SAP-owned Business Objects has added new visualisation capabilities to its business intelligence (BI) software range.

The firm announced a tool called Xcelsius Present that transforms Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into visual graphics, such as charts and gauges.

The tool comes with 10 data visualisation templates that are targeted to different roles, such as human resources and sales, as well as different markets, such as government and education.

"Within just minutes – using a simple, point-and-click interface – business users can now bring ordinary spreadsheets and presentations to life," said Marge Breya, Business Objects general manager for the BI platform.

Xcelsius Present can also be integrated with Adobe Acrobat 9 to allow users to move Xcelsius models directly into their PDF documents, said the vendor.

The announcement was made at the Business Objects Influencer Summit in Boston. It follows a number of BI firms adding visualisation capabilities to their offerings. For example, last month analytics vendor SAS launched a new tool called Visual Data Discovery to allow customers to present BI data in an easy-to-digest form.