creating interactive, user-friendly sap businessobjects web intelligence reports
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Santos Santos Case StudyTRANSCRIPT
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Case Study: Advanced Techniques from Sonae Indústria for Creating Interactive, User-Friendly SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence Reports
Antonina Santos and Nelsa Santos Sonae Indústria
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In This Session
• Learn how the company uses input controls to view the same report from multiple angles
and enable quick data filtering to analyze reports based on specified criteria
• Find out about new SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 Web Intelligence features that improve
user experience and reporting capabilities
• Learn how to improve report formatting, data visualization, and user interaction
• See how the company uses SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence BI web services to
accelerate dashboard design performance
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What We’ll Cover
• Sonae Indústria: Overview
• Report performance
• End-user experience
• Report formatting
• Dashboard design performance – web services
• Wrap-up
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Sonae Indústria
• Wood-based panels industry
• Main indicators (2014)
Turnover: 1.015 Million Euros
EBIDTA: 96 Million Euros
• Production: One of the world’s top producers
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Sonae Indústria: Our Operations
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Sonae Indústria: Our Products
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1998 ... 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
BOE XI 3.1
Portal InfoView
SAP BW + BEX
DW + BO 5
Portal Lotus Notes
DW + BO 6.5
Portal Lotus Notes
SAP BI + BOE 4.0 … 4.1
Portal BI Launch Pad
DW + BOE XIR2
Portal InfoView
SAP’s BO acquisition
Investment & Acquisitions Restructure & Optimize
SAP Full Model
Rollout
SAP FI
Business focus
Sonae Indústria: Our BI System Landscape History
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Sonae Indústria: Our BI Landscape and Architecture
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Portugal
Germany
Spain
UK
France
South Africa
Canada
Netherlands
SAP ECC 6.0
SAP ERP
HCM 6.0
SAP BW 7.3
BID Development
BIDCLNT121
BIQ Quality
BIQCLNT121
BIP Production
BIPCLNT121
T12
T12CLNT121
T12CLNT322
TPO
TPOCLNT121
IND
INDCLNT121
Transport
• Workbench (322)
• Workbench/Config. (121) transport
DEV (SBD) PRD (SBP) Import wizard Product Lifecycle management
SAP BOE BI 4.1
HRD HRT HRP
BI Launch Pad
BI CMC BI Launch Pad
BI CMC
Our BI Landscape and Architecture
Transport
Transport
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SAP Systems Overview
• Reporting: SAP BusinessObjects and SAP BW 7.3
More than 400 users
Receive data from source system more than two times per day
Different time zones
• SAP ERP 6.0 single instance
More than 70 company codes and 21 plants in 7 countries
• SAP modules: MM, SD, PP, QM, PM, APO, GL, AP, AR, AA, CO-PC, CCA, PCA, IOA
• SAP ERP HCM 6.0 single instance
• SAP Enterprise Portal
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What We’ll Cover
• Sonae Indústria: Overview
• Report performance
• End-user experience
• Report formatting
• Dashboard design performance – web services
• Wrap-up
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Avoid Multi-Reports in a Document
• Having one document with many reports is not legible and the
performance is bad. We opted to have separated documents.
• For example:
Sales and marketing report is divided into two documents: one with Customer List and
another with Customer Key Account. Instead of having one document with 10 reports,
we have two documents with five reports.
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Avoid Multi-Reports in a Document (cont.)
• Benefits of creating smaller documents:
Reduce the time it takes to load the document initially in the viewer/interface
Reduce the refresh time
Reduce the system resources needed
Improve the performance while modifying the document
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Query Stripping
• Query Stripping feature optimizes the query to fetch only data which will be displayed to
the user
• How to activate this option:
Edit Query Properties and select the option Enable query stripping
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Query Stripping (cont.)
• How to activate this option: (cont.)
Edit Document Properties and select the option Enable query stripping
If the Query level property and the Document level property are both enabled, then the query will
be stripped. Otherwise, the query will not be stripped.
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Query Stripping (cont.)
• For example: instead of creating a big document with a lot of information, we created a
document called “Flat Query” with only three columns. We made available a lot of objects
in order to permit all users to build tables or graphs without editing the query. We made
available the principal objects in Available Objects list and users just have to choose and
drag and drop.
• The objects not selected in the report appear in bold
• Always refresh the report when a new object is added in the right panel
Available
objects to add
in the report
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Query Stripping (cont.)
• Benefits of query stripping:
Decreases the response time
The display of the report for the user is faster
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#TOREFRESH
• In a Web Intelligence document developed over a BICS
connection, a typical message that appears is
“#TOREFRESH”
• To avoid manual refresh, activate the “Automatic” option
Go to CMC and activate option in Applications Web
intelligence
In Web Intelligence tool, go to “Properties Document”
and select the option “Automatic refresh”
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Publication and Schedule
• Why we use the publication:
The publication permits us to have the information customized. The user or group of
users will only receive the data by email according to the profile defined in the role in
SAP BW.
• For example:
Our sales assistants receive by email a sales report (in PDF format) only with their own
customer list. They don’t have access to BI Launch Pad.
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Publication and Schedule (cont.)
• We define the publication and schedule in Central Management Console:
We have a specific folder for publication
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Publication and Schedule (cont.)
• We define the Enterprise Recipients
Select the Group List that
will receive the report. This
Group is defined in an SAP
BW role.
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Publication and Schedule (cont.)
• We specify the document format and the destination
Select the document format to be sent
Define the details to be sent: all
reports or a specific report
Configure the destination (email, report
name). The email address is defined by
the user profile in SAP BW.
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Publication and Schedule (cont.)
• We fill the prompts values and recurrence type
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Publication and Schedule (cont.)
• Benefits of the publication:
Maximize the security
Minimize database traffic
Easy distribution
Users don’t have to wait for the refresh of the report
Users don’t need to have access to BI Launch Pad
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What We’ll Cover
• Sonae Indústria: Overview
• Report performance
• End-user experience
• Report formatting
• Dashboard design performance – web services
• Wrap-up
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BI Launch Pad
• Easy access organized by folders with restricted accesses. By simple clicks, the user has
access to the information.
• Access to a workspace with user information according to the profile defined in SAP BW.
Each user sees their own information in a global view (dashboard) or selects the
document he wants to analyze.
Link to
documents Dashboard
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BI Launch Pad (cont.)
• Benefits of the BI Launch Pad:
Gain a comprehensive view of all information in one place
Ability to mix different content types to create unified views
Simple and easy to use (users can modify and create their own documents)
Any level of user can create and modify workspaces using drag and drop features
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Input Controls
• Use input controls to create a dynamic report depending on the user’s selection in order
to enhance the report presentation and usability
We can select single or multiple values for filtering
Define input controls using standard windows controls such as text boxes and radio
buttons
When you select values in the input control, you filter the values in the associated
report elements by the values you selected
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Input Controls (cont.)
• Input controls provide an interactive and easy way to filter the data
• Users just have to select and unselect data. They can easily see what is filtering.
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Prompts Predefined
• In all our reports, we defined prompts by default. When the user refreshes the document,
the Prompt screen appears with Prompts prefilled.
• For example: the prompt “Grid Domain” (materials grouping) is filled with the value
GRIDWW. This value is defined in BEx Query Designer.
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Prompts Predefined (cont.)
• Benefits of prompts prefilled:
The users don’t have to fill the standard prompts
The “Refresh on Open” functionality purges the document automatically, but these
prompts are not purged
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What We’ll Cover
• Sonae Indústria: Overview
• Report performance
• End-user experience
• Report formatting
• Dashboard design performance – web services
• Wrap-up
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Conditional Formatting
• Highlighting data with different colors helps the analysis
The user will focus on the relevant data to take the actions
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Group Values
• Group values of a dimension in order to reorganize information
• Users can create their own variables that produce a custom grouping based on an
existing dimension’s values
IT independence!
• For example: group values of Shape material dimension in two groups (CTS and PLC)
Select the dimension you want to group
Select the Group option
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Group Values (cont.)
• Select the values to group and create the group
If you use Query Stripping, remember that the object that is not in the report will not be refreshed!
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Group Values (cont.)
• How to use Group function with Query Stripping
You must have the dimension in your report (in a table or in a filter, …)
Our suggestion: add into the report a table with the dimension and Hide it
The dimension
Shape is not in the
report, so the Group
can’t be refreshed
The dimension
Shape is in bold: it
is not in the report,
so it can’t be
refreshed
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Group Values (cont.)
• How to use Group function with Query Stripping (cont.)
Add into the report the Shape dimension
and refresh the query
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Group Values (cont.)
• How to use Group function with Query Stripping (cont.)
Now, the Shape Group is also refreshed. You just have to select the Shape table and
hide it.
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Freeze
• In reading mode, you can freeze headers for columns or rows in a table to ensure that
they remain visible as you scroll through the rest of the table
Adopt “Excel” functionality in Web Intelligence report exploration
Open the report in Reading Mode
Select the table you want to freeze the columns
Select Freeze option at the top and select both Rows and Columns
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What We’ll Cover
• Sonae Indústria: Overview
• Report performance
• End-user experience
• Report formatting
• Dashboard design performance – web services
• Wrap-up
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Web Services
• Choose the connectivity that best fits the requirements
Performance (when user will see these figures, how often)
Use work already done – Re-work
Can easily be changed to accommodate new data
Adapts to your BI model (Will it oblige to change my providers?)
Reviewing the connection options for your case
Using the BI Web Services is more powerful than using the basic QaaWS connection
With BI Web Services and SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, you have a lot of flexibility to provide fast
and robust data access to your dashboards, hence improving the performance, which is your main goal
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Web Services (cont.)
• Connectivity – Web Services – QaaWS
1. Define and develop the Web Intelligence report that will supply the information and
publish in your server
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Web Services (cont.)
• Connectivity – Web Services – QaaWS (cont.)
2. Publish the Web Intelligence report content as a Web Service for each table in your
report
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Web Services (cont.)
• Connectivity – Web Services – QaaWS (cont.)
3. Check and keep the Web Service URL definition. You will need to paste this into the
QaaWS data connection in SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards.
Example of possible web service name:
http://”servername”:8080/dswsbobje/qaawsservices/biws?
WSDL=1&cuid=AU4dMMe48bNPu7uURoi9FCE
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Web Services (cont.)
• Connectivity – Web Services – QaaWS (cont.)
4. The next step is to access the Web Service from your dashboard. The BI Web Service is exposed as the same SOAP interface used by QaaWS. To use the service in your dashboard, you will add a QaaWS connection, import the service, choose a method, and then define the input and output parameters (if needed).
Launch SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, open the Data Connection menu, and add a QaaWS connection. Paste the URL (see the example on the previous slide) into the wsURL box and then click Import. In this example, SDDash_01_proof_table from the Method drop-down list is used.
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Web Services (cont.)
• Connectivity – Web Services – QaaWS (cont.)
Definition – Input Values
Use getFromUserInstance – it reads the result of a schedule/publication of a specific
user
Use getFromLatestDocumentInstance – it reads the result of the latest schedule/
publication
The Web Service published is directly
linked with the place where the report is
scheduled/published
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Web Services (cont.)
• Connectivity – Web Services – QaaWS (cont.)
Definition – URL path between development/production
Define it in your spreadsheet; otherwise, you will loose the server path definition
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What We’ll Cover
• Sonae Indústria: Overview
• Report performance
• End-user experience
• Report formatting
• Dashboard design performance – web services
• Wrap-up
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Where to Find More Information
• http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-58571
Jonathan Brown, “Tips for Optimizing the Performance of Web Intelligence
Documents” (SCN, February 2015).
• http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-50943
Javed Chowdhary, “Create Publication to Schedule Webi Report to Dynamic
Recipients” (SCN, January 2014).
• http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Personalization+in+SAP+Business+Intelligenc
e+4.0+Web+Intelligence+Publications
“Personalization in SAP Business Intelligence 4.0 Web Intelligence Publications” (SCN,
September 2013).
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Where to Find More Information (cont.)
• http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Creating+a+dynamic+report+using+Input+Cont
rols
Enrico Acchioni, “Creating a Dynamic Report using Input Controls” (SCN, February
2014).
• http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-21148
“Web Intelligence 4.0: Conditionally format data based on defined thresholds” (SCN,
January 2013).
• http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-49932
“Web Intelligence 4.1 SP2: Group the values of a dimension” (SCN, December 2013).
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7 Key Points to Take Home
• Make the information available with simple documents: the user shouldn’t have to find
information, it must be evident
• BI Launch Pad – Organize documents in a folder structure to be plug and play for the
end user
• Help the end user easily manage the information with available filters, prompts, …
• Help the end user analyze the information by simple visualization or clicks (workspace
predefined)
• Combine Dashboards with BI workspace to produce the best cockpit data information
• Help the end user gain time by sending important information by email
• Train the end user to modify or create simple reports in order to give them independence
from IT
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Your Turn!
How to contact us:
Antonina Santos
Nelsa Santos
Please remember to complete your session evaluation
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