Hello Paul,

 

The copy paste of layout and objects is only for me and VIPs, in fact I have it (see the screenshot below)

You Need to have 5,000 community points to unlock the feature

 

Of course I am kidding, it's true that you do not have the copy paste in your 10.5, but it's also true that I do have it on the upcoming version.

the reason is that the feature is arriving: board web can be updated now independently from Board Engine, so the upgrade of new releases will be very fast (it's not a winclient development luckily).

You will soon have a new release that can be installed in no time and copy/paste will be there with more and more features that will be available.

Stay tuned!

 

Paul Wyatt

Hey Antonio,

 

That's great news.  Thanks for the prompt and detailed update.

Gerrit Kohrs

Excellent, thanks for the feedback! I’m really looking forward to this!

 

Kind regards,

Gerrit

Etienne CAUSSE

Hi Antonio Speca, indeed great news !

Does that mean it will be available for an end user (lite/liteplus) working on a "presentation" ? Or is it only for Power Users / developers ?

Copy/paste and/or slide copy is the biggest missing feature for presentations so far, in my opinion. Most users in our company are putting forward this kind of thing to explain why they prefer working in a BW environment regarding the "favories" / "custom reports" functions (which is a big shame).

Thanks for your feedback,

Etienne

Paul Wyatt

I would like to add my support for both points from Etienne CAUSSE. 

 

I would also like to expand on his second one regarding adhoc reporting - I will probably submit an idea on it if someone has not already.The most prevalent issue I have with my clients is the lack of ability to create ahoc reports within the software.  I do not have the resources to train any client in how to use the Self-Service features. It would be great to have a 'lite' report creation tool, which is a simple drag-n-drop report creation tool for all users and based only on the objects currently on screen.

 

I think one of the issues is the way licencing is pitched and perceived. I am a developer and so have  a licence to develop, our data analysts have poweruser licences but our core user population of internal and external business users are Lite or LitePlus licence holders.  The issue here is that lite and liteplus users can also be 'power(ful)users' as they are also the ones taking our datamodels and augmenting them into their own highly skilled and professional roles.  It is they that display how good a BI tool is and they all want to slice and dice data in order to create an adhoc report.  And that is despite the fact that some of us can do some crazy creative stuff with BOARD; Want to set local security filters for specific users and back up the file  - go right ahead:

Here's the logic (based on an original idea by Robert Heatley - the workflow master)

 

There is no tool on the market that can do all of what BOARD can, in my opinion.  Data entry and variable handling used to build workflow processes without the need of a programming language is immensely powerful.  Here at Avison Young, our standard models also provide integrations with BOX.COM, Leverton AI systems, Google maps and other web sources and services.  But I can tell you that my external clients are like "Meh" when they see it because their levels of expectation in 2019 are such that what we do is just expected today.  The problems come when a, business educated, senior director cannot just get the report they want and asks for a datadump to excel so someone else can do it for them - This is not what they want to do at the conference on their IPAD, I have to mitigate this issue by supporting the analysts so that they can create reports for their clients; pulling the proverbial rabbit out of the hat.

 

If I could have one wish for a future BOARD feature, just one, then simple adhoc report creation for all users would be it. 

 

   ... set the data free .