1

Accelerate in-memory queries

with SAP BusinessObjects
Explorer, accelerated version

Dr. Berg
Comerit Inc.

© 2011 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

 In This Session …

In this session you will learn how BO Explorer adds very fast
ad-hoc search capabilities to your warehouse and the
infrastructure needed to deploy it.

You will also learn how to format the output, see a step-by-
step demo on how the tool works and explore how to plan for
BW-Explorer in your organization.

You will also see the milestone plan for installing BW-Explorer
and technical considerations for an successful implementation

3
What We’ll Cover …
• BO Explorer Overview
• Ad-Hoc search
• A step-by-step Demo of analysis and formatting
• Installing and managing BO Explorer
• Planning and Budgeting for BO Explorer
• Wrap-up

4
 Why BO Explorer...
BO Explorer is a search and exploration tool for unstructured and semi-
structured data. Unlike querying, 'exploration' is unstructured analysis.

AAsurvey
surveyofof534
534top
topBI
BI
professionals,
professionals,reported
reportedthat
thatthethe
top
topconcern
concernwaswasthe
theability
abilitytoto
deliver
deliverfaster
fasterquery
queryand
anddata
data
exploration
explorationcapabilities,
capabilities,BO
BO
Explorer
Exploreraddresses
addressesthis
thisneed
need
Source: Business Intelligence
5
Survey, InformationWeek, 2009
 Why In-memory processing for BO Explorer?
• Disk speed is growing slower than all other hardware components
Technology Drivers Architectural Drivers
1990 2010 Improvement 1990 2010
Disk-based data In-memory data
CPU 0.05 253.31 5066x storage stores
MIPS/$ MIPS/$

Simple Multi-channel
Memory 0.02 50.15 2502x consumption of UI, high event
MB/$ MB/$
apps (fat client volume, cross
UI, EDI) industry value
Addressable chains
Memory 216 264 248x
General-
purpose, Application-
application- aware and
Network 100 100 1000 x agnostic intelligent data
Speed Mbps Gbps
database management

Source: 1990 numbers SAP AG 2010 numbers, Dr. Berg

Disk 5 600 120x
Data Transfer MBPS MBPS

Physical hard drive speeds only grew by 120 times

6
since 1990. All other hardware components grew faster.
 BO Explorer Overview
BO Explorer (BOEx) has several ways in can connect to data sets:

1. External data may be indexed by the BO Data Services and stored on

dedicated BW Accelerator (BWA) blades.

2. BW data may be indexed

on BWA blades for
fast in-memory
processing

3. External data may also

be accessed as 'non-
accelerated' via SQL
universes and BOBJ XI

4. Excel spreadsheets may

also be accessed
Source: SAP Ag, 2010

Accelerated
AcceleratedBOEx
BOExdoes
doesnot
notrequire
requireBW.
BW. --You
Youcan
canaccelerate
accelerateall
alldata
datasources
sources 7
In Memory Processing - General Highlights - BWA

3. Queries are routed to BWA

by the Analytical engine
SAP BW

BI Analytical Engine

2. Indexes copied in
to RAM on blades

InfoCubes
1. Indexing and
compression
stored on a file
system
DSOs
8
 In Memory Processing - Creating Indexes from external data

Using the Index Designer in Data

Services, you can also index 3. Queries are routed to BWA
data from external data files and by the Analytical engine

data bases. SAP BW

BI Analytical Engine
It is important to note that the
BO indexes are on dedicated 2. Indexes copied in
blades. to RAM on blades

InfoCubes
For BWA you should always 1. Indexing and
compression
have one 'spare' blade for stored on a file
failover. If a blade fails, the system
DSOs
system can reload the indexes
from the BWA file system (i.e. Business Object
Data Services
IBM's GPFS).
External data
Index Designer
For BOEx blade, you can use Data
Integrator
only one blade. Files

Databases 9
 The many BOEx Access Methods

BOEx is normally accessed through a web

browser.

However, you can always download the

results from a search into Excel and
perform analysis from there.

In addition you can save the result set as

an image and load it on portal sites, hand
helds, or sent as an email.

Finally, you can access the BOEx directly

from a handheld device that support basic
web browser functions.

10
Source: Dan Kearnan, SAP AG (2010)
What We’ll Cover …
• BO Explorer Overview
• Ad-Hoc search
• A step-by-step Demo of analysis and formatting
• Installing and managing BO Explorer
• Planning and Budgeting for BO Explorer
• Wrap-up

11
 Ad-hoc Search
The core idea of BOEx is that
users can search the BI data like they
would using Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engines.

Users should not have to know how the data is structured,

what query to execute, or how to display the data.

BOEx takes a 'first stab' at presenting the data in a usable

format. From there, users may navigate and change the
display.

The users may save their settings and the display at any
time.

12
 Ad-hoc Search Example

1. First we searched after

'sales' and found 3
possible choices

2. We select 'sales Information' and searched after the term "Texas".

This shows the

sales amount by
state as a table,
the gross margin
as a graph and
as a table.
Any
Anydisplay
displaycan
canbe
be
exported
exportedtotoExcel,
Excel,
saved
savedas
asan animage,
image,e-e-
mailed
mailedororbookmarked
bookmarked
13
What We’ll Cover …
• BO Explorer Overview
• Ad-Hoc search
• A step-by-step Demo of analysis and formatting
• Installing and managing BO Explorer
• Planning and Budgeting for BO Explorer
• Wrap-up

14
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Searching
Step 1. We load the BOEx web
interface into a browser

Step 2. We Search for "sales"

Step 3. We get the search results and

a list of "information
spaces".

The
Thesearch
searchresult
resultlist
listisissorted
sortedbased
basedon
onan
aninternal
internal'relevancy'
'relevancy'score
score
 A Step-by-Step Demo: The Initial View
Step 4. The system looks at the data and formats it based on implied
hierarchies (i.e., time, geography, customer) as well as measures.
Users may navigate and change measures, graphs and tables.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Searching in a result set & measures
Step 5. Again, we are interested in sales around Texas, and can
search the initial result set:

Step 6. By changing the

measure from 'margin' to
'sales revenue' all graphs
and tables change
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Changing Charts and Drill down
Step 7. We can change the chart by selecting from the left menu
options.

Step 8. While the first

display was based on the
'best guess', we can now
drill-down to the different
product lines

The best graphing

options, based on our
data, is highlighted by
a star:
 A Step-by-Step Demo: More Graphing Options
Step 9. There are many graphing
options and some are more
usefule than others.

"Proportional' view is best when

you are looking for size
relations I.e., what are the
larges contributors to sales"?

Most of the time, the reccomended graphs works best for

the data set, but not always

Try
Tryseveral
severalgraphing
graphingoptions
optionsbefore
beforedeciding
decidingon
on'your'
'your'view.
view.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Explore More - Filtering
Step 10. By clicking on "explore
more..." you are promted to
filter on the characteristic you
selected.

Since we clicked
"explore more" in
the state box, we
can now select
only the states we
are interested in.

Filtering
Filteringdata
datamakes
makesthe
theImages
Imagesmore
moremeaningful.
meaningful.ItItisis
harder
hardertotoanalyze
analyze50
50states
statesand
andscroll
scrollthrough
throughthe
thedata.
data.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Filter Results

We now see only the (product) lines sold 3 states

Filter values
are displayed
here:

Always
Alwayssee
seeififany
anyitems
itemshave
havebeen
beenremoved
removedininaafilter,
filter,
before
beforeyou
youlook
lookatatthethedata.
data.I.e.
I.e.15,061,789
15,061,789 isisnot
notthe
the
sales
salesrevenue
revenuefor forthe
thefirm,
firm,only
onlythe
therevenue
revenuefor
for33states
states
 A Step-by-Step Demo: The Visualization Panel
Step 11. You can also zoom in on the data
by only showing the visualization panel.

In the Visualization
Panel, you can
view all the fields
and measures as a
complete table.

Notice: The table

only contains data
from the 3 states
we filtered on.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Top-10 Analysis
Step 12. In the visualization panel, we can perform top-10
analysis by a single click. All other values are summarized in an
"other" category and graphed.

The
Theability
abilityto
toquickly
quicklygroup
groupand
andsummarize
summarizedata
datais
isaagreat
great
feature.
feature.This
Thisisisnormally
normallydone
donein
inthe
theBI
BIanalytical
analyticalengine
engineof
of
SAP
SAPNetWeaver
NetWeaverBW,
BW,and
andcan
canbe
bevery
veryslow.
slow.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Other Display Options
Step 13. You can view the
data in relative size by
using a comparison graph

Line graphs are usually preferred

if you have 3-20 data points

Areas on the graphs

can be highlighted by
clicking on one or
more data points
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Sorting and New Calculations
Step 13. Any data panel can be sorted in many ways

Step 14. We can also add

our own measures.

In our example we are

adding the measure 'margin
per unit' as total margin
divided by 'quantity sold'

Measures
Measuresused
usedon
onany
anygraph,
graph,can
canbe
becalculated
calculated'on-the-fly'
'on-the-fly'
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Mini-OLAP example
Step 16. In this mini-OLAP example we are:
 Looking at some key cities in a few states (filter)
 Only looking at data for 2003 and only for "Sweats and T-Shirts" (filters)
 Examining the profit margin per unit sold (customized calculation)

BOEx
BOExisisnot
notan
anOLAP
OLAPtool,
tool,but
butcan
cansupport
supportbasic
basicdrill-down
drill-down
features.
features.and
andthereby
therebycomplex
complexunstructured
unstructuredanalysis.
analysis.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Downloading a Data Set
Step 17. Any result set displayed in BOEx may be saved to a PC
as a comma-delimited file.

You can select

to save the data
set filtered by
the navigations
or only the data
from the
visualization
panel.

Data
Datasaved
savedthis
thisway
waycan
canbe
beopened
openedin
inExcel
Excelor
orimported
imported
directly
directlyinto
intoAccess
Accessand
andother
otherdata
databases.
bases.
 A Step-by-Step Demo: Configuring Measures
Step 18. Measures in the data set can also be configured to be
"filter columns" for
user navigation

Other options
include
 Max
 Min
 Sum
 Average

This
Thisis
ishow
howyou
youdetermine
determinehow
howdata
datawill
willbe
beaccessed
accessedand
and
how
howmeasures
measureswill
willbe
bedisplayed
displayed
 HINT : Connectivity, network and non-logical calculations
You sometimes can get the following message from the system:

This normally means that the connectively to the system is

either too slow, or broken. This is an issue that is more common
for very slow connections such as older Wi-Fi networks.

You can also get this error message if the result set you
requested are not available (i.e. non logical calculations).
What We’ll Cover …
• BO Explorer Overview
• Ad-Hoc search
• A step-by-step Demo of analysis and formatting
• Installing and managing BO Explorer
• Planning and Budgeting for BO Explorer
• Wrap-up

30
BOEx Required & Optional Components
Installing BOEx can be confusing. Some components are
required, while other are optional.

Optional Components:
Data Services XI 3.2 SP1 if you use external data
Index designer plug-in if you use external Accelerated data
BW Accelerator 7.20 if you use Accelerated data

Required Components:
NW 7.01 SP05 EhP1 (minimum) SAP
SAPCertified
Certifiedblade
bladevendors:
vendors:
Explorer XI 3.2 IBM,
IBM,SUN,
SUN,Dell,
Dell,Cisco,
Cisco,
Explorer (blade) 2.0 Teradata,
Teradata,Fujitsu,
Fujitsu,HP
HP
Client Tools XI 3.1 SP2
Enterprise XI 3.1 SP2 (consider SP3)
Integration XI 3.1 SP2 for SAP

BWA,
BWA,Data
DataServices
Servicesand
andBO BOExplorer
Explorer3.2,
3.2,can
canrun
runonly
onlyon
onSUSE
SUSELinux
Linux64-bit
64-bit
OS
OSfor
forblade
bladeservers.
servers. XIXIand
andIntegration
Integrationcan
canbebeon
onall
allSAP
SAPsupported
supportedHW
HW&&OSOS
31
Source: SAP AG , Sept. 2010
Registrar and Take a free test drive
You can registrar for a free 21 days test drive at:
http://goexplore.ondemand.com .

You
Youcan
canalso
alsoupload
uploadyour
yourown
owndata
dataand
andtry
tryBOEx
BOExtotosee
seeififititisis
something
somethingfor
foryour
yourorganization.
organization.
32
BO Explorer XI 3.2 and Explorer Blade 2.0 New Features

Many customers looked at earlier releases of BO Explorer and the

previous release called "Polestar" and noted several limitations.

Many of these limitations are now remedied. This include:

 The possibility to import your own Excel files

 Create your own calculations at the user level
 You can group related dimensions for simplicity of
analysis
 Security in improved and row-level data security can
be implemented
 You can personalize the view by filtering information
 Users may navigate hierarchies instead of 'flat' data

PS!
PS!BOEx
BOExsolution
solutionisislicensed
licensedbased
basedon
onnumber
numberofof
blades
bladesand
andthe
thenumber
numberofofnamed
namedusers.
users.
33
 BWA 7.2 New Features
In earlier released of BWA you could not index DSOs, with version 7.2
this is now available.

Also, prior to BWA 7.2, the solution was only used for rapid in-memory
data fetches. BI analytical engine processes such as data sorts,
calculated key figures (CKF), restrictive key figures (RKF), top-5
conditioning etc., was still costly overheads to the query execution.

Calculation Engine
Index
Aggregation Engine

We now have a new "calculation engine" SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.2

and a new "aggregation engine" inside . This means that the benefits
of in-memory processing is no longer confined to data fetches and
queries can be made to run even faster.

You
Youcan
cannow
nowperformance
performancetune
tunemost
mostBIBIAnalytical
Analytical
Engine
Enginefunctions
functionswith
withBWA,
BWA,not
notonly
onlydata
datareads.
reads.
34
 BWA 7.2 New Features - MultiProviders and Queries
MultiProviders (MP) are 'views' that links data stores, InfoCubes and/or
InfoSets together for simplifies user access and querying.

In the past, indexing these was a challenge.

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Today we can index MultiProviders 'nativly'. This means that we can

create an Index of MPs that have multiple InfoCubes once, and have
automatic delta-loading capabilities (only changed records gets updated
in the index).

For Multiproviders that also have DSOs and InfoObjects we can create
periodic 'snapshots'.

Indexes can also be built based on queries. This allows you to take
advantage of query calculations as part of the index creation.

35
What We’ll Cover …
• BO Explorer Overview
• Ad-Hoc search
• A step-by-step Demo of analysis and formatting
• Installing and managing BO Explorer
• Planning and Budgeting for BO Explorer
• Wrap-up

36
 BOEx Milestone Plan
Weeks
BO Explorer Milestone Plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Project start up
BW implementation review and ranking of InfoCubes/DSOs for indexing
Review physical hardware infrastructure and network access
Size the BWA using program in note: 917803
Plan for fail-over, disaster recovery and backup
HW vendor selection (& approvals if required)
Contact vendor and place Purchase order
Collect benchmarks for current performance and targets
Execute performance tuning of queries, install SAP BO XI and BO-E
Security design
Examine process chains and create new if needed
Install hardware BWA and connectivity
Test connectivity and perform readiness assessment
Training for 2 system admins
Create first indexes and test functionality
Make enhancements and change scope as needed (i.e. more infoproviders)
Create all planned indexes and test process chains (time to build indexes)
Execute system test with User Acceptance team (end users)
Design and implement updated process chains
Collect benchmarks for current performance and targets
Document results and close project

Since most vendors build the HW as Made-to-Order, it is important

to get the purchase order placed as soon as possible.
37
 Budgeting for BOEx

• You have to plan for:

 BOEx licenses (per blade as well as per number of users)

 Hardware costs (approx. $14K-$20K per chassis + $6-8K per blade and a rack, if you do
not have spare place for the chassis. Add in 2 network cards and a file system.)
 Good planning numbers for production environment (only):
 Small HW costs ~ $40K to $60K
 Medium HW costs ~ $60K to $250K
 Large HW costs ~ $250K to $500K

 Add consulting fees for 2-3 people for 8-12 weeks. The actual time needed depends on
how much of the infrastructure you already have in-place and how you plan on roll out the
solution)

Remember to plan for 3-years vendor service costs.

38
What We’ll Cover …
• BO Explorer Overview
• Ad-Hoc search
• A step-by-step Demo of analysis and formatting
• Installing and managing BO Explorer
• Planning and Budgeting for BO Explorer
• Wrap-up

39
Resources
• BO Explorer Implementation Checklist by SAP
 http://tinyurl.com/32v5ycw

• SAP BOEx Product Website

 http://www.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/large/busine
ss-intelligence/search-navigation/explorer/index.epx

• SAP BOEx Collaboration Workspace

 https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/community/sap/sapbusinessobjects
explorer

• Inside SAP BusinessObjects Explorer - book

 SAP PRESS, ISBN:978-1-59229-340-7, Ingo Hilgefort,
Hardcover, 315 pages
40
7 Key Points to Take Home
• BOEx is a great tool for unstructured ad-hoc analysis
• BOEx is a specialized tool, it does not replace the other BOBJ tools.
There is a place for OLAP, ad-hoc and formatted reports.
• The accelerated version adds real value via in-memory speed
• You need to have a formal training for end users (consider on-line
training)
• Lead times for hardware orders can be long, purchase early...
• Make sure that the BOEx project also addresses process chains,
performance tuning and connectivity to other components also.
• In-Memory processing of queries are the future, plan to 'get-with-the-
program" in 2011. The days of the hard drives for end users in BI is
numbered...

41
Your Turn!

How to contact me:

Dr. Berg
Bberg@ComeritInc.com
42
Disclaimer
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, SAP NetWeaver ®, Duet™®, PartnerEdge, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their
respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product
and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by
SAP.

43