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An Independent Expert’s Assessment of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 — Advice for the Practically Minded on If, When, and How to Deploy

Alan Mayer Solid Ground Technologies

1

In This Session

• Discuss many of the latest features introduced by BI 4.2

• Compare these offerings against previous versions

• Deep-dive into several major innovations to gain better perspective

• Understand their impact on your current BI landscape

• Determine whether to deploy based on these considerations

2

What We’ll Cover

• Introduction

• What’s New with Web Intelligence

• Extending the Semantic Layer

• Powering Up the Platform

• Investigating Other Innovations

• Deciding When to Upgrade

• Wrap-up

3

Investigating a New Version

• Evaluating a new release of any software is a double-edged sword

Exciting new features tend to drive adoption

“Gotta have it!”

Those same features don’t always work as intended

in real life

4

Introducing SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2

• Currently released to selected customers as part of the Early Adopter program

Formerly known as Ramp-Up

• Generally available release date has not nailed down

Depends on results / feedback from Early Adopter

Should be later in Q1 2016

5

Caveats

• Since the software has not been publically available …

Demonstrations on that release are limited

SAP can conduct live walkthroughs

Others are limited to discussions on the same

• Our focus will be on understanding and preparing

for these changes

We are participating in the Early Adopter program

Have several insights into how these new features work

in real-world environments

Fully intend on passing on that battle-tested wisdom to you

• Screen shots taken from publically available sources

Documentation, white papers, presentations, …

6

Focusing the Discussion

• Most of the major innovations have been centralized in these areas:

Web Intelligence

Semantic Layer (universe .unx development)

Platform

• We’ll also cover enhancements in other areas as our last topic

Crystal Reports

Dashboards / Design Studio

SDK / REST-related improvements

Mobile

7

Other Considerations

• Along the way, we’ll inject our own advice

WHEN it makes sense to use certain features

WHERE to adopt it

HOW to prepare for its arrival and adoption

• We’ll also rank the innovations in terms of importance

This is based on our opinions, not SAP’s

• All innovations will be covered

You’ll get a summarized look at each

… as well as some personal guidance

Deep dives will be provided on the most important

DEEP DIVE

8

In Other Words …

From all features Filter Rank Drill

This is the main difference between this

and all other New Feature presentations.

Not all features are equal!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi8qcuCh7TKAhVP8WMKHUeMDi4QjRwIBw&url=http://www.darbysmart.com/projects/halloween-vial-shot-glasses&psig=AFQjCNE4QGB3BU3JRJZjJm7acZNkHOgD0w&ust=1453230290480348

9

What We’ll Cover

• Introduction






• Wrap-up

10

Web Intelligence Innovations (Filtered, Ranked)

• Parallel data providers

• Shared elements

• Geomap charts

• HANA integration (Direct Access, Online)

• Big numbers

• Custom elements

• BI Commentary

11

Parallel Data Providers

• Known as Parallel Data Provider Refresh

• Run queries for many data providers at the same time

In past versions, SQL SELECTs were submitted sequentially

• This can have a dramatic impact on the overall

document refresh time

Take a document with 10 data providers

Each query takes 5 minutes to refresh on average

Rather than 50 minutes to refresh the entire report …

It may take 5 – 6 minutes with all SELECTs run in parallel

More on this topic during

our Webi DEEP DIVE

segment

DP1

DP2

DP3

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Shared Elements

• Share Webi report parts with other documents

Report parts are blocks like tables, charts

• These report parts are stored in the CMS system repository

Includes definitions for anything used by that report part:

Variables

Data providers

Data sources

Formats

• HUGE potential advantage for reusability

Many Webi documents can use the same shared element

Shared elements can be updated independently

13

Shared Element Disclaimers

• Shared elements will not work on all circumstances

Depend on a live CMS system repository connection

Webi Rich client can be opened in connected, standalone,

and offline mode

Standalone mode (no CMS connection) – disabled

Offline mode (cached content) – can modify content

inserted by shared element

14

Shared Element Disclaimers (cont.)

• Webi documents with shared elements must be updated to get

the newest content

• Not possible to create a shared element from:

Geomap

Custom element

Comment

• Not supported in SAP HANA Online mode

15

Geomaps

• A geographical database is now embedded

• This allows you to link geo-specific query dimensions

of your result set

• Results can be visualized on a map

• Four different layers

Country

Region

Subregion

City

16

Geomapped Charts

• Three additional geo-enabled charts

Chloropeth

Colors chart layer based on measure value

Geo Bubble

Size of bubble controlled by measure value

Geo Pie

Size of pie controlled by measure value

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Geomap Considerations

• Only query-based dimensions can be used for mapping

Variables created in the document aren’t eligible

• Geographical levels don’t extend forever

For example: City would match against cities

that have populations 150k+

• The geographical database is several MB

This may affect time to download your Webi Java applet

If using the HTML editor – no difference in speed

18

HANA Integration

• HANA Direct Access

Create queries directly against HANA views without the need for a universe

Webi will create a transient (non-permanent) universe behind the scenes

Still use a query panel

That universe will represent the HANA view as follows:

HANA View Transient Universe

Attribute views Folders

Attributes Dimensions under the appropriate Attribute

view folder

Calculated, restricted columns <same>

Measures Measures

Aggregated measures (SUM, COUNT, MIN, MAX) Delegated measures except for SUM

HANA variables, input parameters Universe Prompt parameters

19

HANA Integration (cont.)

• HANA Online Mode

Like Direct Access but skips the Query Panel

Build queries directly on HANA views

All calculations given to HANA to perform

This allows Webi to skip filling its cache used for creating queries

Hence no need for the Query Panel

Webi will create a transient (non-permanent) universe for you

behind the scenes

20

Big Numbers

• In BI 4.1, numbers are limited to 15 digits

Counts numbers before and after decimal point

• In BI 4.2, Web Intelligence new introduces new Decimal attribute

Decimals can have up to 40 digits

Supports exponential values up to 300

Adds new ToDecimal function

1203578921920902.3457282…

21

Custom Elements

• Create your own visualizations and integrate them with Web Intelligence

• Processing is done by your programs external to Webi

• Common element types include many charts and tables

• Target audience is partners / developers who currently program

using the Web Intelligence SDK

22

BI Commentary

• Add your own comments to a Web Intelligence document

• Comments can be added to a specific portion of the report

Example: Based on data within the report

Country = ‘USA’

• Users can read and respond to comments

• The document owner can approve/validate

appropriate comments

XI 3.1 has a similar feature

called Discussions that

was discontinued in v4.x

23

Parallel Data Providers – Deep Dive

• This feature deserves more attention

• Almost all installations will benefit from its use

• Not a complete no-brainer, however:

Faster document refresh will come at a price

There are also ways to tune your documents for fastest retrieval

DEEP DIVE

24

Parallel Data Providers – Eligibility

• Any Web Intelligence document is eligible for parallel query processing

• Surprisingly, queries built from legacy or new semantic layers are fine

Legacy (.unv)

New (.unx)

• The entire installation must be set up for parallel query processing

Cannot be limited to certain documents, universes

DEEP DIVE

25

Parallel Data Providers – Database Connections

• Connections matter!

The table below shows the MAXIMUM degree of parallelization

based on connection type

• Webi spreads data providers coming from

the same universe connection in parallel

• Webi is originally set to handle up to

64 concurrent refreshes at a time by default

DEEP DIVE

Database Connection Concurrently

Refreshed Jobs

Relational 4

OLAP 1

Personal (Free Hand SQL / Text) 4

You can advantage of this by creating

additional connections for the same DB.

The cap on concurrent jobs may be

increased / eliminated in future versions.

26

Parallel Data Providers – Example 1

• Look at the following Web Intelligence document

DEEP DIVE

Data

Provider

Source Type DB Connection Thread

1 Universe A Relational Connect 1 1




5 Universe B Relational Connect 1 Queued

6 Universe B Relational Connect 1 Queued

7 Universe C Relational Connect 2 5

The fact that Universes A and B have

the same DB connection forces

queuing past 4 queries

27

Parallel Data Providers – Example 2

• Consider a new Webi document

• Now mixing relational, OLAP, and personal data sources

DEEP DIVE

Data

Provider

Source Type DB Connection Thread





5 Universe D OLAP Connect 3 5

6 Universe D OLAP Connect 4 6

7 Universe C Free Hand SQL Connect 5 7

28

Parallel Data Providers – Optimizing Documents

• Order of data providers in the document may be significant

• Look at the following two scenarios:

Assume all data providers use the same relational connection (limit = 4)

DEEP DIVE

Data

Provider

Refresh

Time (s)

1 50

2 1

3 5

4 7

5 60

6 1

7 15

Scenario 1

Data

Provider

Refresh

Time (s)

1 50

2 60

3 15

4 7

5 5

6 1

7 1

Scenario 2

Place the longest running queries first

will result in the first four running in

parallel!

29

Parallel Data Providers – Throttling

• No guarantee that the database is configured to run that many

queries in parallel

• Databases usually set up to run ‘x’ number of statements per user

• Overall document refresh time could be lengthened

while waiting for the database

DEEP DIVE

BI 4.2 Database

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Parallel Data Providers – Cancelling

DEEP DIVE • Can queries launched in parallel be cancelled?

• The answer is YES, but you should test this for yourself

• With BI 4.0 and early version of 4.1, this was not possible

• These versions ran SQL sequentially

31

Parallel Data Providers – Multi SELECTS

DEEP DIVE • Data providers can be parallelized

• What about a single data provider that produces

multiple SELECT statements?

Multi-SELECT SQL is still

processed sequentially per

data provider

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What We’ll Cover

• Introduction






• Wrap-up

33

Semantic Layer Innovations (Ranked)

• Linked universes (.unx)

• Universes on BEx queries

34

Linked Universes

• Reuse the components of an existing universe

Data foundation (tables / joins / parameters / calculated columns)

Business layer (folders / objects)

• Why?

Reduce the time and effort to build a new universe

Minimizes duplication

Centralizes common universe components

Allows multiple teams to work on distinct portions of a semantic solution


our Semantic DEEP DIVE

segment

35

BEx Query Universes

• Universes can now be build directly on a BEx Query

• Why is this important?

Can customize / reorder measures, dimensions,

and hierarchies

Not possible using direct access to a BEx query

within Web Intelligence

Can more selectively consume those portions

of the Bex query

36

BEx Query Universe Restrictions

• Navigation paths, parameters, and list of values are not supported (yet)

• Cannot edit the OLAP query expression of objects

• Cannot copy objects from one node / hierarchy to another

• The Data Foundation is created directly from the Bex query and is read only

37

Formatting BEx Query Universe Objects

• Objects within the universe Business Layer can be formatted as follows:

Rows can be removed that have measures = 0 (zero suppression)

Show a list of characteristic or key figure values

Preview a list of characteristic values

Control the relative depth of hierarchy nodes fetched

Selectively control which descendant are retrieved

Huge performance gains possible

Use BW presentation (select Short / Medium / Long text)

Control the projection of aggregates (have BW or Webi compute values)

Control how BEx query variables are resolved

38

Linked Universes – A Deep Dive

• This particular feature deserves more attention

• Linked universes were available through BusinessObjects XI 3.1

• Feature was removed for BI 4.0 / 4.1

• Several customers used linked universes for reasons already stated

• The former implementation, though, was less than perfect

Queries built from linked universes retrieved ALL related .unv files

Problematic list of values

Performance issues

Assembly issues

Related to those customers that tried to create final universes

from several cores

DEEP DIVE

39

• This configuration is the most common

• Allows a core set of tables, joins, folders and object to be inherited

• Example:

Accounting objects that are referenced in every universe

Linked Universes – Kernel Configuration

DEEP DIVE

Core

universe

Derived

universes

In these examples, the core

universe(s) are in WHITE

40

• This configuration allows a large universe to be split into

smaller, more defined layers

• Allows users to more easily use only those objects that are relevant

• Example:

HR, Manufacturing, and Finance universe created from an existing single universe

Linked Universes – Master Configuration

DEEP DIVE

Core

universe

Derived

universes

This was the only case that

was possible in BI 4.x using

business layer views

41

• Allows many independent universes to be referenced collectively

• Example:

Several financial universes linked to produce a consolidated set of books

Assembling “sub-universes” from several development teams

Linked Universes – Composite Configuration

DEEP DIVE

Core

universe

Derived

universe

1

2

3

1 2

3

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Linked Universe Restrictions

• Cannot link to a previously linked universe

In other words, only one level of linking possible

• Cannot remove inherited pieces of core universes

Get all tables and joins from the core universe(s)

Ditto for folders and objects

Can hide the folders and objects you don’t want to be used

DEEP DIVE

43

Linked Universes – One Final Caution

The concept of linked universes is awesome

We’ve covered several use cases when they make perfect sense

BUT …

Documents created from existing universes will not automatically switch to their

derived counterparts

You’ll have to remap query objects within a document

DEEP DIVE

44

What We’ll Cover

• Introduction






• Wrap-up

45

Platform Innovations (Ranked)

• Platform Search

• Recycle Bin

• Promotion Manager improvements

• UMT improvements

• BI Administrator Cockpit

• User notifications

• Deployment improvements

46

Platform Search

• Gives users the ability to search through their content

• Not officially on the Release Notes but significant

Performance has been challenging in 4.0 / 4.1 releases

Some customers have turned this feature off as a result

• We’ll devote our last deep dive to exploring its improvements


our Platform DEEP DIVE

segment

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Recycle Bin Application

• New application within the CMC

• Allows an Administrator to restore previously deleted content

• Can be programmed to auto-cleanup deleted items

Automatically remove them from the Recycle Bin

• This is how BI backups were most commonly used

• A few caveats:

Only restores items from Public folders

48

• Promotion Management

Can now selectively restore contents from an LCMBIAR file

Prior to v4.2, ALL contents from that archive file were restored

• Upgrade Management Tool (UMT)

Filter objects to be selected based on datetime, type,

previous migration status

Migrate only the recurring instances (not all of them)

Change the temp directory

Uses a directory on the C:\ drive otherwise

Improved security rights migration

Promotion Management and UMT Improvements

49

BI Administrator Cockpit

• Provides information about your BI environment in one place

Servers

Scheduled jobs

Content usage

Applications

• Each summary tile represented can be drilled down to a detailed table

50

User Notifications

• Administrators can now send broadcast messages to all users

Displays in the Alerts panel on the BI launch pad Home page

• Created from the CMC

Implemented as an event

• The following attributes can be set:

Start / stop datetime

Message

Subscribers

51

Deployment improvements

• Tomcat 8.0 is provided

Will upgrade previous versions of Tomcat (6, 7)

• Installation errors and warnings now included as its own file

Much better than scanning through a huge log file

• Installation can be split between caching and installation

Windows only

Reduced downtime during installation

• SAP Host Agent now included as part of install

Used for monitoring of server OS metrics

Previously a separate installation

52

Platform Search – Deep Dive

• Main method that allows users to search through their BI content

• This is a crucial area that has several challenges

Performance

Indexes content at 800 – 1000 files per hour

Can take weeks / month for customers with large filestores

Accuracy

Users that search <while> the index is built only see what’s been indexed

Search results may miss existing documents / reports / visualizations

DEEP DIVE

53

Platform Search – Improvements

• Platform Search now allows you to tailor what gets indexed

v4.1 allowed you to exclude types of content

Webi, Crystal, …

Newer releases will allow further exclusions

Instances

Users and groups

Hopefully, this will improve overall performance

DEEP DIVE

54

What We’ll Cover

• Introduction






• Wrap-up

55

Other Improvements in 4.2 (Not Ranked)

• Analysis for OLAP

Alias tables for Oracle Essbase

Ability to break a hierarchy for sort purposes

Use HANA data sources via HTTP

• REST services

Manage publications, users, groups, downloads, schedules

Retrieve information from CMS query, Administrator cockpit

Retrieve Crystal Reports information

Connections, tables, joins

Parameters, formulas, filters, expressions, calculations

56

Other Improvements in 4.2 (Not Ranked) (cont.)

• SAP Dashboards

Support for 64 bit Excel

Display Filter component vertically as well as horizontally

New binding buttons for Spreadsheet, Scorecard, and Chart controls

• Crystal Reports

Vertical alignment within a cell (both Designer, Enterprise)

New functions

GetLowerBound(), GetUpperBound(), GetValueDescriptions()

57

Other Improvements in 4.2 (Not Ranked) (cont.)

• Crystal Reports for Enterprise

Waterfall charts

Bar codes, QR codes

Disable report validation in viewer

Prevents crashes when large number of connections

are opened to BW server

• Mobile Server

Push notification sent for various reasons

New content in user’s BI Inbox

Alert sent by Administrator

New update / instance available

58

What We’ll Cover

• Introduction






• Wrap-up

59

When to Upgrade

• Upgrades and migrations have always been challenges

Amount of testing required by customers

Stabilization of the platform after an upgrade

• This section will discuss the upgrade cycle in practical terms

Very hot issue

Guidance from SAP may change even during this conference

60

The Upgrade Timeline

• SAP will support a minor release / support pack (SP) for 18 months

• New fixes will automatically be added to the next patch for that support pack

UNTIL the next SP is released

Fixes then will be added as patches for that new SP

Those same fixes are not guaranteed to be added for previous packs (*)

• What this means in practical terms

• Support packs come out about every three months

You have a three month window to get patches for that SP

You have to ask for future fixes to be backported past that period (if possible)

Month 0 Month 18

SP2 SP3 SP2

Patch 1

SP2

Patch 2 SP3

Patch 1

SP2

Patch 3

SP2

Patch 4 * *

61

Upgrade Guidance

• Try to upgrade to the latest stable version

This buys you more time during your 18 month support window

• Aim for several upgrades per year

One major (minor release, support pack)

One minor (patch)

• Optimize your internal testing to reduce upgrade prep time

62

What We’ll Cover

• Introduction






• Wrap-up

63

Where to Find More Information

• http://tinyurl.com/hbvnpse *

Most recent BI product roadmaps

Follow SAP Support Portal Release Upgrade and Maintenance Info Release

Strategy SAP Road Maps Product Road Maps

• http://help.sap.com/bobip

Product documentation for all products discussed in this presentation

• Christian Ah-Soon, “SAP BI 4.2 Beta – What’s New in Web Intelligence”

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-67437

• Christian Ah-Soon, “SAP BI 4.2 Beta – What’s New in Semantic Layer”


* Requires login credentials to the SAP Service Marketplace

http://tinyurl.com/hbvnpse

http://help.sap.com/bobip




64

Where to Find More Information (cont.)

• Alan Mayer, “Test for Success! A deep dive into effective SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 test

strategies” (BI 2016, February 2016).

http://bit.ly/1JlZIxs

Presentation describing detailed testing strategies for BI 4.x

• Alan Mayer, “Preparing for Life on Planet UNX” (ASUG, September 2012).

http://events.asug.com/2012BOUC/0611_Preparing_for_Life_on_Planet_UNX.pdf

http://bit.ly/1JlZIxs



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7 Key Points to Take Home

• Review the new innovations introduced by BI 4.2

• Rank those features based on their impact on your environment

• Understand how those features differ from previous offerings

• Deep-dive into the most critical features for an expanded

understanding

• Know when and how to apply the most important features

• Understand the current upgrade timeline

• Devise a realistic upgrade plan based on support horizon

and features gained

66

Your Turn!

How to contact me:

Alan Mayer

[email protected]

@solidgrounded

Please remember to complete your session evaluation

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