Data Connectivity Series

Xcelsius Gurus: Data Connectivity Series Part 1
When to Utilize SAP Business Objects Enterprise for

your Dashboard?
Presented by: Mico Yuk & Ryan Goodman

Date: May 13th, 2009
@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Who are We?
Mico Yuk
Founder – EverythingXcelsius.com (popular weblog)
Founder - Xcelsius Guru Network
Xcelsius Trainer / Developer / Architect / Blogger
Ryan Goodman
Founder – CentigonSolutions.com (SAP Software Solution Partner)
Xcelsius Evangelist / Blogger (ryangoodman.net/blog)
SAP BOBJ Alumni

Xcelsius Data Manager
Data Manger
Houses Xcelsius 12 live data connectivity options. Users
with Engage and Enterprise licenses are allowed to mix
connection types in a single dashboard!
Slide 3 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Xcelsius 12 Connectivity Options
BOE vs. Non BO Enterprise
BO Enterprise Non-BO Enterprise
Query as a Web Service Web Service Connection
Live Office XML Data
Crystal Report Data Portal Data
Consumer LCDS Connection (Adobe)
Flash Variables External Interface
FS Commands Connections
Excel XML Maps
ADD ON-Google
Spreadsheet Connector

Live Office vs. QaaWS
Architecture
Developer Caveats
Sometimes I wish that QaaWs could connect to Reports…

- Mico Yuk, Found of Xcelsius Gurus

Live Office vs. QaaWS – Design Time
Data Source BOE Client Development Published
BOE Web Services

Crystal
Reports
Live Office
WebI
Xcelsius SWF
Universe
QaaWS QaaWS
Service Client

Live Office vs. QaaWS - Runtime
Data Source BOE Published
BOE Web Services

Crystal
Reports
WebI
SWF
Universe
QaaWS
Service

Live Office vs. QaaWS - Caveats
Developer Caveats
Use Fiddler for trouble shooting queries
During Preview Mode: Live Office requires login/pw each time
| QaaWS you can hard code
Relative paths work the same
Cannot view SQL in QaaWS
Cannot use Universe Objects as operands in QaaWS

Ryan discusses Live Office …
Example Connecting to Webi Report
Benefits
DO’s / DONT’s (Scenarios)


Live Office Example - Webi
RG
Screenshot of Webi Report w/ CrossTab
Multiple Slides

Live Office Benefits
8 Reasons to use Live Office
1. Intuitive what you see is what you get interface with Excel
2. Shows up as simple Excel toolbar (familiarity)
3. Scheduled reports (faster performance, does not hit data base)
4. Utilization of cross tabs (gain control over data formatting and layout)
5. Use sub/combined queries and multi-cubes in Universe
6. Fetch data from multiple reports and Universe within single dashboard
7. Crystal Reports can be utilized when there is no Universe
8. Crystal Reports can connect directly to SAP R3

Live Office DO’s
9 Scenarios
1. DO think through queries before building to avoid redoing
the connection in Xcelsius
2. DO use separate tabs for each data source
3. DO use query prompts to break up large data sets and
return only what is needed
4. DO use the latest version (as of 5/14 its 12.1.5.1096)
5. DO build reports specifically for Xcelsius
6. DO disable Add-ons when using Live Office
7. DO send multiple input values to prompts using a “,”
8. DO use Excel 2007 vs.. 2003
9. DO bind relative paths to make migration easy
Live Office DON’Ts
7 Scenarios
X DO NOT fetch all report data at once
X DO NOT trigger all queries to “Refresh on Load”
X DO NOT use reports as a data source when the report
structure constantly changes
X DO NOT connect to queries that take a long time to refresh
X DO NOT bind Live Office parameters to cells with formulas
X DO NOT leave Live Office enabled in Xcelsius when using Bex
Queries
X DO NOT never Run Excel when running Xcelsius

Mico discusses QaaWS …
Example – Connecting to eFashion Universe
Benefits
DO’s / DONT’s (Scenarios)


Query as a Web Service Benefits
5 Reasons to use Query as a Web Service …
1. Connect to multiple Universe(s)
2. Universe contains ALL Logic
3. Document & manage queries
4. Filter data to display ONLY what is needed
5. Better for Universe developers vs. Business Analyst

Query as a Web Service DO’s
9 Scenarios …
1. DO place all Logic in Universe
2. DO write out queries before building
3. DO use well named folders & queries
4. DO document queries in QaaWS client
5. DO refresh queries after updating the Universe(s)
6. DO implement sorting for individual queries
7. DO use separate Excel tabs for each data source
8. DO filters data to break up large data sets
9. DO utilize relative paths for seamless environment migrations

Query as a Web Service DON’Ts
7 Scenarios …
1. DO NOT use Universe SubQueries or Combined Queries
2. DO NOT use Universe Multicubes
3. DO NOT create an excessive amount of queries
4. DO NOT trigger all queries to “Refresh on Load”
5. DO NOT place formulas in data output cells
6. DO NOT return more than 1,000 rows of data at a time

SAP BO Enterprise Integration
SAP BO Enterprise Integration
Antivia XWIS


Important Integration Points
Additional Features to take advantage of…
1. SSO - Row Level Security Remains the same
2. Use of Infoview / Dashboard Builder (SSO) and home
3. Link to reports from Xcelsius (OpenDoc)
4. SAP Integration kit allows use of SAP security for Login
5. Storing global variables- Flash Variables
6. Dashboard Manager Integration
1. Xcelsius-WebI portlet communication- FS Command “queryparams”
2. Xcelsius-Xcelsius portal communication- portal connectors
Dashboard (SWF) OpenDoc.jsp WebI/ Crystal /SWF

Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite
What is it?
Interactive components build with Xcelisus 2008 SDK
Access information from your extensive Web Intelligence
library
Deliver drill capabilities from your Universe layer directly
to your dashboard
Data Connections direct to your reports
Xcelsius 2008
antivia.com
Antivia Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite
SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence

antivia.com
Benefits
XWIS predominantly works against cached Webi data
with no limitations to data volume
Point and click integration
No building Xcelsius specific reports
Full support for report instances and prompts and
also handles refresh on demand and drill off the
cube
antivia.com
Stay connected…
For more Guru tips, tricks, news, videos, etc.
Visit: http://EverythingXcelsius.com
Mico Yuk
Email: mico@everythingxcelsius.com
Company: Everything Xcelsius
Ryan Goodman
Email: ryan@centigonsolutions.com
Company: Centigon Solutions
http://www.centigonsolutions.com
Join our popular Xcelsius Guru social communities…

http://www.twitter.com/XcelsiusGurus http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=18
47619&trk=hb_side_g
http://www.youtube.com/XcelsiusGurus

Appendix
Additional Slides

Flash Variables
Pass parameters to a SWF during runtime
HTML
CMC FLASHVARS=“abc123”
Dashboard (SWF)
abc123

Storing Global Variables
Screenshot (Flash Variables Definition)

Storing Global Variables
Screenshot1 (CMS Object with Flash Vars)

Dashboard Builder
Pass Parameters from Xcelsius to WebI
Dashboard Builder Page FS Command name is always

“XYZ”.
Works for WebI only
Dashboard (SWF)
Great for using intuitive and
sleek UI with powerful drill,
adhoc, and export features that
FSCommand WebI provides Connect to live
web services for additional data
WebI SWF retains complete
interactivity.

SWF to SWF Communication
Dashboard Builder Page
Dashboard (SWF)
Portal
Connection
Dashboard (SWF)

Xcelsius & Crystal Report Integration
Embed SWFs inside of a
Crystal Report Crystal Reports
Consume fields inside FLASHVARS=FieldA
of the RPT and use
within the dashboard Dashboard (SWF)
(only in Crystal
Reports viewer). 1 2 3
A B C
Connect to live web
services for additional
data
SWF retains complete
interactivity.
Tip: When viewed as a

PDF the SWF will not
consume report
fields.

Data Connectivity Series

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Data Connectivity Series

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Xcelsius Gurus: Data Connectivity Series Part 1

When to Utilize SAP Business Objects Enterprise for

Presented by: Mico Yuk & Ryan Goodman

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 3 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 4 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Sometimes I wish that QaaWs could connect to Reports…

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

BOE Web Services

Slide 6 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

BOE Web Services

Slide 7 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 8 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

DO’s / DONT’s (Scenarios)

Sometimes I wish that QaaWs could connect to Reports…

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 12 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 32 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 34 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

DO’s / DONT’s (Scenarios)

Sometimes I wish that QaaWs could connect to Reports…

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 61 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 62 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 63 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Sometimes I wish that QaaWs could connect to Reports…

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Dashboard (SWF) OpenDoc.jsp WebI/ Crystal /SWF

Slide 65 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Antivia Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence

Slide 66 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Join our popular Xcelsius Guru social communities…

Slide 69 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 71 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 72 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Slide 73 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Dashboard Builder Page FS Command name is always

Slide 74 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Dashboard Builder Page

Slide 75 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Tip: When viewed as a

You might also like