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© 2011 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
Deliver high-performing dashboards and cockpits with
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Dr. BergComerit Inc.
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In This Session ...
• You will learn all the essentials on how to build and deploy SAP NetWeaver® Visual Composer models
• We will take a quick overview of the environment followed by a step-by-step model build example
• We will see a detailed demo of simple techniques and good design principles for building reports with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
• Finally, we will look at performance tuning options and the future of SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer in the new SAP BusinessObjects landscape
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
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SAP BI is an enterprise-wide comprehensive decision support system (DSS) for the analytical needs of an enterprise
BI can also support some degree of operational reporting
The SAP BI tool set has many presentation tools and options for companies to leverage. SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
is an extension of those tools.
The SAP NetWeaver BI Core Toolset
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Visual Composer 7.0 is for SAP BI Development, 7.1 is for the Composite Environment (CE).
There are different SDN forums and blogs for each - This can be confusing!
There are Two 'versions' of Visual Composer (VC)
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Visual Composer for Dashboards
A Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data.
It is a browser-based modeling and design tool for rapid application development & prototyping in a code-free development environment.
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Visual Composer for Complex Dashboards
Modeling of BI applications using Visual Composer allows users to create analytical content. It integrates with infoproviders, views, BEx web applications, Xelsisus, PDF, APIs, and access to OLAP and relational data sources
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Visual Composer is Easy to Learn
Visual Composer is a power user tool that is simple to learn for someone with a little bit of technical background i.e.
Image source: SAP designguild
controllers, report writers and analysts.
No coding is required to create good-looking Web-based cockpits
Visual Composer Some Graphic Examples
It All Starts with a Query
The BEx Query Designer
The query is the core method for accessing BI data. You can use existing queries in your SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Data Methods
• Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model
• Different options available for data access include: BI Extension Kit Remote Function Call (RFC) Web services
• BI Extension Kit allows access to the following DataSources SAP NetWeaver BI 2004
(SAP BW 3.5 Support Package 14) SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 JDBC XMLA
Visual Composer Data Providers
• You can use BI queries and views as Data Providers for SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models
• You also can use BI query functionalities for exceptions and variables along with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer allows access to BI history, favorites, and roles
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0 Portal Publishing
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer design-time deploys Visual Composer models directly as iviews to the Portal Content Catalog
• You can then use SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer iviews in portal pages, roles, etc.
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0 Using BOBJ Xcelsius
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.01 (or 7.02) SP5 or higher allows you to use existing Xcelsius UI controls and use them inside Visual Composer.
You can also use any Flex component made by Adobe Flex Builder (Flex 2 SDK).
You can download flash objects & 'how-to' on sdn.sap.com (by Sap's Amir Mimran)
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Details about Visual Composer Cockpits
• Delivered as part of SAP NetWeaver Portal in SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 Usage Type (SP8 and higher)
• Different options available for rendering SAP NetWeaver VC output Flash Web DynPro (HTML)
• Flash provides high-end visualization of SAP NetWeaver VC models
You can pick your own rendering method in the menu: Tools Options
This is a great site for quickly getting started with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer and for down loading a
free demo-version
There Are Many Resources at the SDN Community
Many of the beginner questions have already been answered in the expert forums on the SAP
Community Network
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer — And the SAP Community Network
You can also learn from others’ experiences by getting
“plugged-in” to the community network blogs dedicated to
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer — SDN Community Blogs
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
You can download a
CE trial version on
the SAP Community
Network
Downloading and Getting Started — The Trial Version
However, to put it into production you must work with your SAP account executive for a license. It is normally
not covered by a general SAP license.
Remember that this is a power user task, so providing the group with some formal training (4-6 hrs) would be
beneficial. Also, teach them your naming conventions.
The first task is to create an overall model to store all your pages and
iviews
The name cannot have blanks or
special characters
You can organize your model in
standard folder structures
Creating a Model
If you don’t have Adobe SVG installed, you must go
to their Web site and download it. It is a small
file and it is free.
The models are actually graphics rendered with
Adobe SVG (vector graphics)
The SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Add-Ons
First you must make sure that your SAP
NetWeaver VC environment is set up with connection back to your SAP environment(s).
The Work Environment — Getting Connected
You can also work with your technical team to set up connections to other non-SAP environments.
This tool bar allows you to zoom, access layers, insert grid lines for layout, and move objects.
We can add items and see then from
the highest level, or you can “drill down”
on each item and configure them
individually
Navigation is provided as a
toolbar and you can also zoom in on
each item
The SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Configure Toolbar
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
has many tools that power users can
play with
The fastest way to proficiency is to try the many features
Very few things can break, and the undo
button is always available
The magnifying glass is helpful when the model is very complex and zooming in and out is cumbersome.
The Magnifying Glass
When you are developing very complex models, it is
very helpful to add annotations (comments) to document your work.
Consider proposing standards within your company (i.e., dates, initials, and what needs to be documented).
The Annotation Tool
Very large SAP NetWeaver Visual
Composer cockpits can be hard to read
The Browse feature allows you to see the
cockpit in a tree format that makes it easier to
navigate
Graphical model displays can get hard to read once very complex dashboards are created.
Getting an Overview Over Complex Models
The best way to create cockpits is to prototype it first, then ask for feedback. Since this is a discovery-oriented process, it is not a best
practice to use functional specifications to create Web cockpits. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is the preferred methodology.
Plan on spending serious time with users working on
layout and Web page organization
P.S.! You can use the SAP delivered
calendar for display, or for users to
interact with your data set
Development Methodology
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer uses the
standard GUI Modeling Language (GML).
If you are familiar with this language, you can see the
code page under the Source tab.
The Back-End GML Code
We will build a dashboard based on 2 queries called country and customer view, and present this with tables and graphs as well as navigational links between them (passing variables between the queries)
Our Target Dashboard
You can look at existing queries developed by others.
In this example we will create a Web Cockpit based on two SAP NetWeaver BI queries.
More advanced developers can also call Business Application Programming
Interfaces (BAPIs) that are delivered with SAP NetWeaver BI to build complex
applications.
Step 1 — Find the Data You Want to Model
Step 2 — Selecting the Queries and Defining a Starting Point
1.After the query is selected, the metadata is transferred to the model.
2.We select one query as the starting point and can require users to use a prompt (in
this example we will leave this blank).
1.We add a table view and select the fields we want from the query.
2.We give the table view a meaningful business name.
Step 3 — Adding a Table View Based on Query Data
Step 4 – Adding a Chart view based on Query data
1.We add a chart view based on the query data.2. We decide to make it a column chart.
3. The fields that we want to graph are selected.4. We add animation to the column chart.
1. We select the fields we want to graph as different data series (columns).
2. We give each column a meaningful business name (this is what the users will see).
Step 5 — Defining Graph and Assigning Meaningful Names
We can suppress the sum rows from the query, so that the graphs are more meaningful and the tables are less cluttered.
Step 6 — Suppressing Zero Values from the Query
1.When a user selects a row in the country table, we want to show all the customers in that
country and their sales.
2.We link the output from the country table view to the customer query and map the country-key
value between the two objects.
Step 7 — Adding Navigation: Linking Tables to Other Queries
1. We also want to give the users the option to click on a country in the graph and see all
the customer’s sales.
2. Again, we link the output from the country graph to the customer query and map the country-key value between the objects.
Step 8 — Adding Navigation: Linking Graphs to Other Queries
Previously we added a table and a graph of country sales. Now we want to add similar views for
customer sales.1. First we add a table view.
2. We select the fields to be displayed from the query.
3. We give the table a meaningful name.
Step 9 — Adding a Table View for Customer Sales Data
Now we add a pie chart.
1. First we add a graph view.
2. We select the pie chart type and the fields to be graphed.
3. We give the field a meaningful business name.
Step 9 — Adding a Table View for Customer Sales Data (cont.)
Again, we suppress the sum rows from the query, so that the graphs are more meaningful and the tables are less cluttered.
Step 10 — Suppressing Zero Values from the Query
In the layout section we arrange the objects and resize them so that they look good. We also compile the model and can now view it in the Portal
Step 11 — Layout and Compiling of Dashboard
All country sales are displayed based on the first query
The Result: The Web Cockpit in SAP NetWeaver Portal
By clicking on the country in either of the top views, the
bottom views display sales for those customers
The Result: Navigation Between the Graphs
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
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Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch
External Web services such as email, stock quotes, news services, and weather
maps can also be integrated into your SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer cockpit.
External Web Services
Each Web service may require different input, so you have to spend some time trying out what works for your site and how to
format it.
External Data Providers — Web Services
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
Performance Tips: BIA and Summary Cubes
1) If your cockpits are at a higher level such as weekly or monthly, consider the use of summary cubes to reduce the data accessed (also take a look at building aggregates).
2) For high volume or high number of users, you should seriously consider the BW Accelerator Solution. This compresses the data and stores the data in memory (no disk access when queries are run).
This is “hyper fast”…
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Making Cockpits Fast — Using the Cache as a Data Provider
• It is very beneficial to use the cache as the method for data service retrieval
• This makes the cockpits faster by relying on previously accessed data stored in-memory You can also use
broadcasting to cache as a method to pre-populate the cache as well
Since a cockpit may have many different DataSources (queries), it can take quite some time to execute them if the memory cache is not
used consistently
Leverage the OLAP and the MDX cache to speed up the initial loading of the web page. Consider using jump-to and drill down
links to more detailed information.
Performance Tips: Using jump-to and drill down query links
• If you pre-run the underlying queries using BEx Broadcaster, and cache the results, you can make the VC cockpits open much faster.
• You can then also use Web Application Designer to provide links to the underlying queries for more detailed information.
• When user click the link, the query will not be run again (already in cache).
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
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Upgrade Options are Limited… so pick the right version
There are no automated upgrade paths from Netweaver VC 7.0 to Netweaver VC 7.1 or 7.2.
Customers who want to use Netweaver VC 7.2 will have to keep both running and migrate the content from 7.0 to 7.2 manually.
Plan carefully how you want to use Visual Composer and pick the version you want: 7.0 for SAP BI focus and 7.2 for
BPM and composite applications.
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
In the Tools Options section, you can control items such as auto save, display levels, formats,
highlights, and more.
These preferences are stored for each user and can be
personalized.
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Options
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Who gets to use the SAP Visual Composer?
There is a temptation for the IT community of wanting to keep the Visual Composer tool under their domain – That is a mistake
- Spend time teaching Super Users VC
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What We’ll Cover …
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview• Building an SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer model • Demo – A complete cockpit from scratch• Improving performance tuning• Upgrading SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0• Looking at other options• Wrap-up
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What tool to select
All SAP tools have strength and weaknesses. This is a subjective summary of each of the major tools.
End User
Power User
Execu-tives
End User
Power User Author
IT Developer Graphing Navigation
External data
External web
services Simplicity OLAPAd-Hoc
querying
Web Application Designer
- - - - - -
Dashboard Designer (Xcelsius)
- - - -
Visual Composer - -
Interactive Analysis ad-hoc (WebI)
- - -
Analysis Edition for OLAP (web)
- -
Analysis MS edition
- -
Crystal Reports - - -
BO Explorer - - - - -
- Limited Support Some Support Good Support
Capabilities
ToolLong-term
Strategy
DevelopmentTarget User
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Resources
• Visual Composer - ppt download with more dashboard option details http://www.comeritinc.com/UserFiles/file/
Jumpstart_Building_or_optimizing_cockpits_or_dashboards_v9.pdf
• Visual Composer Reference Guide http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwce10/helpdata/en/7c/
0feaee0d214b5e9f2e890e0668a833/content.htm
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Mario Herger
• The Developer's Guide to the SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment Jan Rauscher and Volker Stiehl.
Integrating VC and WAD objects - a How-To Guide http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/ad182ac7-0a01-
0010-4fb8-8a4d217b19c1?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true
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7 Key Points to Take Home
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is a tool that is easy to learn
• The tool is intended for power users – Not primarily IT
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is not going away
• You should provide individual training to each of the power users
• Spend serious time performance tuning the back-end queries and data stores
• Plan for SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator if you have many users of the SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models
• Seek advise of best practices and plan on integrating data across systems, Web services, and other non-SAP sources
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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.