Accessing your SAP BusinessObjects platform through the internet

Have you ever thought of accessing your BusinessObject’s platform through the Internet? Do you need to access externally your BusinessObjects platform without using a VPN connection? Is secure access for your external users a must for you? If the answer to these three questions is “Yes, I do” and your seeking for a solution, you have just landed on the page that will guide you to successfully meeting your objectives. So look no further because in this article, I will explain how you can improve your current BusinessObjects environment in a very simple way. As a matter of fact, one of our customer’s requested we find a way to allow his users access the BusinessObjects platform through the Internet in a secure way and without using a VPN connection. After analyzing several scenarios, we decided to split the web server (WAS) so that, in the end, our customer would dispose of two web servers: a server for external access and another for internal users. In the lines below, I will explain the steps and key items to developing this original solution.

Infrastructure changes

Many companies don’t usually connect servers with data (i.e: Database servers) in DMZ networks. Given this is our case, I recommend we split the BOXI Web Server. Our next step would be to place one web server in the DMZ network and the other web server, including the repository server, should be kept in the LAN. Finally, we should set up a new configuration, one for each firewall (INTERNET–DMZ and DMZ–LAN).

SAP BO Internet 1

Having made these changes to the infrastructure, the internal users (LAN users) will still be able to connect to the BOXI platform, just as they would normally do, and at the same time the external users, who will connect through the Internet, will be able to access a secure web server, through an HTTPS connection, and use any BOXI web tool they need, such as Infoview, WebI, etc. This means, for example, that the external users can connect in a secure way to their Infoview by using a web browser and without the need of a VPN connection.

Security requirements

We must not forget yet another important requirement which is to assure our users with a secured access once they’re connected through the internet. This is a topic that I will treat more in depth in the next lines.We can use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to allow for communication between external users (users connected through the Internet) and the external web server in the DMZ network.

To set up the SSL for the server communication we need to perform the following steps:

1. Set Environment Variables

Before starting, it’s always good to make sure that the following environment variables are set correctly. The values which I will outline within the course of this article and that I’ll be using as a reference are correct for those of you have installed Business Objects with the default settings. Otherwise,  use the list below as a guide to finding the correct paths.

• CATALINA_HOME --  C:Program FilesBusiness ObjectsTomcat55
• JAVA_HOME -- C:Program FilesBusiness Objectsjavasdk
• TOMCAT_HOME --  C:Program FilesBusiness ObjectsTomcat55
• Path -- C:Program FilesBusiness Objectsjavasdkbin (Add this to the existing Path)

2. Keystore and Keypair Creation

Next, open a command prompt (Start->Run, cmd) and run the following command to create a keystore.

keytool -genkey -alias tomcat -keyalg RSA -keystore C:keystore

The keytool utility will then ask you for your general personal information before generating your keypair.  This information is used to identify your server. When you visualize a message from keytool asking you for the “key password for Tomcat”, just hit return to use the same password.

SAP BO Internet 2

Check to make sure your key was created by running this command:

keytool -list -v -keystore c:keystore.keystore

3. Enable SSL in server.xml

While you are waiting for your signed certificate, you can enable SSL in Tomcat. We proceed to doing so by opening up Tomcat’s server.xml file, which is located by default in C:Program FilesBusiness ObjectsTomcat55conf. Look for thefile for the SSL Connector entry, which should look like this:

<-- Define a SSL Coyote HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443 --> <!-- <Connector            port="8443" minProcessors="5" maxProcessors="75"            enableLookups="true" disableUploadTimeout="true"            acceptCount="100" debug="0" scheme="https" secure="true";            clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS"/> -->

First, remove the comment tags (<!– and –>) from around this connector to enable it.  Then, you will need to add the following property:

keystoreFile="C:keystore.keystore"

You may also want to change the port from 8443 to the default HTTPS port of 443.  If you decide to do so, you will also want to change the redirectPort property on the non-SSL connector in order for it to match the very port. This should be located immediately above the SSL connector in the server.xml.

Once the changes are made, close the server.xml and restart Tomcat. Open a browser and go to https://localhost (of course, assuming you have changed the port from 8443 to 443).  Depending on your browser, you should see the Tomcat default page along with a certificate error.  This means that Tomcat is set up correctly, we only need a signed certificate.

SAP BO Internet 3

4. Install your certificate

Once you receive your signed certificate, you simply need to install it into the keystore in order to complete the process. First of all, you have to install the root (or chain) certificate from your vendor.  Check with your vendor to get this certificate.  Save the root certificate file in the server, with a name such as rootcert.txt, then execute this command:

keytool -import -alias tomcat -keystore C:keystore.keystore -trustcacerts -file rootcert.txt

Finally, install your new certificate.  Save your new certificate in the server, with a name such as mycert.txt:

keytool -import -alias tomcat -keystore  C:keystore.keystore -trustcacerts -file mycert.txt

From here, you should run a test and check that SSL is set up correctly by going to https://localhost on the server (assuming you changed the SSL port to 443).  If you see the Tomcat default page without any certificate errors, then SSL is configured properly.

SAP BO Internet 4

Deployment needs

We strongly recommend you run this deployment in a Test environment in order to troubleshoot and to be prepared for any issues that could arise when passing to installing in the actual Production environment . I would like to point out that you need a new server (a VM server is also fine) placed in a DMZ network. In this way it can be accessed through the Internet.

The next step is to install a web server on the machine, using the BOXI R3.1 SP3 installation package and selecting the “Web Tier” option.

SAP BO Internet 5

Once you have done this, you can now start configurating the HTTPS connections. That is why you also need an SSL certificate installed on the new server.

Last but not least, your Firewalls need to be reconfigured to grant you access from this web server to the BOXI repository server(placed on the LAN).

In summary, if you find yourself in need to to allow external users to access your BusinessObjects platform in a secure way, without using a VPN connection, then we recommend you split your current web server into two web servers (one being internal and the other external).

In this way, an external user can easily connect to a web server using an HTTPS connection (the data will be encrypted) and will be able to use BOXI tools as Infoview or WebI, and your data will be secured since it is still safely stored on the LAN network.

What’s more is that your internal users will not experience any change whatsoever, and most importantly you can deploy this solution without interfering on their daily tasks.

If you have any questions about accessing your BusinessObjects platform via internet simply leave a comment in the box below and I will readily reply to you.

Installing Business Objects on Linux (Part 2): Managing Your System

Now that our Linux system is ready (for more information have a look at part 1 of this article) we can now move on to installing Business Objects XI 3.1. In this article, I won't go through the entire installation process since there aren't any significant differences to point out when compared to it's Windows counterpart. If you're interested in a complete reference on this particular aspect I would recommend you review the official documentation which is available on the sap marketplace:

https://websmp108.sap-ag.de/support

Instead I will focus more on a few basic operations an administrator must ensure to complete once the system has been installed.

So let’s get started with a few basic operations, for example;

• Add/Remove install products
• Start/stop database
• Start/stop Business Objects services
• Reconfigure CMS database
• Monitor BO services

In the Linux installation these operations are contained in shell scripts which are placed within the installation folder. In our case our installation folder is: /home/bobj. I will be using this as a reference for the rest of the article.

Add/Remove install products

/home/bobj/AddOrRemoveProducts.sh

This script will allow you to execute the installing process and add or remove components from your BO install.

Start/Stop database (only applicable for MySQL install)

/home/bobj/bobje/mysqlstartup.sh /home/bobj/bobje/mysqlshutdown.sh

These two scripts will allow you to control the status of the MySQL database for your installation.

Start/Stop Business Objects Services

/home/bobj/bobje/startservers.sh /home/bobj/bobje/stopservers.sh

The above scripts will allow you to control the status of the Business Objects services, namely CMS and the rest of the servers. You can also control the status of the Tomcat Web server with the following scripts:

/home/bobj/bobje/tomcatstartup.sh /home/bobj/bobje/tomcatshutdown.sh

Reconfigure CMS database

/home/bobj/bobje/cmsdbsetup.sh

With the above script you can reconfigure the database, the CMS repository and audit it is connecting to.

Manage Business Objects Services

/home/bobj/bobje/ccm.sh

With this script you will be able to do several operations by using the appropriate command line modifiers. You can get a full reference of operations by running the help modifer “ccm.sh –help”. Bear in mind that there are other actions you can perform with this script, such as:

• Start/Stop/Restart Server Intelligence Agent
• Start/Stop/Restart a managed server
• Enable/Disable a server
• To update all objects for a server

Linux 1 BO

Monitoring the BO process

In addition to the actions performed by these scripts you can also monitor the state of your Business Objects service on the system by using other tools besides those included in Business Objects. An example of this is to apply the following command:

ps -Al

When the Business Objects service is running you will find it within this list under the following name “boe_cmsd”

Linux 2 BO

Other Useful Resources

While installing Business Objects with Linux and managing the whole process, I came across a few configurations that are rather important I mention in this article, even though I will not get into too much detail:

Text Editing: If you are new to Linux, first try find the edit files mode that best suits you. There are several ways to do this either graphically or via command line. My suggestions for newcomers would be a graphical tool like Gedit. But if you feel more comfortable using a command line you can always count on a VI tool.

X server in root: Some tasks can only be executed in root. When using Red Hat, the graphical environment is disabled by default for root. This can make things a bit more complicated for non-advanced users. To enable the graphical environment in root, you can run the following command:

xhost local:root

So now you have a brand new Linux system with a full Business Objects installation up and running and you have also learnt the basic steps to managing it.

At this stage another question arises: how does this solution in Linux stand against the Windows? I will answer this question on the next and final article of this series.

For any questions about installing the Business Objects package in your Linux and on how to manage your system, leave a comment and I will reply to you as soon as possible.

SAP BusinessObjects XI 4.0 in a Virtual Machine

I would like to start my article by letting you know that at the beginning of the year, installing the whole BI package of the new XI 4.0 in a Virtual Machine (VM) wasn’t at all an easy task to accomplish. SAP had just come out with its new release and as you can easily imagine, finding the proper information and the complete package of the new installations, at this moment in time, required its efforts and was rather time-consuming. Nonetheless, as a business intelligence analyst I found it handy to have the new 4.0 release up and running in the VM in my laptop. So I would like to share this information with those of you who are really eager to start using the new release. These are some practical tips and tricks that will help you lift off and are most useful especially in the initial phase. In this article I’ll be using Windows 2008R2 as an operative system and MS SQL Server 2008 as a database engine.

Minimum specifications and programs

• The minimum memory in your laptop or computer should be of 2 GB of RAM, the space in your disk needs to be between 30 GB and 40 GB.
• Sql server, Oracle or any other DB you want to use to connect with the SAP Business Objects platform.
• 64-Bit OS ready to be installed in the VM.

Note: You should bear in mind that the architecture of the new release is based on 64-bits therefore you will need an OS of 64 bits. When I first heard this, it sounded pretty good to me but I encountered an error when I wanted to run it on a 64-bit machine.

XI 4

As a matter of fact, it can be that the “hardware-assisted virtualization” option is disabled. In my opinion, the best way of fixing this issue is to make a BIOS update, if possible. Once this is done you have to get in to the BIOS before rebooting. Depending on the brand of your laptop you can do this by pressing F1, F2, F7, F9, F10, F12, SUPR or Crt+Shift+F2. The internal menu of the BIOS also depends on your computer brand; anyhow by following these easy steps, changing the Visualization Technology (VT) parameters shouldn’t be too complex.

1. Search for “System configuration” option.
2. Change the VT option from disabled to enabled.
3. Save and exit (in my case F10).
4. After that press “Save configuration change and exit now”
5. Restart the machine.

Installation files

Once the VM is ready, it’s time to download straight from the SAP Support Partner Portal the installation files. Below you’ll find a list of the main solutions. This way you can get started and enjoy the new features of the 4.0 release for SAP BO:

• SAP Business Objects Bussines Intelligence Platform
• SAP Client Tools
• SAP Crystal Report
• SAP Business Objects Dashboard Design
• SAP Business Objects Data services
• SAP Business Objects Live Office
• SAP Business Objects Explore

OS in a virtual machine

Once you have finished installing the OS, it is important to stop some services. The reasoning behind this is straightforward: we are about to run the whole Business Intelligence solution in a Virtual Machine. It is extremely important to ensure that the VM uses up the minimum amount possible of CPU processes and that of course the physical memory of your laptop or computer doesn’t suffer an over use. Any other approach to installing the files we previously downloaded would be extremely time-consuming; this would mean wasting your time and can be frustrating. There are quite a few services which are in fact unnecessary for this kind of VM since you won’t be using it in a conventional way. The list of services you can stop is quite long. To know a bit more about this, please check the following Websites:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

http://www.vistabase.co.uk/kb/perfor...save-on-memory

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tr/down...e_disabled.pdf

Note: It is also very important that you install the SQL server before you start using the BO installations, to ensure the Super Administrator (SA) is active and, finally, to be in possession of the password in order to be able to proceed with the next steps.

Business Objects Installation

Before you get started with any of the installations, I would recommend you create an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). This is a crucial step to take before you begin installing, because during the installation process, you will have to indicate which SAP BO connections you are going to use. For this purpose I highly recommend using these two packages:

• SAP Business Objects Bussines Intelligence Platform: Repository connection and Audit connection. The BO installation needs to relate these connections to create these databases for different purposes (i.e. Plt_Repository, Plt_Audit).
• SAP Business Objects Data services: This tool needs just one connection to manage the repository we’ll be using (i.e. DI_Repository).

In order to create the above mentioned connections you need to open “Data Sources (ODBC)” in the OS of your VM add them, indicate the method of authentication, name of the connection and of course the user and password for the database. Now that you have prepared the connections you are now ready to start using the installations.

Note: once installed you are almost ready to use the tools. It’s only a matter of time and taking the last few steps which I’m sure is adding to the excitement of the moment. SAP BO has a world renowned DB (eFashion) out for a trial session. This DB tests the various tools and is built in Access. Unfortunately, though, there isn’t yet an ODBC connection for Access (64-bits), so you can’t use the DB.

The only thing you can do, is transfer the DB to the SQL server and then modify the connections to the DB (i.e. Universe Design is one of the tools that forms part of the platform).

I hope you find my article useful and that these tips will come in handy for you. If you have any questions about installing the SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 release in a VM leave a message and I´ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Archiving your input files in Data Services

Most of your ETL processes probably rely on databases. But sometimes you need to integrate flat files or Excel documents into your extraction. And you may have the obligation to keep these files stored in some place, for instance, due to company policies or audit. Unfortunately Data Services lacks of file explorer capabilities. You cannot directly rename, copy or delete a file on your local hard drive. So what options are there left for you in order to manage those files you want to archive?

Using dynamic file names

The easiest solution is to use dynamic file names – by this I mean using a source file whose name will vary over time. For example "2011-01.xls", "2011-02.xls", etc. In this specific case there is no need to follow any further steps in order for you to archive your files: just leave them where they are. The question remains: how do you manage a dynamic file name in Data Services? The answer is quite simple: use a variable for your file name (view the image below).

Data services 1

Remember that you have to both, declare the variable in the "Variables and Parameters" window (view image below) as well as initialize it in a script so that it matches your actual file name.

Data services 2

I’d like to share with you an interesting tip about using a variable name for a file name: if you want to create an input file in Data Services based on an actual file, first of all select the very document you want to archive and import its schema (columns names), after which replace the file name with your variable. Do remember that you can check beforehand whether or not a file already exists by using the "file_exists()" function in a Data Services script.

Using fixed file names

Then again, you may also find yourself in the situation where you cannot force the users (or the programs) to give the input files different names. So how do you handle a situation where every day/month/quarter and every single 'Data.xls' file is created within a directory?

Ideally, you would be driven to extract the data from the file, and from there rename the file with the current day/month/quarter, and possibly move it to an archiving folder. But as I have already mentioned, there is no built-in function in Data Services that allows you to rename a file. This is why we have to create a small executable script (a .bat batch file) that recalls to another script from within Data Services.

The Data Services script should look like this:

exec ('C:Source_file_directoryarchiving.bat', $G_new_file_name , 0);

The first parameter is a string path to the executable file, the second parameter is a string representing a list of parameters to be sent to the executable (here we use a variable in order to send the new file name), and the third parameter is a flag which determines how Data Services will act upon an error (you can find the different values in the Data Services Reference Guide according to your version).

What shall we put in the executable file? A simple line will do:

move "C:Source_file_directoryData.xls" "C:Archiving_directory%1.xls"

As you may have guessed already, the '%1' is a placeholder for the first parameter transmitted (here $G_new_file_name).

If you have authorization problems (typically because of a 50306 error), you may want to check the user of your DS service, and to whether it has rights to the accessed folders. You may also want to try the following trick: replace "C:" with \server_nameC$.

As we have seen here, managing archived input files is possible whatever your file name configuration (fixed or dynamic) is. If you have questions to this regard, or if you want to share your experience or tips, leave a comment!

New WebIntelligence™ layout in XI 4.0 (Second Part)

In my previous article I gave an overview about the new features and the enhancements in the design and layout of the new release of WebI XI 4.0. In this article I will continue explaining these changes and what they involve.Let’s start by looking at the design area, where we find 5 tabs on the top of the application (“Report element”, “Format”, “Data access”, “Analysis” and “Page Setup”).

The new WebI XI 4.0 tries to centralize similar features in a more logical manner. In such way, under “Report Element", we find the basic elements for the initial design.

This section is divided into 3 areas, where initially we’ll find these tabs: “Table”, “Cell” and “Section”. We won’t find any new characteristic added here, though a significant change lays in the way we interact with the elements.

What is worthy of mention is that we can now insert elements into a table in the habitual drag & drop way or by simply using a new interface to set any of them more rapidly.

The second section is focused entirely on “Charts”. This area has undergone major improvements and we now have many more graphic options to work with. WebI includes new chart types, new properties and other features developers have been expecting for quite some time.

The third section instead is based on how we allocate the report elements. We will therefore find the regular “Turn Into”, “Set as section”, “Order”, “Align” and “Hyperlinks” functions.

Apart from these three sections, if we click on an active report element, a new section pops up complementing the options that are available to us when right clicking over a report element. For example, if we click on a table, we can set up the Breaks or Insert/Remove Rows.

In the "Format" tab we now have a better distribution of all options which are now centralized and easy to access in order for us to format in any aspect our element. Previously all these options were spread across the report and accessed either by right clicking on the element or by selecting from the formatting bar or the “Data” tab.  Moreover, what I believe is well worth of mention is that WebI now adapts dynamically to each formatting option that fits with the selected item. In other words, if we select a cell, the tab is adjusted to modify multiple cell parameters; the same stands for table, report etc.

In the "Data Access" tab we find all the options related to data access and data manipulation. The first section involves working with the query panel (“Data Providers”). We can now create new queries to new data sources. It basically adds a new query to our document with the selected data source. Alternatively, we can edit one of the active queries, do a data purge or even refresh it. Under “Tools”, instead, we can change the data source specifically for one of the active queries or export the data to a flat file, CSV or PDF. The second section called “Data Objects” is where we can create our report data variables or merge specific dimensions.

Under the "Analysis" tab, the related functions are much more consistent. This is the case, for example, if we want to filter the data; now individual reports like “Filters”, “Ranking” or “Input controls” are grouped in one same block. Still under “Analysis” we find “Data Tracking” with no significant developments. The "Breaks" and "Sorts" options are centralized aswell, now grouped under "Display". Special mention goes to the “Conditional” tab, which includes a feature, legacy from the former WebI: “Alerters”. Finally, we can move on forward to the last set of options under the ”Interact“ tab where we’ll find the “Drill”, “Filter Bar” and “Outline” options and, as for the “Functions” tab, we’ll find the default aggregation functions such as sum, count, min, max etc.

The last tab to consider is named "Page Setup". This is one of the parts which I find particularly useful as it is more defined if compared with the old version.

Divided into three parts, the first block manages the reports. No new functionalities have been added here. The second block focuses on the distribution for each page of the report, defining the orientation and the page size, and the “Show/Hide” and “Height” for the header and footer. Finally, in the third block we have a new feature called “Scale to Page” where we can adjust our items either in width or in height fitting them in single or multiple pages. Additionally we can also control the report margins as well as the page display by toggling between quick display and view page.

Last but not the least, we find three new menus “Reading”,”Design” and “Data” that are quite useful.

These are intended to be shortcuts to the three main actions that a developer would carry out in WebI offering different views for each action.  In case we want to evaluate the report results, all we need to do is right click on “Reading” and the “Summary View” will appear along with the report results. If we want to go back to the creation area, we simply click on “Design” and it will display the canvas either in structure mode or populated with data. Finally the “Data” shortcut shows us a nice overview of all the data providers involved in our queries.

I hope you found this second part of my article helpful and insightful. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or to ask any questions related to the new WebI 4.0 layout and I will readily reply to you.

New WebIntelligence™ layout in XI 4.0 (First Part)

After a long time working on developing reports either with Deski or WebI documents on the old XI 2.0 and XI 3.0 platforms, I was eager to see what new functionalities SAP was able to offer us with the new releases of BusinessObjects 4.0. There are many articles that illustrate the main new features, but I couldn’t find any that would show how the tool looks like and what the real capabilities and functionalities are for a developer. This is the exact and main purpose of this first article; to give real insight into the new fancy application web version in terms of layout.

First and foremost, it is important to clear out the confusion generated around the nomenclature of Web Intelligence. Previously SAP had considered changing this from Web Intelligence to Interactive Analysis; this is why installer name and documentation refer to it as Interactive Analysis. SAP has decided to maintain the original nomenclature and so we shall continue referring to this application as Web Intelligence (WebI).

Web Intelligence

As soon as we select the “Interactive Analysis” button, the application is launched. It is interesting to note that a new tab called “Interactive Analysis” is added to the BI Launch Pad (formerly known as InfoView), next to the regular Home and Documents tabs.

The tab itself offers 3 possibilities, close, pin the tab, and open a new window to maximize the working area. This option is perhaps the most interesting of all as it responds to the long-standing demand from behalf of developers, to be able to work on a larger canvas area without having to pre-configure global options in the BI Launch Pad.

Below the tab we find a greyed out bar with the usual properties for editing and formatting as well as a drop combo box (Interactive Analysis) that will prove to be really helpful to manage the different bars and panes. Momentarily, we can only interact with the “new”, “open a document”, “user preferences button” and “help button”.

The user preferences button offers a new feature on the web version of WebI called "Manage BI services" used to manage the web services available in the hosts. It is also interesting to see that we can open a new a document from the server, either from a folder or a category.

If we decide to create a new document, the application prompts us to create a new data provider by selecting the data source it will be based on. The options available are “no data source”, “universe”, “BEX” and “Analysis View”.

Web Intelligence 2

The new and most significant options amongst these are “BEX” and “Analysis View”. BEX (acronym for Businness Explorer queries) is used to retrieve data directly from the queries mounted on the Infocubes from  SAP BW environment. Instead, View Analysis uses the results from an Analysis workspace, exported as an analysis view and created within an OLAP source system. I highly recommend the reader to explore these possibilities in forthcoming posts.

In this post I will use the everlasting universe efashion as an example.

As you can notice in the below illustration, the query panel isn’t any different from the old query pane in terms of layout.  It is still based on the same interactive functions and we can continue playing with the options to show or hide panels. The main new feature is the data preview panel which provides us with a first preview of the data depending on the objects dropped.

Minor changes are worth being taken into consideration such as for the “SQL” button that has now become the “View Script” button, or the reshaped “Master Perspective” drop down box that basically enables to display the objects sorted by class or by hierarchy. A new handy and interesting option is the new “Close” button offering us the possibility to choose between applying changes and closing or reverting changes and then close.

However the major enhancement of the query panel is one that is not visible. The outstanding feature is that now we can add new multiple queries to our document combining different data sources  (other universes, queries or analysis BEX View) answering a fundamental request from Webi developers.

Web Intelligence 3

The real feel of this being a new product release comes when we run a query and we use the new design mode. The first impression we have is that WebI is in line with the layout of the newest Microsoft Office products. The WebI canvas has experienced a total revolution. The static old bars have made way to a much more logical design using integrated tabs distributed throughout the application, which improves tremendously the usability for the developer. At a first glance, we can identify two main parts, the navigation area and the creation area.

WebIntelligence 4

Let us focus on the navigation area; this too is mainly divided into two parts. The first is the historical file menu where we can create, open, save, and print documents…nothing new. The second is a more centralized area where we can set up global properties at both document and application level. This last level is segmented into 3 parts. The first is the "View" menu, where we can show and hide all toolbars, tabs and panes. Now, we also have the possibility to expand to full screen.  In short, WebI has now more options centralized than the previous versions, which were distributed across the report and the query panel.

Web Intelligence 5

Finally under "Application" we find the same “user settings” present in the previous version of WebI, where we can set up the Measurement unit and the Grid properties.

Still, in the previous WebI, we used to have five tabs on the left hand side of the canvas (Map, Templates, Properties, Data and Input Controls). Now, in the latest WebI version, this part has been totally renewed. This new area is more focused on navigation and customization of the global document rather than the report elements. The first is the summary document which outputs a summary of the main options established in the WebI document. An interesting new option within this section is an area where you visualize the prompts parameters defined in the doc as well as the KeyData. The next two icons correspond to a new partition of what we used to find in the old “map” tab: report map and document structure and filters. Input controls and Available objects (former “Data” tab) present nothing new. Finally the structure is completed with the web service publisher.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it has allowed you to gain a better understanding of the new WebI layout. Stay tuned for the second part of this article for more insight on what’s new in WebI.

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or ask for clarifications and I will readily reply to you.

SAP Business Objects XI 4.0 Release: Connecting to OLAP data sources

In March the new SAP Business Objects 4.0 release came to the scene containing a lot of new interesting features. Today I’m going to describe how to configure a connection to an OLAP data source by using some of the new tools and features in SAP Business Objects XI 4.0. In order to successfully follow the instructions outlined in this article, it is best to ensure that the below prerequisites are met:

• Windows Server 2008.  The server configuration needs to be enabled as a Web Server (IIS) role.
• SAP Business Object XI 4.0.
• SQL Server 2008 & Microsoft Analysis Services. The example database “Adventure Works” should be installed and the OLAP cube’s examples deployed in Microsoft Analysis Services.

Setting up the OLAP Connection

First of all, in order for you to create an OLAP connection you will have to configure IIS to provide you the access to the OLAP cube stored in Microsoft Analysis Services.

Configuring IIS

Just follow these steps and you’re on track:

1.  Firstly we create a folder called “Olap” in the root path of IIS in the machine, by default the path should be: C:inetpubwwwroot

2.  Copy the files required to create the connection with Analysis Services. These files, which are set as a default installation of SQL Server 2008, are stored in the following path:

C:ProgramFilesMicrosoftSQLServerMSAS10.MSSQLSERVEROLAPbinisapi.

Copy all files contained in this folder and paste them in the “Olap” folder which we have created in step 1.

At this point, this is what we should be able to visualize:

XI4

3.  Launch Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. You will find it in Control Panel under Administrative Tools.

SAP XI 4

4.  In the Connection panel we then open the tree of sites. We right click in Application Pools and select the option Add Application Pool.

SAP XI 4(2)

5.  This is how the configuration of the pool should appear to us:

SAP BO XI4

6.  Now, within the list of  Application Pools available to us, we are able to see the Olap pool. Simply right click on the Olap pool and select Advanced Settings. Once we have reached this setting, it´s extremely important that we set the option "Enable 32-bits Application" to FALSE. This is a critical step because, unless this option is set to FALSE, the connection won’t work.

SAP BO XI4

7.  We continue by right clicking in the Olap site and selecting the option Convert to Application.

SAP BO XI4

8.  In the configuration window we press the Select button and choose the Application Pool that has been created. This is how the configuration should appear:

SAP BO XI4

9.  Now select the Olap site in Connections. In the right panel we will be able to see different categories. Double click in Handler Mappings.

10.  On the upmost right section of the panel you will now be able to visualize the Action’s panel. From here select Add Script Map. A configuration panel will pop up, and this is how it should appear to us:

XI4

11. Now we proceed to setting up the Configuration of Authentication. Click in Connections in the Olap site and double click on the Authentication category which is in the right panel.

12. In the right panel you can now see the types of authentications available. Right click on Windows Authentication and enable.

SAP BO XI4

Configuring Analysis Services 2008

Now our following step consists in configuring the Analysis Services which means having to modify the security settings. This is why if you follow the instructions in this article to setup a production environment please check your security implications. For more information on this matter please click here.

1. Launch SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your Analysis Services Server

2. Right click on the server and select Properties.

XI4

3. In the left panel select the option Security.  In the right panel we can see the Server Administrator. Click on the Add button in the lower left part of the window.

4. Type the name IUSR in the box and press Check Names. Finally press OK.

5. Now we can see the account IUSR in the list of Server administrators.

XI4

Connecting SAP Business Objects XI 4.0 to OLAP

There are various ways to creating a new connection in SAP BO 4.0 and accessing the OLAP cube. In this article we are going to focus on the use of a new tool introduced in SAP BO 4.0 called the Information Design Tool (IDT). The IDT is the SAP Business Objects design environment for creating and publishing new SAP Business Objects universes and connections. To finalize the process we’ll create a new OLAP Universe using the Universe Design Tool and lastly create a simple report with Web Intelligence 4.0 which will allow us to test the access to the data source.

Creating the OLAP Connection

Proceed in the following manner:

1. Launch the Information Design Tool

2. Create a New Project, go to File, New, then Project

3. Enter the Project Name, the location (optional) and press Finish

4. Go to File,New, OLAP, Connection to start creating the connection to the OLAP data source.

5. Enter a Name for the connection, a description (optional) and press Next

XI4

6. In the next screen we have to select the driver for the connection, in our case Microsoft Analysis Services 2008, and Press Next

7. Enter the parameters of the connection, this is what you should be visualizing:

XI4

8.  Select the cube for the connection and press Finish.

XI4

If you have managed successfully in your task thanks to following these steps, you have been able to create a new connection and now all that is left is for you is to publish this connection in BO. This is how it is done.

1. Right click in the new connection and select the option Publish connection to a Repository

2. Enter the credentials for connect to your BO repository and press Connect

3. Select a location for the connection and press Finish.

Creating an OLAP Universe

For testing purposes we are going to create an OLAP Universe using the new connection.

1. Launch Universe Design Tool and enter your credentials to access the server

2. Go to File, from there to New

XI4

3.  Enter the parameters of the universe, select the connection created and press OK. This is how it should appear:

19

The universe will automatically load the structure and objects of the cube.

XI 4

Creating a Report Web Intelligence

Once all this has been done, let us look into creating a Report Web Intelligence:

1. Launch Interactive Analysis Desktop

2. Select the Universe

XI 4

3. Enter the credentials to access to your BO server

4. Select the Universe created and press Select, in our case the set example is OLAP Universe

5. Create a Query and press Run Query.

XI 4

At this stage, having accurately followed these steps, we should now have a new report displayed in front of us, allowing us to use the Universe which we have designed with the OLAP connection, to access the information in the cube stored in Analysis Services 2008.

XI 4

I hope you found this article of your interest and for any suggestions or queries regarding SAP Business Objects XI 4.0 please leave a comment and I will readily reply to you.

Making peace with the enemy: SAP BusinessObjects Live Office XI 4.0

The most common scenario that I’ve  faced with so far, after quite some years giving BI pre-sales presentations and implementing BI systems for customers, has been that of meeting members of an overloaded IT department who direct their efforts into developing complex reports with BI tools for a group of business users who, in the end, will simply export the information delivered to them to an Excel sheet and work on it directly.

For decades, most BI vendors have tried to convince users to give up Excel sheets and instead work with more flexible and user friendly BI tools. But it’s an acknowledged fact that nowadays millions of people around the world use spreadsheets on a daily basis. The time has come for vendors to take off their blinders and to act upon what is happening. Already some have been readjusting their strategies and roadmaps, and have shifted towards accepting Excel as a presentation layer for data thereby providing the necessary integration with it.

This article is about how SAP BusinessObjects tackles this challenge and goes one step further in terms of tools integration thanks to the new features of the latest release XI 4.0.

With Live Office, it is possible to insert content from Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports and also Universe Queries directly into Microsoft Office documents (PowerPoint, Word, Excel or Outlook). Furthermore, when opening the very document at a later time, it is possible to refresh the embedded objects and retrieve up-to-date data in the document.

This is truly an advantageous solution and I have had the opportunity to use this technology with some customers, who continue employing their traditional form of reporting with an Excel sheet but can now combine this with error-free data obtained directly from their business systems.

In the latest release of Live Office, a new functionality loads the data selection of Microsoft Excel to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, a flash-based tool that allows further analysis in a very visual and intuitive way. Moreover, the results from a completed analysis can also be downloaded to other applications, such as Outlook and PowerPoint to further the study or to simply send by email.

Live Office XI 4.0

If you have any questions regarding Live Office XI 4.0 and its uses in a customer environment, feel free to leave a comment and I will follow up with you.

How to organize a meeting between two relatives who don’t know each other: connecting Strategy Management with Data Services

As promised in our previous SSM article, I will now walk you through another interesting objective we have achieved while working on our SSM project: populate Strategy Management KPIs with a Data Services job.

Currently SAP BO SSM does not provide a connector to SAP Business Objects tools even if both SSM and Data Services are SAP BusinessObjects products.

The solution we designed for our customer in UAE provides them with the option of loading the data from any source into SAP BO Data Services and of finally dumping the values into an SSM PAS Cube (via E&A PAS schedule).

The solution recommended by SAP for its latest version currently in use, SSM7.5 SP08, allows loading the data into the PAS cube by creating an IDQL script.

The concerns we were faced with in our project were related to the actions required for the maintenance of IDQL (scripting language).

For a non-trained customer, IDQL sounds like a black box and sets off many alerts especially when it comes to maintenance.

I was caught in the midst of a question storm which ended thanks to our “problem solving attitude” and rapidly blew off all questions.

It didn’t take us long to learn how the SSM data model works for the KPIs as we had already studied them while working on the initiative.

The first step taken consisted in creating a cube in the SSM “Cube Builder” console. From here we proceeded to mapping the KPIs ID that we have in SSM SQL and in our original source (i.e. ERP, Excel, and Other DBs).

The process of creating a source and sending it out with a data integrator was a straightforward and pleasurable task and has delivered great results.

Now, this solution allows me not only to insert the current data but to introduce the historical data just as well, it’s absolutely fantastic!!!!

I was able to visualize in my “Entry and Approval” panel the data I was inserting on an excel file and on the ERP tables.

At this point my data was not added into the “Balance Scorecard” yet, so the last action I had to perform was that of publishing those values.

I used the “Entry and Approval” scheduler that was running right after the ETL job.

Reached this stage, I had my SSM Context populated with my values.

In the image displayed below I have outlined the steps we followed (IDQL is marked in red since it hadn’t been utilized throughout this process) and as you can clearly notice, we are now capable to create reports and dashboards from the SSM Database by generating a universe on top of the SSM tables. 

Integrating SSM with Data Services

  Please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@clariba.com for more information about this article or for SSM consultancy.

Loading Status Animation in Xcelsius

Often when developing a dashboard with Xcelsius we have connections to a DataBase, either with LiveOffice or QaaWS (Query as a Web Service). This leaves us with only two options to refresh our dashboard: either we proceed once all the Xcelsius components are loaded or, alternatively, change a radio button, combo box or any of the components related to the connection objects. In both these examples, when having to manage large amounts of data, we would normally wait until the connection returns our request. This can be frustrating, especially when we don’t have any indicator to signal that the data is being processed. In this article I will illustrate a convenient solution to this problem.

• First of all we need to create the objects that will be displayed while the query is loading the data: I would advise to start by creating a rectangle as a fake layer. Once this has been done we create another image that will be our animation.

We have many possible animations:

View the flash file: Loading Animations in Xcelsius

This is how the animation appears:

View the flash file: Xcelsius Animation

• We then group these two objects and bring them to the front.

• In a spreadsheet we create a cell where we bind the status of the query.

• Reached this point, under properties in QaaWs or in Live Office connection we follow these steps:

In the Usage tab:

Load Status section:

1. In the Loading Message cell we hardcode a "L"
2. In the Idle Message cell we hardcode a "C"
3. In the Insert In option we should map the cell of the spreadsheet, in our case "B1"

• Finally we select the group that we had previously created, and in the dynamic visibility window we map the Status to the "B1" cell and the key to an "L". This means that while the query is loading, we can simultaneously view the group.

The final result is as displayed below.

This strategy contributes to providing a user friendly environment in particular in those situations of slow data retrieval.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this solution, please feel free to leave a comment and I will gladly reply.