Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

SAP BusinessObjects BI Tools - In A Single Day

Ingo Hilgefort BI Solution Architecture SAP BusinessObjects (Canada)

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

What Ill Cover

Agenda Crystal Reports Hands-On Web Intelligence Hands-On Xcelsius Hands-On SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Hands-On BI Widgets Hands-On Common Best Practices

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Enterprise Reporting

Product : Crystal Reports
Is the market leading standard in enterprise reporting that provides connectivity to any type of data and empowers all end users with a simple and scalable deployment model
The Standard in Reporting Report Formatting Open Connectivity End User Empowerment Enterprise Deployment
The SAP standard enterprise reporting tool for all applications from SAP Business All-in-One to the SAP Business Suite Easy access to Crystal Reports skills in the market Precise object layout and positioning Complete control over font, layout, pagination High fidelity rendering in all clients and in print Access to both SAP NetWeaver BW and SAP ERP data Access to virtually any data source or back-end system Sort and filter without querying the database Embed Flash for powerful visualization and what-if scenarios Interoperability with other clients like Pioneer Multiple broadcasting and file format options for enterprise-wide deployments Consume reports offline with the Crystal Reports viewer

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Enterprise Reporting

Product : Crystal Reports
Crystal Reports is the market leading tool for highly formatted, pixel-perfect enterprise reporting Customer Requirements Highly formatted reports for forms, compliance, mass-distribution Operational and tactical applications with low interaction rate (view static and parameterized reports) Professional report layout (one-to-many approach) Form-based, print-optimized reports It enables the creation and modification of formatted reports: Report off of all sources of information in your organization

SAP 2008 / Page 5

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Enterprise Reporting

Product : Crystal Reports

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Ad-Hoc query, reporting & analysis

Product : Web Intelligence
Self-service ad hoc analysis and reporting enabling casual users to ask questions on any data, make decisions, and share information with others across the organization
Ad-Hoc Reporting & Analysis Combine SAP & Non-SAP Data Intuitive, Easy to Use
Self service reporting designed with the casual user in min Users can analyze data and answer their questions in a single environment

Combine data from SAP NetWeaver BW and non-SAP data, including Excel, in a single report

Easy to use BI tool empowering end-users to access and analyze the information they need Free-form layout with light formatting and printing capabilities

Accessible Anywhere

Web Intelligence reports can be viewed online, offline, on mobile devices, in dashboards, in MS Office, and on the desktop

This presentation and SAP's strategy and possible future developments are subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time for any reason without notice. 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.

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence Input Controls

Filter possibilities exposed as simple widgets

Eachwidgetcancontroloneor moretablesorcharts

AuthorscanchosefromRadio buttons,sliders,selectors,

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence Fold / Unfold

Foldsautomatically adheretoreport structure(sections, breaks,tables

Turnonfeatureas needed,nopre definitionby authorrequired

Summarymeasuresfor sections,breaks facilitateidentifying mostsalientdetailsto unfold

Enables consumers to progressively explore details most relevant to their analytical needs online & offline

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence BI Web Services

Takeanyreport,tableor chartwithcalculations, multipledatasources, synchronizations,etc. Publishas WebService

Inadditiontothedata, parameters& metadataavailableas partoftheWSpayload

Enables power users to repurpose complex report content in any application capable of consuming Web Services
Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence Query on Query

Business Problem
Customers have silos of data and need to connect the dots between several sets of data

Solution
Query on Query enables users to answer questions like:
Among customers with more than $1m purchases (from Sales data source), which were in the top box score from the customer satisfaction survey? What is the breakdown of managers whove visited premier customers last quarter? Which of the customers from my Excel file responded to the customer satisfaction survey?

SAP 2008 / Page 11, Holly Simmons

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Ad-Hoc query, reporting & analysis

Product : Web Intelligence

OLAP universe (MDX)

Relational Universe (SQL)

Data Federator

SAP ERP

SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query BI Client

BEx Query

Classic InfoSets Transient Provider

Multi Provider

InfoSet InfoCube DSO

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence SAP NetWeaver BW connectivity

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence SAP NetWeaver BW connectivity

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence SAP NetWeaver BW connectivity

BImetadatafeature Characteristics(incl.TimeandUnit) Hierarchies BasicKeyFigures NavigationalAttributes DisplayAttributes CalculatedKeyFigures/Formulas RestrictedKeyFigures CustomStructures Variables SAPOLAPBAPIsupportlevel InfoCube/BIQuery InfoCube/BIQuery InfoCube/BIQuery BIQueryonly InfoCube/BIQuery BIQueryonly BIQueryonly BIQueryonly BIQueryonly
Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Web Intelligence SAP NetWeaver BW connectivity

SAPBIelement Dimension Characteristic Universeobject Class Subclasswithdimensionanddetailobjects BIQuery: Subclasscontainingdimensionanddetailobjectsforeachhierarchylevel inthecurrentlydefinedhierarchy BIInfoProvider: Subclassescontainingdimensionanddetailobjectsforeachhierarchylevel forallhierarchiesdefinedforthecharacteristic Classwithsingledimensionobjectforthestructure Subclasswithdimensionanddetailobjects(identicaltocharacteristic) Detailobjectforthedimension MeasureobjectintheclassfortheKeyFigurestructurewithdimension objectsforunits/currency,numericvalueandformattedvalue(basedon Userpreferences) Measureanddimensionobjects(sameasKeyFigure) Measureanddimensionobjects(sameasKeyFigure) PredefinedFilterintheUniverse Intheclassforthedimensiontowhichthevariableapplies,twodimension objectssupportingthelistofvalues,oneforcaption,onefordescription. Mastering SAP Universeparametersdefiningkeydatevariableintheuniverse BusinessObjects 2010

Characteristicwithhierarchy

StructurebasedonCharacteristics(BEx Queriesonly) Navigationalattribute DisplayAttribute KeyFigure CalculatedKeyFigure(BExQueriesonly) RestrictedKeyFigure(BExQueriesonly) Variables(BExQueriesonly) Keydatevariable(BExQueriesonly)

Data Federator Universe or OLAP Universe?

BWServerFeature
BW Hierarchies Restricted and Calculated Key Figures 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) (calculated)

MDX

SQL

SAP 2009 / Page 17

= fully supported = limited support / workaround

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Data Federator Universe or OLAP Universe?

BW Server Feature
Calculated Key Figures, Formulas BW Variables Currency and Unit Conversion Exception Aggregations Display Attributes Conditions BW Hierarchies Non-Cumulative Key Figures

Workaround
Define calculated measures in Universes / WebI Define @prompt in Universes or WebI Query Panel; does not work for exit variables or variables filled through authorizations Simulate via joins in Data Federator SQL standard aggregations (AVG, COUNT DISTINCT) available via Data Federator processing Define joins (in DF) from InfoProvider to master data InfoProvider tables Use filters on measures No workaround No workaround

SAP 2009 / Page 18

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Dashboarding / Visualization

Product : Xcelsius Enterprise

Provides rapid development of highly interactive dashboards and data visualization through a flexible and easy to use interface
Highly customizable visualizations and dashboards through easy-to-use, drag and drop interface Build Dashboards within weeks not months, Leverage Flex to develop custom components and controls Free-form layering of visual controls Deploy to a variety of formats including Portals, Business User desktop applications and development IDE frameworks Dashboards and Visualizations are compiled into flash format which is highly portable and widely supported Deploy within minutes Leverage investment in SAP BusinessObjects and SAP NetWeaver with specific data connectivity options Open connectivity options through web service and XML connectors Enable real-time dashboard updates through leveraging of Adobe Live cycle Data Services connectivity Extensible connectors
Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Easy-to-Use

Flexible

Rapid Development

SAP & Non-SAP Data Sources

BI Solution : Dashboarding / Visualization

Product : Xcelsius Enterprise New visual components
Spark lines, bullet chart, scorecard, canvas container New features o Data range slider o Chart data labels o Dynamically set color o Load default scenarios o List Builder default selection o Trend Analyzer forecasting o Multi indicator gauges o Show/hide series o Data Range selection
o

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Dashboarding / Visualization

Product : Xcelsius Enterprise

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Dashboarding / Visualization

Product : Xcelsius Enterprise

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Dashboarding / Visualization

Product : Xcelsius Enterprise
Direct connector to SAP NetWeaver BEx queries
o o o o o

Consume BEx Queries and Views Support of all variable type (incl. personalization) No limitations in query features used BW authorization enforced Free characteristics list of values for filtering

SAP NetWeaver Portal Xcelsius

BI Consumer Services

NetWeaver platform integration

o o o o o o

BEx Queries and Views

Dashboard authorization Transport capability (integrated into DW workbench) Translation of texts Access through NW Portal iView Does not require BOE Enable low TCO with simple architecture

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution : Dashboarding / Visualization

Product : Xcelsius Enterprise

Xcelsius

Live Office

Crystal Reports

Web Intelligence

Query as a Web Service

SAP InfoSet

SAP Table, Cluster and Function

ODS

BW MDX

Data Federator

OLAP Universe

SAP ERP

SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query BI Client

BEx Query

InfoProvider
InfoSet

Classic InfoSets

SAP Queries

ABAP Functions

Table and Cluster Transient Provider

Multi Provider

InfoCube

DSO

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution: Data Search and Exploration

Product : SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer brings together the high performance inmemory capabilities of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator with an intuitive frontend interface for search and exploration.
Designed for high data volumes (retail, utilities, banking etc.) Leveraging SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Scalable blade server platform Highly consistent and predictable response time Combined with SAP BusinessObjects Open Accelerator allows exploration of SAP and non-SAP datasources Enables cross data source search of all corporate data Users are able to upload Excel spreadsheets to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer in the cloud or on premise to start the data exploration SAP BusinessObjects Explorer leverages existing infrastructure from SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise and SAP NetWeaver BWA Bring BI to more business users with SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Get new insight into your business Instant answers to on-the-fly questions without annoying time delays Intuitive interfaces with familiar common language workflows Users can search and explore large volumes of enterprise data to discover relationships and uncover root cause
Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Performance

SAP & Non-SAP Environments

Time for Development

New Business Scenarios

What Is Explorer? Its Search Against BI

Use familiar key-word search to find business information Answers on-the-fly and investigative questions Searches directly on pre-indexed data No previous reports or metrics need exist Provides fast search and exploration Searches across all data sources Any universe accessible source Any Accelerator accessible source

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

and Then Its Exploration Of the Results

Intuitively explore on data No data model or data knowledge required Web or Mobile

Automated relevancy of results Most relevant information is displayed first Best chart type auto generated

Share insights with others Export to CSV or image Save it locally as a browser bookmark One-click send to email

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution: Data Search and Exploration

Product : SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
Search Search Explore Explore

Visualize Visualize

Share Share

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution: Data Search and Exploration

Product : SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

SBO Explorer (blade) 2.0

SUSE Linux blades running the user application

SAP BW Accelerator 7.20

SUSE Linux blades running the back-end data engine

SBO Data Services

SUSE Linux blades loading any data into the accelerator

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution: Data Search and Exploration

Product : SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution: Data Search and Exploration

Product : SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

OLAP Universe

Relational Universe (SQL)

Data Federator

SAP ERP BI Client

SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query InfoProvider

BEx Query

SAP NetWeaver BWA

Classic InfoSets Transient Provider Multi Provider InfoCube DSO

InfoSet

BW Accelerator

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

BI Solution: Data Search and Exploration

Product : SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Multi-provider indexing and exploration:
o

Natively index common MultiProviders

Index once for Explorer and BW use cases Delta-loading capability Such as those that refer to DataStore Objects and InfoObjects Support for MultiProviders with compounded characteristics across
InfoCubes (compound father in one InfoCube, child in another)

Snapshot indexing of complex MultiProviders

Query indexing and exploration

o

Explorer can now be used to explore existing (or new) Queries

exploring them almost immediately

Quickly index your existing Queries for Explorer and have your users Ability to leverage query features such as complex unit conversions
Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Snapshot indexing of Queries

Business Intelligence Green Fields

Common Risks
No common terminology, will only know SAP terms
What is the meaning of report, BI, dashboards Dimension vs. Characteristic Measure vs. Key Figure

No prior experience with BI tools

Hard to get beyond operational/regulatory reporting Lots of customer education required, lack of product knowledge Clarification of key business intelligence concepts are likely to be necessary Tendency to put the data source central, rather than the end user report

Expectation that Web Intelligence should replace BEx Analyzer

Lack of product knowledge Misunderstanding of product portfolio and roadmap SAP doesnt dictate moving all your analysts off BEx Analyzer at all Web Intelligence is not an OLAP interface Confusion of intended audience

Assumption we just connect up to existing BEx Queries

Product may not support all elements of the existing BEx queries well Violates the BI principle of working backwards from report requirements BEx queries need to be purpose-built, tuned, and potentially aggregation added

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

The Business Intelligence Approach

The concrete example is for OLAP Universes, but the practice is equivalent for other tools. Only difference with relational RDBMS is BEx/InfoCube instead of database structure
Reports Dashboards
requirements gathering end User interviews vision, strategy and purpose visual layout mockups navigation folder structure Access rights

Universes
identify subject areas define required data elements evaluate adhoc requirements Prioritize easeof-use/ maintenance or performance

BEx Queries
Identify data elements needed for universe in BEx Purpose-build the BEx query, bearing in mind BOE supported product features Consider adding aggregation Tune the query

InfoCube
If data for a query is not yet in the cube, change the cube to support the required query, universe and reports Consider whether going directly against an InfoCube or MultiProvider is desirable

BEx Queries Universes

Develop the BEx query Test the BEx query Generate the OLAP universe Hide inappropriate objects Test universe

Reports Dashboards
Develop required reports Develop required dashboards Test reports Test dashboards

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

SAP NetWeaver EhP1asTHEfoundationforallnewBISolutions

The first shown integration Improvements between SAP and SAP BusinessObjects Products are realized with the release of NetWeaver EhP1 and further. NetWeaver EhP1 is the prerequisite for the following SAP BI Solutions: Better Support for Web Intelligence via OLAP Universes, Improved MDX Interface, Direct Access to BW 7.01 via SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator BPC based on NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer version 1.0 and 2.0, Native access of SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius via BICS

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

OLAP Universe and BEx Query Design

Hierarchies
Hierarchy support in Web Intelligence for BW is limited Use of hierarchy variable is recommended The Use Query Drill option in WebI significantly improves drill down performance

Key Figures
A large number of Key Figures in the BEx query will incur a significant performance penalty when running queries, regardless of whether the Key Figures are included in the Universe or used in the Webi query. For large sets of key figures, use option - Use Selection of Structure Members

Restricted and Calculated Key Figures

Restricted and Calculated Key figures should be built as part of the underlying BEx query to use the BW back-end processing for better performance Queries with a larger set of such Key Figures should use the Use Selection of Structure Members option in the Query Monitor (transaction RSRT) to leverage the OLAP engine

Navigational Attributes and Key Dates

A large number of navigational attributes defined in the underlying InfoProvider negatively impacts overall performance A single universe can only support a single Key Date variable

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Meta-data mapping in OLAP Universes

Overall recommendation BI Queries are recommended as data sources for generating universes for the following reasons: BI Queries offer a flexible extension to the data modeling environment and require less effort to change than InfoCubes BI Queries offer significant functionality to create customized data sources that meet end-user requirements, such as Calculated & 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. Focus the implementation strategy on limiting the number of BI Queries and universes that share common elements DO NOT build one query per InfoProvider because elements can add processing time even though you not using them into the Web Intelligence report Build a small set of queries focusing on sharing common elements in a small number of universes

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Meta-data mapping in OLAP Universes

Consider splitting up the large Queries & Universes into smaller ones
Depending on # of objects (Dimensions & Measures) utilized per report, it might make sense to find common groupings of objects to service particular Web Intelligence Reports Grouped by Commonality
Group A Group B
= WebI Report

Measures

Group C

Group D

Dimensions

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

SAP Variables and Web Intelligence filter

SAP Variables in Web Intelligence Mandatory variables will always load a list of values (try to leverage more optional variables) Leverage the Delegated Search feature for List of values

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

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

SAP Variables and Web Intelligence filter

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

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Use Selection of Structure Elements Query Property in RSRT

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 If you analyze performance of the query and find very high EVENTID 3200 times, and/or the FEMS number is very high try enabling this property and check performance This ensures that structure elements are sent to the database for processing

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Recommendations for BEx Query Design

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

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Xcelcius best practices

Design considerations
Start from the business needs. What decision should this support? What KPIs should it display? What visual components best represent the data? How will the user interact with the data? Keep it simple!

Xcelcius w/ BICS
Consider if all data reside in BW Business needs highly visual and interactive dashboard interface Other reporting tools are used, integration with 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 # of key figures in the universe Avoid aggregating in flash, aggregate in BW

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Questions How to contact me

Ingo Hilgefort SAP BusinessObjects (Canada) eMail: Ingo.Hilgefort@sap.com

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010

Mastering SAP BusinessObjects 2010