evaluate, choose, and use the right bi tools to build management cockpits your users will adopt

© 2006 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

Evaluate, choose, and use the right BI tools to build

management cockpits your users will adopt

Bjarne BergLenoir-Rhyne College

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What We’ll Cover …

• Background and terminology

•Tool options – pros and consSEM Strategy Management and Performance Measurement – CPM Web Application DesignerVisual Composer & demoPublishing to the portalCustom cockpits (BI JAVA SDK)3rd Party Cockpits

What makes a good cockpit?• Which tool is right for me?• Wrap up

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Dashboard Scorecard Cockpits

Purpose Displays performance Displays progress Displays status and events

Usage Performance monitoring Performance management Performance management

Updates Real-time feeds Monthly snapshots Daily snapshots

Data Events Summaries Summaries and events

Measures Metrics KPIs Metrics & KPIs

Context Exceptions/alerts Targets and thresholds Trends

Source Linked to systems Linked to plans Linked to BI systemsSources: Wayne Eckerson, 2005; Bjarne Berg 2006

Background and Terminology

Many companies and people confuses the concepts of dashboards, scorecards and cockpits. It makes sense exploring these concepts in terms of purpose, usage, source, data etc.

Most BI systems will fall in to the category of “Cockpits”…

These are typical parameters, and some may be slightly different. i.e. some metrics in a cockpit may only be updated monthly. However, such deviations should be exceptions.

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Typical components of a Cockpit – SEM example

Higher level navigation between views

External data

Graphical displays

Comparative / benchmarking

Logical grouping of similar information

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Typical components of a Cockpit – SEM example

A cockpit can also illustrate best

practices, benchmarks or / and target performance.

Navigation menus, and buttons can be added

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Typical components of a Cockpit – Visual Composer example

The same data can be represented in several

ways to highlight trends and to also provide transaction details

Number lists can also be added, and each frame can have internal navigation

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Typical components of a Cockpit – Navigations linked to multiple views

More documentation can be linked

Central navigation can change multiple views

Multiple measures can be made available

Source: SAP AG, 2005

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Strategy Management and Performance Measurement – CPM

The presentation layer in SAP Management cockpits have four layers:

• Cockpit - Highest level overview (consists of ‘walls”)• Wall - a logical grouping of measures• Logical View - the display level of the cockpit consists of ‘frames’• Frame - lowest level of individual measure display

These presentation layer object are already web enabled and integrates with the SAP Portal. They also provide built-in drill downs and navigation based on how your measures were constructed.

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What is SEM – CPM?

The Performance Measurement –(CPM) is part of the Strategic Enterprise Management BI toolsuite. It consists of the Performance Measurement (PM) area and the Strategy management area (SM).

The Performance Management area consists of four distinct areas: 1. Management Cockpit2. Measure Builder3. Benchmarking4. Delivery of business content

The Strategy Management consists also of four areas1. Balanced Scorecard2. Strategy modeling3. Value Driver Tree4. Risk Management

ObjectiveObjective

MeasureMeasure Value Driver TreeValue Driver Tree

RiskRisk

StrategyStrategy

InitiativeInitiative

Source: J. Lombard, 2006

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SEM – CPM Walls

Walls are the highest level of the CPM Cockpit. Research has shown that more than 7 walls are hard to read and comprehend. Ideal numbers are 3, 5 or 7.

Major consideration!!

Humans have a hard time remembering, organizing, and retain information that is asymmetrical.

This is true for hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling and smelling..

Read more about the cognitive revolution and the article that started it all: Newell and Simon “The magic number 7” (1956)

Heads Up!

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SEM – CPM Navigation and Measures

Indicators (red, green, yellow) can be used at a higher level to indicate the overall situation of the organization. The hierarchies of measures are created in the ‘Measure Builder’ tool.

By clicking on each of the frames, users can access more details and other cockpits.

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1. Don’t use as many types of graphs as possible, and never mix more than 3 types of graphs. If you use more, users have to interpret the pictures as well as the data in a fractured, non-productive manner.

3. There is nothing wrong with using the same type of graphs on a cockpit (i.e. tachometers).

Users adapt quickly and can absorb the information faster

SEM – CPM – Use of Graphs and ‘Real-Estate’ – some rules

2. Try to avoid empty spaces, but don’t force unrelated measures into the cockpit. It confuses the users.

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When to consider CPM – Management Cockpits

The Management Cockpits and web rendering are closely integrated with the pre-delivered measures in the SAP Measure Catalog and you can also add new measures through the SAP Measures Builder.

By linking the higher level measures, using the Measure Trees, you can create true performance measures that are consistent throughout your cockpit and which also takes care of most of the web navigation and drilldowns in the cockpit (navigation is built in to the management cockpit and you do not have to build customized links).

Consider SAP CPM when you have limited web skills in-house, or when measure consistency and when rollups are very important.

Drawback: users often complain that there are too many steps that has to be followed when drilling up & down within the

measures (rigid navigation that is hard to customize).

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Cockpits with Web Application Designer 3.x and NW2004s

• Web Application Designer (SAP WAD) can be used for creating web based Cockpits using BW query data.

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Cockpits with the BW 3.X Web Application Designer

• BW 3.X based Web Application Designer (WAD) provides drag and drop functionalities for creating BW Web templates which may be the host of web based BW cockpits

• WAD can be used for creating BW Web Cockpits integrating data from multiple BW queries.

Each item can be served by a BW

query, or by external web pages or web applications

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•Standard Web Items are available for creating BW Web Templates with minimal coding.

ChartsTablesDropdown boxesNavigation BlockCheck box

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• To enhance standard functionalities WAD provides ability to write custom JavaScript functions, customer specific style sheets (CSS), ABAP Classes for Table Interface and use of BSP applications.

• JavaScript functions can be written in the template or can be stored in Mime Repository (SE80) and shared within multiple templates.

• For example JavaScript and BSP can be used in BW Web templates to provide functionality for saving BW bookmarks to user favorites.

• External HTML Editor (Dreamweaver, Home Studio etc.) can be used for formatting BW Web templates. WAD provides functionalities for downloading and uploading BW Web Templates.

Great

Feature

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BW 3.X Web Application Designer

• BW Web Applications can be directly published to Portal Content Catalog from WAD “Publish” menu.

Portal and BI system connection should be set up for direct publishing of BW Web Applications.

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Cockpits with the new NW2004s Web Application Designer

• New tool in BI NW 2004s for designing BI Web Applications.• Reduces the amount of custom coding required with the help of

Command wizards, Auto complete and support for HTML tags.

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New features includes the following.

Web Items - Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (NW 2004s SPS7)

Drag and Drop using Analysis item

New Chart Types (Heat Map, GANTT & Milestone Trend Analysis)

Export BI Web Applications in PDF format

Command Wizard for generating Web API Commands

Integration with NW 2004s BEx Report Designer for formatted reports.

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• BI Web API commands can be used for carrying out certain actions in BI Web Applications. Export to Excel, PDF etc. OLAP functions: Apply Filter values, remove Drilldowns.

• Command Wizards guides you through the steps for creating a BI Web API command.

• Commands are grouped together for easy access. Data Provider Web Items Web Templates

The web cockpits developed by the Web Application Designer in NW2004s can be interactive, include many data sources and be very flexible

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• Command Wizard can be used for generating JavaScript code for the Script Item to use in custom Cockpit applications.

This is a great feature for building custom features into your cockpits based on ‘standard’ java scripts

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• Provides the options for Personalizing BI query variables. • Ability to Bookmark the navigational state of the BI Web application.• Multidimensional analysis of BI query data.• Ability for user to create Exceptions and Conditions on BI Query data.

These features makes it easier to customize the dataset that is returned by the queries to the web cockpit.

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NW 2004s WAD Cockpits in the SAP EP6 Portal

BI Web Cockpits can be directly published to Portal Content Catalog using the “Publish” option from Web Application Designer.

Portal and BI system connection should be set up as per OSS note 917950.

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Broadcasting Cockpit views using NW2004s WAD

• Information Broadcaster can be used to Broadcast the BI Web Applications (i.e. cockpit views) to Enterprise Portal KM folders and via Email in various format (PDF,MHTML,HTML etc.).

• Information Broadcaster/Reporting Agent (BI 3.X) can be used for pre-calculating BI Web Applications for enhancing performance.

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Cockpits with NW2004s Visual Composer - background

• Visual Composer is a Web based modeling tool.• Visual Composer can be used for SAP EP Content development with

no coding.• Can be used for integrated view of OLTP and OLAP data sources.

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Cockpits with NW2004s Visual Composer - example

•No coding required for creating great looking web based Cockpits.•Pre-built Analytic Business Packages.

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Cockpits with NW2004s Visual Composer - details

•Delivered as part of NW 2004s EP Usage Type (SPS8 and Higher).•Different options available for rendering VC output

FlashWebDynpro (HTML)

•Flash provides high-end visualization of Visual Composer Models.

Since a cockpit may have many different data sources (queries), it can take quite some time to execute them if the memory cache is not

used consistently.

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Cockpits with NW2004s Visual Composer - data methods

• Can be used for integrating data from multiple data sources, including SAP and non-SAP systems into one single model. Different options available for data access include. BI KIT RFC Web Services

• BI Kit allows access to the following Data Sources SAP BI NW 2004 (3.5 SP14) & NW2004s JDBC XMLA

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Cockpits with NW2004s Visual Composer - data providers

• BI Queries and Views can be used as data providers for Visual Composer models.

• BI Query functionalities for Exceptions, Variables etc. can be used along with Visual Composer models.

• Visual Composer design time allows access to BI history, favorites and roles.

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Cockpits with NW2004s Visual Composer - WAD and VC

• Allows integration with BW Web Application Designer based application using the Portal Eventing Framework.

• For example a filter value can be passed from the BEx Web Application using BW Web API to the Visual Composer and vice-versa.

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NW 2004s Visual Composer

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Web Cockpit in the Portal

Queries and web applications can be integrated into the portal through publishing, broadcasting, or through web calls.

The portal can either be a passive recipient of the designed pages, or actively create communities, web pages, collaboration rooms, or cockpits that is organized by the portal.

Broadcasting

Publishing

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Web Cockpit in the Portal

The SEM Performance Management Cockpits are already integrated into the portal and can be accessed from there.

iViews can also be used to build custom portal cockpits

The iView can be from many data sources (WAD, BW, SEM, R/3, web) and in many formats (graphs, pictures, figures, tables etc.). iViews can also be interactive.

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NW2004s Visual Composer - Portal Publishing

• Visual Composer Design time allows direct deployment of Visual Composer Models as iViews to Portal Content Catalog.

Visual Composer iViews can be then used in Portal Pages, Roles etc.

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Building a Web Cockpit in the Portal

The trick in developing custom web cockpits in the portal is to manage the real estate very carefully.

Most ‘pure’ iview based cockpits are very cluttered and hard to read and navigate.

1. Start with logical groupings of items (i.e. sales, finance)

2. Limit colors to complimentary formats (we will look at these later).

3. Share the same navigation menus and tabs as the portal

4. Avoid running text, flashes, animations, layering and scrolling text (this is an absolute no-no).

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BI JAVA SDK based Cockpits

• BI JAVA SDK can be used for custom applications based on SAP BI and non-SAP data.

• BI JAVA SDK provides access to relational and OLAP data sources using JDBC, XMLA, ODBO etc.

• Access to 200+ data sources using the JDBC drivers.

Source: SAP AG, 2005

Java programmers will recognize the standard development kit's (SDK)

main libraries such as the abstract windowing toolkit (AWT) and the GUI oriented Swing object library as well

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BI JAVA SDK based Cockpits

• NW Developer Studio (NWDS) can be used for developing BI JAVA SDK based applications.

• Can be used along with SAP JAVA Web Dynpro.

Interested developers should

familiarize themselves with the

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio

HiddenBonus

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•Tool options – pros and consSEM Corporate Performance Monitor – CPM Web Application DesignerVisual Composer & demoPublishing to the portalCustom cockpits (BI JAVA SDK)3rd Party Cockpits


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3rd Party Cockpits

Some “best-of-breed” cockpit tools incorporate SAP BI as part of being a web item provider, or more commonly through BW queries served up by BAPIs or ODBO in BW.

Some even provides separate MOLAP solutions that is tightly connected to SAP BW (hint: reading RS_ tables inside BW)

MicroSoft Cognos

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3rd Party Cockpits

Other BI and cockpit companies, such as Corda, are actively working on creating cockpits tools for SAP BI.

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•Tool options – pros and consSEM Corporate Performance Monitor – CPM Web Application DesignerVisual Composer & demoPublishing to the portalCustom cockpits (BI JAVA SDK)3rd Party Cockpits


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War Rooms and External Access

2. External access to information is more common. Vendors and customers are loving it….

3. ‘War rooms for collaborative decision making can be built using cockpits.

1. Cockpits are most useful if they are shared.

4. Cockpits require a true BI infrastructure.

It is tempting to jump straight to the cockpit development, but it is almost impossible without a well architected BW system to support it.

Note

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What is a Good Cockpit -- Make it simple

Majority of usage of cockpits are in user segments 1 and 5. The other areas are better served by BI queries and OLAP.

Note

Segment 1: Trackers - 37%Tracking -Characterized by low

duration overall.

Segment 2: Reservers - 3%Low duration per page view.

Segment 3: Uncommitted - 10%Characterized by long duration.Complex decisions.

Segment 4: Info Gatherers - 4%Concentrated in information areas.

Rarely reach transaction areas.

Segment 5: Single-clickers - 32%Visit homepage only.

Segment 6: Wanderers - 15%Very few, very random pages.Few hits, but long duration per page

view. Example source: Dr. Paul Strupp, Sun Microsystems

The average manager navigate in no more than 7 dimensions and 2 levels deep (49 views). Therefore, the majority of users of cockpits will need few, simple, but highly informative views. The other user community is best served by OLAP queries.

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Use of Colors is Very Important

Colors shares a powerful connection with emotions, so you want to be conservative.

Colors on opposite sides are complimentary and looks good together in a cockpit

Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colors in

1666 and identified 12 basic colors

The rest of the colors are merely: Shade - base color mixed with blackTint - base color hue mixed with white; Tone - base color + gray or another base color + a complementary color Source: Bob Marteal, Cornell Univ.

2005, Susan M. Raymond, WHS

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How do You Pick Your Web Cockpit Colors?

This uses a single pure color with a number of tints and shades to provide variety

Pros: Extremely unified and harmonious - effective for establishing an overall mood

Cons: Can be dull because of the lack of variation and therefore can lose the interest of the viewer

Monochromatic scheme

Any three colors which are side by side on a color wheel,

Pros: Great selection of possible combinations makes this scheme versatile - the similarity makes the schemes harmonious with great results because it is soothing and restful

Cons: The use of more than three colors can dilute the overall effect of this scheme

Analogous scheme

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Options for Picking Web Cockpit Color Schemes that works

Pick any three colors on a triangle. This scheme is very appealing and well balanced

Pros: Extremely stable, each color perfectly balances with the other - It is useful for presenting information in bold decisive patterns

Cons: The vibrancy may be too much and detract from the message

Triadic scheme

Any two colors which are side by side on a color wheel,

Pros: This scheme has more variety than a simple complementary color scheme

Cons: It is less vibrant and eye-catching - it is difficult to harmonize the colors

Split scheme

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An example….

Colors that are so similar that not everyone will be able to

distinguish them -- blends information

Distracting color that breaks the color scheme and attracts

attention for no apparent reason

Split scheme background colors

that are unattractive

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Use of real estate - symmetry, graphs and colors

Consistent use of graphs are visually pleasing. Here we have only 3 types of graphs and a map.

Background colors are monochromatic scheme in blue.

Bars and lines are limited to same color scheme with few additional colors

Symmetry is visually pleasing and makes the cockpit easy to read. Here we have 3 walls, 4 frames in the outer walls and a central section.

Filling the white space by either enlarging the map, or adding a message board would improved this cockpit

Best Practice

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Speed.. Speed and more Speed…

Cockpits brings together data from a variety of sources. In a 'run-time' mode it can be very slow and cumbersome I.e. when the portal cockpit is accessed the supporting cockpit queries may have to be executed

Instead, you can present static images (i.e. static HTML from BEx Broadcaster into a portal iView), or you can cache the result of queries by using the reporting agent in 3.5x or BEx Broadcaster in NW2004s.

NW2004sBW3.5

IMPORTANT: “Old Reporting Agent scenarios still run in NetWeaver 2004s. However, the Reporting Agent will not be developed any further and is removed from the 2004s Workbench. In BI 7.0 you can only reach it by

transaction code REPORTING_AGENT” – SAP AG

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•Tool options – pros and consSEM Corporate Performance Monitor – CPM Web Application DesignerVisual ComposerPublishing to the portalCustom cockpits (BI JAVA SDK)3rd Party Cockpits


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What SAP tool to use… pros and cons…

BW 3.X WAD

BI NW 2004s WAD

Visual Composer SAP CPM

3rd Party Cockpits

Java SDK tools

Portal iViews

Multidimensional Analysis (full) - - - -

Portal Integration -

Information Broadcaster - - - - -

Formatted Reporting - - - - - -

Graphical options (delivered) - -

Automatic Code Generation - - - - -

SAP Integration

Direct Support for Non BW Data - - - -

Simplicity to use and learn - - - - -

There are many options and sometimes, the choice is based on what you are familiar with and what level of excitement there is for using new tools

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Resources

• Dr. Bjarne Berg's web page -- 60+ presentations, tutorials & articleshttp://csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/swp/Berg/BB_index_main.htm

• SAP Online HelpBW and EP Integration

o http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/a3/7b583c2439e66fe10000000a114084/content.htm

• SDN BW How to GuidesHow to integrate Visual Composer applications and BEx Web templates

o https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/ad182ac7-0a01-0010-4fb8-8a4d217b19c1

• BW Expert online Create Unparalleled Analytical Applications with SAP NetWeaver BI, Visual

Composer, and Macromedia Flexo http://www.bwexpertonline.com/archive//what%20is%20this

%20_Volume_04_(2006)/Issue_01_(January)/V4I1A4.cfm?session=

Resource

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Your Turn!

How to Contact MeBjarne Berg [email protected]

evaluate, choose, and use the right bi tools to build management cockpits your users will adopt

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