Xcelsius: How to Ruin a Great Application by Mark Gibbs

[Former Member]

A recent article in PC World summarizes the feeling of many xcelsius users and members of this forum. Please forward the link to the xcelsius management:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/150740/ruin_xcelsius.html?tk=rss_news

Is there really a team working on cleaning up the bugs and making real improvements?

Paul

[Former Member]

You are correct. I am back again. I purchased 2008 prior to the release of SP1. Upon finding out how incredibly poorly the software worked, I asked for and received a refund. Upon the release of SP1, I tracked the comments in this forum to see if the release did, in fact, solve the problems.

Unfortunately I did not wait long enough. I repurchased the software and find my frustration level growing daily. At this point I probably would have better luck responding to one of the 'Nigerian E-Mail Scams'.

[Former Member]

Fraud may be too strong a word, but for a company to charge as much as it does for this software and for it to work as badly as it does, is, at the very least unconscionable! What is even more bothersome is the fact that it is still being sold to unsuspecting consumers.

[Former Member]

Is there another Excel-based dashboard application that developers perfer?

[Former Member]

Hi James,

while I completely agree that the application needs improvement, there still should be something good in it if after obtaining a refund for your Xcelsius purchase you are back on this board with us, so it means you decided to try it again...

Margaret

[Former Member]

I agree 1000%. I am so frustrated with Xcelsius and wish I could get back the $600+ spent on it - what a piece of junk it is. I've been using it since the good old days of version 4.0 when it was still with the original company Infommersion (before they were bought by Busines Objects and before they were purchased by SAP).

The software and service has gotten so horrible I cringe anytime someone asks me to create a model. This new version won't even do the simplest things and I am quite experienced with the Excel and past versions of Xcelsius.

I keep using 4.5 since I know its bugs and workarounds but why can't I use the features I've paid for. The support system has deteriorated to nothing. I used to be able to send an email to support and get almost 24 hour turnaround.

[Former Member]

Hi Paul,

I have to say that's a very appropriate article that sums up the situation extremely well. We have been developing an Executive Dashboard with Xcelsius 2008 for a client since June. One month was completely wasted with rewrites, rebuilds and workarounds due to the problems mentioned in the article. We continue to experience an unacceptable level of bugs, which have significantly limited the scope of the functionality that was originally planned to be delivered.

The support staff on this forum have been extremely helpful and responsive in trying to resolve our issues. However, there is only so much they can do when the product itself is fundamentally flawed.

I hope the management of SAP/BO is taking note and action. In its current form, Xcelsius is certainly not a product that can be recommended.

Regards,

Mustafa Bensan.