Differences in SAP-BI (BEx) and BO Reports

Here I have discussed few main differences in the WEBI, DESKI, CRYSTAL, XCELCIUS and BEx. Comparison between BEx and BOBI

SNO
1. 2. 3

TYPE OF REPORT
ADHOC REPORT OLTP/REAL TIME REPOSITORY DASHBOARDS

SAP TOOL
WEB ANALYZER REPORT DESIGNER WAD

BO TOOL
WEBI/DESKI CRYSTAL REPORTS XCELSIUS

PORTAL

SNO
1.

SAP
ENTERPRISE PORTAL INFOVIEW

BO

Differences between SAP and BO

SNO
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

SAP
Characteristic, Key Figure, Display attribute Characteristic Catalogue Key Figure Catalogue Restrictions or Filters Variables Calculated Key Figure Restricted Key Figure Attribute Level Hierarchies Node Level Hierarchies Exceptions Conditions

BO
Dimension, Measure, Detail Dimension Class Key Figure Class Global Static Condition Dynamic Prompt Measures with Calculations Measure with Dimension Restriction Default Hierarchy Custom Hierarchy Alerts Report Level Restrictions

Differences between WEBI and DESKI

SNO
1. 2.

WEBI (InfoView)
It is a thin client/ half client InfoView supports only for the universes which are exported to the server( does not support for offline mode) WebI supports personal data files Extension for WebI is (.WID) The report created in the WebI cannot be saved in the Local system We cannot hide the column in the report created in WebI Partially supports for Scope of Analysis Slice and Dice is not possible is WebI Creation, modification, distribution, scheduling through web is possible. Drill across is not possible in WebI

DESKI
It is a thick client/full client DeskI supports for the universes which are in the Local as well as which are present in the server. DeskI also supports personal data files. Extension for DeskI is (.REP) The report created in the DeskI can be saved in the Local system We can hide the column in the report Fully supports for Scope of Analysis Slice and Dice is possible in DeskI Creation and modification from DeskI tool. Distribution and scheduling from Infoview. Drill across is possible in DeskI

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10.

Difference between WEBI and Crystal Reports.

SNO
1. 2.

WEBI
No need for any software installation in the Developer system Need not install to install any integration kit to publish reports into the BO server. WebI supports only for Universe and personal files. WebI supports for ADHOC features WebI supports for dynamic aggregation Dynamic drilling is possible

CRYSTAL REPORTS
Software installation of client version of Crystal reports is a must in the Developer system Integration kit is mandatory to publish reports into the BO server. Supports all the data sources. Crystal does not support ADHOC features Does not support dynamic aggregation Dynamic drilling is not possible

3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

Creation, modification, scheduling, distribution from web portal (i.e Infoview) is possible. Reports can be exported in PDF and Excel formats Supports upto 90,000 records in the report

Distribution, scheduling is possible from web portal. But creation and modification in Crystal reports client. Reports can be exported in Excel, PDF, Word, .CSV, Text, XML, Etc. There is no specific limit for the number of records in the report

8. 9.

Differences between WEBI and XCELSIUS

SNO
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

WEBI
Supports only for Universe and personal data files Developer need not install any software Does not support for interaction features Supports for very few charts Supports for up to 90,000 detailed records Supports for ADHOC features and allows us to modify through web Creation, modification, scheduling, distribution from web portal (i.e Infoview) is possible

XCELCIUS
Supports for Universe, WebI, Crystal, XML, BEx Mandatory installation of client version in the Local system Supports for interaction features Has many charts and components Supports only 512 summarized records Does not support for any ADHOC features Creation and modification from Xcelcius. Distribution from Infoview

BI LANUNCH PAD.png

Information Design Tool (IDT)

The new semantic layer introduced in the new BI 4.0 is the largest single change. This semantic layer is called as Information Design Tool (IDT) which is the replacement of Universe Designer of BO 3.x. The new semantic layer includes elements from the old Data Federator product (which presumably no longer exists) and allows a single universe to combine data from multiple sources. However the the old Universe Designer is also made available in the installation pack. The information design tool is the SAP BusinessObjects design environment for creating and publishing new SAP Business Objects universes and connections. IDT is used for new multi-source universes. The information design tool lets you take advantage of these major new universe design features:

Dimensional universes that support OLAP dimensions and hierarchies. Multi-Source universes that federate multiple relational data sources. A design environment that facilitates designer teamwork and universe resource sharing. A security editor for universe data and metadata. Extended connection management.

Web Intelligence 4.0

Using Web Intelligence we can perform interactive analysis with SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence by creating reports based on data we want to analyze. Some of the changes made to the previous version and new features in the current version are mentioned below.

End to End Self-Service BI tool covering a range of users. Interoperability to various products in Business objects suit. Combine Data from different sources. Significant Productivity & Usability Improvements. Best in-class integration with SAP BW re-use report element across documents (Charts, Tables, Queries, Variables). Re-purpose Web Intelligence tables as editable office content.

Copy as a picture option. You can create a chart and associate dimensions and measures in Edit mode. New chart types such as Scatter Bubble, Polar Bubble, Dual Axes Charts, Tree Maps for Hierarchical Data, Heat Maps, Box Plots, Series Pie Charts, Tag Clouds are available in the new version. Semantic Layer in Web Intelligence. Deta Federator/SQL Access to DSO's. Access Bex Queries via BICS (Business Intelligence Consumer Services) layer. Common query experience across all data sources. Navigate and report multidimensional data. Improved scalability.

WEBI.png

SAP Business Objects Dashboard Design

SAP Business Objects Dashboard Design (previously called Xcelsius), contains new features and enhancements that are focused on improving productivity and direct enterprise data connectivity. These features and enhancements include new and updated support for SAP Business Objects Universe queries and integration with SAP Business Objects Enterprise. Some of the new features are as follows.

Scalability improvements allow dashboards to reach the masses. Dashboards will now scale in a linear fashion. With BI 4.0 large scale, possible enterprise wide dashboard solution for operational employees. Dashboard will be multi-lingual, that involves translated static text using translation manager and number formatting.

Dashboards product has been simplified so that excel can be bypassed. Integrates the next generation universe. New universe object browser that will enable to link directly universe query result objects to visualization without the need to use the Excel spreadsheet. Query panel in Dashboards Designer. Direct binding of Universe objects to visualizations. Prompt selector to leverage prompt defined in Universe. Separation of roles between data experts and dashboard authors. Consistent access to data between clients and across sources. One abstraction layer for all data sources. Support of BW & third part OLAP-based Universes planned for SBOP 4.1 release.

[ !Dashboards.png! Dashboards.png|stage:BI 4.0 New Features and Changes^Dashboards.png]

Crystal Reports
Two versions of SAP Crystal Reports is available in SAP Business Objects Enterprise XI 4.0 SAP CRYSTAL REPORTS 2011 SAP CRYSTAL REPORTS FOR ENTERPRISE XI 4.0

Incremental update to Crystal Report 2008 with a few new features

Major update & re-design of the Crystal Reports Designer and associated processing servers

Focused on serving the needs of Partners and Volume customers

Focus on the needs of the Large Enterprise & customers with SAP deployments

Provides the foundation for all future releases of Crystal Reports

Some of new features are changes are mentioned below.

The User Interface has been completely re-designed on top of a Java framework with emphasis placed on usability. Harmonization across SAP Business Objects clients to reduce time to value.. Improved Semantic Layer support such that Crystal Reports is not hindered by consuming data from the Semantic Layer. Improved SAP BW support such that Crystal Reports can consume both basic and advanced functionality offered by InfoCubes and Info Queries. Focus on adding new multi-lingual support for Crystal Reports metadata. New alerting mechanism introduced at the platform level for Crystal Reports content. New 64-bit native processing servers. Interoperability between Crystal Reports and the new SAP Business Objects OLAP Client. Support for SAP Standards.

Crystal reports.png

Advanced Analysis, Web Edition (Voyager)

SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Web edition is the successor to SAP Business Objects Voyager and the premium alternative to SAP BEx Analyzer.

Advanced Analysis is intuitive and easy to use, while providing unique analysis capabilities, including the ability to simultaneously view data from different cubes and providers. You do not need to install Advanced Analysis, Web edition on your local machine. An edition of SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis for Microsoft Office is also available.

SAP Business Objects Mobile

SAP Business Objects Mobile displays the home page containing the list of documents that can be opened on your mobile device.

SAP Business Objects Mobile allows you to search BI documents in the Enterprise Repository. It provides quick and easy access to BI documents. You can send the URL of the BI document by email. Eliminates the need for setting connection settings manually.

BI Workspace
The Dashboard Builder (BO 3.x) which is now BI Workspace has been improved and should result in much faster designtimes.

BI workspaces and Modules application helps you manage, understand, monitor, and track your business activities and performance using modules and BI workspaces. Management of corporate BI workspace allows organizations to gain insight from underlying analysis and alter business rules as conditions change. BI workspaces provide consistent, up-to-date means for monitoring business areas. BI Workspaces will allow users to create a personalized view of BI Launchpad by creating a workspace with Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, Crystal Reports that can all interact and set it as a default homepage. It provides the following features mentioned below.: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Tab based browsing. Page creation. A page and click application builder. Content linking between modules for in-depth data analysis. Enhanced viewing experience. Inter-portlet communication framework with visual content linking wizard. Smaller server footprint-- reduced to only 3 servers.

Deployment Changes
Similar deployment topology. Native 64bit application. Still able to connect to 32bit data source drivers if needed. Default deployment is MS SQL Server 2008 and Tomcat 64bit. New Paths for the web applications. The application build is very different. Full SDK not available until 4.1. CMC and BI Launch Pad are a single application. Wdeploy GUI to help deployment and removal of web applications LifeCycle Manager (LCM) automatically deployed and Import Wizard is no longer available. All report promotion through this tool. Upgrade Management Tool Complete or incremental content move is available. Migrate from XIR2, XI3.0 or XI3.1. Client tools are separate and are not included in the server installation. Difference between Multi-Source enabled relational Universe on SAP Netweaver BW Infoproviders and Direct access for SAP BEx queries via BICS? One main difference is that, direct access for SAP BEx queries via BICS enables the dimensional discovery of metadata. That is, dimensional hierarchies from the cube are maintained; while multi source enabled relational universes do not.

End of Lives in BI 4.0

1. 2. 3. Performance Manager Desktop Intelligence Import Wizard

Conclusion
On the whole the new BI 4.0 release is going to make a lot of difference to the users, who will have the three important things.

Common User interface Ease of Use Integration All of the tools have a common likeness to the menus, layout and tool use. They all have highly visual interactive controls and visual output.