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Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Leveraging the SAP BusinessObjects BI Portfolio


to
Get the Best out of the Toolset

Ingo Hilgefort
Solution Management, SAP

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Disclaimer

The information in this document is confidential and proprietary to SAP and may not be disclosed
without the permission of SAP. This presentation is not subject to your license agreement or any
other service or subscription agreement with SAP. SAP has no obligation to pursue any course
of business outlined in this document or any related presentation, or to develop or release any
functionality mentioned therein. This document, or any related presentation and SAP's strategy
and possible future developments, products and or platforms directions and functionality are all
subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time for any reason without notice. The
information on this document is not a commitment, promise or legal obligation to deliver any
material, code or functionality. This document is provided without a warranty of any kind, either
express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness
for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. This document is for informational purposes and
may not be incorporated into a contract. SAP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions
in this document, except if such damages were caused by SAP intentionally or grossly negligent.
All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates, and they
should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.

© SAP 2009 / Page 3 Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
• The first integration improvements between SAP
and SAP BusinessObjects products are realized
with the release of NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1.
• NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1 is the prerequisite for the
following SAP BI Solutions:
o Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) based on
NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1,
o SAP BusinessObjects Explorer version 1.0 and 2.0,
o Native access of SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius via
BICS,
o Better Support for Web Intelligence via OLAP
Universes,
o Improved MDX Interface,
o Direct Access to BW 7.01 via SAP BusinessObjects
Data Federator.

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool

Manage by metrics. In
a hurry to get answers
Executives & Managers

Access and interpret


data for executives and
managers, using BI
tools
Business Analysts

Day to day
operational needs
underserved by
traditional BI due to
“complexity” Information
Consumers

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool

OLAP AD-HOC PRODUCTION


Professionally EXPLORATION ANALYSIS QRA DASHBOARDS REPORTING
Informed

Executives,
Managers
Crystal
SBOP Reports
Explorer Xcelsius

Information
Consumers Web
Intelligence
Voyager /
Business
Business Explorer
(BEx) /
Analysts Pioneer

Technically Full Interactive Experience, Responsiveness Limited


Capable

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
SAP Advanced
Crystal Web
BusinessObjects Xcelsius Analysis
Reports Intelligence
Explorer (Pioneer)

• Search and explore • Pre-built report from • Easy to use data • Online and offline • Advanced analysis
data static to visualizations reporting capabilities capabilities
• Common “Google” parameterized • Compelling • Powerful ad hoc • Full hierarchy
style user experience layouts interactive reporting capabilities awareness
• Limited analysis • Operational reporting dashboarding type of • Limited advanced
functionality analytics analysis capabilities

User skill set (Consumer)

Information consumer

Executive / Management

Business Analyst

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool

What are the typical requirements from your customers ?


 Sales
– Is the workforce mobile? What drives them?
 Finance
– Can we expect them to be „good with numbers‟?
 HR
– How sophisticated are these users with new technology?
 IT
– Can we expect them to be more technical than the regular user population?
 Marketing
– Might market segmentation and data mining be likely scenarios for even unsophisticated users?
 Customer Support
– Would a KPI dashboard not be most appropriate for all users/engineers?

Is an Information Consumer, Business Analyst, or Manager & Executive


profile always the same for all these departments? Are there more
types of users?

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool

One Use Case is one type of user, one type of usage, one department, one industry
o Allow the consumer of the reports to describe the use case
o Talk to the business as well as IT
▫ Business:
» What is the level of sophistication
» How is the information used and how does the user interact with it
» What is it that we‟re trying to achieve or support
▫ IT: constraints, practical limits
» Current IT landscape and roadmap
» Existing Infrastructure / Existing data models
o Consider improvements to current business process
o How is the data structured? Do we need to make back-end changes to support the
requirements?

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
•Financial Reporting and Analysis Human Resource Reporting and Analysis
Requirements  Reports and Analytics need to present highly textual information
o Reports and Analytics need to be available in a  Reports and Analytics need to follow strict layout and will be used as
browser and Microsoft Office official documents
o Users need to be able to create new calculations on  Reports and Analytics need to support date specific aggregation, for
the fly example the Headcount for the date 31.12.2009
o Users need to be able to leverage hierarchies
o Users need to be able to leverage custom BW query
structures

Executive / Management Reporting and Analysis


•Sales Reporting and Analysis Requirements
o Reports and Analytics need to be accessible online
 Reports and Analytics need to present highly aggregated information
and offline
 Reports and Analytics need to present highly visualized information
o Reports and Analytics need to be distributed via
eMail  Reports and Analytics need to allow for further navigation into more
o Users need to be able to change the view of the detailed oriented data
data (example: weekly to monthly to quarterly)  Reports and Analytics need to be delivered in a response time below
o Users should be able to customize existing reports or 5 seconds
create their own reports
o Users need the capability to drill down or navigate
into more detailed data
o Users need the option to leverage scenario based
content such as a what if scenario

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
Crystal Reports
•Financial Reporting and Analysis Human Resource Reporting and Analysis
Requirements  Reports and Analytics need to present highly textual information
o Reports and Analytics need to be available in a  Reports and Analytics need to follow strict layout and will be used as
browser and Microsoft Office official documents
o Users need to be able to create new calculations on  Reports and Analytics need to support date specific aggregation, for
the fly example the Headcount for the date 31.12.2009
o Users need to be able to leverage hierarchies
o Users need to be able to leverage custom BW query
structures

Executive / Management Reporting and Analysis


•Sales Reporting and Analysis Requirements
o Reports and Analytics need to be accessible online
 Reports and Analytics need to present highly aggregated information
and offline
 Reports and Analytics need to present highly visualized information
o Reports and Analytics need to be distributed via
eMail  Reports and Analytics need to allow for further navigation into more
o Users need to be able to change the view of the detailed oriented data
data (example: weekly to monthly to quarterly)  Reports and Analytics need to be delivered in a response time below
o Users should be able to customize existing reports or 5 seconds
create their own reports
o Users need the capability to drill down or navigate
into more detailed data
o Users need the option to leverage scenario based
content such as a what if scenario

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
Crystal Reports
•Financial Reporting and Analysis  Crystal Reports does not provide the functionality to create
Requirements calculations on the fly when viewing reports; such functionality is
o Users need to be able to create new calculations on available only in the actual Crystal Reports Designer but not in the
the fly Crystal Reports Viewer.
Better suited : Pioneer, Web Intelligence

•Sales Reporting and Analysis  Crystal Reports is offering such capability only via prompting and
it requires the actual design of the report to be prepared for the
o Users need to be able to change the view of the
workflow.
data (example: weekly to monthly to quarterly)
Better suited in case this is a frequent requirement: Web
Intelligence or Pioneer
 Crystal Reports is not offering actual design capabilities as part of
o Users should be able to customize existing reports or the viewing experience.
create their own reports Better suited : Web Intelligence or Pioneer
 Crystal Reports is able to integrate Xcelsius models, but those are
o Users need the option to leverage scenario based created with Xcelsius and not Crystal Reports.
content such as a what if scenario Better suited: Xcelsius

•Executive / Management Reporting and


Analysis Requirements
o Reports and Analytics need to present highly
visualized information  Crystal Reports is - compared to the other tools – lacking in terms
of visualization capabilities and the ease of consumption of those.
Better suited: Xcelsius

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
Web Intelligence
•Financial Reporting and Analysis Human Resource Reporting and Analysis
Requirements  Reports and Analytics need to present highly textual information
o Reports and Analytics need to be available in a  Reports and Analytics need to follow strict layout and will be used as
browser and Microsoft Office official documents
o Users need to be able to create new calculations on  Reports and Analytics need to support date specific aggregation, for
the fly example the Headcount for the date 31.12.2009
o Users need to be able to leverage hierarchies (!)
o Users need to be able to leverage custom BW query
structures
Executive / Management Reporting and Analysis
•Sales Reporting and Analysis Requirements
o Reports and Analytics need to be accessible online  Reports and Analytics need to present highly aggregated information
and offline
 Reports and Analytics need to present highly visualized information
o Reports and Analytics need to be distributed via
eMail  Reports and Analytics need to allow for further navigation into more
detailed oriented data
o Users need to be able to change the view of the
data (example: weekly to monthly to quarterly)  Reports and Analytics need to be delivered in a response time below
o Users should be able to customize existing reports or 5 seconds
create their own reports
o Users need the capability to drill down or navigate
into more detailed data
o Users need the option to leverage scenario based
content such as a what if scenario

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Selecting the Right BI Client tool
Web Intelligence
•Financial Reporting and Analysis
Requirements  Users can leverage hierarchies in a limited fashion, but in case this
o Users need to be able to leverage hierarchies (!) becomes a strong requirement other tools might be a better choice
Better suited : Pioneer

•Sales Reporting and Analysis  Web Intelligence is not able to provide What if Scenarios.
o Users need the option to leverage scenario based Better suited: Xcelsius
content such as a what if scenario

•Human Resource Reporting and Analysis


o Reports and Analytics need to present highly textual  Printing or detailed layout focused reporting is not a strength of
information Web Intelligence.
o Reports and Analytics need to follow strict layout and Better suited: Crystal Reports
will be used as official documents
•Executive / Management Reporting and
Analysis Requirements
o Reports and Analytics need to present highly
visualized information
 For sure Web Intelligence is able to present data in a visual manner
and in an ease of use style, but this requirement is based on the
executive and leadership team and therefore other tools might be a
better choice
Better suited: Xcelsius

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Crystal Reports and SAP NetWeaver BW

SAP Table, Cluster


SAP InfoSet BW MDX ODS
and Function

SAP ERP SAP NetWeaver BW

BEx Query
BI Client

BEx Query
Table
Classic SAP ABAP InfoSet
and Multi
InfoSets Queries Functions InfoCube
Cluster Provider
Transient DSO
Provider

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Crystal Reports and SAP NetWeaver BW
• SAP Toolbar • Menu File > New
• When reporting from BEx queries • When reporting from InfoSet,
• Uses SAP BW Query or SAP BW MDX Table, Cluster, Function, ODS or
driver InfoCube.
>> If you don‟t use the SAP Toolbar • You can select the specific driver
when reporting off BEx queries you to use
miss list of values from variables

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Crystal Reports and SAP NetWeaver BW

Crystal Reports and Publishing to SAP NW BW


• When you save your Crystal Reports you can choose to save it to
BusinessObjects Enterprise or you can save it to SAP NetWeaver BW and
publish to BusinessObjects Enterprise
• It is not mandatory to save to SAP NetWeaver BW and publish to
BusinessObjects Enterprise but some functionality is missed if you just save to
BusinessObjects Enterprise:
• Online list of values for prompts
• Hierarchical display for hierarchical node prompts
• SAP variable personalization
• Life cycle management of Crystal Reports (from DEV to QA to PROD) with
SAP transports

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Crystal Reports and SAP NetWeaver BW
Hierarchical Reporting
• Leveraging parent-child relationship from SAP NW BW
• Hierarchical Group has to be created to navigate trough the hierarchy

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Crystal Reports and SAP NetWeaver BW
SAP Variables
• List of Values for Variables are always static in Crystal Reports Designer
(please don‟t change to dynamic), they are dynamic/online in InfoView
• Hierarchy node variables always flat in Crystal Reports, hierarchical display
in InfoView

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW

OLAP universe (MDX) Relational Universe (SQL)

Data Federator

SAP ERP SAP NetWeaver BW

BEx Query
BI Client

BEx Query
Classic InfoSet
Multi
InfoSets InfoCube
Provider

Transient DSO
Provider

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
Hierarchies Key Figures
 Hierarchy support in Web Intelligence for SAP  A large number of Key Figures in the BEx query
NetWeaver BW is limited will incur a significant performance penalty when
 Use of hierarchy variable is recommended running queries, regardless of whether the Key
Figures are included in the Universe or used in the
 The Use Query Drill option in Web Intelligence
Webi query.
significantly improves drill down performance
 For large sets of key figures, use option - “Use
Selection of Structure Members”

Restricted and Calculated Key Figures Navigational Attributes and Key Dates
 Restricted and Calculated Key figures should be  A large number of navigational attributes defined in
built as part of the underlying BEx query to use the the underlying InfoProvider negatively impacts
BW back-end processing for better performance overall performance
 Queries with a larger set of such Key Figures  A single universe can only support a single Key
should use the “Use Selection of Structure Date variable
Members” option in the Query Monitor (transaction
RSRT) to leverage the OLAP engine

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
Overall recommendation
• BI Queries are recommended as data sources for generating universes
o BI Queries offer a flexible extension to the data modeling environment and require less
effort to change than InfoCubes
o BI Queries offer significant functionality to create customized data sources that meet end-
user requirements, such as Calculated Key figures, Restricted Key figures and SAP
Variables.

• You do NOT need a BI Query for every report and you do NOT need a universe
for every BI Query
o Focus the implementation strategy on limiting the number of BI Queries and universes
that share common elements
o Build a small set of BEx queries focusing on sharing common elements in a small number
of Universes
o The Web Intelligence Query Panel definition is the primary influence factor on how much
data is being retrieve from SAP NetWeaver BW
o In some situations extremely large queries and universes can adversely affect
performance

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW

 The Query Panel Definition is


what defines the “Microcube”
and thus the MDX Query which
is executed on SAP BW
 When refreshing the data in
the Web Intelligence report, the
entire Microcube is refreshed Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010
Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
• SAP Variables in Web Intelligence
o Mandatory variables will always load a list of values (try to leverage more
optional variables)
o Leverage the Delegated Search feature for List of values

• Web Intelligence filters


o Prefer the inclusive filter over the exclusive member to increase the
performance
o Ensure the reference objects are indexed to avoid unnecessary steps to resolve
the value to the member unique name
o Ensure the user can only select values from the actual LOV (List of values)

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
• Index Awareness
o Navigate to the tab “Keys” in the Universe Designer
o Add a primary key
o Type Character
o Key Type Primary Key
o Syntax [<characteristic>].[TECH_NAME], or
[<characteristic>].[LEVEL<xx>].[TECH_NAME]

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
• Delegated search for List of Values (LOV)
o Navigate to the tab “Properties” in the Universe Designer of the LOV items
o Activate the “Delegate Search”
o No values will be loaded automatically
o User is “forced” to leverage search to receive members
o Search is being delegated to the SAP BI system

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Data Federator and SAP NetWeaver BW

BW Server Feature MDX SQL


BW Hierarchies 

Restricted and Calculated Key Figures  (calculated)
BEx Queries 
BW Variables  

Currency and Unit Conversion  

Exceptions, Conditions  

Security  
AVG, COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX Aggregations  
Navigational Attributes  
Mass Data Enabled  
Ad-hoc Reporting 
Federation (e.g. BW – RDBMS) 
 = fully supported
© SAP 2009 / Page 31
 = limited support / workaround Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010
Data Federator and SAP NetWeaver BW

BW Server Feature Workaround

Calculated Key Figures, Formulas Define calculated measures in Universes / WebI

Define @prompt in Universes or WebI Query Panel; does not


BW Variables
work for exit variables or variables filled through authorizations

Currency and Unit Conversion Simulate via joins in Data Federator

SQL standard aggregations (AVG, COUNT DISTINCT) available


Exception Aggregations
via Data Federator processing
Define joins (in DF) from InfoProvider to master data
Display Attributes
InfoProvider tables

Conditions Use filters on measures

BW Hierarchies No workaround

Non-Cumulative Key Figures No workaround

© SAP 2009 / Page 32 Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
• OLAP universes for customers who:
 Invested in cube design and elements such as hierarchies, variables,
calculated/restricted keyfigures, …
 Defined a lot of BEX Queries
 Requires advanced analytics
 Requires Single-Sign On (SSO)

• Relational universes for customers who:


 Are not familiar with OLAP concepts (cube design, MDX query and object
definition)
 Want to combine SAP BW with other sources (SAP or non SAP)
 Want to access DSO (fined grained reporting)
 Can wait for Single-Sign On (SSO). Planed for 2H 2010

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW
o Query stripping will streamline report consumption and interactivity:
 Each refresh automatically reduces queries – i.e. removes objects – to match
those required for the user‟s report content
 All Web Intelligence interactive features are available inside report‟s structure
o Query stripping should not be used for all user workflows:
 Users can add content (objects) that are additive to report content… however,
those who continuously add/remove objects from report will require execution
of query – can turn feature off and retrieve all objects in query
Currently planned for SP3 of XI 3.1

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Xcelsius 2008 and SAP NetWeaver BW
Xcelsius

Live Office

Crystal Reports Web Intelligence Query as a Web Service

SAP Table,
SAP InfoSet Cluster and ODS BW MDX Data Federator OLAP Universe
Function

SAP ERP SAP NetWeaver BW

BEx Query
BI Client
InfoProvider
BEx Query
Table
Classic SAP ABAP InfoSet
and
InfoSets Queries Functions
Cluster
Multi InfoCube
Transient Provider DSO
Provider

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Xcelsius 2008 and SAP NetWeaver BW

Design considerations Xcelcius Direct Connectivity


 Start from the business needs. What decision  Consider if all data reside in SAP NetWeaver BW
should this support? What KPIs should it display?  Business needs highly visual and interactive
 What visual components best represent the data? dashboard interface
 How will the user interact with the data?  Other reporting tools are used , but integration with
 Keep it simple! other SAP BusinessObjects products is not
needed

Performances and Interactivity


 Use Live Office based on scheduled Crystal
Reports where live data is not needed
 Limit result sets to 2,000 rows maximum
 Highly aggregated data
 Execute cascaded prompts and queries
 Reduce number of key figures in the universe
 Avoid aggregating in flash, aggregate in BW

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Xcelsius 2008 and SAP NetWeaver BW
Connecting to SAP NW BW using Live Office and Query as a Web Service
• OLAP Universe is primary source for Xcelsius dashboards via the Query as a Web
Service technology (QaaWS) or Live Office
• For performance:
o Keep datasets to 500 rows - 5,000 rows maximum
o Use cascaded prompt / queries
o Reduced # of Key Figures in Universe
o Execute queries when needed, not all at once
o Avoid aggregation in Flash – push back to BW
• Recommend approach is to use Live Office
o Consider using instances via Live Office when real-time query is not possible

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Xcelsius 2008 and SAP NetWeaver BW
 Direct connector to SAP NetWeaver BEx queries
o Consume BEx Queries and Views
o Support of all variable type (incl. personalization)
o No limitations in queries features used
o BW authorization enforced
o Free characteristics list of values for filtering Xcelsius Enterprise

 NetWeaver platform integration


o Dashboard authorization
o Favorites and Roles
o Transport capability (integrated into DW workbench) BEx Queries & Views
o Translation of texts
o Access through NW Portal using BEx iView
o Does not require BOE

• Prerequisite
 Xcelsius Designer 2008 SP2
 BEx Frontend Patch 901
 SAP NetWeaver BW 7.01 SP Stack 5
 SAP NetWeaver BI ABAP & BI Java

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Xcelsius 2008 and SAP NetWeaver BW
When to use the new direct SAP NW BI Connectivity ?
• When data resides in SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse
• When the business requirements are about
o Highly visual and interactive dashboard interface
o Intuitive guided navigation for casual business users

When NOT to use the new direct SAP NW BI Connectivity ?


• Do not consider, if business requires to access dashboard from BusinessObjects
Infoview or Dashboard Builder

In that case, continue to host Xcelsius within Business Objects Enterprise and
connect Xcelsius to data via Live Office or Query as a Web Service

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

Relational Universe
OLAP Universe
(SQL)

Data Federator

SAP ERP SAP NetWeaver BW SAP NetWeaver BWA

BEx Query
BI Client
InfoProvider
BEx Query
Classic
InfoSets InfoSet
Multi InfoCube BW Accelerator
Transient Provider DSO
Provider

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

• SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Index for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer


• Contains “standard” SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator index
• Provides additional information: texts, conversion factors, security
• An SAP BusinessObjects Explorer-enabled index can also be used
to accelerate BW queries
• Converting a standard index to an SAP BusinessObjects Explorer-enabled
index requires re-indexing (due to new layout and additional fields)

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

• Multi-provider indexing and exploration:


• Natively index common MultiProviders
• Index once for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW use cases
• Delta-loading capability
• Snapshot indexing of complex MultiProviders
• Such as those that refer to DataStore Objects and InfoObjects
• Support for MultiProviders with compounded characteristics across InfoCubes

• Query indexing and exploration


• SAP BusinessObjects Explorer can now be used to explore existing (or new)
queries
• Quickly index your existing queries for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and have your
users exploring them almost immediately
• Snapshot indexing of queries
• Ability to leverage query features such as complex unit conversions

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

• Texts
• Text support in one language (one language for all SAP BusinessObjects
Explorer-enabled BWA indexes)
• One text type per InfoObject (e.g. short text, according to InfoObject/RSD1
setting)
• For time-dependent texts, we assume the current time of initial(!) indexing time
is chosen for all time-dependent texts
• Re-indexing is required after new text loads into SAP NetWeaver BW
• Unit/Currency Conversion
• Conversion factor is defined before indexing
• Support for simple unit conversions (e.g., g > kg)
• Support of one key date for currency conversion

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

• Security
• Support of one single SAP NetWeaver BI analysis authorization per user (user
does not need to be an SAP NetWeaver BW user)
• Indexing of authorizations must be scheduled
• SAP BusinessObjects Explorer authorizations automatically filter to the
authorized values

• Characteristics/Dimensions
• Time-dependent master data is always displayed for the current date (query
keydate = current day)
• Display attributes are not supported
• Support for simple conversion/format routines for external keys at design time
• E.g. standard conversions (e.g. date format)
• Complex conversions (e.g. user-specific date formats) are not supported

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

Accelerate ANY data now:


• SAP BusinessObjects Data Services XI
• Access all types of structured and unstructured data from virtually any source,
from databases to Web forums
• Integrate and deliver data in real-time or batch using flexible approaches
through extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL)

• SAP BusinessObjects Rapid Marts


• Add-on content to SAP BusinessObjects Data Services
• Ready to use packaged data integration for SAP ERP with support of SAP,
PeopleSoft, Oracle, and Siebel will accelerate your data warehouse / datamart
projects
• Combine application knowledge with data integration best practices to deliver
prebuilt data models, transformation logic, and data extraction

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW
Use SAP BusinessObjects Data Services to bring data from a wide variety of sources into
SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator
Data Services
Databases
Data Services

Applications

Legacy

• Use the index designer to model accelerated indexes


• Index designer ships with SAP BusinessObjects Data Services and
can be launched from within SAP BusinessObjects Data Services
Designer
• Index designer generates the XML spec needed to create the
accelerated indexes, SAP BusinessObjects Data Services executes
this and the indexes are created during run-time
• Use SAP BusinessObjects Data Services to extract data from multiple
sources, transform, cleanse and load it into SAP NetWeaver BW index designer
Accelerator
• SAP BusinessObjects Data Services uses SAP NetWeaver BW
Accelerator‟s bulk-load library (TREX thin-client) to load the data
• Index designer can also be used to create the initial SAP
BusinessObjects Data Services data flows needed to populate the
accelerated indexes

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

Accelerate ANY data now:


• Current limitation: Star schema format with a single fact table

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

SAP SBOP Explorer (blade) 2.0


BusinessObjects SBOP Explorer XI 3.2
SBOP Enterprise XI 3.1 SP2
Explorer SBOP Integration XI 3.1 SP2 for SAP
SBOP Client Tools XI 3.1 SP2

SAP NetWeaver
SAP SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.20

NetWeaver BW Accelerator
BW 7.20
SAP NetWeaver 7.01 SP05

SAP SAP BusinessObjects


BusinessObjects Data Services XI 3.2 SP1
SAP BusinessObjects
Data Services index designer plug-in

Any corporate data


Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP NetWeaver BW Query Design
• Placement of Characteristics / Key Figures - no direct impact on generation of
OLAP Universe or other reports
• “Allow External Access” option should be set in the properties of the BEx query
• Items not supported via InfoCube data access:
• Variables
• Restricted or Calculated Key Figures
• Filters
• Custom Structures
• Restricted Key and Calculated Key Figures
• For large sets of key figures, use option - “Use Selection of Structure Members”
• Leverage the capabilities of the Restricted Key and Calculated Key Figures where possible
• As part of the underlying BI query, they will be processed by the BW back end
• Can be shared across queries, minimizing development downstream
• Data Level Security & BW
• Use BW authorizations for data level security

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP NetWeaver BW Query Design
• Leverage Restricted and Calculated Key Figures as part of the BW Query
• Can be shared across queries, minimizing development downstream
• As part of the underlying BI query, they will be processed by the BW back end
• Leverage SAP Variables as part of the BW Query
• Can be shared across queries, minimizing development downstream
• List of Values are being generated automatically
• Time based structures / calculations
• Leverage EXIT Variables as part of the BW query

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP NetWeaver BW Query Design

BI metadata feature SAP OLAP BAPI support level

Characteristics (incl. Time and Unit) InfoCube/BI Query

Hierarchies InfoCube/BI Query

Basic Key Figures InfoCube/BI Query

Navigational Attributes BI Query only

Display Attributes InfoCube/BI Query

Calculated Key Figures / Formulas BI Query only

Restricted Key Figures BI Query only

Custom Structures BI Query only

Variables BI Query only

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP NetWeaver BW Query Design
 This simple property
change helps improve
performance in
situations where there
are a lot of Restricted
Key Figures and other
calculations in the Query
Definition
(>>Transaction RSRT)
 This ensures that
structure elements are
sent to the database for
processing

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


SAP NetWeaver BW Query Design

• Check the Query Technical Information via transaction RSRT to review the
statistics on the design

BEFORE AFTER

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Summary
• Start with the consumer in mind .... (not with the data model)
• Leverage the “sweet spot” of each BI Client tool
• Leverage the BW Query as much as possible

• ...leverage the community .. (you are not alone !)

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Agenda

• Selecting the Right Tool for the Job


• Best Practices for Crystal Reports
• Best Practices for Web Intelligence
• Best Practices for Xcelsius
• Best Practices for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
... all of them combined with an SAP Landscape
• Best Practices for BW Query Design
• Summary
• Further Material

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Further Material

 SAP BusinessObjects Community

SAP BusinessObjects BI Solution Architecture


http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/bi-solution-architecture

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Questions

How to contact me…

Ingo Hilgefort
eMail: Ingo.Hilgefort@sap.com
Twitter: ihilgefort
Blog: www.mastering-sap-and-businessobjects.com

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010


Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

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