The Timer custom add-on is a utility component from VisualBI for SAP Dashboards (formerly Xcelsius). Click here for an interactive demo. Using the component, you can now clock actions right down to the millisecond, and trigger timed actions such as the following:

• Triggering queries in a specific predetermined sequence
• Refreshing data in periodic intervals
• Securely shredding data or logging out the user after a pre-defined elapsed time
• And many more…
  

Let us take a use case where an enterprise is sharing sensitive information through a dashboard, but is concerned about information vulnerability (e.g. when user leaves desktop unlocked and unattended for a few minutes). We thought it would be cool to have a dashboard that either logs the user out, or prompts for a password, or securely shred all data. The timer component allows you achieve this by clocking elapsed time (up to the order of milliseconds)

In the Secure Dashboard demonstration shown below, you can specify two time periods (in seconds)

• The duration for which the dashboard should be accessible, after which it would force the user to log out
• The duration of the logout state, during which the user would be prompted for a password. Failing to submit the password in this time would erase all data from the dashboard

Upon entering the value and hitting ‘Start’, the dashboard goes live. The subsequent screen shows a dashboard along with a time counter for illustrative purposes.

After the time runs out, the Secure Dashboard logs out the user and prompts for a password (use visualbi for this demo)

Entering the password within the specified time limit takes back to the dashboard screen. Failing to enter this password logs the user out and erases the data securely from the file.

The component is available in both Flex 2.0 and Flex 4.0 versions.